Martin O’Scannall loves the old, the eccentric, the offbeat — the quirky if you like; the wandering off into byways, the exploration of half-forgotten snippets of history. And Galicia, his home for the past decade or more, is ideal territory for indulging that taste. Galicia is a time warp: rain-swept, isolated, savage and gentle by turns, as far a cry from the blazing Costas as it is possible to imagine. This book is a conversation with the past, conducted in a very old, engineless gaff cutter, armed with the Admiralty Pilot, a gallant crew, and a sense of the ridiculous. We encounter, but in unexpected ways, the likes of Drake, Nelson, the ill-fated HMS Serpent, Celtic myth and legend, and the reminiscences of those who have gone before, all interspersed with the business of managing an old yacht in the old way: Walker log, paper charts and all. Beginning, as he says it has to be, with the dreaded storm at sea.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 140

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 05-07-2019

“I wonder if you can help me.” “Maybe I could, or maybe I couldn’t,” was the very Welsh reply. “What is it you are wanting?” “Would you happen to know of any boats for sale?” It was a question the young man had asked many times before, and always with the same result. Nothing suited. There was no shortage of boats, but every time there was a problem, either they were too big or too small or as one honest broker—and yes there is such a thing—remarked, “Don’t buy her. She will kill you.” It had been a long depressing catalogue of scrabbling about fusty old tore-outs (rotten timber gleaming with suspiciously fresh paint), ugly ducklings, and unspeakable lifeboat conversions. So there was no reason to suppose that this time would be any different. “What kind of boat is it you are looking for?” with barely concealed cupidity; for an outsider with money to burn in the wilds of the Isle of Anglesey was akin to manna from Heaven. “Something like that,” said the innocent, pointing out a dainty white cutter on her mooring in Holyhead harbour. “Well,” said he “I believe she may just be for sale.” He may well have added—but this might just be imagining—“You had better be quick, she is not on the market yet.” An Irish horse dealer could not have done it better. So began, in 1973, Martin O'Scannall's love affair with Sauntress, voted in 2013 one of Classic Boat magazine's Top 250 Boats. Here, in a series of delightful, engaging episodes ranging from Anglesey to Galicia by way of the West Country, the East Coast, the Netherlands, Norway and south-west Ireland, is what it is like to restore and sail—and be possessed by—a modest yet glorious 28ft gaffer dating from the golden age of Edwardian yachting. For the Love of Sauntress is illustrated with a gallery of outrageously beautiful photographs by Oscar Companioni, printed in monochrome and colour; these depict Sauntress in all her present-day glory, and were taken on a single, perfect August evening off the Galician coast during her annual match race with her local rival Abur.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 11-11-2014