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Built in 1960 by Clare Lallows of Cowes to a Charles A Nicholson design, Zahir is a Jolina class constructed of Honduras mahogany on oak, with a lead keel and solid teak decks. About 15 were built to class, although there are some minor variations in dimensions and layout. The Jolina was a relatively beamy boat for her period which gives her a surprisingly good amount of space below for a boat of this length and age. The publicity material at the time described the Jolina as a cruiser/racer "which would go well in lightish winds on the sort of fine summer days one dreams about but does not get often. In performance they are probably best in about Force 4-5. When racing, hull stiffness is enough to permit carrying the genoa up to about a Force 6...... the mainsail need not be reefed in anything below Force 7". It also gets very wet upwind in anything more than a Force 3! Zahir has been called Sunmaid III and Dawn Goddess at different stages in her life. Unfortunately, it has not be possible to identify all her owners, but she was registered to Francis John Lang from Falmouth before being sold to Gordon Langford in Plymouth in 1990. Ten years later she was taken over by John Bryan in 1998 and who kept her in Chichester Harbour until she was spotted by her current owners, Neil Thomason and Richard Wheeler, while sailing one summer evening to an overnight mooring. It was love at first sight, although it took a further 12 months before they took ownership of Zahir. During the spring of 2005, she was refitted and refurbished and given a new engine and shaft before being relaunched in June 2005. Now berthed at the Royal Naval Sailing Association's marina at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, Zahir is seen most weekends sailing in the Solent and along the South Coast. She continues to be raced, and is a regular participant in the Royal Southampton Yacht Club 'Double-Handed' series which frequently takes her cross Channel.
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The name Zahir came from
Paul Coelho's novel of obsession in which he quotes Jorge Luis
Borges who wrote: An apt description for a classic
boat and its owners!
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