Fighting The Wind From The Solent To Scotland

John Welbank and his new boat were put through their paces on a delivery trip from the Hamble tothe Clyde in spring.

- John Welbank

After 10 years without a boat it was about time my wife Sylvia and I finally got ourselves a new ship. I spent around two years trawling the Internet for likely candidates. The criteria were price, sailing ability and size, and nothing too old. I wanted a proper sailing boat, not a floating caravan.

After a few highly speculative offers a sensibly-priced Beneteau 40.7 from 2000 called Space Race came on the market. Although fully race kitted, she also had all the cruising requirements; furling jib, autohelm and nav system. She seemed to fit the bill.

The boat had been well used but the key components of rig, engine and keel had all been well maintained. The main hurdle was that she was on the Hamble but my chosen cruising ground was the Clyde in Scotland as we live in North Lancashire. From viewing the boat to the delivery trip was only three weeks, but getting anything done on the Hamble in April is near impossible. Our broker used every contact he had to get minor, pre-delivery trip works done before Space Race was launched.

As a Scottish cruising boat the one essential I did require was a sprayhood. Tecsew managed to measure, make and fit one for me within two weeks. In the end this proved critical to the delivery trip, given the conditions we faced.

Launch day was Friday 28 April. The plan was for me to drive south on the Thursday night loaded up to the gunwales with gear and food, launch the boat 0930, rig her mid-morning, then head up to Hamble Point for the night to meet the crew. What could possibly go wrong?