Sailing Zephyr IVvideo
76 Years Old, my friends begged me not to buy this boat | I did it anyway.
November 24, 2025 · 6 min · 142K views · Royal Clarence Marina, Portsmouth Harbour
What this video covers
Dave, a 76-year-old retired sailor from landlocked Derbyshire, buys a 35-foot Westerly Oceanquest 35 named Zephyr IV despite warnings from friends that he was too old.0:08 The boat had been neglected but surveyed mostly sound; after purchase, two months of scrubbing, painting, and polishing preceded her launch on the River Hamble.0:33 The first mechanical problem appeared immediately: a silted L-bend in the engine's cooling water feed to the exhaust required replacement before the engine ran reliably.1:07 Dave secured a temporary pontoon mooring on the Hamble and made several solo Solent passages, starting in near-calm conditions and building to reasonable sailing.1:58 He then moved Zephyr IV to a permanent berth at Royal Clarence Marina in Portsmouth Harbour, timing the entrance around an aircraft carrier exiting through the narrow channel.4:15 Post-move inspection identified a worn gooseneck (noted in the survey, temporarily shimmed with PTFE washers), a mainsail and genoa both needing replacement, old and oversized running rigging throughout, and a dirty deck.5:16 Dave last sailed seriously in the 1970s aboard a 24-foot boat called Cumulus, making this a 40-plus-year return to the water.1:33
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