Fintry's Conversion

The ongoing story of her conversion into an expedition yacht.

We are in the final stage of converting Fintry into an expedition yacht based in Boston. She is able to go anywhere in the world, although not at any time of year.

The story begins with her construction by John Lewis & Sons, Ltd. in Aberdeen, Scotland in the early 70's. She was commissioned in 1972. We don't know a lot about her service in the RMAS, but we have been told (thank you to Kathleen MacDonald) that Jonny Wiseman was her skipper from 1972 until 1986 and then his son Donald until 1997.

All of this was at Kyle of Lochalsh, across Kyle Akin from the Isle of Skye, Scotland, carrying passengers and assisting at the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre.

In the late 90's, she spent some time in Greenock. While there, she was presented a Gideon Bible. The Navy decided to privatize her work. This meant that Serco Denholm, who were operating her for the Navy, had to adopt the MCA (British Coastguard) safety regulations. Carrying 110 passengers below decks with only one exit was no longer possible. She got an extended deckhouse forward to carry 60 passengers, a new bulkhead splitting the engine room in two, and other modifications. Her hatches were plated over and her holds were unused in this service. She had no berths when we bought her. She was sent to Plymouth and renamed "Eilidh M." She looks very smart in this photo, probably taken there around 2000.

She's shown here, doing what she was built to do, go alongside a frigate while both are doing six knots. The frigate is HMS Sutherland, F81, in Plymouth. For the C.S. Forester fans among you, note that the fictional HMS Sutherland is Hornblower's command in Ship of the Line. Tony Collins bought Fintry in Plymouth in 2001, but his plans changed and he sold her to us in late 2002.

In January 2003, we moved her to Manor Marine, a yard with a great deal of small ship experience, at Portland Harbour, Dorset. Manor extended the wheelhouse by four feet, extended the aft upper deck to the hull line, installed the Cat 3406, two Northern Lights gensets, and the bow thruster, as well as stripping her to bare steel and repainting and replacing the rub rail all around. They also added two fuel tanks of 1,800 USG each and two water tanks of 500 USG each.

We left Portland on June 14, 2005 and spent the night of the 16th in Falmouth because of the weather (35 knots on the nose -- Fintry was fine with it, but why get beat up when there's a good port to leeward)? We then left for the Azores on the morning of the 17th. Here's our steadfast crew for the Atlantic Crossing. Bill Hart, Larry Hennessy, and Chris Ware, shown on the quay in Horta. They put up with the bad weather night south of England, and then much better, almost perfect conditions crossing from the Azores to Boston. Thanks, guys.

We spent three days in Horta. Dee spent most of the time painting our calling card, which joined hundreds, maybe thousands, left by boats visiting Horta.

We arrived in Boston July 8, 2005 Fintry's new home is Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina. We kept Sweetwater there for her refit before our circumnavigation and it's a great place -- good people, good facilities, and a wonderful view of the Boston skyline.