FIELD WITH DREAMS

Many the man in question a restoration article starts with a brief history of the boat before going on to describe the job, making reference in passing to the builder. Sometimes, though, is as interesting as his boat, so before taking readers through the life and changing times of Uandi, I’m going to introduce you to Alastair Garland. Alastair and I first crossed tacks around 1990 when the foreman of the Elephant Boatyard at Bursledon sent him along to caulk my old pilot cutter. This should have been a daunting task with 50ft of planking, as he observed, on both sides. The seams were 80 years from new and had been around the block more than once, but Alastair had her ‘clattered up tight’ in short order.

Learning that he’s a Cornishman who served his time building fishing boats on the beach at Porthleven, you’ll be forgiven, as I hope I was, for assuming that big lumps of wood, heavy mauls and shifting deep-draught boats on greasy ways are his preferred stock in trade. His unique brand of Cornish longshore humour and general ‘wind-up’ does nothing to dispel the impression. It helps to give as good as you get with Alastair, and that’s when he surprises you with acts of kindness that reveal the man himself. As to the heavyweight skill-set, you couldn’t be more wrong. A few years after the great caulking bonanza, Alastair went self-employed to follow his heart. All his life, when occasion permitted, he had been restoring finely constructed smaller craft. Now, he set to it full-time had been awarded ‘best in show’ at Henley Regatta.