Innehållsförteckning för July 2023 från Practical Boat Owner

British Golden Globe Race skipper Ian Herbert-Jones suffered back, shoulder and head injuries when his Tradewind 35 cutter, Puffin, was rolled and dismasted during a South Atlantic storm. The 52-year-old solo sailor from Shropshire was rescued by the crew of Taiwanese fishing vessel, Zi Da Wang, after spending around 24 hours in his dismasted yacht, in confused 7.7m seas and 50 knot winds, some 900 miles east-north-east of the Falkland Islands. The rescue took place in 25 knot winds and 4m seas. Ian activated his EPIRB and then his YB Tracking distress signal manually at 1725 UTC on 10 April, while sailing Puffin under bare poles. A week earlier, the former Clipper Race watch leader, who learned to sail in the Army, had anchored at Picton Island to repair his…

Email pbo@futurenet.com or write to us at the address on page 5. Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. Seadog taxi If only we all had this balance… Tender… bah! (photo, right) As seen in Croatia, at anchor just off Pula in late March. I took this first thing, just coming back to the boat after morning ablutions. Peter Williams Genuine practical boat owner Yet again, an excellent article (Choosing the right project boat, PBO, June 2023) by the incomparable Rupert Holmes. Too often, yachting writers promote perfection as if we have limitless funds. Thankfully, Rupert seems to get where many of us are coming from, and I appreciate his sympathetic understanding of the weeks and years of joy, heartache, frustration and, yes, deep satisfaction in owning an old boat and…

Sam Llewellyn writes nautical thrillers, edits The Marine Quarterly, and is perpetually patching up a 30ft ketch: samllewellyn.com Just after lunch, in one of those Mediterranean ports where the sun bounces off the concrete and the prudent option is to sit in the shade and watch the world go by, it happened. The world, in this case, being the small-boat fishlanding division of a gigantic marina. Across the water came the clank of a diesel engine, burning, by the smell of it, olive oil and donkey manure. The engine belonged to a fishing boat, and it was evident that a feat of seamanship was about to be performed. There was one man on the boat. He approached the quay at right angles and slammed the bow into the concrete. He…

Having been a boatbuilder for around 30 years until the very early ‘noughties’, I’ve already witnessed – and even taken part in – a lot of changes in the world of yacht design and building. Yacht design originally evolved as traditional workboats developed into leisure craft. In his History of Yachting, Douglas Phillips-Birt writes that the Dutch, who gave the name ‘yacht’ to the world, were probably the first to use commercial craft for pleasure in the 16th century. They created the first yacht harbour in Amsterdam in the 17th century. When the schooner America visited the UK in 1851 and raced around the Isle of Wight, this led to the America’s Cup and the resulting merry-go-round of race-yacht design that continues to this day. The creation of what is…

Where to moor and anchor The main harbours are often very busy in the summer and have frequent ferry traffic (watch out for ferry wash). Skiathos is the largest harbour but many berths are occupied by the charter fleets. Skopelos harbour can be dangerous to enter during strong north-westerly winds. Mediterranean mooring, stern (or bows) on to the quay, is normally required. At Patitiri it is possible to anchor in the bay. Smaller harbours include Neo Klima and Agnontas on Skopelos, Votsi and Steni Vala on Alonnisos. The main harbours offer supermarkets, water and fuel, car and moped hire and bus services (of varying frequency) but facilities are limited elsewhere. Many bars and restaurants are closed outside the main tourist season, especially in the smaller villages. ■ Island harbours: Skiathos…

Gerber Multitools GERBER CENTER-DRIVE Best all-round multitool Make: Gerber | Model: Center-Drive | Weight: 283g | Blade length: 74mm | Closed length: 116mm | Locking blade: Yes | Features: 16 | Price: £115.99 GERBER DUAL FORCE Best for powering through tough jobs Make: Gerber | Model: Dual Force | Weight: 337g | Blade length: 74mm | Closed length: 115mm | Locking blade: Yes | Features: 12 | Price: £84.99 The multi-tool is the sailor’s go-to tool for all those little jobs–the ones where you’re underway and you spot a loose screw or shackle, or a bit of line has come adrift or you just need to tighten or cut something. Or pry that lid open. Mine comes out for frayed mooring lines, loose screws, bits of rope that have jammed…

The sun’s shining, and rum punches are being poured on the pontoons of Grenada’s Port Louis Marina. Boats are nursing their wounds – chafed lines, torn sails, worn shackles – and crews celebrating the finish of their transatlantic voyage. Among the gleaming new catamarans – the Lagoons, Outremers and Fontaine Pajots – is a smaller, older multihull, moored bows-to. In the cockpit is a copy of PBO’s November 2022 issue, and on a table a trophy that says, ‘Fastest Multihull’. It’s Ciel Bleu. “Come on board!” says Jon, enthusiastically. With him is partner, Dawn, nephew Stephen and fellow Essex sailor Shaun from their small club on the River Roach. “We love PBO. We’ve learned a lot from reading your magazine!” Ciel Bleu’s voyage from Paglesham to the Canaries, Cape Verde…

Sailing, with the wind, sea and tides, is a sport ever ready to reward complacency with challenge. From an estuary dinghy sailor to an ocean voyager, there are endless opportunities to learn something new – from a better way to lead the jib sheet to how to heave-to more safely in a gale. The years go by, your experience widens and your skills develop – but sailing also has a way of reminding you of the basics and this happened to me off the Suffolk coast. It was September and time to return my motor-sailer to her River Colne berth in Essex after a summer on the River Ore in Suffolk. I’ve done this 35-mile passage many times solo in a variety of yachts. The main challenge is to cross…

The Hunter Association may be a homogeneous body without branches or sections, but the Medina 20 lifting keel class is being celebrated by a member. Paul Smith, Medina 20 class officer, has a “one-man revival campaign” to raise the Medina 20 profile, fuelled by his own renovation project. He said: “There are very good boats on the market at very reasonable prices and I’m keen to target a younger demographic. A friend spent £30,000 on a Seascape 18 to do solo sailing events, I did not have that budget so I did some research and saw the Medina 20 is competitive on rating. By the time I renovate my Medina to as-new condition, buy racing sails and do Asymmetric conversion, I will have spent around £6,000.” Paul has organised a…

Marsali Taylor sails an Offshore 8M, Karima S. She’s a dinghy instructor and author of The Shetland Sailing Mysteries starring liveaboard sleuth, Cass Lynch. The long summer days have arrived in Shetland at last. The elegant fork-tailed Arctic terns have returned in a flurry of scolding, sweeping down the voe in a squabbling group, then separating out to their nesting sites. Gradually the light’s crept back, light after tea, light for evening work at the marina and now the ‘simmer dims’ are here, those beautiful long days which dim to twilight at 2330, and brighten to daylight at one. It’s a pleasure to wake at 0400 to the start of a bright new day filled with interesting possibilities, which naturally include taking the boat out. Everyone has that same idea.…

Full length keel Pros: Directional stability. Heavy displacement leading to comfort at sea. Cons: Poor windward performance. Large wetted surface leads to drag. When under power at low speeds, the turning circle is wide unless fitted with thrusters. The same applies to manoeuvring astern. Cutaway modified long keel form with keel-hung rudder Pros: Reduced wetted surface area leading to increased boat speed. Better windward performance and handling than full length keel. Rudder on the aft end of the keel improves self-steering ability on some designs. Cons: Under engine, this keel form has a large turning circle ahead and poor control astern. Since the rudder is not ‘balanced’, the helm on some designs can feel quite heavy. Fin keel with skeg-hung rudder Pros: The further reduction in wetted surface area leads to…

The Class Globe 5.80 would not be described by some sailors as the ideal boat to race around the world. At just 5.8m (19ft) long and 2.27m (7ft 5in) wide, the boat is a far cry from the 40ft-plus multihulls and monohulls that most skippers would gravitate towards for offshore adventures. But the idea of ocean sailing in small boats is nothing new. In the 1950s, John Guzzwell proved that sub-21ft boats were capable of circumnavigating the world. Inspired by the likes of Harry Pidgeons and Joshua Slocum, Guzzwell spent £50 on a set of Jack Laurent Giles plans for a 6.27m (20ft 6in) yawl. A carpenter, he built Trekka, using only hand tools, launching the boat in August 1954. His first long solo voyage on Trekka was to Hawaii,…

Choosing an outboard engine for your tender used to be as simple as going to your nearest dealer and picking up whatever 2.5hp engine they had in stock. Now, however, things have got a bit more complicated – in a good way. First you’ve got to decide whether you are going to stick with petrol or go electric, then there’s the question of who offers the best combination of power, range, weight, build quality, refinement, ease of use and, of course, price. You could go round in circles for hours trying to decide what was right for you. So that’s exactly what we did, on your behalf, by assembling all the main players along with one of F-RIB’s 2.75m folding mini-RIBs to test them on and work out which were…

Does silicone antifouling work? It’s not flying off the shelves yet, according to suppliers, but the results from our Project Boat are promising. In fact, in the words of the boatyard that lifted Maximus out, “Brilliant. It’s fantastic. Everyone should use that!” It’s not often we’re so effusive about a new product in PBO, so it’s worth recapping how we came to choose silicone antifouling, how we applied it over a sunny weekend and why a Poole boatyard, located in an internationally important nature reserve, was so impressed. The story began in the summer of 2021, when we acquired Maximus, our 44-year-old Maxi 84 cruiser. She’d been in a Chichester boatyard for two years and needed some serious TLC. I was keen to test new products, as we restored her…

Psychologically, I have always found sailing through calms to be far worse than battling any storm. Endlessly flogging sails and oppressive heat can fray tempers, and with no ability to go forward and no sign of any breeze it can be difficult to maintain a positive approach. But, if managed in the right way while cruising, total calms can be productive, useful and even fun. Review your watch system Change to single-person, short watches during the day and involve the remaining crew in other jobs. The on-watch crew will look out for both traffic and wind and try to keep the boat going in the right direction. Overnight either return to original watch patterns or have a reduced watch with the remainder on standby in case of squalls. Lock and…

George was helping to launch his friend’s boat and asked if Paul and I could give them a hand. My friend George knows nothing about boats, his involvement was as driver of the tow vehicle, being the owner of a suitably powerful 4x4. When we duly turned up at the harbour the next Sunday it soon became apparent that the owner didn’t know much about boats either. I got an uncomfortable feeling that we had been appointed the ‘experts’ who would know what to do. The thing is, we know how to sail boats; neither Paul nor I had any experience of launching a boat from a road trailer. For me, launching involved either wheeling our Fireball dinghy down the beach or watching anxiously from a distance as the family…

Jimmy Cornell has been awarded the Cruising Association (CA) Duchess of Kent Trophy in recognition of his lifetime contribution to cruising. The accolade honours sailors who achieve ‘something exceptional in or around small boats’. Jimmy, who has sailed 200,000-plus miles in all oceans of the world including voyages to Antarctica and the Northwest Passage, and founded the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), has influenced the contemporary cruising scene more than any other sailor. His books, including World Cruising Routes, have helped thousands of sailors fulfil their bluewater cruising dreams.…

Jeanne Socrates–the oldest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world via the Southern Ocean’s five Great Capes–has started a new adventure. The 80-year-old has left Mexico to sail across the Pacific. But unlike her last record-breaking voyage, Jeanne intends to cruise her Najad 380, Nereida, stopping at islands along the way. “It is about a cruise, although I will probably set another record as the oldest woman to cross the Pacific,” said Jeanne, who plans to stop at the Marquesas before continuing through the Pacific islands to Fiji and then reach New Zealand by late October. She added: “At the moment, my plan stops in Australia and then we will see. It should take me a couple of years.” Getting the 14-year-old Nereida ready for cruising, having…

Rescue teams battled winds gusting more than 50mph and 6m high waves to assist a lone yachtsman off the north Devon coast during Storm Mathis. RNLI Appledore’s all-weather lifeboat launched at 0440 into darkness and Force 9 conditions when the 43ft 8in Hanse 430e sailor issued a Pan Pan distress call on 31 March, some 14 miles north-west of Hartland. Newquay’s Coastguard helicopter was dispatched to find the yacht’s exact position, as 999 maritime call operators had heard the distress call but not the location. Radio frequency was quite weak so shore based coastguard teams on the island of Lundy helped to relay radio messages from a clifftop and spotted a light. Kieran Nolan-Jones, senior coastal operations officer for north Devon, said it was “an important reminder of needing a…

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 One of the most intriguing what-ifs in the wonderful history of British ingenuity and litany of crackpot invention must surely be the Vincent Amanda Water Scooter. If only they’d got it right, the boffins at famed British motorcycle manufacturer Vincent could have enraged weekend sailors a decade and a half before the jet ski arrived on the scene. But instead of propelling Vincent into a new age, the luckless Amanda was more akin to the Sinclair C5 of its day. In the case of the widely ridiculed 1980s C5 electric trike, powered by a washing machine motor, its detractors might argue that the only thing…

Clive Marsh discovered small boats while working for Canadian Pacific Steamships and is a past Commodore of the Merchant Navy Association Boat Club. In this series he shares tales from his 50 years of boat ownership. Modern ships’ lifeboats are much more likely to save your life by keeping you dry and warm than their open boat predecessors, should you be unlucky enough to need one. They may resemble orange submarines but they have a fit-for-purpose design. However, there was a time when a ship’s lifeboat actually looked like a boat and they were often used for conversions into sailing or motor yachts once their mother ships were scrapped. The London Nautical School was founded as a consequence of the inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic. As we know, there…

Admittedly, it wasn’t the most dignified departure. Beduin, our Nicholson 32, was moored stern-to the quay in Milina harbour so all we had to do was let go of the stern lines and haul the anchor. But then the remote control for the windlass stopped working and the skipper started shouting. Once out of the harbour we found a nice breeze and the skipper’s mood improved with lunch. It was too late to get out of the Gulf, so we anchored in an un-named bay at the end of the Trikeri peninsula, the tip of the Pelion, which curls like a beckoning finger around the Gulf of Volos. The clouds were turning pink as we left in the morning and the sun was already up over Evia when we rounded the…

Back in 2009 it seemed there were fewer electric outboards available than fingers on one hand. Jump forward to 2023 and you might have to watch your step, for falling over them on every corner of boat show stands. The following are the key specification factors to look out for when making your choice: Motor (kW) Manufacturers will also give you a horsepower (hp) equivalent to help. Motor ratings start at approximately 1kW (1.5hp) and head upwards. Manufacturers websites give information as to which size kW motor you’ll require for your boat. Note the continuous rating (kW) to ensure the electric outboard will run all day if battery capacity allows. Peak motor (kW) ratings usually allow for a short sprint burst only. Battery capacity (Ah/kWh) The electric propulsion revolution is fuelled…

After 10 excellent sailing seasons with Pakljhawa, my Wharram Tiki 28 catamaran, it was time for a bigger boat. My partner, Dawn, and I wanted something slightly bigger and more comfortable for extended periods of cruising. We wanted another multihull, having got used to the space and the upright motion, making it easier to drink a cup of tea upwind. Pakljhawa was quite sprightly and I hoped the next boat would be as dynamic and as much fun to sail. In 2020 we found Ciel Bleu, a Fountaine Pajot Maldives 32 catamaran built in 1988. She was fitted out to a high standard both internally and externally. Together with the previous owner, I sailed her back from Hayling Island, Hampshire, to our home in Paglesham on the East Coast. Dawn…

Snow had fallen, not only on the teak deck of my sloop, but also on my outdor terrace by the house. To get from my house to the garage I can take a shortcut over the wooden terrace. I use my old boat shoes for those short visits to collect the stuff I always forget, and today was no exception!. Suddenly, sitting on my bum in the snow I realised that the soles of my shoes were not what they used to be. The soles seem to have hardened over time. Why? The chemical formula of the rubber perhaps? The manufacturer’s adaptation to sustainability by using less environmentally hazardous materials? I hope so. Still sitting in the snow, I decided to at least try to save my boat shoes a…