Moondance was designed by the late Percy Dalton, a well known West Country Designer. It was Dalton’s Saint Melorus which formed the basis of the Heard 28 Oyster Dredger which nowadays forms the backbone of the Falmouth working boat racing fleet. After the hull was completed in 1980 Moondance was bought and completed by Martin Brown. She is fitted out in hard woods with a Singer sewing machine as a saloon table.
“What a pleasant surprise to see Moondance on your site. I bought the completed hull in 1988 after I left university and put all my energy and savings into fitting her out and rigging her in pursuit of my dream to sail away over the horizon. The photograph of her in yellow was taken on boxing day 1996 in Rodney Bay, St Lucia, during a fun race with a couple of other yachts. The girl at the end of the bowsprit, Bela, later became my wife! I’d be delighted to hear from her current owners to exchange a few stories. I wonder if she still has the old Lister SW2?” Martin Brown.
Moondance was initially based on the River Rother, Rye, and later on Conwy in North Wales. In 1991 she set off on a six-year voyage via Lisbon and Gibraltar to the Caribbean and back via the Azores and the French canals. Later she sailed off again for another two years, as far as Lisbon before returning to Falmouth for sale in 2001. Her next owners kept her at Gweek on the Helford.
In 2007 she was bought by the Wynn brothers (and their families) who kept her in Essex and South Devon. In 2008 they sailed her around Britain via Scilly, Baltimore, Galway, the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Whitby.
In 2016 Moondance was bought by Jake and Martha Burnyeat and is now on the River Fal.
