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@@thereddye Great, I did a few more vids on trips around the coast & islands after that one.

Where are you based - let me guess, Essex?

Yes sitting down there is plenty of space and great leg room to stretch out too. Look back on my earlier vids for a tour I did internally. Are you considering buying?

I’m 7’1 snd found ample head room when sitting!. It’s quite spacious inside for a small boat, i live on mine.

Good luck with it, Luke where in Wales are you based - great sailing area.

@derekclarke8097 I live in Pembrokeshire and the boat is in Burry Pr, nr Llanelli. I'm looking at it next weekend. Cheers Buddy

Hi Martin, thanks for comment. It's just rain water that gets in from gaps and various holes in the deck. Another job to lift the headsail track and fill with sealant. Do you own a L17?

Shallow bay here, plenty of reefs and old islands all over place. Need to know the channels. The best thing is that there are many places to anchor behind for the night, it’s so peaceful too. Have to keep a weather eye out for gales coming in off the Atlantic very quickly. No marinas here, all swing moorings.

Hi Jarle, yes the prevailing SW winds can be gusty a lot. Makes for good sailing. I’d like to sail in Norway, where are you based? Do you watch Eric?

@@derekclarke8097 yes ofcourse I watch Erik. He is based in Haugesund. I live not to far away from Bergen. My sailing videos is rather gentle compared to Erik's amazing woork. I do coastal sailing and try to show of our beautiful coastline and all of the wonderful small anchorages that people tend to miss. Marinas is not my thing. But i need to hook up to shore power from time to time, so i get to visit a few of those aslo. When I've (if i ever) manages to finish the Norwegian coast I'd love to do som sailing around the atlantic side of the British coastline. But that is too far into the future. I the meantime I I'll watch your videos and also "sailing cos I love it" i can learn alot from the both of you. Thanks. Best regards from Jarle

@@StemtoSternSailing That’s funny as I have sailed all the west coast of Ireland and across to the UK & France (not in my L17). What I would like to do is sail the Norwegian coast. I enjoy Erik plus Uma & Alluring Artic in their recent trips there. I think it’s the Viking in me that is so impressed by it all. I also visited the Western Isles / Hebridies and a similar dramatic coastline as you have. Well if you’re thinking of coming this way, give me a shout etc. Regards, Derek

Offered Alan? I wouldn't hesitate to take it. If you can sail any way at all these are great little yachts. They are very safe, forgiving and require minimum maintenance generally except all the obvious needs of repair. What's her condition like?

@@derekclarke8097 , she need a good cleaning and a spruce up. The sails are in fair condition. A small outboard will be needed as well as a trailer. I can make the trailer OK. Thanks for the reply. Regards Alan

That's Kirk at Down Marine. They are legend! The biggest leisure grouping is at the nearby EDYC Killyleagh. Great bunch Did you take the boat?

Hi Conor, I had one Hank on headsail that is out on loan to another L17 sailor. My old mainsail is really poor as I has to replace it a few years back so I wouldn’t suggest that. There is a guy in Sweden that messaged me offering me his old sails for his old L17 that he no longer has. I’ll send him a reminder & see if you can have them. Send me an email address for yourself. Mine is dfmclarke@gmail.com

Good stuff, another L17 owner in Cork! I jujst got one and gonna restore it so that next spring I'm in the water! How cool would it be for us 3 to get together? :)

Hi Bjorn, Well if you don’t need them then I should say yes - thank you. I must pay you something for them? My email is dfmclarke@gmail.com is that is easier.

Are you still offering the sails Bjorn? I would be interested.

@@derekclarke8097 HI Derek, yes I still offer you all the three sails I have: one mainsail, one ordinary fock and also a storm fock. I can can send you just one or two if you wish. The only thing I'll charge you for is the freight cost to whatever place you prefer to collect them. I can check up the costs this week and I'll also check the quality of the sails that have been stored in my garage for so many years. If you have an idea about how to deliver the best/cheapest way let me know.

@@bjornsundberg1947 Hi Bjorn, the person looking for the sails is Conor Gillen in Ireland and his email is conorgillen45@gmail.com. If you can drop him an email, he will arrange to pay shipping costs to Ireland for the sails as he has recently bought a L17. It will be easier if the two of you can contact each other and share address and details properly. Many thanks, Derek

It really is!

West coast of Ireland at Clew Bay mostly but down the Galway coastline at times. What do you have now, something much bigger I guess?

@@derekclarke8097 Hi Derek. Unfortunately I had to dump my beloved leisure 17, as I had too little time to make it ready for the sea and nobody in Sweden was interested in buying it. I even tried to give my boat away, but nobody was interested. I bought it in 1977 direct from the manufacturing company in England, but the past 20 years I had it resting in the yard of a boat club. Anyway I still have the mast, the beam and three sails in my garage. In case you should need a Leisure 17 sail I would be glad to send it to you in Ireland.

@@bjornsundberg1947 are you still offering the sails? I would be glad of them for someone else in Ireland.

Thanks Nick. Obviously depending upon age and care over the years, the main concern would be hull integrity i.e keel bolts being rust free, skeg and shoe at bottom of rudder intact, windows not leaking - look for stains, rubbing strip intact as this is structural. Look at my most recent vid on this. Sails need to be in good condition, some are still original and will tear like paper (if so they are useless); 2nd hand sails are an option but any new set will cost 800-1000 euro. Is there an engine / trailer? Any electrics, if so how well installed as you saw on my vid? My boat number is 2431 which is about 1979. The earlier models have a stern rail that does not surround the complete cockpit. That's a good sign of the year being earlier models early 70's if it's not known. Is it a twin keel or fin keel, draft is 2'2" or 3' depending? There were more twins built than fin keels. If it's an SL version, this has many good practical improvements in it and is at least 5yrs+ younger and should be in really good condition on all of the above items. The mast on the SL is 22ft not 20ft as on the earlier so it depends where you are sailing. Overall, they are a great, sturdy and enjoyable boat. I could have gone for a 25+' yacht many years ago but this 17 does the job for me even when I'm off-shore or island hopping. Where are you based?

@@derekclarke8097 Thank you so much Derek. Have a great time and greetings to Ireland (my fav. country, I‘ve been there three times now).

Hi Derek, I did the same and it's quite good now. thank you.

Thanks! 👍

Hi Derek, Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback. I’d say your 23SL is a fine boat too, she is the extended L17 after all. You have a great sailing area too as I’ve sailed down all of the west coast many times (not in my boat needless to say) and had good times sheltering from weather in Dingle. There are a lot of improvements in the SL range that are good from I’ve seen, the windows & hatch on mine are a weakness. Are you a member of the Leisure Owners Ass? I’ll give you a shout if I’m heading south next season as always a possibility with the yachts here. Thanks again. Derek

Bjorn, thanks for the comment. I have done a lot of sailing including ocean passages (not in a L17) so I’m used to going off shore. However, I do watch the weather very closely but even if it blew up to 26 knots or so, I can reef down and head for somewhere safe. Did you go for a bigger boat after the L17?

@@derekclarke8097 No Derek I actually switched to a smaller open boat, square sail and spree with extremely shallow draught so that I'm now able to sail close to the shore and around the islands in our Swedish Archipelago on the east coast. I even skipped the outboard engine and now I row the boat instead, when I have to. However I still have the Leisure mast, beam and the sails at my cottage. I tried to sell my dear Leisure, which I bought/imported from England in the 70th, but no-one was interested, so sadly enough I had to destroy it, as the boat club where I kept it didn't want to see a boat on land year after year, that was never launched into the sea.Good Luck with adventures Derek. I'll be watching you!

Nice photo of your boat, where do you keep her?

@@derekclarke8097 she is on the River Medway in Kent close to the Thames Estuary. Had her 2 yrs now, very happy but shame there’s no head room. Constant stiff neck from being bent over 🙄

Like you're vids. You're in Denmark I'm guessing based on you flag. Where do you sail exactly. Do a vid of the boat, she looks very clean and in good condition!

Home port is Gedser, the southernmost town in Denmark. Gedser is situated on Falster wich is one of DKs many Islands. It is this area I make the sea unsafe. The condition of the boat is good, and she is very comfortabel in rough weather, and reasonly dry for her size. I think most things looks good on vids, but my boat is from 1976 and have been without love in many years which is prety clear in real life. I will do a vid tour when the season starts.

I was like you at the beginning. Just started to do jobs myself and stopped worrying if it was good enough. Everything is repairable. I love the shape of the SL and some of the small improvements in design, especially the hatch. She prettier too. Enjoy the sailing. Shout if you need help.

I’ve being too busy sailing this year to get to it. I need to fibreglass the holes and that’s messy so I’ll wait until later in the season. Timber strips are in poor state too. I’ll see what to do later. Where are you?

@@derekclarke8097 I'm based in Rush but just getting into sailing. Have been working all too slowly (frustratingly) on a L17. My hatch had been set to hinge upwards towards mast but its a silly arrangement. Slider is a better arrangement.

Clew Bay, Co. Mayo, Ireland. All was ok that day for me and the other boats managed to be refloated. I’ve since out a double line to the chain and will strip all sails off her if a similar warning comes again which it will. That was mid summer.

Well a Rival 32 is a hardy vessel. Where do you sail?

@@derekclarke8097 yes she is tough. Onboard this weekend and all good. I sail her out of Chichester harbour.

Alistair, not really good enough for that but gladly take an enthusiastic sailor out for a few hours to see the bay area.

Hi Ulrike, I sailed over 1,000 miles last season which was amazing. The furthest I went to were the islands called Inishbofin that’s inhabited. Lovely weather. I’m hoping smarten the boat up before I launch her this month by painting. I’ll do a video. Where did you do sailing last year, I see someone else was sailing in Helgoland, another German guy, don’t know his name. Do you have any videos? Derek

Hello Ulrike, I watch many German L17 owner videos and everyone loves them. I did a small video of my season last year but I had many nights away too that I loved. It's a small boat for 2 people but as sisters you probably get on well together!. I would love to sail in the Baltic as I have sailed so many places already like Iceland, Faroes, Scotland, USA, SA, Med etc in other yachts; not my little L17..... My best L17 experience was my 4 days to Inishbofin Island 2 years ago - was hoping to do same this year but I'll see. Do you have any vids of your own?

My pleasure!

Hello John, did you get the boat in the end? If so, give me a shout if you're near Rosmoney or the like!

God forbid we should have fine weather here; could be worse - it could be Norway! Do you watch Viking Eric NBJS ?

Drop me a note to my email address: dfmclarke@hotmail.com and I'll send you something from the Leisure Owners Assc on this subject. Are you a member already & have access?