Mowzel Cat
Mowzel Cat
Mowzel Cat is a Fountaine Pajot Belize 43 Duo built in 2003. She is the 4 cabin version, but the forward port cabin has been transformed into a workshop.
She started life in the Mediterranean before her second owners took her on a 5 year trip from France to French Polynesia. This is where we then purchased her.
After extensive research and internet tyre kicking, we had decided we much preferred the slightly older style catamarans to the latest designs which are too angular for our tastes. The FP Belize and Bahia were on the top of our list and we were also keen to start our new cruising adventure in French Polynesia. We had passed through relatively quickly in 2009 on our way home from our circumnavigation and were keen to spend more time there. We feel they are a well proven designs which meet our balance between sailing ability and comfort within our budget, of course. Hence when Mowzel Cat turned up in Tahiti we jumped in.
Cruising additions that she had were a near new Echotech watermaker, twin autohelms, Superwind generator and reasonable solar, plus a ton of spares, tools and safety gear.
Since owning her we have upgraded the solar with some fantastic bifacial panels that produce over 900W, redone a lot of the battery and AC cabling, put in a new oven, installed Starlink and many smaller changes that have made her more comfortable and feeling like the home we will enjoy for some time.
What’s in a name?
Mowzel Cat is a children’s story based based on an old Cornish tale from the village of Mousehole in the far SW England. It was one of our kids’ favourite stories when we were circumnavigating with them and is a beautiful book by Antonia Barber with superb illustrations from Nicola Bayley. Published by Walker Books ISBN 0-7445-2353-2. The title is “The Mousehole Cat”, but the local pronunciation is “Mowzel”.
Based on the legend of Tom Bawcock and the stargazy pie, it is about an old fisherman who braves the winter storms to save the village from starvation. His faithful cat Mowser joins him and her singing seduces the Great Storm Cat, calming the seas and letting him complete his voyage. To this day, on 23rd December every year, the harbour is lit up and residents cook stargazy pie in memory of old Tom and the Mousehole Cat.
Bill has strong family connections to the SW of England and the idea of a cat calming the storm with her singing appealed to us as a very fitting name for our new boat.
We were so pleased to be able to visit Mousehole in February 24. Photos here; blog here.
interior
exterior
