Its been a month since last posting and have been doing some paid work not much admittedly as well as a bit of travel to get my mojo back. The first trip was a long way from home, riotous and quite intense - the second one was closer to home, Lynmouth, catching up with a mate of mine and proved way more relaxing and a lot more interesting regarding all things Westerly.
Having strolled around the coast we came upon a little place called Watermouth, if you blinked you'd miss the entrance but as soon as we got into the yard it resembled a Westerly boat park. Interestingly there are a lot of Fulmar's around these parts as well as a plethora of Centaur's and Berwick's but what caught my eye was a Centaur buried about six inches in the ground. The boat looks a picture of neglect but on further inspection proved quite a find in my opinion as it appears to be a real early boat with bronze port holes, tufnol winches,.....well tufnol everything, a wooden compaionway hatch and bollard cleats on the aft quarters.
I couldn't believe it as i remember seeing pictures of Centaur No 1 posted on the yahoo groups server showing all these details, imagine my surprise when getting some fish and chips in Ilfracombe that i would come face to face with the actual boat as well as an immaculate grey-deck Centaur, again '69 -'70 vintage.
So in the space of a few miles i'd seen three of the earliest examples of the marque, two of which looked impressive and a third sadly rotting into the ground, if i didn't have my hands full....................i dunno maybe i'll start the equivalent of a pet rescue home for vintage Centaur's when mines back in the water.
Blimey - have you told Dylan (Winter)on the PBO forum?? Might be just up his street... :o)
ReplyDeleteJust emailed him, my brains not in gear of late, thought i could smell burning when i got back from there yesterday, probably too much cider. A really fascinating place to visit, there were quite a few dead boats, you know all green with torn up sprayhoods; the look that says they haven't been touched in years. There was a ketch rigged Berwick that didn't look to dissimilar to that Centaur.
ReplyDeleteAs daft as it sounds i really want that Centaur seeing as its probably a '68 / '69 vintage boat. I think its a bit more than Dylan would want to take on but for someone with the right skills set it'd be no-brainer.
cheers