It was one of those phone calls you will always remember.  Sitting in that office, at that desk, looking out of that window, and a dis-embodied voice saying, ‘Your boat has gone down at her mooring.’ The second day of January. Happy New Year!
It is often said that there is a spiritual element to boat-ownership, over and above the actual sailing.  For me, just the glimpse of Fintra at her mooring, when driving the end of Kenvara, would lift the spirits.  But there is also a ‘spiritual’ downside, - the feeling of guilt when you go off sailing someone else’s boat when you should be spending time with your own, or the numerous, vague, passage plans, most of  which you know, deep down, will always remain plans, never to be passages.

Once over the initial shock, the reality of my situation began to dawn on me.  Having no off-season insurance, (Yes, I know.) the cost of engaging a professional salvage agent was prohibitive.  On the other hand, she couldn’t stay where she was. There followed several days of discussion with numerous friends and acquaintances, each with different advice as to how Fintra should be refloated.  Key to the problem appeared to be how much buoyancy would be needed to raise her to the surface. Is there inherent buoyancy in the wooden structure and are we just lifting the weight of the keel, engine, rig and fittings?

In the end the plan, for what it was worth, was to get as much buoyancy as possible attached to the hull, until she was off the bottom, then swing her toward the west bank on successive high tides. Denzyl produced a large number of plastic barrels from that limitless storage facility where he seems to have anything anyone might ever need. .

Alan Wilson, John Thompson and Brian Cunningham, from Portrush Yacht Club, generously offered their diving services, and numerous Coleraine Yacht Club members gave of their valuable time to assist in the operation. Working in very poor visibility and hampered by the strong current, John & Brian did manage to attach enough barrels to raise the stern off the river bed. At that point it became clear that, with the weight of the mooring, much more buoyancy would be required.

Ten days later we were approaching spring tides and the second attempt was made.  This time, with the assistance of Castlereagh Diving Club, we managed to get two large lift bags under the bow.  This lifted her off the bottom and brought her to just below the surface.  At this point, a long shoreline was attached, as well as a line to ‘Kate’s’ mooring, just upriver. The divers then cut Fintra’s own mooring line (below the hand-buoy, unfortunately), and she was free, floating with her coach-roof just breaking the surface.

Then began the process, at each successive low tide, of getting more buoyancy into her and then, as she lifted with the tide, moving her further inshore.  Eventually, she was against the reeds and, at low tide, the gunwales were above the water. Now, with the cockpit drains plugged we could get a pump on board and in no time she was floating on her own account and could be towed down to the marina and lifted out.

However, we got off lightly! Fintra has always been fairly low-tech.  Powered by a single-cylinder air-cooled diesel,  the only electronics are the lights, log, echo-sound and radio, all powered direct from the battery.   Immediately on recovery the engine was removed, drained and filled with diesel oil. Two weeks later, with no other servicing or maintenance, it started on the second turn of the crank.  Obviously the log, sounder battery etc are scrap. Other than that the only damage sustained was a pair of broken spreaders and a big hole in the owners pride.