Jabberwocky to GTR :- Dublin to Belfast

Before we could started dreaming of what we would do to breath new life into Jabberwocky the cycle of decay which she was in needed to be broken. I am not exactly sure how the prior owner became interested in the boat or what he intended to do with her, regardless of his plans I am happy that he took an interest and the leap of faith to bring the boat to Northern Ireland.

It would have been an interesting negotiation, while the boat had been let go she did not look too bad from afar, it was however a different story as she was lifted out of the water and the full extent of her idle time could be seen.

The marine life was going to miss the ecosystem growing on her keel.

The process of cleaning the bottom prior to the trip north must have been a bitter sweet. Sailing to Belfast would have been extremely slow with the full marine ecosystem which had developed around her keel. While it would have been great to see the seaweed and barnacles disappearing it would have been heart breaking to see layers of gel coat coming off with it.

Large sections of gel coat were removed with the seaweed.

The clean up was the first step to a new life and made the trip north to Strangford Lough possible. I have been told the sail north did no go without issue, the coast guard was nearly called at one stage when the weather was closing in and the engine would not start. Some temporary tubing was installed  and all aboard were happy to glide with the tide to the upper parts of Strangford Lough.

After arriving At Strangford Lough Yacht Club she spent a few months in the water sailing occasionally before getting pulled out for the winter, moving to a farm over looking the Lough. While out of the water the previous owner started the clean up before deciding he did not have the time to finish the job, at this point Jabberwocky was once again put up for sale.

Jabberwocky Arrives at S.L.Y.C :- Northern Ireland

I was happily racing a Sonata as S.L.Y.C with little if any desire to take on a project, one of our crew who raced weekends in the IRC class had different ideas and hatched a plan. He knew the boat had been lying idle for some time but was confident with a little bit of TLC she would be a lot of fun to race. He started talking with a group of his sailing friends who might be interested in a project and before you knew it a budget was drawn up and a bid was prepared. I was approached to see if I would become a part owner and skipper, there were 5 or 6 guys interested in purchasing a share and more importantly putting in the hours to do the restoration work.

After reviewing the budget and reflecting on my years of sailing I remembered several friendships which were lost due to part ownership gone wrong. As I could raise the funds to purchase the boat but did not have the skills or the time required to restore her by myself I approached the syndicate with a counter proposal. I would purchase the boat and fund the restoration if they would restore her as if she was their own and race her regularly once done.

Jabberwocky when I acquired her from the farm.

Everyone agreed this would be the best approach and team "Go To Red" was formed with a dream to make the old boat new again. Looking back dreaming was the easy part, the next 18 months of Sundays sessions working on the boat at times felt like they would never end, eventually the did and our old boat was new again.

To watch the full rebuild from start to finish, click the play button below !