Lying in Ipswich. Please contact Nick for details by email or by phone on 07711 088762.
A124 is for sale to allow to pursue my Atalanta and sailing aspirations in different directions. Despite doing my best for the past five Helene has been afloat for only 10 seasons in the past 20 years and needs using more!
Helene has just been carefully prepared for the 2020 season, is well cared for and ready for new adventures. Over the past 20 years previous owners have restored her to a to a form that Fairey would have recognised. The concept was a lightweight cruiser and Helene is still very much that. She has everything needed for coastal cruising but has not been weighed down with extensive cupboards and offshore sailing equipment. The sails and rig are set up for simple and efficient single-handed sailing.
I am continuing to actively maintain, enhance and sail her until she is sold.
Headlines – what will you get?
- Ready to go and very pretty Atalanta
- 3/4 Rig
- Good sails, spars and rigging
- Sound hull and decks
- Yanmar 1GM10 engine
- Keel steelwork and lifting mechanism all v.g.c
- Did I say, a lovely looking Atalanta
- Full inventory – see list below
If you have not experienced an Atalanta already there are few (no?) boats with the space, performance and trailability at this price. Helene is by no means perfect. As with most boats of sixty years old there continue to be jobs each year, although the number which are non-routine are diminishing. I will be very happy to discuss likely ongoing repairs and maintenance with anyone interested.
Also available, by negotiation, are: an excellent galvanised trailer; wooden trestles, beams and jacks to raise her from the trailer for keel maintenance.
Inventory:
Rig Sails and Spars
- 3/4 Bermudan Sloop
- Hollow wooden mast & boom vgc
- Stainless rigging & bottle screws
- All sails in good condition, by Jeckells in 2000 but only seen about 10 seasons use
- Mainsail – loose foot, slab reefs (Roller-reefing gear included)
- Genoa & working jib, hanked
- (Also tired furling headsail, spinnaker and old mainsail)
- Bronze mast winches & handles
- Wire/rope main halyard and topping lift led aft to cockpit
- All wire headsail halyard
- Spinnaker halyard
- Sheet winches (modern)
- Barton headsail sheet tracks
- Mainsail cover (2015)
Deck Equipment
- Stainless steel pulpit, stanchions & lifelines. (Two sets, one full and one foredeck only)
- Bow roller / bitts plus additional bow fairleads.
- Midship mooring cleats
- Jackstays
- Anchors: 7kg CQR , 9kg Delta
- 40m of 6mm chain
- Boat hook
- Fenders x 6
- Warps
- Anchor light
- Original Fairey Marine boarding ladder shaped to hull including swimming extension
- Winch handles x 2
- Cockpit cover
Engine and Stern Gear
- Yanmar 1GM 10 engine
- Single lever gear/speed
- Inlet water filter
- 20l Plastimo fuel tank
- Sound-proofed engine bay (very quiet installation)
- Aquadrive unit – low vibration
- 3 bladed propeller
- Hand-start engine handle
Keels, Whipstaff and Rudder
- Galvanised keel steelwork vgc
- Two raising handles
- Keelbolt nuts modified for adjustment with socket ratchet
- Whipstaff tiller bearing and control lines all good condition
- Rudder control lines led into cockpit
- Rudder safety line (used when moored)
- Tiller lines for basic ‘self-steer’
Navigation Equipment
- Contest bulkhead compass
- Folio size chart table, chart stowage under
- Book / nav tools shelf units
- Furuno GPS (not ‘plumbed in’)
- Raymarine depth and log
- Chart table with chart stowage
- Motor sailing cone, anchor ball
Electrics
- Rewired
- Twin batteries (2015)
- New ‘circuit breaker’ switch panel 2017 incl. volt meter, ammeter, USB and cigar-lighter sockets
- Tricolour masthead light; bow steaming and stern lights.
- LED cabin lights
Safety Equipment
- Fire extinguishers x 2
- Fire blanket
- Fixed Navico VHF Radio
- Auto bilge pump in engine bay
- Portable Whale manual bilge pump, mount and hose
Galley
- 50l water tank, manual pump
- Origo twin burner alchohol stove, gimballed
- ‘Corelle’ ceramic plates and bowls
- Cutlery
- Cooking pans
Other Equipment – included
- 4″ Bunk Cushions (2000)
- Original Fairey curved shelves
- 4 in fore-cabin
- 2 in aft-cabin
- Chemical toilet
- (PAR Sea toilet, Blakes seacocks & hoses – all removed from boat)
- Deck scrubber and rubber bucket
- Full length winter cover in good condition
Trailing Equipment
- 3500kg RM twin axle trailer with shaped blocks for Atalanta and various chocks and blocks for use with other boats.
- Spare wheel
- Full width lighting board and cable
- 3 x 3” ratchet straps
- Extension mirrors for tow car
The trailer is highly configurable and can be used with many types of boat. I have used to carry a fin-keel Broads Yacht, lifting keel Snapdragon and Helene.
General Photos
Registered users of the AOA website may see many more photos of Helene and the work carried out on her. This can be found on her ‘Boat Page’.
Condition Photos – 2020
(Click any photo to start a slideshow)
These photos were taken in June-July 2020. Nick can supply further photos of any areas of specific interest.
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – starboard side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – starboard side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – starboard side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – port side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – starboard side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – starboard side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – port side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – port side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – port side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – port side
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- The hull and decks are in good, but not perfect, condition – port side
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- The decks
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- The decks
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- The decks
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- The main cabin and forepeak
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- The main cabin starboard
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- The main cabin port
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- The navigation area
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- The galley
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- New distribution panel in 2017
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- Batteries
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- Keel steelwork is in good condition – the stuff you can’t see too!
History
The first 30 years
Helene started her life on the South Coast, based in Poole. After a period being unused in the early 1970s she was given a ‘nuts and bolts’ restoration and sailed on the East Coast. The then owner was a regular contributor to the Annual Bulletin.
Helene then moved to the R.Ribble and then Pensarn before returning to the East Coast in the late 1980s where she was subject to further restoration work. The new owner renamed her ‘Rakshi’.
Then in the late 1990s she was sold to new owners and renamed again, this time to ‘Helene’.
2000s Restoration
The work done in the early 2000s involved a very large amount of money with a boatyard on the River Deben. The work included:
- Cockpit rebuilt including new bottom third to companionway bulkhead
- Deck repairs
- New toe-rails, traditional yacht style rather than the ‘cotton-reels and rail’ original
- Excellent new cockpit coaming – comfortable and effective at keeping the water out!
- Reconditioned Yanmar 1GM10 fitted
- New sails and rigging including headsail twin luff groove foil
- New sails (Jeckells)
- New 4″ vinyl/foam bunk cushions
My ownership
When I bought her in 2007 Helene had been stored in a barn for a couple of years. Her uncluttered, original configuration, without excessive cupboardary, lockerage or inventory made her stand out. The decks were showing signs of distress – particularly the aft deck and the join with the Blister. I started to renovate the decks which were suffering from some delamination. Through a lack of focus and rose-tinted spectacles (and competition from another boat) it wasn’t until 2015, 10 years after she last saw the water, that I relaunched her. I so enjoyed her that year!
2007 -2015 Significant Works
- Aft deck rebuilt with new ‘hoop’ frames and new panels on starboard side.
- Foredeck delaminations repaired with new veneer and whole area ‘doubled’ with 6mm ply on the underside, significantly increasing stiffness
- Blister centreline strengthened and repaired
- Blister-deck quadrant join remade
- Engine professionally prepared
- Mast truck to keel bottom repaint / revarnish
- Sails converted from headsail foil to hanked on
- Trailer refurbished
- Interior lighting changed to LED
2016-2020 Significant Works
- Conversion to loose footed mainsail on original wooden boom
- Full length lifelines removed and replaced with shorter lifelines for foredeck (members: see Bulletin 2017-18)
- Sea toilet replaced with ‘mobile’ chemical loo
- Switch panel replaced, wiring rationalised and tidied, addition of meters and USB sockets