History | 3rd5thLancingScouts

Our History

How it all Started

The yacht was donated to the Scout Group by a local lady whose husband and son had both very sadly passed away through cancer. Having bought SUPETA new, they had been fitting her out for their retirement planning an adventurous voyage to Australia.

The sails have never been used, engine not run but had unfortunately sat for many years and rain water got inside causing extensive damage rotting all from the bottom up.

It has been an incredible journey removing the engine and all the rotten wood, finding more with every bit exposed.

Even the engine bearers were like wet paper. So a massive strip out and rebuild exercise began installing new bulkheads, supports…….. the list goes on and on.

We had virtually stripped out the interior of the yacht and repaired or replaced. As she had been sitting for many years, water ingress had rotted most of the wood inside, which has all now been replaced.

When we first took custodianship of SUPETA, she did not look to bad, but as we started to take things out, we found more and more that needed replacement.

Thanks to a small but dedicated few we started getting close to getting SUPETA to a high standard. Installed is also the latest electronic radio and navigational equipment.

The engine had never run on SUPETA, so needed major maintenance and inspection. We took it out and made sure everything was working perfectly before putting it back and firing for the first time in the boat (See video below) With thanks to Peter from Automarine Diesel services in Hove who kindly refurbished some parts of the engine for us.

Just like the inside of SUPETA, the deck needed a lot of work. Although glassfibre, it had had a teak one fitted on top fastened by drilling through and bolting which caused water to creep through. Wood needed replacement with a lot of sealing to stop the leaks, SUPETA was made water tight.

Also additional strengthening for some of the mast support stays was added. Most of the wiring needed replacing, with one poor soul climbing up the mast to replace navigation lights and aerials.

Launch Day

On Thursday 23rd July 2020, and after 4 years out of the water we finally managed to Launch Supeta at the Sussex Yacht Club in Shoreham .

Even though she is now in the water the project is not over, there is still plenty to do to keep the Yacht maintained. We would like to thank Tom Smith for leading this project. We now have a Sail training yacht to be very proud of.