Step back in time and Sail away from it all on an old classic wooden boat.
Enjoy the creak of the blocks, the wind in your hair, the solid warm timbers of a traditional old classic working boat. Your help will be needed with all aspects of sailing the boat but there will be plenty of time to sit back and watch the world slip by.
Golden Vanity was built in 1908 and is available to charter today, with an experienced skipper. She is a Mumble Bee which is a class of Brixham Sailing Trawler from the late 19th and early 20th century.
She has had a varied and interesting past. She was built for renowned marine artist, Arthur Briscoe who captured some of the last days of traditional working sail from her decks whilst sailing with his wife, small son and sometimes guest crew and pal author Erskine Childers.
She has passed through the care of several owners since then: another artist, 2 Olympic rowers, one chap who took her across the Atlantic on more than one occasion, a charity and now she is in our care.
She has recently been modernised and now has hot water and heating for the cooler months.
Roughly, she will be based in the Solent until around May when she will head to the West Country. She will stay there until September time ish before returning to the Solent.
We have some fixed dates in the diary when we will be using her for RYA Courses, [cruising] and [Duke of Edinburgh award] voyages but we can fit charters around these dates or you can take the whole boat for one of our existing planned cruises or courses.
She is available to charter along the south coast of the UK.
If you would like to charter her for a longer period or wish to go further afield then please call us to discuss what you are thinking. Golden Vanity can go anywhere.
Golden Vanity is 53ft overall and 39ft on deck. Her beam is 12ft and her draft 7ft.
Her pine decks are wide and spacious with high bulwarks. There are 5 sails to play with – 3 headsails, the main and the topsail. There are no winches so traditional methods are used to handle the ropes. The gaff rig is a powerful rig but each sail is small enough to be handled by 3 or 4 people and less if needed.
Down below is cavernous. Up forward is the main accommodation area. There are 6 cosy bunks here arranged into 3 sets of 2. There are steps going up to a whale back forehatch in the foredeck. There is a spacious heads.
Above the saloon area is a butterfly hatch that sends light streaming in. Along the starboard side is a galley with a sink and descent sized cooker. On the port side is a table and outboard of that a good sized single berth. The saloon settee around the table could be used as a bunk if needed.
Aft of the saloon is the chart table and two single berths, one each side for the skipper and the mate.
Golden Vanity is coded to take 12 and for day sailing this number would be fine. A comfy number for chartering and sleeping on board would be the skipper and mate and up to 7 others.
To see what set dates we have for cruises in the West Country or from the Solent have a look at this Sailing Holiday page and to see details of Golden Vanity's history or how she is made have a look here.