Delphinus is a Morgan Giles 30, designed by Ken Collier, built
by Somerset Plastics in 1975,
and fitting out was completed in Teignmouth in 1978. I bought her in March
1985. Delphinus was then named
"Jeanie Marie" and was kept in a mud berth in Rye.
I owned for for just three long years but I had my fair share of
adventures on her. I taught sailing for two seasons (1985 and 1987) out of
Dartmouth (Blueseas Sailing School) and between August 1985 and March 1987 we
were based in Guernsey (Beaucette Marina and St Peter Port's Victoria Marina).
From there I mostly day sailed her around the islands, either alone or taking
friends (most was 13 of us aboard, all colleagues from the Castel Hospital) -
Herm and Sark, and a couple of lone sails to Jersey, Alderney and Cherbourg.
During my time with her, Delphin sailed the length of the South Coast of England
from Rye to as far at St Mary's in the Scillies, as well as around the Channel
Islands and Cherbourg.
Delphin got me out of many a
scrape, although I suspect she played a not unsubstantial part in getting me
into those scrapes in the first place too - or at least the engine that she came
with. She was, is, much more than a boat. She was an extension
of me at the time. My protector, my guide, my retreat, my dear friend.
If you're interested - you can read what I wrote about those
adventures at the time (see links below) - during a brief two month period just
after I bought her. After those mishaps, we had both terrifying and
glorious times together (with her new and reliable Bukh engine!). She
never let me down - always kept me safe, got me through whatever danger was out
there. Engine failures, storms, fog, rigging failures - we got through it
together.
I reluctantly sold her in May 1988 as I was very pregnant, and
we needed the money!
Last year, 20 years on, I tracked her down - Delphinus now lives in Dielette, France (a short sail from
Guernsey) and is owned by Adrian and Delia Pogson of Southampton - they bought
her in 1996 from Mr & Mrs Chapman of Eastleigh.
