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   CLASSIC WAVE went aground on a reef off the Southwest end of Kerra Island near Oban, Scotland, on Saturday the !7th September, 2005. Unfortunately within a short while she started taking on water. Despite all the attempts to save her by the crew; Bob H., Bob P. and Barrie, assisted by the Oban Lifeboat, including a crewman put on board with a high capacity diesel pump, she sank in deep water.
     All the crew and the Lifeboatman, Peter, were recovered safely.
    The incident was big enough to gain the attention of BBC Scotland and the local press. It also made an article in Practical Boat Owner.
    Within a few days she had broken up and recovery was impossible.
  She had only hours before departed from Dunstaffnage on a homeward voyage to Preston. Thanks to Navigators and General, the full insurance for the total loss of CLASSIC WAVE, was paid within a few weeks. That concluded the story of this great boat.
  Apart from Bob Proctor, who we will always remember, all the crew have survived the loss and carry on sailing so we will now try to continue recording their experiences and plans
The survivors of the of the wreck, Barrie & I, and Bob (but not in the way he would have wished ), decided to immediately charter a boat, for a voyage in the West Indies.
  We chartered a yacht from Sunsail in the Leeward Islands. By the time of our going Bob had died but we took his remains with us and, towards the end of the holiday, scattered them in the warm Caribbean waters.

Why is a ship called ‘she’ ?
A ship is called ‘she’ because;
       ~ it is not the initial expense that breaks you, it is the upkeep.
       ~there is usually a gang of men about.
       ~she hides her bottom and shows her topsides.
     ~it takes an experienced man to handle her correctly, and without a     man at the helm she is absolutely uncontrollable.
       ~it take a lot of paint to keep her good looking.
       ~she has a waist and stays.
       ~there is always a great deal of hustle around her.
        ~she can be all decked out.
       ~when entering port she always heads for the buoys.

  Very quickly we decided that CLASSIC WAVE would have to be replaced and that this would be a joint ownership between Barrie, Bob (before his demise) and myself. In early 2006 we started the quest to find a suitable replacement. No mean task after CLASSIC WAVE.
  In the meantime the charter of the yacht from Sunsail was such a great success we decided to do it again. This time in the Windward Islands. However, at the end of the first days sailing I had an accident, resulting in a broken hip.This meant I ended up in Hospital on the island of St.Vincent and did not see any further sailing for that holiday.

   There were a number of contenders as a replacement for Classic Wave, but finally in April we found the boat we all liked at Hamble near Southampton. A VOYAGER 38 built by Trident Marine in 1988, named TRINCULO. Purchase was completed on 26th. May and the following day she left Hamble to sail to Fleetwood with Barrie as skipper and Kevan plus Alan as crew.
Due to my accident in the West Indies I was still in hospital, now back in the UK, but not able to be with them.
We, (Barrie in particular) made some sails in the local area and as far as the Isle of Man & SW Scotland, ‘to test her out’ before setting about a number of improvements.

   This site was first produced shortly after I had purchased an Endurance 40, Ketch named CLASSIC, in May 1998. The yacht was renamed Classic Wave, when it came to registering her on the full ( Part 1) UK registry of ships, the ‘Wave’ had to be incorporated into the name.
   Prior to this I had been sailing a number of years, including owning a yacht, a McWester Wight, and gathering a number of crew/sailing friends around me. There were many stories of the voyages of ‘Ardgour’, the McWester Wight, most of which have been unfortunately lost. A particularly prolific recorder of our voyages was one of the regular crew, Kevan, and it seemed a great lost not to have these read and saved in some way.
   The intention was therefore to record and publish the voyages of the future, and add some notes and a description. A few years passed when Classic Wave unfortunately sank in September 2005 but we were all determined to continue in the way we had become accustomed while sailing her. This entailed the purchase of TRINCULO, a Voyager 38 Sloop in May 2006 and the stories continued on. While not the same, she was to follow to the traditions we had established, but now under a joint ownership of Barrie and myself, but with a similar crew.
The voyages of Classic Wave, apart from the fatal voyage home, have for the present, been archived due to size constraints of the web site. A summary of her history is however included.

The 7th. June 2011, TRINCULO left Glasson Basin and sailed south to Plymouth, arriving on the 26th. June
  During the voyage we reviewed the plans to take us to the Mediterranean. This resulted in a major change, curtailing the trip through the French waterways.
     While at Plymouth Barrie brought my share of the yacht and I left to return home. The expected crew arrived and they went with Barrie on a cruise of the Channel Islands.
      After returning to Plymouth, Barrie sailed back north and, following a longish stay at the Isle of Man, TRINCULO is now back in her winter berth at Wardley’s Yacht Club

        Read more !!

The site for now is mainly about the continuing career of TRINCULO
Classic Wave was a Peter Ibold design Endurance 40 Cutter/Ketch (The cutter part of the rig was actually added by me later). She was built using the best quality materials and a painstakingly long process for her first owner, then completed by myself. The result was well worth the effort and produced a very sea-worthy, comfortable cruising yacht. Her fate was undeserved, but this site defines her qualities and summarises the story of the experiences we had up to the disaster where she was lost.
I purchased her in May 1998. . Her previous owner had spent ten years fitting out the Windboats hull to a standard suitable for a trial voyage. But shortly after that he unfortunately died, leaving his widow with an incomplete boat. It was however complete enough to sail while I finished the job over the next three years. During this period we had great pleasure sailing the east coast of Ireland and the Scottish Western Isles. It did not take long to confirm that I had a superb cruising yacht. She was completed by 2001.

After the early voyages we sailed to Kinsale to start what would be a circumnavigation of Ireland. Prior to which we made a number of cruises on the south coast of Ireland then wintered in Kinsale, before continuing around to the Shannon.
The summer 2004 was spent there with winter ashore at Kilrush.. In May, after a refresh of the copper antifouling, she was returned to the water, and continued cruising north. Cruising the north west coast to Coleraine and completing the circumnavigation of Ireland, she spent a short time there before crossing the north channel to Islay, Scotland. We had a number of cruises in the western isles, including the Outer Hebrides, during July and August and were starting our return to her home port PRESTON, after two years away, when disaster struck.

These improvements, and adding more equipment were mainly completed during the winter of 2006 .
You can read the ‘Overall story so far’, of the work we have completed to bring the boat to the standard we would like, some of the ‘Voyages’ to date and the current ‘Description’ on linked pages
After the first lay up, over winter 2006/7, on the hard at Wardleys Yacht Club she went back into Fleetwood marina, before spending the summer in Brest, Northern France. She then returned to a winter lay-up in a mud berth at Wardleys.

The following season (2008) we moved to Glasson Marina to unstep the mast and complete further work before the 2008 season.was spent in the Clyde, based in Clyde Marina, Ardrossan.

  At the end of May 2009 TRINCULO left the winter berth at Wardleys YC for the Scottish Western Isles for the summer season , and was based on a mooring for June, July and August at Barcaldine Marine on Loch Creran near Oban.
  After a poor season in Scotland she returned to the Yacht Club at Wardleys Marine
The permanent berth which is TRINCULO’s winter home at the yacht club is now complete and she has spent the last winters on it.

   May 2010 TRINCULO departed Wardleys for Milford Haven, which was to be her base for the summer season. After an eventful trip via the Isle of Man and Ireland we arrived. Barrie and I plus Kev and various other crew had some excursions in the local area over the summer months until in September she returned to the winter berth at Wardley’s YC.

   The plan had been to sail well south this summer (2011) but there had been a persistent, but slow leak all last winter. We decided this had to be rectified before we left and took Trinculo to Glasson Basin to be lifted out of the water. The leak (or leaks), after many false promises, were cured! But we had yet another delay. The engine raw water pump had to replaced. We were able to rapidly obtain a new one and departed on Thursday, 7th. July.
   The sail south to Plymouth could not have been better. Even, a few days ‘storm bound’ in Padstow was a pleasant experience. However during the cruise Barrie and I decided that sailing to the Mediterranean was not to be.

   At Plymouth, I sold my half share in TRINCULO to Barrie, left and returned home. Barrie continued on the cruise of the Channel Islands with the anticipated crew and has now returned to winter in her normal berth at Wardley’s Marine Yacht Club.