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Our appetite for a bigger boat had been wetted by now. We had admired the Moody 336 at previous boat shows, but none had been built for nearly two years. We hadn’t recently looked at one and felt we needed to see one again to see if it would suit us. We found one on the Hamble which had had two owners and appeared well looked after. She had fully battened sails and lazyjacks which we felt would make sailing a little easier. The owner took us out on a test sail in wind gusting over 20 knots. It was immediately apparent that she was much stiffer than T’Narra and when Lesley was untroubled by sailing without a reef, we decided that she was the boat for us. The vendor also threw in a spinnaker which was not originally included in the inventory. She was fitted out sensibly but we would need to replace most of the electronics and add some further extra fittings. We weren’t very keen on the name “Lola” but we could change it. When the surveyor reported that she was sound, we bought her before we had even tried to sell T’Narra.
When we went to collect Lola we began to discover her downside. The enormous aft cabin has been created at the expense of the cockpit locker and it took considerable ingenuity to fit the inflatable in. Inside nothing seemed to fit easily in the lockers. No doubt it would become easier when we got used to her. I also discovered that the foresail was patched. Still the sails were otherwise in quite good shape although they would need replacing in the not too distant future. We needed to leave Lola for a few days before we could sail her round to Shotley. This turned out to be no mean feat as it was Cowes week and every Solent berth was occupied. Reluctantly Moody’s yard helped us out, but not without a lot of persuasion.
We motored round to Haslar marina in an almost dead calm. We just missed seeing the Queen leaving on Britannia’s farewell cruise. We expected to sail Lola from the Solent incognito as we had told nobody her name and our SPYC burgee was very worn and unrecognisable. This took no account of the eagle eyes of some friends who quickly recognised us near Beachy Head. At the Sovereign marina we made our first attempt to pass through a lock in Lola. It went so wrong that Malcolm and Jean pretended not to know us! They were kind enough to bring the beer round after we had recovered. The next day we sailed to Ramsgate in thick fog. We were pleased to follow “Luturna” (equipped with radar), but still got an unpleasant surprise when we found ourselves rather too close to a “France Telecom” ship near Dover. Once back at Shotley we moored adjacent to T’Narra so that we could transfer everything across.
Before our advertisement for T’Narra had been published, our insurance broker introduced us to a prospective buyer (an engaged couple looking for their first boat). Much to our relief we soon agreed a price and they paid us a deposit. Then the fiancée went on a week’s sailing course. When she returned she broke off the engagement and the sale was off! Fortunately our advert soon brought us another buyer.
I visited the Southampton Boat Show in September and chose some new electronics including a radar.
We ended the season with a few local trips before taking Lola to Fox’s for her alterations. They went quite smoothly apart from the discovery of engine and gearbox problems which required fairly major repairs. Lola left Fox’s in the spring renamed “In Perfect Harmony". We had four very pleasurable sailing seasons in her cruising as far afield as St Malo and the Isselmeer.
