Peter O'sullivan

hi my name is peter o'sullivan from dagenham east,essex. i am a compleet novice at sailing having last sailed at the age of 15-16 in a small dingy at maysbrook park.i have decided to take up sailing as a retirement activity along with my love of fishing,both freshwater and sea. i do have some experience with boats having a ski boat in the 70's-80's,mostly on the crouch or blackwater.i also own a caravan at steeple bay so hope to learn to sail around that area,where there is a big expance of water so hopefully i won't cause any body to much trouble. i bought my seahawk from simon who seemed quite sad to see her go,but his job and young family gave him no time to do her proud,  but did say she was a pleasure to sail.i do have a few jobs to do on her to get her up to scratch but i'm sure it is all straight forward enough with a little help from this forum. i have done a bit of research on what would be a good starter boat and it seems to me i have made a good choice especialy as i will be sailing single handed most of the time once i am proficient enough.i have learnt that my boat was previously named hawkeye and would like to use that name again if that is possible? i would also like to let you know that i am a novice when it comes to computers and the use of a forum,you would not believe how long it has taken for to fathem this out.lets hope i've got it right this time because i need your advice on lots of things. regards peter.

Hi Peter,

I know that the Thames used to be an area where boats were registered by name, but as far as I know all inland navigation authorities now register boats by number. So, these days, unless on the coast and your local boatyard or marina insist on you having a unique name, I do not believe there is anything to stop you picking any name of your choice for your boat.

I like Hawk-eye too!

Hi Peter
You mentioned in your email that you'll be sailing single handed, so you might like to know that the Seahawk sails surprisingly well without a jib, though you can't get quite so close to the wind when tacking.  Good luck with your new boat.
Victoria (Marsh Marigold)
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