I bought 'Fairweather' in November 2001. She had been owned by a Mr Peter Aylwood and had been kept whilst owned by him at the Elephant Boat Yard on the Hamble at Swanwick.

The owner had died and 'Fairweather' had been placed on the market, but for some reason had not sold. I viewed her (albeit she was looking rather neglected) and had a chat with the yard manager Brian. He told me that she had been maintained by the yard for many years and added that if he was in the position to, he would buy her himself! Anyway I had her surveyed and was impressed by what the surveyer David Hopkins had to say, and bought her.

She really is a lovely boat to own, strong, powerful and with a good turn of speed. With the shelter of her half wheelhouse she is the sort of boat that you can go places in and arrive in good shape.

I cruise her from Wicor Marine at Portchester near Portsmouth, a well run yard with good moorings, facilities and staff.

I sail mainly single handed but find her easy to handle. I generaly manage a Channel crossing or two during the smmer, or a trip to the Westcountry. Most of my sailing however is in the Solent.

I have addec plenty of upgrades over the 6 years I have sailed her, and these include:

Davits/ New Self tailing winches/ New GPS and plotter (Yeoman)/ Wheelhouse cover/4 x AGM batteries/Mast steps/DSC Radio/Adverc charging optimiser/New Genoa and Main Sail/New interior reading lights (halogen)/Air X windgenerator/Flemming wind vane self steering/ New Standing rigging/New running rigging/All old paint and anti foul slurry blasted off her under water sections./New masthead tricolour and anchor light/New wind speed and direction indicator.

These are in addition to the recent upgrades and work carried out by the previous owner which included:

New Stainless steel diesel tanks/Engine rebuild (now 600hrs ago)/ New anchor windlass/  New cooker. 

I run a Yahoo Group for Halberdier Owners which you can reach via the following link:

 http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Halberdiers/

The 2008 season included a first attempt at the Round the Island Race in my own boat and the weather was perfect. South westerly about 20 + kts. We did very well finishing in the top 1/4 on corrected time.

Actually it was probably the high point of the summer as the weather was of course generally awful.

A couple of planned trips to France came to naught due to strong winds.

This winter I have planned to have all the old pant stripped off the hull. She was painted about 18years ago with single pack paint and is now looking pretty tatty. Whilst I have her out of the water I am also getting the bottom blasted again ( 1st done when I bought her).. and then having her epoxied.

The Flemming wind vane selfsteeing was rather less than totally successful, which suprissed me. I just did not have enough grunt to steer the old boat, also it was always in the way of either the mizzen or the dinghy on the davits. I think it may go back from whence it came ... E-Bay