Practical Boat Owner November 2019

with the editor To receive the editor’s monthly email newsletter, go to our website: www.pbo.co.uk Preservation or restoration? The island of Unst is the most northerly of the Shetland Isles and therefore the most northerly outcrop of the United Kingdom. It’s further north than Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and St Petersburg! We hear regularly from the Shetlands thanks to columnist Marsali Taylor, but I thought the Unst Boat Haven museum that she talks about in her column on page 91 deserved an extra mention. According to Wikipedia there were once 3,000 people living on Unst in support of the vast fishing industry there. The population is now closer to 600. The Boat Haven has been rescuing old Unst fishing vessels for over 40 years. This month we feature another historic preservation…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Katy Stickland at pbo@ti-media.com, tel: 01252 555213 Jeanne Socrates takes the record After 339 days alone at sea, British sailor Jeanne Socrates has broken the record for the oldest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe, nonstop and unassisted. The 77 year old sailed into her home port of Victoria, British Columbia, on 7 September and crossed the finish line at Ogden Point Breakwater. She was greeted by a flotilla of boats from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. She took the title from fellow British sailor Tony Curphey, 74, who gained it after completing the Longue Route on 27 April 2019 in his Nicholson 32, Nicola Deux. Socrates left Victoria aboard her Najad 380, Nereida on 3 October 2018, and had to cope with…

■ Solent Boat Jumble, 6 October, Royal Victoria Country Park, boat-jumbles.co.uk ■ Royal Society of Marine Artists annual exhibition, 10-19 October, Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, mallgalleries.org.uk ■ Scotland’s Boat Show, 11-13 October, Kip Marina, Inverkip, scotlandsboatshow.co.uk ■ Harwich Shanty Festival, 11-13 October, Harwich, harwichshantyfestival.co.uk ■ Cruising Association North West Autumn Roadshow, 19 October, Royal Mersey Yacht Club, Birkenhead, thecaevents. eventbrite.co.uk ■ Kent Boat Jumble, 13 October, The Hop Farm, Tonbridge, Kent, compassboatjumbles.co.uk ■ Suffolk Boat Jumble, 20 October, at Trinity Park, Ipswich, rotaevents.co.uk ■ Secret Rivers, the secrets of London’s historic waterways exhibition, now until 27 October, Museum of London Dockland, museumoflondon.org.uk ■ Halloween Party and Twilight Sail, 26 October, Salterns Sailing Club, salternsailingclub.co.uk ■ One-day seminar on Cruising the English Channel, 29 October, Royal Harwich Yacht Club, Ipswich,…

Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Katy Stickland at pbo@ti-media.com, tel: 01252 555213, or write to the address on page 5 SOUTH COAST AND CHANNEL ISLANDS SOUTHAMPTON WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT IN DOUBT A £450 million development deal for the Royal Pier Waterfront at Mayflower Park in Southampton has been terminated by the city council. The plan to revamp the waterfront included reclaiming land from the River Test for a hotel and casino, and the construction of flats, shops and a market. The council signed a deal with RPW (Southampton) Ltd in 2014. It has not revealed why it has now abandoned the agreement, but said it would work with neighbouring waterfront landowners to explore “deliverable development plans” for the waterfront site. Mayflower Park has been – and…

Across the sea of gleaming fibreglass and rainbow flags, three foreboding masts slunk into view. While brokers adjusted lines and polished hulls, Russian frigate Shtandart ghosted towards the pontoons at the Southampton International Boat Show. From the weathered canvas sails to the crew clambering across the yard arms, everything about her seemed authentic; menacingly so. Even the enormous cruise liner was diminished in her presence. The original man-of-war, built by Peter the Great in 1703, was designed to drive fear into the hearts of onlookers. But the 1999 replica is a jolly ship, which takes young crew of all nationalities around the world. “We try to sail everywhere,” said volunteer crew Sandrine Bonzine. A graphic designer by trade, she loves sleeping in the hammock and getting away from it all,…

Boatbuilding and restorations always take longer than they are supposed to. The first Project Boat in PBO – the restoration of a Snapdragon 23 bought for £500 on ebay – started in 2011 and was only intended to take a year, but took three. Project Boat 2 has been running on and off for three years already and if all goes to plan, Harvey, the home-build Secret 20, will be launched early next season. The reception at the Southampton Boat Show 2019 was fantastic with hundreds of visitors to the stand – even on the final rainy Sunday. The Secret 20 is a build-your-own kit imported from Australia that has been constructed in two distinct phases. The frames and the hull were laid in the PBO garage in Poole by…