Woman reunited with launch 30 years after she helped sell it

A BOAT broker from Henley has been reunited with a launch which she first sold more than 30 years ago.

Gillian Nahum bought back the Victorian teak admiralty pinnace Spirit X following the sale of her business Henley Sales and Charter in October, which she ran for 32 years.

She said: “When I sold my business recently, I felt that I needed a classic boat and I found that this boat was for sale. I thought, actually, I love this boat and it would be a great addition to Pure Boating, my boat hire business.”

Ms Nahum first came across the canopied launch in 1990, while working in sales and marketing for the Norfolk-based Steam and Electric Launch Company.

Her boss, Rupert Latham, used the boat, which is estimated to have been built in 1890, to make a mould to create a fibreglass boat, which he called the Frolic 30.

Ms Nahum, who lives in St Andrew’s Road, said: “He had refurbished the hull, which was a beautiful teak, and used it to create a mould. You could then order a Frolic 30, either with a steam plant or as an electric boat.

“After he’d used it to make the mould, he then refurbished the boat and put a steam plant in it. He was an engineer and he loved steam engines, so he fitted that and we took it to the boat show in London.”

It was at the Earls Court Boat Show that year that it was purchased by a couple from Essex, who named the boat Impulse, which the buyer said reflected his mood when he bought the boat.

Ms Nahum got the couple a spot at the Hambleden Marina, where she taught them how to drive a steamboat.

She said: “It’s quite complicated because you have to learn how to manage the steam plant. They also had a sailing boat – they were very keen on water — but this was their first foray into having a boat on the inland waterways.

“They kept it at Hambleden for some time and then they moved it to the River Medway, which was closer to where they lived.”

Eventually, she was approached again to sell the boat for a different owner.

Ms Nahum said: “One day out of the blue, this guy rang me up and said that they needed to sell the boat and do so quickly.

“I don’t really know anything about this guy, who obviously had bought the boat thinking it was a great idea but not knowing that these boats need maintenance.

“It ended up coming to Hambleden where I lived and had my office at the time. I was no longer working for Rupert, but we took the steam plant out and sold it to him. We put a diesel engine, which is what’s in there now.”

“We did it up and we sold it to a couple who kept it on the River Thames. They then wanted to buy a boat with a cabin, so we sold it for them. The couple who bought it from them took it to Cornwall, where they used it on the sea. “They then asked me to sell it for them, so they bought a trailer and they brought it back for me at Beale Park boatyard.”

The boat will be kept at the Great House in Sonning, where it will be available for weddings, birthdays and special occasions starting in the spring.

She said: “Pure Boating was approached by the Great House to set up a kind of charter operation there, like we have at its other location, owned by the same hotel and restaurant group in Streatley.

“I thought that this was the perfect boat for that as it seats 12, is charming to look at and, while it isn’t electric yet, I will probably convert it because all of my other Pure Boating boats are electric.”

The boat had been listed for sale with Ms Nahum’s firm in 2023 when it was rented to a film company who were shooting scenes for a biographical sports drama on the Thames.

Boys in the Boat was directed by George Clooney, who lives in Sonning, and rented six Thirties-style boats from Henley Sales and Charter to be featured in the film.

Ms Nahum said: “We chartered it to the film company for the owners. Being with it on the water again, I just thought, ‘gosh, it’s such a beautiful boat’.

“These things kind of come in and out of your life and this just felt like an important boat to me and so I jumped at the chance to get it back.”