I bought Valmik in march 08! The old owner was trying to give the boat away, but no one would take her! I had wanted to learn how to sail for some time, here was a old wooden boat that the yard would be burning if no one took her, this was my chance. The local shipwright convinced me that sailing a little boat like this home would be the trip of a life time. He also volunteered his tutoring and mirror dingy for practise.
The restoration has taken way longer than expected and is still not finished. Out of the three years and two months of owning her, one year and three months have been spent full time on the reconstruction and one month making the sails for her. My whole life, since buying this folkboat, has be devoted to this cause!
And now she is finally in the water where she belongs. Valmik has been out of the water for over seven years. The planks were mostly in good condition for a 50 year old boat. But the heat was really starting to open them up. It is so good to finally have her in the water :-)
When she was lowered in I quickly jumped on to check how much water would be coming in, (An old wooden clinker built boat, that has been out of the water for a while, will need to soak for a few weeks before the planks take up and all of the leaks will stop) I was expecting lots but was still shocked to see water coming in everywhere along every plank and filling up quite quickly. So I did the best thing I could think of" go for a swim IN my boat".
