The story of Talatasha

My brother and I had longed to own our own boat. As children we were raised in Fowey, Cornwall and lived in a small hotel on the waters edge. We were both keen sailors and spent our youth racing dinghies in and around Fowey. It was a great childhood and I wished I could have given my children the same. Once leaving school we went are separate ways and it wasn't until I got married in 1990 that we became close again, we now have a great relationship, a year ago we decided we had waited long enough, it was time to get back to sailing. We had a small budget and large criteria. We were looking for a boat that would make a good weekender, something that was fairly fast, had room for the kids and stable for my wife. It also had to be shallow draught, beach able, very cheap and as I am a boat builder something that needed work on and possibly would add value too. Oh, sleeping accommodation, an engine and a tender was a necessity.Well after a great deal of searching I stumbled across Talatasha, I found her lying in the corner of a boat yard in Millbrook Cornwall. She is a Janus, 22ft Woods design catamaran built in Guernsey 22 years ago. It was within budget and fitted most of our criteria so the sale went ahead and we became proud owners of our lovely boat Talatasha. We had planned to launch her the following week in Millbrook as my brother had to travel down from Manchester. The crane had put her on the mud at low tide and being unsure if she would float I waited anxiously as the tide crept in. Surprisingly, she floated although taking on a small amount of water in both hulls especially around the centre board cases that had been badly repaired before. It was a glorious summers evening when my brother arrived and I had rigged the boat, made her ship shape well as best as I could. We wanted to sail her over the weekend before taking her out of the water in Plymstock to start work on her.

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