10/10/2013 0 Comments Meet Jack! It was just after 6.30 am on Tuesday morning when Peter first handed me the iPad and said, as I was busily preparing his lunch before he set out for work, ‘Here – You have to read this.’
In front of me was an email from a name I had never heard of before, asking if we were the people who had posted on an American schooner web-site and were the owners of the yacht Argos. The writer of the email went on to say that his father in law, a Jack Stolp has built a yacht in the 1980’s in Canada and was trying to locate that yacht now. I cannot begin to tell you how much delight this email has brought us – it feels like finding a long lost family member! We of course replied immediately with a confirmation that we absolutely were the owners of Argos, that our records indicated that she was built in 1984 by a Jack Stolp (other documents we had been shown when we first bought Argos had attributed her build to a Jack Slopp but further investigation showed this to be an error) in Canada and that we would love to talk with him more. Well since then there has been quite a flurry of emails back and forth across the cyber-Atlantic and we now have pictures of Argos on one of her earliest voyages, as well as recent pictures of Jack (with grandson Nicholas above) and are in the process of arranging a skype conversation with the man himself hopefully next week. To see Argos as she was soon after the build, to hear from those who were there when the hull was under construction, to hear stories of why she was built – these are all priceless details and we are, truly, delighted! In addition it is, we understand, also awesome for Jack to know how his beautiful yacht has fared across the years. It will be 30 years of course next year. Argos was built, he tells us, as a personal project, a yacht for his wife and himself to sail the world. They lived on board for 8 years and sailed extensively around Canada. His wife Paulina, sadly though became unable to manage with the steps and it became clear that their dreams to sail Argos around the world were not going to happen. And so Argos was sold. The fact that Argos was originally built for his own use tells us a lot about the extent to which attention was paid to detail on board. Argos is of course such an amazing piece of workmanship - we have always known that – now we know why. We had always understood that Argos was built in a ship yard but it has now become apparent that she was actually constructed privately, though in an email we received today, we were informed that a large team of people built the hull and afterwards they declared it the best hull they had made at that time – so it may be that the hull itself was professionally built – more about that later when we learn more! Clearly she was built well – for she is still afloat after one and a half circumnavigations of the globe! This is an unfolding story. Paulina has passed away and it was Jack’s desire to know if, even if it wasn’t he who had sailed the world in Argos, if she had been able to go on that journey herself. What a thrill it was to be able to say she is going so well – that we love her and look after her and that she has passed the test of time so well. Our days here in Batemans Bay are nearly at an end. The house is just weeks away from completion and we will shortly be setting sail again. We have enjoyed this surprise extended stay, but are so itching to be underway! In recent days we have been busy painting the interior – mostly wood surfaces which have been varnished and now look beautiful. Lots of little loose ends have been getting tied up. Yes, it has been an exciting few weeks all around!
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September 2017
Our life aboard Argos has been seriously challenged this year with the surprise departure of our skipper. As a writer, diesel mechanics and the complexities of many aspects of Argos’ on-going maintenance are way beyond me! We would like to see Argos continue to sail and eventually hope to use her to offer support, encouragement and a break to people who are struggling in their lives. Any on-going help towards maintaining Argos would be greatly appreciated and enable us to achieve this goal.
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