The Story of Yacht Zulu

This is Zulu in Blaine, Washington State—a stones throw from the US-Canadian border—her first home with us as owners. We found her on the internet for sale in Sidney, Vancouver Island, Canada and took the British Columbia ferry there to test her mettle: a one-off 45 ft Gibbons aluminium hull, cutter designed by Graham Shannon. We sipped hot latte’s in a quaint coffee shop contemplating the fog and rain that February winter’s day: what turn in our lives would it bring?

The sun came out and a good stiff wind prevailed to top the test sail off as exhilarating. We were sold and it showed as we laughed out loud with glee, heeled over sailing to windward at 8 knots, oblivious to crab pots and reefs and Russ’ cut hand bleeding on the cockpit sole. The Agent’s representative luckily took responsibility for us giddy customers and smiled knowing we were hooked.

It was love at first sight and the name rang true to the Zulu tribe I grew up with in Natal, South Africa. The owner was a Scot, and named the boat after a class of Scottish fishing boats called Zulu. The twine did meet. And the day we took delivery the owner, his wife, and two sons quietly cast us the lines with sweet melancholy.