The boat, het scheepje

Call sign on VHF 8SY7979, MMSI 265635830.

S/Y Isabell is a hand-built GRP family cruiser, produced between 1973 and 1982 by the well-known shipyard Hallberg-Rassy at Ellos on the island Orust, Sweden. Isabell was delivered in 1980 as hull number 791. The choice woodwork of the classical interior in solid mahogny, and the teak details of this boat are in excellent shape, in spite of the over 35-year lifespan.

In 2005 the rigging was replaced with a new Seldén mast and Furlex forestay system. Between 2005 and now, many of the on-board electronics were upgraded. In 2006, the original Volvo Penta MD 11C inboard engine was completely renovated after many running hours. In 2018 the original engine was replaced with a new Beta Marine 30 engine. See the equipment listing for more details on what else is installed.

The Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31-foot (9.4 m) cruiser is a popular boat for long-range sailing adventures. Several people have single-handedly sailed their Monsun around the World. Amongst those, the first and most famous, was the Swedish sailor Kurt Bjorklund, who made the circumnavigation 3 and a half times. His boat, the 1974 built Golden Lady is placed in a museum in southern Sweden.

Isabell has had three previous Swedish owners, from Stockholm, Huskvarna and Gothenburg. Her former name was Amalia. From 1986 until the Spring of 1995 she was owned by a retired couple in Huskvarna, and found her homeport berth in the second largest freshwater lake Vättern, in south-central Sweden. In 1995 another couple of sailing enthusiasts took over and had Amalia in homeport Hinsholmkilen, at the mouth of the river Götaälv, just west of Gothenburg. They took excellent care of her until the tragic death of the skipper in 2008, while he was sailing in Italy.

Since then, she has been adopted by me and has had Gothenburg, Karlskrona, Stockholm and Visby (Sweden) as her home ports, after a while in Blekinge. In winter time she is laid up on Ekero island in lake Malaren, during the summer she has a nice spot in one of the largest marinas in the Baltic, Bullando Marina, only a stone throw away from the Baltic Sea.

Many nautical miles of sailing have been logged yet. It is my wish to add many more miles and destinations to the logbook.

In December 2003 the former owner had Isabell (then Amalia) laid up in the port of Hinsholmkilen, Gothenburg. The hall where masts and booms were kept over the winter was totally destroyed by fire. The insurance and Seldén masts worked together to replace the 180 masts and booms that had been destroyed. Amalias mast was lost, so was the Furlex system, and the boom. So all of it was replaced with new Furlex and Seldén mast and boom. This time the mast was choosen 12 cm longer than the original one. This little difference gives Isabell a lot better sailing height and somewhat better speed with low winds. So in 2005 a completely new rigging was placed.

As a major addition to the boat, in 2014 we installed a windvane steering (Sailomat 700) which has been a good investment. The same year a Raymarine radome radar replaced the earlier Raytheon in the mast.