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I purchased her in May 1998. She was then called CLASSIC, but when it came to registering her on the full ( Part 1) registry of ships the ‘Wave’ had to be incorporated into the name.
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.

Classic Wave was a Peter Ibold design and built using the best quality materials. This was a painstakingly long process for her first owner and then continued by myself, but well worth the effort. The result produced a very sea-worthy and comfortable cruising yacht. Her fate was undeserved, but this site defines all her qualities and tells the story of many of the experiences we had up to the disaster where she was lost.

   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.
     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. A full account of this, the first voyage after Classic Wave can be read after, ‘ the Final Voyage’.

During this period we had great pleasure sailing the east coast of Ireland and the Scottish Western Isles. It also did not take long to confirm that I had a superb cruising yacht. She was completed by 2001. Some of our early voyages are described following which we sailed to Kinsale to start what would be a circumnavigation of Ireland. .
After a number of cruises on the south coast of Ireland then wintering in Kinsale, we continued 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.

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.

We very quickly decided that CLASSIC WAVE would have to be replaced and that this would be a joint ownership between Barrie and myself. In early 2006 we started the quest to find a suitable replacement. No mean task after CLASSIC WAVE. There were a number of contenders 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 and 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.
   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 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 TRINCULO left the winter berth at Wardleys YC for the Scottish Western Isles for the summer season , and she is based on a mooring for June, July and August at Barcaldine Marine on Loch Creran near Oban.
Prior to leaving we started work on a permanent berth at the yacht club and are making this suitable as Trinculo’s winter residence

She was replaced byTRINCULO, a Voyager 38 Sloop in May 2006. While not the same, it will continue to the traditions we have established. This time under a joint ownership of Barrie and myself, but with a similar crew.

The web site is open ended. That is to say you can read it from what ever angle you wish. Just jump to the page/subject that is of interest to you
It is a ‘blog’ of the history of Classic Wave & Trinculo and tells the sailing stories to date, while being a communication system for the crew and their friends.