AFTER MUCH SOUL SEARCHING AND REVIEWING OF OUR OPTIONS, WE DECIDED TO PUT TULU ON THE MARKET IN PHUKET IN JULY 2016.

WE DID NOT FANCY RISKING A SUEZ TRANSIT BACK TO TURKEY, OR THE LONG SLOG AROUND SOUTH AFRICA AND BACK TO THE CARIBBEAN, SO WE HAVE REACHED A NATURAL CONCLUSION TO OUR VOYAGES.

SHE HAS, INEVITABLY, SOLD FAR QUICKER THAN WE HAD THOUGHT, SO WE ARE HEADING HOME NOW IN LATE AUGUST TO THE UK AND STARTING OUR NEXT PROJECT BY BUILDING A STEEL BARGE TO CRUISE THE RIVERS AND CANALS OF EUROPE.

BITTERSWEET, WE HAVE SEEN SOME AMAZING PLACES OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS AND 30,000 MILES, MET SOME WONDERFUL PEOPLE AND MADE SOME INCREDIBLE FRIENDSHIPS...ALL THANKS TO TULU AS OUR HOME.

THANKS FOR FOLLOWING US!

Chris and Sara

xxx

These are the voyages of TULU, a 42' catamaran built by Lagoon in France for Chris and Sara in 2009.

Well, we did it.

We sold the big old farmhouse in Somerset in late 2009, and moved to our little house in the coastal town of Fowey, Cornwall. We bought this house 15 years ago before the town was ‘discovered’ and we are happy to call it home. 

The boys are happy, independent and on track so we continue the small steps on our own journey.

Why the name TULU?

Short, sweet, unusual, and, most importantly, the nickname of the wizzened old lady who was Chris’s nanny as a child growing up in Jamaica. 

Why a catamaran?

After a lifetime of cruising and racing monohulls in the UK and Asia (Fastnet/China Sea Race for example), the attraction of a dry, flat, spacious, living on the level, steady, easy, catamaran seemed like a plan. Somewhere to live, sail and comfortably accommodate two additional crew for passages, or two couples for holidays - ALL boxes ticked.

Why a Lagoon 421?  

Not pretty, but solid, stable and comfortable for downwind ocean crossings, spacious, and at 42’ long, small enough for two to handle, but at 25’ wide, a massive space to live in. The compromise of cost versus the build inflexibility of a production boat accepted and managed. Upwind performance also compromised on for magic reaching and downwind sailing. Fitted with all the equipment from generator to watermaker to aircon for comfortable living, from Digital Radar to AIS to autopilot to cruising genneker for safe and secure ocean cruising, from SSB (long range), VHF (short range) and satellite (anywhere) communications for voice, email and weather for added safety and the crucial ability to stay in touch with the people that matter.

So, what was the plan?

We took delivery of the boat at the end of June 2010, spent two months aboard in the UK ironing out commissioning snags, and getting as many friends and family out sailing when the weather was reasonable in Poole and Fowey.

We sailed out of the Fowey estuary on 26th August 2010 bound for Fethiye in Turkey. The passage took in Gibraltar non-stop, Palma (for minor radar repairs), Sicily, Croatia, Ionian Greece, Athens via the Corinth Canal, and a mad dash across the Aegean via Khea, Paros and Symmi to arrive Fethiye on the 20th October 2010. Phew!

We spent twenty months in Fethiye, cruising the incredible coasts of South West Turkey and the Dodecanese Islands of Greece. Beautiful bays and islands for cruising, excellent marinas and great facilities. Fethiye also has a great local year round community with exceptional markets, restaurants, walks and historical sites. Hard as it was to leave, it was time to say a sad farewell to our friends there at the end of July 2012, after a haul-out, new antifouling and a few minor underwater repairs/service jobs.

So with the boys careers and personal lives both on track (one a doctor and one in finance), we (very proud parents of course) headed off west across the Mediterranean, and out to the Canaries for a couple of months. At the end of November 2012, we crossed the Atlantic to Barbados (how simple those 2800 nautical miles sounds when written down) with Christmas in Carlisle Bay, and then on overnight to Grenada to spend the next year cruising in the Caribbean, starting with the Windward Islands and Southern Leewards. We hauled out at the end of July in Grenada for the 2013 hurricane season and after a three month break in the UK, we were back in the water at the end of October. 

We headed west (always west you will note) from Grenada at the end of November via Bonaire and Curacao, and on to Colombia for Christmas 2013.  Then on to the San Blas Islands of Panama in mid January 2014 and from there to Colon at the northern side of the Panama Canal. We transitted the canal on 10th/11th February 2014 and in to the Pacific Ocean. We crossed to the stunning Galapagos Islands followed by the 'big one' (3200nm) and arrived in the Marquesa Islands of French Polynesia in April and on to the beautiful Tuamotus, Tahiti and the Leewards Islands of Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora. A short few weeks in Suwarrow and Tonga in July 2014 and on to Fiji for most of August and September.

After the paradise of Fiji, Vanuatu was a fabulous if brief volcano stop and New Caledonia was very French. Final passage for 2014 was to Bundaberg and down the coast via lovely Mooloolaba to Brisbane for the cyclone season.

Home for Christmas in the UK, followed by road touring in early 2015 in New Zealand and South East Australia.

We arrived in Malaysia in early November after the four month rally up through Indonesia. A short one month cruise up the west coast to Langkawi and then on to Phuket, Thailand for Christmas 2015, with the boys and their fiancee (yes, both engaged now) joining us for the holidays.

Early 2016 visitors included Judy and Barry, Rog and Lou and finally Simon and Elain. We hauled out in March and headed home for three months, for Jonno and Bex wedding in April.

Might stop for a breather now!