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Rusalka Mist

Vancouver 28

DISCLAIMER: In what follows, I mention several real people and companies by name. I mean no harm; if I have a detail or a fact wrong here or there and it worries you, please e-mail me to help me put it right.

Family History

In the 1960s, a couple who lived in Vancouver, Canada, decided to emigrate to New Zealand. Their plan was to send their belongings on by carrier and follow in their own yacht, taking their time for the Pacific crossing. They commissioned an excellent naval architect and yacht designer named Robert Harris to design and build them the perfect yacht for this cruise.

Their journey over, this whole episode would have been forgotten except that Robert Harris later published an article about yacht design versus intended purpose, or some such topic, and included a drawing of this boat to illustrate his point, '...the perfect yacht for a couple on an extended ocean cruise...'.

This article was seen by Stuart Dandridge of Pheon Yachts in Sussex, England. He thought this boat looked like an excellent candidate for GRP mass production (the original had been traditionally built in wood). He contacted Robert Harris, secured the rights to the design, and soon GRP replicas were on the market as Vancouver 27s. These were heavily built to withstand all that the elements could throw at them and soon found a good niche-market among the new breed of long-distance cruising folk. Robert Harris had drawn a stretched version for small families or pairs of couples so the Vancouver 32 joined the family.

In 1984 Kevin Seymour, an architect also from Sussex, bought a Vancouver 27 called Collavoce. Like any owner, he found details about the boat which he felt could be improved. Suddenly he realised that many of the main problems could be solved by a small redesign to the moulds for the main hull and deck components.

He brought his architectural design skills, and his knowledge of boats, to the problem and proposed to Pheon that

then a much more practical craft would result.

His proposals were accepted on the basis that he should purchase the first boat from the modified moulds. This was all agreed and Islander, the first Vancouver 28, was built. About this time, Pheon Yachts Ltd ran into problems and the Vancouver moulds were acquired by Northshore Yachts Ltd of Itchenor, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 7AY. They continued production and Rusalka Mist was number 15 out of the mould in 1988.

Northshore have continued with the Vancouver range. The '32 was similarly extended to become the '34, a '36 had been added to the range and this was stretched into the '38. Optional 'Pilot House' versions have now been introduced in each case. Kevin Seymour became a director of Northshore for a while and was involved in many of these design updates. He has sold Islander and, interestingly, bought an old Pheon-built '32, calling it Islander II. He runs the Vancouver Owners Association which publishes a fairly regular newsletter. Outline Drawing of Rusalka Mist

Hull Number 15

A Jersey-based airline pilot called Duncan Wilson and his wife planned to go cruising in their retirement and commissioned a Vancouver 28 in 1988. Mrs Wilson is a music-lover and the boat was named Rusalka after the opera by Dvorak. They took delivery and began their shakedown local cruising in 1989.

Meanwhile I was talking to the retired Stuart Dandridge, of Pheon Yachts, via his brother in England. Stuart and his wife were coming to the end of their Mediterranean travels and Scarlet Runner, the boss's own Vancouver 32, would be for sale for £58 000 upon their return. This was about the price of a brand new '28 from Northshore at that time and seemed like a very good option. Either case would involve a ten-year marine mortgage for me.

I was discussing all this one day - as well as you can - with my dentist.
"An' sho, I jush carn deshide."
"I see. Open a little wider... that's better. Have you looked at the second-hand Vancouver 28 that's for sale over here?"
"The what?!"

I could afford to buy this one on a five-year loan. Saving five years of repayments is a lot. Duncan and his wife had decided they didn't really like the sailing lark and Rusalka was for sale.

In order to get a loan secured against the boat, she had to be registered under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 (Part 1). This is the same as for the QE II and means that she is a part of the British Merchant Fleet. I think she can even be requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence like the QE II was for the Falklands War! For this her name has to be unique on the British Register. We must be a nation of music lovers, because "Rusalka" was spoken for. She had to be renamed. I covered pages of scrap paper with alternative names. Haiku have nothing on this, a boat name is the shortest poem you ever can write. I wondered of it really was unlucky to re-name a boat. In the end I decided to extend rather than change the name.

Rusalka

I researched this name, Rusalka. It turns out that it comes from a central European myth or legend. In ancient times, the people of the forested lands around the River Danube believed that when you die, your spirit or soul goes to inhabit a tree. This makes the trees into the sacred dwellings of the tribal ancestors. Not a bad thing. But when a maiden dies, by drowning, it is a special case. Her spirit is trapped in a tree for most of the time, but on summer evenings it is allowed out and she may play and dance and sing with the spirits of the other drowned maidens on the river-side. These are the rusalki, these water nymphs, sometimes barely seen or heard on warm, summer nights.

If a man, coming back late through the woods, hears their cavorting, he may be tempted to go and steal a look. Perhaps over the centuries, their clothing will be mostly rotted and torn; their fit, young bodies gleaming and wet in the half-light... Not recommended. If they catch you peeking they will chase you, overpower you and drown you as surely as they were drowned.

I needed a single-syllable word that fitted with this image. Dawn? ...Dusk? ...Mist? I have been spelling Rusalka Mist over the radio, the telephone and now the internet ever since! ("...that's romeo, uniform, sierra...") I didn't realise that the word "Alchemist" would seem to be hidden in there somewhere, but I'm not sorry about that. Some also hear "Lusaka Mist".

Rusalka Mist has been our home, our love and our magic carpet whenever we've needed her ever since.