He is the true sea-wanderer, in these hurried days, when the professional seaman sees little but ports…. and the wandering globetrotter has his soft way sped until the whole earth is fast developing-for him-into nothing but a nerve-racking kaleidoscope of which, his voyage made, he remembers little. No, give me a wandering such as Dwight Long’s and a little ship, stout as the IDLE HOUR

“This was our first Christmas at sea.  My wife surprised me with a large tin of tobacco, and I surprised her with a package of her favourite cigarettes. She had certainly bought both, and I had been aware of their existence all along, but that did not lessen our surprise or render the presents less appreciated.”

The Oosterschelde was built in 1917 and made a living tramping around the world with general cargo: coal from Cardiff, oranges from Morocco and Baltic timber. She’s survived hitting a second world war mine, abandonment and many storms.

“As the latest custodian of Māori Lass, I’ve often tried to visualise the people who’ve sailed her before us, the far-flung corners of the world she’s been to and the rough weather she’s survived. Rounding the buoys in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel during twilight racing with the Kettering Yacht Club just doesn’t seem a suitable enough challenge for her.”

It's not often that you come across a seventy year old, 30ft yacht that’s been around the world. The story of MAORI LASS has some great history but it also has some large blank chapters waiting to be filled by a yachting sleuth with the time and inclination to fill in the gaps.