© 2009 Rainmaker Sailing   Contact  dave@rainmakersailing.com

We started looking in earnest, mostly at Beneteaus and the like at around 40 feet but came to the assumption that we wanted something pretty special.  It had to be pretty and well built and able to be easily handled by the two of us.  My mother, having cruised with my father for many years, was deeply sceptical of these “modern light skittish things”, especially when sailing in the North Channel and so she edged us towards the Nordic end of the market.

It was about then that we were looking seriously at a Comet 33 but weren’t overly impressed with the build quality.  The review in the yachting magazine mentioned a Finngulf 33 which I had previously seen in other articles and we decided to take a look.

We contacted Steve at Aboard Yachts and he immediately arranged a viewing on the East coast.  As soon as we stepped foot on the boat we fell in love with it. It was the perfect size for us with immaculate build quality from the teak decks to the matched grain of the internal joinery.  I also had a hankering to do a spot of racing and the keel stepped rig and lead finn pointed to a very capable gentleman’s racer as well as a family cruising yacht.

We probably would have bought it on the spot (don’t tell Steve!) but arranged a test sail. This was successful and only confirmed my first impressions, despite parking it on an East Coast sand bank!

Steve informed us that the 33 was having its deck redesigned by Bruce Farr but that the rest of the boat would be pretty unchanged.  There were no detailed designs which was slightly worrying but after looking at some computer renderings and garnering some reassurances from Steve we took the plunge and did the deal.

That, of course was only the beginning.