Dory Man is our beloved sailboat and adventure vessel. She is a 35 ft 352 Halberg Rassy from 1986 (Nr. 518), who came into our lives in October 2018. Dory Man was originally purchased by three Dutch gentlemen who used the boat to go fishing in the North Sea. She was later owned by a Danish couple, who in 2008 sold Dory Man to Kitte and Erling. They had ten years of family fun and sailing around the Danish island Sjælland until they decided it was time for the boat to find a new captain.
Dory Man, as the name might have revealed already , refers to the same named famous Dory who was a great Man – just kidding. It’ most likely named after a specific kind of small fishing vessels, called Dorys (A “doryman” refers to the person sailing the vessel). We speculate that the first owners had that in mind when they apparently transformed a brand new Halberg Rassy into a fishing cutter. Well, who are we to judge their decision? Thus the name remains Dory Man and She/He/It is still the occasional fishing vessel– but alas not a very successful one.
When we purchased Dory Man, she had already gathered a fine amount of engine hours and was not equipped with latest modern sailing equipment. So we took care of the important stuff and got a new mainsail, overhauled the Genoa and got a scrappy spinnaker. We’ve also replaced the rigging and installed a new autopilot along with a new anchor winch, AIS, a life raft and other safety gear. Obviously we overhauled the engine – nope, just kidding again – we just treat it with TLC. That’s all elderly engines require to keep going, right?
One of the more controversial things we installed while living onboard was water-heated radiators, which also heats the water and keeps the old lady (the engine, not Pernille) warm. It works pretty well, and if we use the motor for longer periods it will actually slowly warm the radiators as well. Anyway, now that we are sailing it is often a rather slow method to warm the boat – an air heater would be faster and better against moisture. But hey, even on anchor we have warm water for dishes (and a shower), maybe not enough water, but it’s warm. Did we mention the 18 m2 of Armaflex insulation we used to fight condensation and the Scandinavian cold? It’s very efficient, but a lot of work.
If you’ve read so far, you probably wonder how Dory Man sails. Well with our limited experience and feedback we can say; it’s a Halberg Rassy and you can trust Her/Him/It to take the beating. Despite the age our boat is fast and elegant, handles heavy weather well and is a beauty. No surprise there is such a fuss about them in the sailing community. However as for every boat, maintenance can be a real pain at times, but that’s also part of the process/adventure right?
A Green Heading 