A sailing friend who we (That’s the mate and me) have a lot of time for, and his mate too of course, contacted this week with news that they have sadly put their lovely Finesse 24, Josie, up for sale.

The boat is sail/hull number 63 and was built at the same time, more or less, as our Whimbrel. I was away at sea so Alan Platt wasn’t going to be launching our new boat until the spring of 1984, but Josie went away as soon as completed. Until she pitched up in the Ray channel of Chalkwell a couple of summers back I hadn’t seen her for 30 years.

Josie at her mooring in Oare Creek, near Faversham, Kent.

Josie’s previous owner did a huge amount of work on the hull of the boat and she has fabulous topsides. That owner sold the boat on to the current owner who sold his Finesse 21 at the same time … unfortunately they miss the F21, although loving the additional volume and the standing headroom… Funny old world.

It is clearly obvious that the owner has done a huge amount of work to cabin side varnish work…

The owner can be contacted on: grahamhadaway@lineone.net and full details can be obtained.

The boat is also listed on a boat sales company site.

Both pictures courtesy of Graham Hadaway, who is currently exploring possibilities…