Coromandel Quest
 Coromandel Quest is a Nicholson 35, built in 1973, sail number 66.  She has a dark blue hull, teak decks and a Perkins 49 hp diesel engine.  We first heard about her via the internet.  She was standing on the hard in Weymouth.  Now, Weymouth is a long way from Blyth - like about 400 miles - but we thought it would be worth it to go and have a look.

004.jpg (162191 bytes)

Coromandel.jpg (946765 bytes)

 We liked what we saw.  Yes, she could be described as a middle-aged lady, but we thought she was in her prime- mature, experienced and ideal for the job we had in mind.  She also had a Hydrovane self-steering unit, like the one I'd used on Red Marlin  many moons ago.

After some negotiations, she finally became ours on 10 April 2006 - a birthday present for me, according to Andy.  We had a brief trial sail, made the telephone call to transfer the funds, then took her around to a local boatyard to have her slipped.
She needed a certain amount of work doing before we felt like embarking on the delivery trip up to Blyth.  We had the chainplates strengthened, some remedial work done to the teak decks and had all of the standing and running rigging replaced.

Unfortunately the weather in Weymouth that spring was not too good, and we were obliged to kick our heels for a few days before she was ready to roll.  However, Andy was a very happy chap when she finally went back into the water at the end of May.

Coromandel in Newton.jpg (895784 bytes)

Coromandel in Lowestoft.jpg (1092928 bytes)

 Our first - and only - stop was in Lowestoft; we had some very light airs and needed to fill up with diesel.  The Perkins engine is a good, solid workhorse, but uses about 4 litres per hour - a lot more than the 1 litre per hour we were used to getting out of Layback.  It was in Lowestoft that we discovered the idiosyncratic nature of Coromandel's direction when operating astern propulsion!  The rest of the passage was uneventful, most of it under engine.
Having sailed around Blyth for a couple of months, we decided to have a bow thruster fitted.  This, along with a holding tank and coppercoat on the hull, would set us up for our trip.   Aidan Charlton did the work for us and made a splendid job of it all.

I was a bit disconcerted on visiting Coromandel in the boatyard one day to see that a second boat, much smaller but with dark blue hull and copper antifouling, was berthed alongside.  It looked as though she'd had a baby overnight!

009.jpg (125969 bytes)