The Voyages of Tra Bhui: Owning Tra Bhui

Trá Bhuí

This is my record of owning the Gig - Trá Bhuí.

Trá Bhuí is a 25’ long Drascome Gig (no 69 (1994) built in Totnes, Devon by Honnor Marine (UK) Ltd. – not to be confused with the current Honnor Marine in Rochdale)

The name Trá Bhuí, is Irish Gaelic (and I think Scottish Gaelic) for - Yellow Strand or beach. It was named after a mile long beach near Sligo in Ireland where its previous owner lived.

Road sign - seen in Baltimore during DA Rally there 2014

So what is a Gig? – According to the Drascombe Association, - “Never intended for the private buyer, the Gig is a pure sail training craft designed for use by Navies. Previously, the Royal Navy used the Montagu Whaler for this purpose, but these boats were getting well past their best, and new ones have not been built since the 1950s. The Longboat was considered too small, so the Gig was designed for this specific market”

Why a Gig? – After having borrowed from our local library the excellent Lugworm books by Ken Duxbury when I was about 12 years old I have always had a deep seated desire to own a Drascombe Lugger and if time and funds permit spend some time pottering around the coast of Greece.

Ownership of a Lugger eventually came to reality when some four years ago I purchased a “project boat” from an outward bound school in the Lake District via EBay. Having surprised my long suffering “crew” with a romantic weekend in the Lake District she was even more surprised when I came to pick her up with a trailer behind the car. Later that night with the help of 12 men recruited from a local pub my newly purchased Lugger (Braveheart) was on the trailer and my project could begin.

Jump forward 2 years

With Braveheart having been completely renovated and with a number of cruises and Drascombe Association Rallies under our belts, a new project was required. What about another Drascombe? While the Lugger proved to be an excellent boat, it proved to be a bit cramped to sleep on when loaded with camping gear and towing a tender, something else along the lines of the Lugger but a bit bigger would be ideal.

With or without a cabin? As I still really wanted a Lugger I decided that the next boat should also be an open boat – as my “crew” was not consulted on this there were no objections to my proposal! About that time (2011), Churchouse Boats was advertising a Gig on their brokerage page on behalf of a seller in America. The Gig to my eye is one of the nicest looking Drascombes with its traditional Lug Sail and at 25 feet long (nearly seven feet longer than my Lugger) it was an ideal size. An offer was quickly made but unfortunately, it came to nothing as the seller had I think sold it locally, but the seed of an idea had been sown as the Gig not only gave me the space that I wanted but it had potentially more performance (speed) than the other boats in the Drascombe range. The fact that it was designed as a sail training boat for a crew of 12 and that it had nearly twice the sail area of a standard Lugger had to be considered but in the end the decision was made.

Jump forward 2 years

Due to various influencing factors – children leaving home, down turn in the British (Scottish) economy etc., 2012 saw me working overseas again. With more free time in the evenings I found more time to window shop for boats, but it was not until early in 2013 that I saw an advert for a Drascombe Gig that caught my interest. After a bit of coming and going I was the new owner of a bright yellow Gig named Trá Bhuí.

After waiting for the right moment if there is such a thing, my “crew” was advised of this new purchase just before it was delivered. Luckily being over six and a half thousand miles from home does at times have its advantages at times!

A few logistical issues had still to be overcome – I was in the Philippines , the boat was in Sligo (Ireland) and home was near Glasgow (Scotland), however with the help of the seller the boat was delivered to its new home in May 2013 although I would not see it myself until the end of June. That would be the starting point for the voyages of Trá Bhuí.