Our FIONA IV, born on the banks of the River Thames, at  Thames Marine Shipyard   came to Lorraine as a empty hull, in October 1977.
I spent a wonderful year, fitting out the interior (with exotic wood) and finishing off the equipement and armament. All that in our garden, 800 km from the sea !Many sunday visitors came to see this unusual site, this crazy man who was practising astronomical navigation by pointing the sun's reflection in a bowl of water with a sextant !
It was ready in June 1978, sparking on its scaffolding ( it's called a craddle). FIONA IV    was taken by an exceptional rail convoy to the  Joliette port in Marseille.
We crossed the Med towards Ajaccio 5 (Corsica),then spent the Summer along the coast of Sardinia. This rocky country is fascinatingly beautiful, especially seen from the sea. We also tried out deep sea diving. The water is so clear that you can see as far as 40m deep .
After the Summer, we left our boat in Cavalaire port and went back every 6 weeks, when we had school holidays. What a delight, to sail at Xmas  !
The next Summer(1979) was wonderful ;  our destination was  TUNISIA.  We arrived early one morning in the port of Bizerta ( the sextant in the basin proved useful ). It's so wonderful to cross to Africa by one's own means ; it's an unexpected emotion. The boat and the crew were up to it, in all situations : calm, storms, whales (do you remember, Vivien, the schools of whales in the middle of the night, when it was your watch ?).
All good stories must come to an end ; the captain was caught up by a nasty rhumatism, so we had to sell our lovely FIONA. SNIF !

NDLR : Before FIONA IV ther was, of course, FIONA I, II,and III. FIONA III was a  MUSCADET  also built in our garden at  Stuckange,already transformed into a shipyard !)  This 6.50 m boat took us several times  across the English Channel; to England, Scotland and left us with other memorable memories ...