Couple need temporary home for ageing yacht

A COUPLE from Henley are planning to renovate their yacht after enjoying years of adventures at sea.

Jonathan and Jenny Blain built the ocean-going vessel called Sprint after he nearly lost his life in a transatlantic adventure 28 years ago.

He sold his house to fund the work, which took about two years year, and then spent years sailing all around the globe, including in a number of races.

However, the 12m ocean-going wood/epoxy yacht now needs refurbishing and the Blains are looking for someone with land and storage where they can carry out the work.

The couple, who are both 58 and live in Deanfield Road, hope fellow boat enthusiasts will want to become involved in the project to increase their knowledge.

Mr Blain, a former naval officer, was born and bred in the Midlands and fell in love with boats as a child when he went on seaside holidays with his family.

He learned to sail in his parents’ dinghy and after leaving school he joined the Royal Navy on a three-year commission.

He became the youngest compliment officer in the navy, meaning he was in charge of navigating a warship at age 19.

After he left, he worked in business and then tried his hand as an author.

Mr Blain met his wife in 1989. He said: “I lived in Marlow and was advertising for a lodger.

“She’d just got a job in the area and I was getting ready to do a transatlantic race with Simon Chance, my best friend from my school days.

“She came to view the house and for me it was just instant attraction. As soon as the door closed I said to Simon, ‘I’m in love, I’m gonna marry that lady’ and he said, ‘Don’t be silly, you hardly know her.’

“She ended up moving in across the road because she thought my place was too expensive.” Mrs Blain, who is originally from Devon, was working in nursery education and has run the Denning Montessori Nursery School in Fawlety since 1991.

Mr Blain and Mr Chance bought a new yacht to take part in the Two-Handed Trans-Atlantic Yacht Race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1990.

But things started to go wrong when they went to collect the German-made Dehler yacht in Northumberland and found it wasn’t ready.

There was a number of problems with the fibreglass boat that needed fixing before the race and then more appeared when they took to sea.

Mr Blain said: “The race started in Plymouth and we set off, went down the Channel, round Land’s End and off towards Ireland.

“Slowly more things started to go wrong with the boat. The sea water went up the exhaust pipe and flooded the engine.

“Although it’s a sailing race and you’re not using the engine, you need it to charge batteries, so we diverted to Crosshaven in southern Ireland. Once you’re in the race the shaft for your propeller is sealed so we had to sail into the harbour, get an engineer out and get it fixed.

“We set off again and had got about halfway across the Atlantic when more and more things went wrong.

“The biggest thing was that the yacht was leaking. It got to the stage where there was so much water in there that the floorboards were floating around and we were literally paddling.

“It deteriorated over a number of days. Obviously you have pumps to be able to pump the water out but if you have to keep doing this you get quite exhausted.

“If you have a hole in a boat there are things you can do to fix it but with this yacht there was no way of discovering where the leak was because the way they make a production boat meant you can’t actually get to the hull.

“We also had a problem with the rudder bearing. The steering got stiffer and stiffer and jammed at the halfway point.”

The pair decided to quit the race and return to the nearest land, which was back in Ireland.

But on the way they encountered stormy winds which damaged the yacht.

Mr Blain said: “The ropes round the back of the sail whipped round the steering wheel and it was smashed up. We’re then on a boat that’s leaking with all the floorboards floating around and the steering is in splinters.

“Because it was a production boat you couldn’t get your spanner in anywhere to disconnect the steering to set up emergency steering.

“I’d been a royal naval officer used to being in adversity and the one thing we had was strength of character.

“We knew the faults were not of our own making and we were doing all we practically could to resolve the situation.”

The men had a radio and were able to alert the coastguard and a helicopter flew from South Wales to airlift them off the yacht.

The helicopter was in the air for six hours and had to refuel in Ireland on each leg of the journey. The rescue made national news.

The men made an insurance claim which was rejected so they went to court and after three years won a cash sum and had the wreckage returned to them.

It was after Mr and Mrs Blain were married in 1994 that they started to get their own yacht but after his experience he didn’t want a production model so he enlisted the help of Ed Dubois, a naval architect.

Mr Blain said: “I had this vision for a totally amazing yacht that was different to anything else that existed and Dubois said, ‘Yeah, you’re right’.

“I said, ‘I’m not some multi-millionaire’ and he ended up designing it for a fraction of what he’d normally charge.”

The Blains had the yacht built in Cleethorpes, which took about a year, and fitted out in Plymouth, which took another year.

The couple were helped by other sailors, including Dame Ellen MacArthur who went on to break the world record for the fastest solo navigation of the globe.

Mr Blain sold his house to help pay for the costs and all the couple’s wedding presents were things for the yacht.

The yacht was first launched in 1994 and the couple have had many adventures on it, including racing from Plymouth across the Bay of Biscay to San Sebastian in Spain and sailing 1,700 miles from Cape Town in South Africa to the tiny South Atlantic island of St Helena.

Now the couple, who have three grown-up daughters, are hoping people will help them again to refurbish the yacht.

Mr Blain said: “We need to take a lot of the deck off and replace it and probably take a lot of the interior stuff out and rebuild it. Some of the deck has gradually rotted.

“I think there are a lot of people around here who like boats and would like a project.

“Over the years so many people have come into our life and enjoyed being a part of the boat and this will be another great positive experience for anyone who gets involved.

“We are looking for a land or property owner prepared to let us store and renovate the yacht. It’s in Portsmouth now and will arrive on a low-loader with a crane to lift it off.

“The plan is to build a temporary tent-type shelter around the yacht while the renovation takes place. Volunteers and boating enthusiasts interested in the project would be welcome to contribute, participate and be involved.”

If you can help, call Mr Blain on 07873 333033 or email jonathan@jonathanblain.com