Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Practical Boat Owner

PBO’s practical community Being a skipper of a boat means the responsibility is yours; you decide the passage and lead the crew. For PBO, the time has come for a new pair of hands at the helm after the excellent job Alison Wood has done over the last 15 months. Ali will still remain very much part of the team here as a features editor, but will now have more time on the water! I’m excited to be joining the PBO crew, and proud of the community feel the magazine generates. Each issue that community grows as more and more of you get in touch to ask questions from our dedicated team of experts or share your stories (please do keep them coming in). Readers have always been at the…

Recommendations have been made to the UK sports councils to identify the best organisation(s) to act as the national governing body for the sport of stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), as part of a Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report into a SUP tragedy that left four people dead. On 30 October 2021, nine paddleboarders on a commercial river tour in Wales, from Haverfordwest to Burton Ferry, led by the Salty Dog Co Ltd owner and a fellow leader, descended Haverfordwest Town Weir, Some of the group fell from their boards and became trapped in the weir’s hydraulic towback. Morgan Rogers, 24, from Merthyr Tydfil and Nicola Wheatley, 40, from Swansea died at the scene; Andrea Powell, 41, from the Bridgend area died later in hospital. Paul O’Dwyer, 42, from Port Talbot,…

Swearing, as all the world knows, is a sign of weak character and absence of self-control. Or so we were told when we were young and the boom had just crowned us. Apparently, however, this is no longer true. Dr Rafaello Antonino, who is some sort of shrink, has determined that a spot of effing and blinding can increase tolerance of pain and suffering. Fascinatingly, at least to me, much of the really creative swearing that is part of the human heritage evolved on the sea. The aunts who taught us to sail greeted an accidental jibe unsympathetically. ‘God damn and blast you you bloody little boy you will break the bloody mast,’ they would cry. And we would never crash jibe again, or anyway not till the next time.…

Back in the late 1970s, I found myself on the horns of a dilemma. For the last decade or so I’d dismissed bilge keels and twin keels as ugly and performance sapping appendages. To my eyes, they invariably had the look of casually designed afterthoughts that had sprouted beneath nice hulls just to enable the boat to stand on its own two feet. The boats that my company built, on the other hand, were aimed at serious sailors and I rashly assumed that anything other than a state-of-the-art fin keel or hydrodynamically efficient lifting keel would never be likely to satisfy this market. Then my own personal boating needs underwent a change, so I had to take a flyer. Breaking my own rules and ignoring my preconceptions, I went out…

PBO Digital is the best way to get the full magazine experience if you’re unable to buy your regular copy at the newsagent or supermarket. But it’s not quite as straightforward as simply browsing the shelves! 1. What device should I use? You can get a digital, or electronic, version of PBO magazine on a computer (desktop or laptop, Mac or PC), a phone, tablet or an eReader device. The options for desktop/laptop are limited in comparison to phones and tablets, but the bigger screen area and resolution may be an attraction. See the table below for options. 2. Which magazine platform should I buy from? For PBO Digital there are nine different digital magazine platforms available. Some platforms are like supermarkets, while others are like local newsagents with a…

There are three types of sailor: the first has a roller furled main and absolutely loves it, the second type doesn’t have a roller furled main and views it with suspicion and distrust after reading stories of jamming and disaster, and the third is the sailor who has a roller furled main and despairs of it. I’d moved from the second type (with my last boat being a beautiful 30ft Albin Ballad with slab reefing) to being the third type. When I purchased Mirage, our 40ft Bavaria, due to the increasing size of our crew – we have four: Thomas, aged 10, Sophie (7), Matthew (4) and Isabelle (1) – one of the big reservations I had was the fact she had a roller furled main. After much reassurance from…

Two more boat rescues – this time without a big storm – were to teach me a lesson in towing. The first occurred when I went away for a few days in my former boat, a Trusty T23, just before Easter. I spent the night of Good Friday at anchor in Chichester Harbour near Itchenor so I could be home on the lunchtime tide on the Saturday (my mooring is only available 1.5hr each side of HW). I took the anchor up, allowing plenty of time to get home, I decided to cross the drying mud at Pilsey Sand as there was a good depth of water and I could see lots of sailing boats doing the same. I noticed a Drascombe Coaster, a boat I have fond memories of,…

Following a life-altering illness, Karen, my long-suffering wife, and I decided to move to eastern Spain where we could actually afford to retire. After a few years we were attracted to buying a boat and got hold of a 50-year-old Albin Vega 27, which we have been renovating ever since. Now all this seemed pretty idyllic. Perfect sailing days on a coast known for its afternoon breezes, gorgeous coves to explore, some wonderful marinas, fantastic gastronomy and a lovely little boat to explore it all in. All was well until we first stayed on board, back in May 2022. The weather, as you can imagine, was warm (read that as hot for someone who was brought up in England) and the local mosquitoes came to visit us every night for…

Government inaction on pollution could see England’s rivers get worse before they get better, The Wildlife Trusts has warned. In December, the government approved new River Basin Management Plans but campaigners say this third instalment of proposals reveal that rivers, lakes and coastal waters willremainpolluted until 2063 – 36 years later than updated targets intend. The first two sets of plans – from 2009 and 2015 – were supposed to oversee the recovery of a large proportion of these waters by 2015 and 2021 respectively. Both targets were largely missed. Relentless pollution, combined with the impacts of extreme weather and drought, mean England’s waterways have seen little improvement since plans were devised over a decade ago. Currently, only 16% of waters in England are in good ecological health and none…

Calor Gas has discontinued its 4.5kg butane cylinders and 3.9kg propane cylinders. Last year, the firm blamed a shortage of 4.5kg and 7kg cylinders in the UK on high seasonal demand and a shortage of workers due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, it said both cylinder sizes ‘remain an important part of our cylinder range’ and it hoped supply would improve. Now, it has announced that it is ‘simplifying the business’ and users of 4.5kg butane cylinders are advised to switch to a 7kg cylinder. A new regulator is needed for this change and Calor Gas said it won’t be covering this cost. A spokesman said: “Our existing range of cylinders is creating complexity within our supply chain. This means longer change over times and reduced filling capacity…

Now’s a great time of year for volunteering: before the summer hurry starts, when local clubs and ships have time to do some training. I thought it’d be fun to crew aboard Shetland’s own tall ship, former fishing Fifie Swan, so I signed up to a weekend of training days. It was blowing a hooley on the first day: Force 8 gusting 10 – not a day for taking her out, “But there are plenty of other things to do,” skipper Maggie Adamson said cheerfully, “and the kettle’s on.” Maggie gave us sheets showing what we needed to do: familiarisation with the boat, safety aboard, the engine and the rig. We explored the main cabin, galley and heads, then went aft to the engine room, where engineer Ian Nicolson took…

Andrew Bishop, former managing director of the World Cruising Club (WCC), has revealed that a close-call on his first transatlantic passage compelled him to rethink his life. After an accidental gybe led to concussion, he realised it was time to ‘embrace the day’ and approached the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) founder, Jimmy Cornell for a job. Andrew, who retired on 6 January, was on a career break from the Navy when he joined his father for the 1989 ARC. “It was my father’s long-term ambition to sail across the Atlantic, and the opportunity arose for me to take time off,” says Andrew. “I basically had a gap year at the age of 29.” He helped his father prepare their new-build Freedom 39, a time he recalls as being ‘very…

Whenever I read about microplastic pollution and its disastrous impact on the marine environment, I remember rinsing down the cruiser storage yard at my sailing club a couple of years ago and all the little bits of blue stringy plastic washing into the drain. You see, someone, or in fact a few people, had covered their boats’ cockpits in the ubiquitous online-purchased blue woven scrim polyethelene ‘heavy duty’ tarps and they were getting somewhat frilly after not very long in the sun. The problem is these poly tarps are coated in a post-manufacture UV protectant that, unbelievably, washes off the fabric after a few rain showers. Perhaps one of the transparent (or occasionally green) tarps laminated in two film layers with a square open weave grid of white polyester fibre…

Bought new from the factory, we knew from the outset we’d have to make a lot of changes to Navasana to prepare her for our transatlantic voyage with the ARC. I’d previously crossed the Pacific in a Beneteau First 38s5, Sudden Stops Necessary, where I’d made several modifications and fixes along the way. The factory didn’t offer lithium or big solar options on our new Nautitech 46 Open, and there were some features I wasn’t keen on such as the dinghy davits or the anchor setup. Finding a broker that could help us make all these modifications aftermarket was critical in our search and was the reason we purchased the boat from Neomarine in La Rochelle. They could show us boats with solar and lithium installations they’d completed – and…

Running rigging is something you tend to take for granted … until it fails, which is what happened during the boat test of Maximus, our Maxi 84 (see PBO February 2023). Fortunately, thanks to XP Rigging, we now had newly spliced mooring lines, halyards and sheets. The turquoise, red and white ropes were so vibrant against the off-white decks. I enjoyed handling them; especially after the coarse UV-damaged lines from before. There was just one more thing I wanted to do: visit English Braids, the company who made them. We’re lucky in the marine industry to have so many British manufacturing businesses. I’d already seen Maximus’s sail cloth being cut at Bainbridge and then stitched by T Sails loft. Now I was keen to find out more about ropemaking. I called…

Before embarking on any project, it’s best to sit quietly with a cup of tea and mull it over. Well, I must have drunk gallons of tea before embarking on this particular project. I eventually chose a design that would, as close as possible, fulfil my requirements and, importantly, be towable from my build site to the public highway. Before committing to buy the full plans from François Vivier, I purchased the study plans for just a few pounds which enabled me to check the lines and fully understand the construction. I contacted the architect directly who proved to be very accommodating with my queries. I then attempted to estimate the cost. This was informative but time-consuming due to my lack of knowledge of much of the terminology and where…

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Here’s just a selection of the latest questions from PBO readers. For more expert advice, visit pbo.co.uk/expert-advice/expert-answers ENGINES Diesel shelf life and the infamous bug Q I have a 44ft sailing boat with a 55hp Volvo Penta diesel supplied by a 280lt stainless steel fuel tank. The boat is kept on a mooring in Pembrokeshire’s Milford Haven estuary and in past years I’ve always made sure the tank is filled to the brim over the winter to reduce condensation, but now with the higher level of bio content in the fuel and the shorter shelf life I’m not sure if this is the best thing to do any more. I’ve done a bit or research but am still not sure what’s the best option I probably only use around 100lt…

Cruising Association (CA), president Derek Lumb said: “The CA is bewildered as to why people who bought boats in Europe and paid VAT on those boats should now be discriminated against in this way. This intransigence by HMRC is deeply disappointing and a further obstacle for the cruising community.” He added: “The CA’s Regulatory and Technical Services (RATS) group will be requesting transparency as to the grounds on which this decision was made and the logic behind it. It will be difficult to overcome the decision, but RATS will continue to challenge it.” RYA cruising manager Stuart Carruthers said: “The government had the RYA proposal to rectify a wrong of its making since January 2022 following our successful lobbying to secure an easement of the three-year RGR condition. In light…

World champion canoeist, Beth Gill, who has seen at first hand the damage to the UK’s rivers and canals, is calling on the public to ‘help keep our waterways clean.’ Beth, 26, from Newcastle, spends around 30 hours a week training on inland waterways throughout the world as part of the British Canoeing team, aiming to qualify for and represent her country in the Olympic Sprint discipline at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Not only has it opened her eyes to the damage chemical and physical pollution is causing to canals and rivers across the UK, but it has also inspired her to raise awareness of their ecological importance. “I saw a mattress going down the River Trent,” she said, “but, while pollution like litter and abandoned shopping trolleys is an…

The Department for Transport (DfT) is bringing in new powers to prosecute those who dangerously misuse watercraft; anyone caught riding or driving recklessly could face a prison sentence of up to two years and an unlimited fine. For those who cause accidents involving loss of life, the new offences could be used to better prosecute perpetrators alongside wider manslaughter charges. From 31 March, personal watercraft (PWC) operators will be subject to the same safety obligations and laws that apply to ships, including requirements to maintain a lookout, drive at safe speeds and outline responsibilities to other vessels. The Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order also introduces a definition for watercraft which applies to any craft capable of moving under its own mechanical power. Maritime Minister Baroness Vere said: “It’s great to see…

Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at pbo@futurenet.com, or write to the address on page 5 SOUTH COAST AND CHANNEL ISLANDS Gosport sailor awarded MBE Paul Bishop has been made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his career as a professional sailor, which he has used to enhance the lives of young people over four decades of involvement with Tall Ships Races and the Sail Training International charity. Paul said: “The charity has done some amazing work since it started in 1956 and although it is an individual award, it really highlights all of the work the charity does.” Paul encouraged young people with a sense of adventure to book on a sail training voyage and make 2023 a year to remember.…

Carping at the Amphicar is easy. Half car, half boat, critics say it’s neither fish nor fowl, all at sea on land and out of its depth in water. But for all that the 1960s car-boat curio hailed in the American press as ‘a vehicle that promised to revolutionise drowning’ remains the most successful civilian amphibious vehicle ever made. The Amphicar 770 was the brainchild of German engineer Hans Trippel, designer of the military amphibious Volkswagen Schwimmwagen of World War II. When launched in 1961 by the Quandt Group, controlling interest owners of BMW, hopes were that the rear-engined steel-bodied aquatic hybrid with twin props under its stern would become the amphibian equivalent of the Volkswagen Beetle, bringing car-boats to the masses. In fact, when the prototype was unveiled at…

Cats have long enjoyed a relationship with sailors; living on trading, exploration and naval ships to control vermin, but it’s not often you see them on a 47ft leisure yacht. Weighing in at 8kg, and covered head to toe in luxurious ginger fur, Zeasar isn’t your average ship’s cat. For a start, he’s twice as big, but he’s also sailed part-way across the Atlantic. Snuggled up in the cockpit of his Beneteau Oceanis 473, the Norwegian Forest cat is perfectly at home. Though an ancient breed adapted to withstand Scandinavian winters, Swedish-born Zeasar is comfortable in a range of temperatures, including the 30°C sunshine of the Grenadines. Cool for cats Long hair is actually believed to be beneficial for cats in extreme heat, preventing sunburn and trapping a layer of…

I was told by the bosun of a tall ship that there’s only one rope on the ship. Which is it? The bell rope [laughs]. Though, actually the majority of consumers do just call it rope, or yacht rope. Where we become a bit more technical is when we’re discussing breaking strengths or the variation in diameters, so then you might refer to a 12mm halyard, for example. Interestingly, you’re in Malvern. Why so far from the sea? English Braids is quite possibly as landlocked as you can get but we’ve become synonymous with sailing and the commercial shipping industry. The company’s owner actually started out working for a firm making cord for blinds in his early 20s. When the company took a strategic turn he raised funds to buy…

Paul Simon used to sing to me that ‘the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip-slidin’ away’. I never knew he’d sailed the Suffolk coast. It was mid-summer and I had a Folkboat moored at the end of Martlesham Creek, which as anybody familiar with either of those things will know, limited my sailing opportunities. A Folkboat needs 1.19m of water before it will float. At the furthest end of the creek where I was moored that means you have about 90 minutes maximum either side of high water to go and do whatever it is you want to do before you have to wait for another tide. But it was sunny and I was keen to get afloat. I’d spent several years refitting Fern and bringing her back to…

We pay for your cruising stories and harbour updates – email pbo@futurenet.com. For more adventures, visit www.pbo.co.uk/cruising Portsmouth Harbour entrance is just 200m wide and must accommodate naval vessels, car ferries to and from the Isle of Wight as well as large commercial shipping. There is a small craft channel through the west side, mandatory for craft less than 20m long, which is only 50m wide. The tide through the entrance can run to 5 knots, and there is a nasty cross tide at the seaward end which can knock you several metres off course. The Ryde hovercraft lands close to the entrance. We were heading for Birdham Pool Marina’s Classic Boat Festival. This lovely, slightly quirky marina is situated at the top of Chichester Harbour, east of Portsmouth, meaning…