Tomita
Tomita
was built in 1986 and, with a sail no. of 105, is probably one of the last
Vindo 45`s to be built at Henan. She was originally supplied to the then
Vindo agent in the United Kingdom, Tollesbury Marine, who were based on the
east coast of England. As they, also, are no longer in existence, little is
known of the original owner. However, the original name of the vessel was
"Saremzy" and remained that until 1995 when it was changed to her
existing name. She certainly spent the earlier years of her life on the South
West coast of England, particularly in Salcombe. She was sold in 1990 and
over the next few years had no less than three further owners until 1996 when
we found and fell in love with her.
She had been renamed "Tomita" by the owner directly before
us, and Tomita she has stayed Although
she had been lightly used since new, she appeared to have been somewhat
neglected over the years and was in need of some care and attention. The previous owner before us had begun the
process of restoring her and over the last few years we have continued to
spend a lot of time, hard work and lots of money to bring her back to the
condition she deserves. She attracts
admiration wherever we go, particularly in England and France where a Vindo,
and particularly a 45, is a very rare sight. In fact, over the last 4 years
we have only seen one other Vindo 45 on our travels. This
winter we have committed what many owners may regard as sacrilege and
converted her so that all halyards and reefing lines are led back to the
cockpit. We have not yet had the
opportunity to test the new system but we are hopeful of having a safer and
more comfortable season this year. In April, Tomita will start her summer wanderings
and is looking forward to a to a leisurely cruise down to South Brittany and
we have promised that we will go with her.
Please wave if you see us. John McQuade |
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Updated 2003-12-14