In 2001, I bought a Tela Dayboat from Greg Dalrymple at Salterns Boatbuilders in Old Bursledon. We named her Buccaneer.

Greg had set up Salterns Boatbuilders in 1996. The yard had originally been built in the early years of the last Century by the Admiralty as a base for experimental boom defence systems. It then became the operational base of the Secret Service (MI5), founded by Mansfield Smith-Cummings, whose spies included Erskine Childers, Compton MacKenzie, and John Buchan. Used as a base for the construction of experimental hydroplanes in the 1930s, it was then taken over by British Aerospace, initially as a place to store drawings and plans away from their main Hamble site in case of bombings. However, its quiet secluded location soon led to it being used to build midget submarines in WW2. It seems that it was abandoned after the war, and was eventually bought in the 1980s by a private owner. The site is designated as an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).

Greg ran Salterns as a small traditional boatbuilding outfit. Working alone or with one assistant boatbuilder, he specialised in producing classic gaff-rigged boats, with GRP hulls moulded from old original boats: the Memory 19, the Tela Dayboat, and the Wagtail Dinghy. He also turned out some one-offs – I remember a catboat being launched with her owner during one of my visits to the boatyard in Salterns Lane.

Situated on a small creek, off the Hamble river, Salterns Boatyard was an idyllic spot. I loved the Boathouse too: boats in the process of being built, the smell of wood and varnish, the tools, and the solid fuel burner in the corner, complete with the kettle. Indeed, I wonder if my desire to learn boatbuilding comes at least in part from my visits to that yard, and to seeing Greg’s work.

The original Tela was a ‘seeking’ boat from the Bristol Channel, built in 1911 on the Barry Docks in South Wales. Whereas the better-known Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters would race to the Scillies to meet incoming ships and provide a pilot, the little ‘seeking’ boats provided the same service for hopeful pilots, but did so in the vicinity of the docks themselves. These working boats had to be both seaworthy for their year-round work, and fast – the first to arrive got the pilotage job.

Apparently, Tela was built by an out-of-work Norwegian shipwright/sea captain, Gustav ‘George’ Helstrom, with the intention to outclass the current fastest ‘seeking’ boat, Stranger. Whether or not she did become the fastest boat at that time, is unknown, but she certainly proved her worth, later racing successfully in the Barry Yacht Club.

It was Chris Libby who designed the ‘modern day’ Tela at Penryn Bridge Boatyard. During a slack winter, he decided to build a GRP gaff-rigged dayboat. Finding the 16′ 6” Tela, rotting away on a beach up the river Fal, he decided that she would provide the ideal mould for his new boat.

Chris built about a dozen Tela Dayboats. In the late 1990s, Greg Dalrymple bought the moulds, made some amendments, and started production. Buccaneer is the fourth Tela built by Greg. At Salterns, he amended Tela’s design by changing the shallow L-shaped centre-plate to a higher-aspect ratio casting, that weighs in at 80lb (36kg). This increased the draught from 2ft 10in to 4ft with the centre plate down – just 1ft 2in (0.36m) with it raised.

Her LOA is 16′ 6″” (5.03m) – extended to 18′ 9″” with bowsprit (5.7m). Her beam is 5′ 6″ (1.68m).

With 550lb (250kg) of lead ballast, Tela now had a 50% ballast ratio, allowing Greg to increase the size of the rig by 30% to 150sq ft (14sq m). A topsail can also be rigged. I have one, but I find it more awkward than useful.

She is very stable indeed, and can usually be sailed without needing to sit out on the side decks; yet she is responsive, and easy to handle single-handedly if necessary.

Buccaneer is rather too heavy to launch and recover for a day’s sailing. She needs a mooring, and that has been the only real drawback. For a couple of seasons, I kept her in the creek by Salterns Boatyard, but was beginning to outstay my welcome. I moved her to a pontoon birth in Haslar Marina for a couple of years, which was very convenient, but costly. (Marinas usually charge by the length – including the bowsprit!!) I just wasn’t getting out enough to justify the fees. Since then, she has given us fun on the Norfolk Broads during a holiday in 2008 but, I am ashamed to say, has otherwise sat ‘berthed’ in our garage.

Now that I am working just a little, and have finished the Boatbuilding Course at IBTC, I hope that she will get a new lease of life. I have found her a berth at Fareham Marina. What it lacks in terms of ready access to the Solent, it makes up for in accessibility … and has cheaper fees than Haslar.

So, it’s time for a quick refurb. The sails have been checked, the spars have been prepped and varnished, the floorboards removed and re-oiled, and a split in the mast step has been fixed. I just need to service the outboard, scrape her hull and give her a couple of coats of antifouling.

The Tela really is a beauty, and Buccaneer always draws attention and admiring remarks and questions. It will be great to see her back in her element once again!