Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
‘Golden Fleece’ was a name revered in sailing circles for several years after her launching, and as with many yachts decay sets in after several years, and the upkeep simply cannot keep pace. “Fleece’ was no exception until Michael Wheeler rescued her.
“In challenging conditions, he sailed the boat to Cape Town in mid-December 1999 and frantically prepared her for the Cape to Rio race starting on 8 January 2000.
“With five friends and family they breathlessly made the start line. But after a few days, the full extent of the neglect started to manifest itself. Water flowed into the boat, both through the decks and through the hull. Five days into the race, they lost the electrics – no bilge pumps, no radio, no chart plotter and no weatherfax and 3,000 miles to go.
“So it was back to old-fashioned sailing. Buckets in a chain-gang to bail out the incoming water; flashlights to see the compass, hand-held GPS to plot positions on a paper chart, and even a sextant!
Her restoration took five years.
READ IT ALL HERE: Pages from 2010 04 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
