Six months ago in Deltaville Virginia, we purchased an old IOR ¼ ton racer which had been abandoned in its slip for several years. The boat (now named Zulu) has no doubt an extensive history of racing and passage making. The only problem is, we know none of it! We bought Zulu from a marina manager who told us that the old racer had been abandoned there by its previous owner, and had been sitting in its slip for the past 6-7 years in neglect. Every few months the marina manager would pump out any rainwater that had accumulated, but apart from that the boat had been left to the elements.

In regard to Zulu’s history, what we do know is that she was built in Holland in 1970, made her way across the Atlantic at some point, and was last registered in Colorado in 2015. That is literally it however. There is no documentation to be found, and as hard as we search, we cannot find any record of her anywhere online. This brings us to the purpose of our article. This is a call to anybody in the sailing community who has any memory of a boat resembling Zulu in Colorado, or anyone who knows someone who might. The sailing community is generally a small one so we are hoping someone will have seen this boat before or may know someone who might have. We would be extremely grateful for any information given regarding the Zulu’s history.

Please refer to the pictures for identification, if more are needed, please feel free to contact us.

Here are some vessel specifics that may prove useful:

Make: Dekker en Zonen

Model: Defender 15

Year: 1970

Length: 26.25 ft

Rig: masthead sloop

Color: Blue or Green or Red or Yellow, depending on the decade (there are several layers of paint on the topsides)

We would like to thank in advance anyone who is able to tell us some of Zulu’s history.

Contact: Harry Kempton (harrison@kempton.dev) or (757.870.6148)

Email or Texting usually work best