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OWNERS
Barry and Orla Tiernan were competitive dinghy and catamaran sailors before moving into racing keelboats and then cruisers. They changed from a Parker 27 to the 325 six years ago.
Sometimes you find sailors who seem so well suited to their boat that it’s hard to imagine them owning anything else.
Take Barry and Orla Tiernan with Sulito, their Parker 325, for example. In their ownership since 2016 and preceded by a Parker 27, Sulito is based at Parkstone Yacht Club, which is home to more Parkers and Seals than any other club in the UK. Parkstone is also the final destination for a week-long rally in May, starting in the Solent and moving on to Poole, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Parker and Seal Sailing Association (PSSA).
It’s no surprise that Parkers and Seals are so popular in harbours with large expanses of shallow water, such as Poole and Chichester. These boats have always had lifting keels, from the very first Seal 22 that John Baker built to Angus Primrose’s original design in 1970, right up to the last Parker 335 built by Parker Liftkeel yachts in 2009.
In-between came several variations of the 22, plus the 28 and 850, followed by Ron Holland’s Super Seal 26. These were all built under the Seal banner by Baker, before Bill Parker took over and introduced the Parker 27, 275, 285, 21 (derived from the Mini Seal), 235, 31, 325 and 335. In total that came to nearly 1,000 boats over four decades, many of the owners today making up one of the most active owners’ associations in the UK.
A fair few, including Barry and Orla, have owned more than one boat from the Parker and Seal family. Their previous Parker, the 27, followed a
