After almost a year of “negotiation”, I finally closed on Vellamo. She’s a Sabre 42, and her hull number indicates she the last of her breed. Sabre changed models after this.
I have renamed the boat to Vellamo, partially to remove the bad karma from its previous owner, partially because I didn’t care for her original name, but largely to pay homage to my Fin heritage. Vellamo is from Fin mythology, she’s the goddess of the water, the seas, and the wind.
My search for a new-to-me boat did not include Sabres, nor anything as big as 42′. Mostly because I didn’t think I could afford it. As I live aboard, love to actually sail, and hope to explore the world via the sea, I had a specific set of parameters in my search. Not the least of which was wanting a 1/2 project boat. I say 1/2 project because I want enough of a project to “make her mine”, but not so much project that I don’t get to enjoy it along the way.
I stumbled upon this boat and was immediately nervous. There’s no way a Sabre of this size was for sale for this little and could float. In truth, she hasn’t been put in the water yet, so no idea if she floats. She came equipped with almost everything you could imagine… great sail inventory, generator, dinghy, 2 marine AC’s, refer, radar, plotter, wind generator, etc.
Along with this amazing list came years of neglect. Everything leaks, everything is moldy, and everything needs rebuilt. Good thing I wanted a project boat.
Now comes the work. I’m intimidated and excited at the same time with how much I need to do. There’s going to be a lot of learning, a lot of improvement, and likely a few mistakes. Obviously, this first part of the blog will be mostly working… but hopefully I can interject some sailing too.
Vellamo 