The weirdness that is Tollebury

The Centaur chase has got me into contact with some lovely blokes - and a few who are harder to read.

Yesterday I was out on a job when I got a phone call - It was a bloke who was telling me about an Old Centaur near Tollesbury in Essex.  I did not take notes during the conversation but I called the bloke back last night.

He said his name was Bert Stanhope. The Centaur sounded quite promising 3.5K  with a running 12 year old Yanmar 20hp engine - wintereised ansd serviced,  B layout, good sails, bent stanchions and porta potti.

I asked Bert if he could send me some images of the boat and he said no, I asked for an email and he said that he only uses the web for porn.  It then transpired that this was not his boat. I asked if the owner would come down on price and Bert, who by now was calling himself Reg, said that there would be nothing in it for him at 3K.  He told me that he is a middle man, owns a few boats and runs boat jumbles. he says at 3.5K he would buy the boat himself.

I said that I was after a Centaur with a spade rudder - he told me that all Centaurs have spade rudders that he has been to the arctic circle, that there is no need to worry about the engine because a Centaur has sails

I posted a question on the YBW East Coast forum and was told about a bloke in Tollesbury who was sometimes called Reg and sometimes called Albert Reginald - although the name Stanhope was also raised.

It also turns out that this boat is not in Doug's yard

Oh my goodness gracious me. Essex can be a weird place.