Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i Practical Boat Owner

Half-century celebrations Fifty years ago, something amazing was happening, all thanks to a new material: glassfi bre. Although hobbyists had been messing around in wooden boats for decades, the fact that wooden boats don’t lend themselves to mass production made them expensive, and the skills and/or financial outlay required to maintain them put off many a would-be sailor. Glassfi bre changed all that, and in the late ’50s and early ’60s glassfi bre boats began to proliferate, many based on their wooden predecessors. By the late ’60s the number of people on the water had increased dramatically, and glassfi bre was the norm for small-boat construction. Even wooden boats became cheaper, as more became available second-hand as owners upgraded to the new material. It’s a mark of this new enthusiasm…

The European Commission has adopted the fi rst EU list of invasive alien species, requiring dedicated action across the Union. Through the publication of Implementing Regulation 2016/1141, the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation 1143/2014 will now apply to an initial list of 37 species (23 animals and 14 plants). The outcome of the EU Referendum does not immediately impact the implementation of these regulations. Until the UK formally leaves the EU, we still have a legal obligation to comply with EU law and the invasive alien species regulations remain in force. Invasive non-native species can harm native habitats, block waterways, damage boating equipment and affect water treatment systems. The aim of the regulation is to prevent or manage the introduction, or spread, of invasive non-native species across the European Union.…

British sailor Jeanne Socrates, 74, is preparing to attempt a fourth solo circumnavigation, starting this October. Three years ago, Jeanne became the first woman to sail solo non-stop around the world from North America and the oldest woman to sail solo non-stop around the world (as noted in the Guinness Book of Records). The achievement in her Najad 380 yacht Nereida marked Jeanne’s third attempt to circumnavigate solo, nonstop and unassisted, east-about via Cape Horn and the Southern Ocean. The first attempt resulted in the total loss of her boat, and during the second her yacht was knocked down off Cape Horn and Jeanne was forced to put into port for extensive repairs. Although she completed the circumnavigation, the non-stop challenge eluded her until 8 July 2013 when she arrived…

News from your cruising area Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com tel: 01202 440825, or write to the address on page 5 SOUTH LYMINGTON QUAY PLANS Lymington Harbour Commissioners’ (LHC) have launched a public consultation on proposals to redevelop the Town Quay area to increase the number of walk-ashore visitor berths from a possible 19 to up to 51 (rafted). This would include 23 rafted (max 2 out), 20 bookable finger berths, six small boat/RIB berths and two alongside short stay berths. LHC believe that it is essential to reconfigure the visitor moorings to provide the type of mooring facilities expected by modern yachtsmen. The consultation will end on Sunday 25 September. Have your say at: http://po.st/LymingtonPlans. SOUTH-WEST SEARCH FOR BOAT OWNER…

Mad about the boat Dave Selby is the proud owner of a 5.48m (18ft) Sailfish, which he keeps on a swinging mooring on the picturesque Blackwater estuary in Essex For years I’ve relied on my trusty Seafarer echosounder. That’s why I’ve also got a stick. And I knew something was up on a test sail in Marlin when my 1970s marvel of technology read a steady 4ft… constantly. Nowhere on the East Coast is that deep! And for once, the sages in The Queen’s Head were no help at all. They have a deep distrust of anything more modern than rickets and instead prefer to rely on their famous local knowledge. You’ve got to respect that, cos not one of them has ever gone aground, although on any weekend you’ll…

Check your slides If they’re the wrong ones or simply not up to spec, you’re fighting a losing battle. Clean the luff groove An accumulation of dirt and debris will increase friction. Clean the groove with a cloth and soapy water. Crusader Sails suggest feeding a knotted J Cloth into the groove through the gate. Attach a halyard, not forgetting a downhaul too, and run it up and down. It’s probably best not to follow up the cleaning by using lubricants. With the right slides/cars and a clean luff groove, they shouldn’t be necessary and can simply attract more dirt. Check your masthead sheave If the rig was designed for a wire halyard, the masthead sheave will probably be aluminium on a stainless steel pin. Over the years the reaction…

14mm nylon three-strand line PRICE: £2.60/m Bought from www.piplers.co.uk Mooring lines should be chosen so that they are shock absorbers in themselves, for which nylon is the best commonly-used rope-making material. Twisted lines such as three-strand or multiplait also tend to be better as their construction inherently stretches under load. On our drop test, the peak load reached 190kg, with one signifi cant bounce thereafter, showing that it dissipated the shock very quickly – too quickly. We tried the same test with 12mm line, which reached 195kg, suggesting that a larger line is a better shock absorber. On our extension test, the line extended quickly by about 20mm (1.6%) as the load reached 50kg, gradually extending a further 20mm as the line tension reached 200kg. Galvanised steel spring PRICE: £3.99…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com, tel: 01202 440825 A couple forced to flee their burning yacht off the Dorset coast have praised rescuers and shared lessons learned from their ‘totally gutting’ experience. Maths teacher Robert Thornewill was devastated to see his Beneteau First 30 yacht Eleanor Cengulfed in flames from stem to stern after an engine fire broke out on approach to Poole Harbour On 16 July, Robert and his partner Thelma Bartlett were motoring along the Swash Channel, following a shakedown sail to Studland Bay, when Thelma noticed smoke coming from the cabin. Robert put the engine on tickover and with Thelma now at the helm, went to investigate. The smoke was clearly coming from the engine compartment, so ireached for and armed…

A scheme to help protect the nation’s marine heritage by encouraging the recording of archaeological and historical objects found by marine users in English and Welsh waters has been launched. Called the Marine Antiquities Scheme (MAS), it is a joint initiative funded by The Crown Estate, modelled on The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme for onshore fi nds. The scheme evolved from the realisation that each year divers, fi shermen, recreational boat users and other coastal visitors discover many interesting objects and sites, but until now had no way to centrally record them for the wider public benefit. Central to the scheme is a simple-to-use app that gives fi nders immediate feedback from archaeological experts as well as instructions on their statutory obligations, including the need to report any wreck…

OCTOBER ISSUE ON SALE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 PRACTICAL The Secret is out! ■ PBO’s new project boat: a Secret 20 which we will build from scratch Plus ■ Fitting gas on board ■ Rebuilding a Yanmar water pump ■ Repairing a broken mast ■ Gelcoat polishing TESTED Cordless angle grinders ■ Could one of these help save your yacht in the event of a dismasting? Tiller pilots ■ Which is the most reliable at maintaining a steady course? BOATS Django 770 on test ■ Assessing the twin-keel version of Django’s 770 cruiser Chasing distant horizons ■ Peter K Poland talks to some more production boat adventurers SEAMANSHIP Motor-sailer rig tweaks ■ How to maximise the efficiency of the sail plan on your motor-sailer CRUISING Blackwater haunts ■ Lesser-known spots to…

Flotsam and jetsam Sam Llewellyn is editor of The Marine Quarterly, www.marinequarterly.com, and author of nautical thrillers. Three years ago he bought a Corribee on eBay Here we are in the middle of the cruising season. But soon, far too soon, it will be the time of year when logs are handed in for judgement. Many will consist of a bunch of photographs interspersed with a few bits of text. (Weather nasty. Yogurt off. Mouse in bilges. Saw Kraken.) The clubhouse will resound to the dull thunks of judges’ foreheads hitting the table as they slide into the deep sleep of purest boredom. It was perhaps slightly different for (say) Christopher Columbus. Noone of the Clock. Dayes Run 10 Leagues. Course W., he would have written, or words to that…

Our old instruments were wireless and thus needed no mast cable – but the new ones obviously did. To enable this, I sewed a mouse line to the tricolour cable and pulled it through, using this mouse line to then pull back the tricolour cable and the new wind cable as well. I greased both cables with silicone grease to aid their passage through the cable conduit in the mast – and it worked well, with both cables appearing easily. The transducer bracket fitted onto my existing masthead light bracket, with a minor modifi cation to the screw holes. Once the mast was up, I wired in the wind sensor using a Maretron fi eld-installable plug, which has screw terminals for each core – I’d had to cut the plug…

Our Contessa 26, Red Dragon, has been in the family for 13 years this year, and installing a heater has been a recurring topic of conversation. Cost, as always, is a consideration, but we spent a long time wondering if the space taken by the unit and ducting was really practicable on such a small boat. On the other hand, I’m married to a lady who can sense a cold draught an hour before it arrives and, in our maritime climate, a heater can really help extend your sailing season. Even my colleague Ben Meakins, a keen racer, says that his heater is one bit of weight he’s never considered removing from his boat Polly. Instead, the ability to switch it on after a race, thaw out the crew and…

Most of the steps you take to reduce friction on the hoist will also help on the drop. But when the halyard is released rather than pulling the sail up, different factors come into play. The luff tends to be pushed into the back of the mast, for example, particularly with full-length battens, so the type of cars/ slides and the attachment between them and the batten box become critical. Fitting a downhaul line attached to the head can help, especially if you find yourself in a situation where you have to pull the sail down with the wind abaft the beam, for example. One fundamental point is to ensure the halyard is totally free to run. Once a sail starts to come down, make it easy for it to…

Time taken: 5-6 hours Cost: £35 Saving: Several hundred £££ I really should have heeded the warning signs. Two days earlier, on dropping the sail, I’d noticed some damaged stitching near the leech tape, which I dutifully repaired immediately. Knowing the sail was elderly – I’d bought it second-hand several years previously – I aimed to use it only in very light airs, where the extra power enables you to sail at a respectable speed in conditions in which you would otherwise resort to the engine. However, on this day it was blowing 16-22 knots, with some heavy gusts rolling down the 1,500m-high peaks at the western end of the Greek island of Samos. And the wind was at a perfect angle – the boats I had been racing all…

There are some jobs you just don’t want to do, but after a while, when the shrieking gets to a pitch where earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones won’t work – and where however many glasses of wine you pass across the table to your ever-loving partner, her squealing also won’t stop – you just have to bite the bullet and get the gloves out. In truth, servicing your boat’s toilet isn’t going to be as bad as changing the average baby’s nappy. On the other hand, if you’ve not yet had that pleasure, then changing the average baby’s nappy is worse than cleaning out the toilet; so that’s a little something to look forward to... Hygiene You’re dealing with bacteria, most of which came from you in the first place, but…

Bring your lifejackets to the Southampton Boat Show and enjoy free maintenance checks at the PBO and Dave Selby stand in the Arena. PBO’s Dave Selby, who is battling a rare nerve illness called Guillain-Barré Syndrome, is currently en route to the show in his 5.5m (18ft) Sailfi sh Marlin on a 300-mile charity challenge. Seasafe, who have supplied Dave’s custom lifejackets and safety equipment, will be holding daily clinics on Dave’s stand (A134), offering lifejacket checks and advice, plus a special show price for servicing and providing a servicing collection point Dave, who completed leg one of the voyage to London in July, is making the journey in small hops as health, time and weather allow. The 57-year-old requires regular hospital treatment to stay well. He said: ‘I’ve got…

In the last issue of PBO, we shone the spotlight on the British Olympic sailors who will be battling for Rio 2016 glory from 8-18 August. Now we look at our Paralympic contenders. The Paralympic sailing regatta will run from 7-17 September, hosted at the Marina da Gloria, Rio De Janeiro. This could be the last Paralympic sailing competition as the International Paralympic Committee has dropped it from the line-up of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, a move that has caused outrage around the world. Sailing has been a Paralympic sport since 2000: however, it was a demonstration sport at Atlanta 1996. Britain has gold medal contenders in all three Paralympic sailing classes. Helena Lucas, 2.4m keelboat Helena, 41, made history when she won Britain’s first Paralympic gold medal at…

■ Cowes Week, 6–13 August, www.aamcowesweek.co.uk ■ Whitehills Marina Regatta, 13 August, 10th anniversary year, www.whitehillsmarina.co.uk ■ Fowey Royal Regatta, 14–20 August, www.rfyc-fowey.org.uk ■ Swallows and Amazons film remake in cinemas, 19 August ■ Portsmouth Boat Jumble, 21 August, Fort Purbrook, Cosham, www.boat-jumbles.co.uk ■ Whitby Regatta, 19–22 August, www.whitbyregatta.co.uk ■ ARC Channel Islands Rally, 20–27 August, www.worldcruising.com/arcchannelislands ■ North Sea Tall Ships Regatta, 26–29 August, www.tallshipsblyth2016.com ■ Holyhead Traditional Sail Festival, 2–4 September, www.oga.org.uk/events ■ Essex Boat Jumble, 4 September, Battlesbridge Antiques Centre, www.boat-jumbles.co.uk ■ Etchells World Championships, 5–10 September, organised by the Royal London Yacht Club, hosted at Cowes Yacht Haven ■ Southampton Boat Show, 16–25 September, www.southamptonboatshow.com ■ West of Scotland Boat Jumble, 2 October, from 10am Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine, Ayrshire, www.wsbj.co.uk ■ Solent Boat Jumble, 2…

Monthly musings Yacht surveyor and designer Andrew Simpson cruises with his wife Chele in his own-design 11.9m (39ft) yacht Shindig. Read his blog at www.offshore-sailor.com Boats attract junk as dogs attract fleas,’ a friend once told me. And he was right. The accumulation of onboard gear isn’t usually a problem for home-based cruisers who can haul redundant stuff ashore to haunt their garages, garden sheds or attics. But there’s no such relief for the longdistance sailors who must accommodate whatever they own within the confi nes of their boat. For them, the choice is simple: stow or throw. Of course, much of this pain is self-inflicted. When we fi rst set off from British waters back in 2003, there were only two toolboxes on board. Now there are fi ve.…

HOW TO MAKE LIFE EASY FOR YOURSELF Earlier this year, I was on a test sail with a friend on a boat he was thinking of buying. On the way back in, as you do, we put the sails away: we rolled away the headsails (it was a cutter) and lowered the main and mizzen (it was also a ketch). At least, we tried to lower the mizzen. Motoring directly into a gentle breeze, we released the halyard and the head came down a couple of feet. Then it stopped. The sail was tiny; barely larger than that of a small dinghy. It had little roach and was fi tted with ordinary plastic slides – only they didn’t want to slide, even when I stood on top of the wheelhouse…

BM-1 (BT) Bluetooth Battery Monitor This monitor is designed for boat and caravan owners who don’t have space for the display, or for whom routing the cables would be a nightmare. The BM-1(BT) monitors your boat or caravan’s lead-acid batteries and wirelessly transmits the data directly to your mobile phone, or tablet, via Bluetooth. A simple Android app, available from the nasamarine.com website or Google Play Store (requires Android V4.3 or later), shows your service battery voltage, current fl owing in or out, state of charge and time to charge or discharge the battery. An audible alarm warns if the battery level gets dangerously low. It will also show the starter battery voltage. For Apple users, a more sophisticated app with additional features can be purchased from the Apple app…

Furling systems for offwind sails started life on offshore racing boats – Open 60s and the like – but have begun to filter down to cruising boats in the past few years. They won’t work with symmetrical spinnakers, but for asymmetric spinnakers, cruising chutes and code zero sails, they make hoisting, gybing and dropping the sail much easier, especially short-handed. Unlike a genoa roller-furler, spinnaker furlers don’t have a fixed luff. Instead, they use a torsion cable to transfer the twist from the bottom to the top of the furler. The head and tack are fixed to a swivel at each end of the cable, but the luff is free – and you can adjust the luff tension with a lashing from the tack to the lower swivel. By pulling…