Selene ( Pronounced suh-lee'-nee - like Athene ) is a Hunter Legend 29.5 yacht formerly owned by John & Julia Strudwick. She was built in the U.S.A. and imported into the UK by Opal and launched on the 22nd February 1997.

John & Julia purchased her on Friday 7th October 2005 and sold her on Friday 22nd February 2013 - they were her third owners. She had been ashore at Gosport Boat yard for a while and was purchased through Opal Marine. After some work ashore, she was re-launched on Friday 14th October 2005. She then lived at the Emsworth Yacht Harbour, and moved to Haslar Marina at Gosport in November 2006.

John & Julia are keen cruisers and most weekends they are out in the Solent or crossing the Channel. They are members of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club (especially Gins Clubhouse), Area 15 Yacht Club, the Friendly Cruising Society, and the Legend Owners Association. John sailed Merlin Rockets for 13 years both as crew and helm, and was a regular on the open circuit and on the National Committee. He was a member and later Sailing Secretary at Upper Thames for many years. See John's Boating / Sailing BIO below.
(Click here for more on John and Julia)

The name Selene comes from Greek mythology - she is the moon goddess; daughter of the Titans
Hyperion and Theia. She is secretive and shy, she enjoys flitting silently through the night with a pearl-white or silvery chariot. But she quite likes being glimpsed through the clouds - and her coyness is somewhat calculated. For Selene also enjoys romance, and has shared kisses with more people than you could count on a long winter's night.

John's Sailing / Boating BIO

As a youngster, John was in the Sea Scouts and was always into boats, especially canoes and rowing. He rowed for his school (Rowing 8) Hampton Grammar. However, it wasn't until 1980 that he was introduced to sailing in Salcombe on a day boat. Very shortly afterwards Merlin Rocket Gwylan (894) was purchased and John learned to sail on the river at Tamesis Club in Teddington. During this time he expanded his sailing horizons and crewed a trimaran to Alderney and Cherbourg and raced as crew a number of times on various offshore racers.

He then teamed up with Chris Rathbone of Upper Thames and crewed Merlin Rockets for a few years. They had tremendous success together winning nearly every trophy at Upper Thames and doing well on the open circuit, including winning the Ranelagh Autumn Trophy (sponsored by the Royal Thames YC).

John joined Upper Thames, where he was a member and Sailing Secretary for many years, and took up helming Merlins competitively again. It was a hard first season, having been in the top three for the past few seasons, being nearly last in every race during the first season of helming at this level was tough. The hard work did pay off, and soon John was out on the open circuit, was winning the major trophies at his home club, beating his old helm Chris, and he was a regular in the Merlin Fleet, being on the National Committee for a number of years, and re-writing the class history.

The most notable successes were with No. 3381, "Seventh Wave", winning the Ranelagh Autumn Trophy as a helm (as well as a crew mentioned above) and the coveted "Early Bird Trophy" for Merlins at Queen Mary Sailing Club.

During this time John had a SeaMaster 23 motor boat "Wind in the Willows" and in 1984 he bought and lived on "Whim" a converted 1912 Humber Keel Barge - some 84' long, 13' wide and 11' high. He could often be seen taking up most of the River Thames at Bourne End in this which only had a 40hp engine and chain steering.

John gave up Merlins in 1991 and after a season in OKs, crewed for Pat Blake for a season in his X99 "Reflex". He was the "Foredeck Monkey" and had a great season - they won the Warsash Spring Series and were second in the Nationals.

After a break of around 10 years, John took up cruising and bought "High Tension", a Hunter Medina 20 footer and he and Julia liked cruising so much they upgraded to Selene in October 2005.

John has so far attained the following Qualifications:

VHF Radio Certificate 16th December 2004

Yachtmaster Theory (Shorebased RYA/MCA Coastal Skipper & Yachtmaster Offshore) 10th November 2006

RYA First Aid Course 18th February 2007

ICC (International Certificate of Competence) 1st March 2007

RYA Radar Course 20th May 2007

Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate on 8th November 2007 (RYA / Department of Transport)