Sampson Boat Co

The first sail of the season! (high-res downloadable image)

We've had a few days of glorious sunshine and yesterday we also had a perfect light breeze, so Marit and I hoisted sail for the first since January. Pictured here on a downwind run off the coast of Saltspring Island.

Back on board! (4K downloadable image)

After a very nice but quite lengthy trip to the UK and Finland, we are finally back in British Columbia and back on board Tally Ho! It feels so good to be back on the boat, and it seems like summer has arrived while we were away. There is plenty of work to do, but we are excited for a lot of great sailing adventures in the next few months!

Cabo Verde

I've been really pleased to see how much people have seemed to enjoy the latest video of my presentation in Helsinki. I'm not totally comfortable doing public speaking but I think I'm improving!

This is a photo that I wanted to include in the slideshow, but didn't. Most people who have been at sea have photos like this, but this one brings back special memories for me. This was taken just before sunrise, approaching the Cabo Verde Islands off the coast of West Africa. I'd spend about a...

EP216. Tally Ho & the Stories That Built Her — A Live Talk in Helsinki

In this episode I am invited to give a talk at the Classic Yacht Symposium in Helsinki, Finland.

First I talk about the Tally Ho story - how I started the project and how we rebuilt the boat, including some details that have never been shared before.

In the second part of the talk, I discuss the stories that inspired me to start boatbuilding and sailing in the first place, and the importance of risk and adventure in storytelling and life in general.

Classic Boat Awards 2025

I feel exceedingly honoured that Tally Ho won Restored Sailing Vessel over 40ft at the Classic Boat Awards 2025!

This award is for all of us - everyone who had a hand, or a click, in the rebuilding of Tally Ho... so congratulations to you and and thank you for making it possible!

There were many other incredible boats in the line-up, and in the other categories, and I'd like to recognise and celebrate all of them. Tally Ho may be more visible online than most, but every vessel r...

Back in the UK!

It's been a year since my last visit, and perhaps in another couple of years we will see Tally Ho in a scene like this (although perhaps not quite so far up the Thames - too many bridges!)

EP215. Dealing with corrosion / RE-LAUNCHING at last!

In this episode I attempt to explain Galvanic Corrosion, as I need to add another Zinc Anode to fully protect the bronze propeller.

After more antifouling paint we enjoy some extremely satisfying tape-peeling, and finally we relaunch Tally Ho and do some manoeuvring to test how the boat handles with a freely moving rudder

---

Music;

Spy Funk - Quincas Moreira

The Trapezist - Quincas Moreira

Hear the Noise - John Deley and the 41 Players

Leo in a suit!?

I just spent an amazing weekend in Helsinki at the Classic Yacht Symposium, where I was invited to talk about the Tally Ho rebuild. We were looked after incredibly well and it was amazing to meet so many people with so much passion for historic vessels. I thoroughly enjoyed all the presentations and I’ll be posting some more info about some of them very soon.

I was also incredibly honoured to have been presented with The Singoalla Award by fellow speaker Sir Robin Knox Johnston, the f...

Pulling tape.

Ahhhh.. one of the most satisfying jobs!

EP214. Fixing the binding rudder (with help from Bob!)

In this episode we identify and fix the problem that led to a binding rudder, although we are left with some unanswered questions about corrosion. We also scrape, sand, and paint the bottom of the boat to get her ready to re-launch, and re-varnish the transom… phew!

---

Music;

Cross the Road - Silent Partner

Hold on a Second - John Deley and the 41 Players

A New Orleans Crawfish Boil - Unicorn Heads

Morning Mandolin - Chris Haugen

Soul Food - Chris ...

Safety-crocs!

We've been grappling with bad weather and dodging frequent rain-showers, but I'm happy to report that solving the stiff rudder issue has been going well! Here I'm giving one of the pins a bit of light persuasion with an angle grinder, and as you can see I'm taking no chances in my trusty safety-crocs.

EP213. It took 7 years... but what is left of the original boat?

In this bonus episode I address some questions which have been asked a lot recently;

What exactly is left of the original Tally Ho?

Why didn’t I just build a new boat - and wouldn’t that have been easier?

An awkward manoeuvre.

I wonder if there would be much interest in a video about manoeuvring and parking a heavy boat like Tally Ho... I have some good tips for easily getting into awkward berths like this one, whether singlehanded or with crew. However, that practical knowledge is probably only useful to a small percentage of my audience.

Would you watch a video about this? And can you think of a short video title that would help it appeal to non-sailors as well as boat-owners?

Seam compound!

Scraping seams in the sun - just one of the many joys of wooden boat ownership!

I'm not kidding, I love this sort of work - easy and satisfying.

EP212. Sailing is over - we have to fix the rudder.

In this episode we haul Tally Ho out of the water to try and fix the rudder.

---

Music;

Cross the Road - Silent Partner

Lazy River Rag - Dan Lebowitz

Jazz Apricot - Joey Pecoraro

Back to the boat and back to work!

We're out of the water to diagnose and (hopefully) fix the cause of a frustrating problem - any guesses?

Of course we will take the opportunity to make a proper inspection, scrub and paint, and take care of a few other things.

EP211. Wooden Boats and Wombats - The TALLY HO crew go "down under"!

In this episode Leo, Marit, Bob and Patrick all travel to Tasmania to visit the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. We meet lots of interesting characters, sail on some beautiful vessels, visit an inspiring project, and of course… search for wombats.

https://www.youtube.com/@Building_a_Boat_by_the_River

http...

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival.

We saw incredible vessels of all shapes and sizes at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Here are two impressive tall ships - the James Craig, a 19th century barque, and the Australian-built replica of James Cook's HMB Endeavour. Hundreds of smaller wooden boats also attended, and of course there were some amazing talks and activities - in particular some really fascinating information and stories around traditional Pacific voyaging.

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is held every 2...

Building A Boat By The River

One of the highlights of our trip to Tasmania was visiting Matt and Iefka and hearing about the 41' cold-moulded wooden boat that they have been building from scratch - Tarkine. I hope to publish a video about our trip which will include more details, but in the meantime check out this talented couple's YouTube channel - "A Boat By The River".

https://www.youtube.com/@Building_a_Boat_by_the_River 2025-02-17 22:13:30 +0000 UTC View Post

EP210. sailing Tally Ho ALONE for the first time!

In this episode I attempt to sail Tally Ho singlehanded. Hoisting the mainsail is the first big challenge - that thing is heavy! I navigate through the Gulf Islands, dodging ferries and buoys, and then get myself in a tangle when I have to drop all the sails.

---

Music;

Easy Stroll - TrackTribe

Sailing singlehanded?

The last week has been nonstop crazy - the Australian Wooden Boat Festival was amazing, and I'll be posting more about that soon. We met lots of really amazing people and had some good adventures, despite picking up a bug on the plane and feeling as sick as a dog for most of the time.

Obviously I didn't manage to release an episode last week (thank-you to those who told me not to stress about it and get some rest) but I do have a video ready now and it should be published at the norma...

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is in full swing!

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is in full swing! Pictured is Bob and Paddy having fun dinghy-sailing yesterday.

Due to a combination of jet-lag, a bug I picked up on the plane, preparation for my presentation tomorrow, and general festival madness, I don't have a video ready to release today. However, if things go well, there MAY be one out tomorrow! Fingers crossed...

Thank you!

Thank you very much for so many great ideas after my last post! Lots of very valuable opinions in the comments - later today I'll be boarding a flight to Tasmania, so I'll read through the rest of them in the air.

This is how Tally Ho looked when I woke up.

Anybody interested in a video about the Australian Wooden Boat Festival?!

Changes ahead - your opinions requested!

Hi all,

I just wanted to write a quick update about the boat, the project, and the future of the channel.

Firstly, I’m so very grateful that many of you are continuing to watch and support the channel now that Tally Ho is in the water. Obviously it takes a lot of time, effort and money to both maintain the boat and also to produce content, and you make that possible.

In the near-term, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on Tally Ho. One of the biggest priorities ...

Classic Boat Awards 2025

I'm honoured that Tally Ho has been nominated for the Classic Boat Awards 2025! There are a lot of really wonderful boats in the line-up, and the winners will be decided by public vote - if you'd like to take part and cast your vote, please do so by following this link.

https://awards.classicboat.co.uk/restoration-of-the-year-over-40ft/

Tally Ho is in the "Restored Sailing ...

START TO FINISH - Rebuilding Tally Ho

This video took a lot of work to edit, I really hope you like it!

I'm looking forward to making a much longer and more detailed video about the project as a whole, but for now I really wanted to get a summary / preview of the rebuild published so that new viewers can see what the channel is all about without having to watch over 200 videos.

Enjoy, and thank you!

Leo

--

Music;

County Farm - Wayward Jane

Who's Using Who? - The Mini Vandals

Last spring

I'm remembering last spring, when we were doing sail-trials in the Port Townsend sun. Warm weather will be here again soon!

Photo credit; Heather J

SUPERCUT coming soon

I'm working on a really special video - a compilation of the whole Tally Ho rebuild project in 20 minutes or so. However, it's proving to be a lot of work - I don't think it's going to be published this weekend, sorry!
Here's a short clip of the keep-scarfing part of the video - do you guys remember this!?

Don't worry, the actual video will be in regular landscape format, but I just released this little section as a "short".

Thanks so much for your support!

Leo

<...

Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2025

I'm very excited to announce that I'll be giving a talk at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival next month. If you can't make it, don't worry - I do hope to film the talk to release on YouTube (as long as I don't mess it up too badly!)

I'll be travelling to Hobart with a few of the Tally Ho crew (on a plane, alas), and we hope to meet some of you at the festival. We're staying for a couple of weeks so if you live in Tasmania I'd love to hear from you - we're interested in recommendation...

Have you ever been buzzed by a WWII flying boat?!

*SOUND ON*

This happened just a couple of days ago as I was merrily motoring around the Gulf Islands. I later learned that this is one of only 7 Martin JRM Mars flying boats that were built, and one of only 2 surviving. That thing seemed a lot closer than it looks in the video - do you think they were saying hi to me?