It’s always lovely to find out how people came to be partnered with their BODs and the story of Richard Austin and C44 Janice is a particularly nice one.

Richard originally registered at the BOD website because he was researching the fate of C44.  The original owner Joe Overton was a good family friend and business associate of Richard’s father back in the early 1950s.  Richard learnt to sail in West Mersea in the late 50s with the Overton family and has been messing about in boats on and off ever since.

When Joe Overton moved up to racing bigger boats, Richard’s father purchased C44 and owned her for several years.  Richard lost track of her when he went off to sail Enterprises and later Hornets at Burnham.  But the lure of the BOD is strong and like so many of us he found himself wondering what had happened to that early love who had given him so much but then disappeared from his life.

It was when Rob Maloney asked us to place an advert announcing that C44 Janice was for sale for restoration that a match was made in heaven.  As soon as the news update bounced into his inbox Richard was on the phone to Rob and a deal was struck.  Restoration will start on the boat this summer and we can expect to see her out on the water for the 2015 season.

In the meantime Richard is very keen to do some crewing in BODs to familiarise himself with the boats, pick up a few tips for the refit and learn about our sailing area so he is ready to race next year.  If you are ever looking for crew do please give Richard a shout on r.austin144@btinternet.com.

We’ll keep you posted on the restoration once its underway and we look forward to welcoming Richard and C44 Janice to the fleet next year.