Innehållsförteckning för October 2023 från Practical Boat Owner

Traditional wooden boatbuilding in the UK is on the ‘Red List of Endangered Crafts’, compiled by the Heritage Crafts Association. The research, funded by The Pilgrim Trust with additional sponsorship from The Royal Mint, found that the energy crisis and inflation has exacerbated the issues faced by the UK’s most at-risk skills, along with lingering Covid-19 and Brexit uncertainties and structural issues relating to apprenticeship funding. New to the ‘endangered’ list for 2023 is traditional wooden boatbuilding, canal art and barge painting–joining craft makers in the areas of rope, sails, fenders, coracles, and oar, mast, spar and flagpole making. This classification means the trades have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the skills to the next generation, but there are ongoing viability concerns due to an ageing demographic or declining number of…

The Boat Building Academy (BBA) in Lyme Regis, Dorset, is casting its net wider. New courses and additional bursaries are available at the Monmouth Beach-based site. Since it was founded by Naval Commander Tim Gedge in 1997, more than 280 boats have since been handcrafted using traditional and modern techniques, and many graduates have gone on to work at the country’s top boatyards. Since attaining charitable status in 2020 the academy has ‘been able to really spread its wings.’ Director Will Reed said: “In addition to our twice yearly, 40-week full time boatbuilding course, we’re now offering students a more compact, six-week Build a Boat Course which gives a taste of a broad range of skills, while building a Joel White Shellback Dinghy.” Also new for 2023 is a two-week…

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 Sitting down on the parapet of the bridge over the river Great Ouse in St Ives I reflected that there comes a time when a man has to stand up. I stood up, looked over the edge of the bridge, and there on the medieval masonry saw what I thought was the faintest trace of faded, pale blue gelcoat. It transported me back to that long, endless, everlasting, eternal summer of 1974. It was only a week’s family holiday on a hire boat in the Fens, but it certainly felt a lot longer. The first four days passed without incident. On day one we motored…

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. Every now and then I like to sail on a big boat or little ship and one of the best ways to do this is to find a berth aboard a Thames sailing barge. These beautiful shallow sea vessels are normally run by trusts or enterprising enthusiasts. They cost a small fortune to maintain in seaworthy condition and their owners like to engage passengers and willing crew who can make some contribution to their upkeep. I have sailed on barges out of Maldon and Portsmouth and there are other ports offering barge trips. I have…

Amazon and Swallow are perhaps two of the most famous dinghies in film history, having sailed into cinemas nearly 50 years ago. Both of these clinker-built boats now belong to The Arthur Ransome Society, and the challenge is to fully restore these traditional craft so that families can set their sails and live out the pages of Arthur Ransome’s iconic books today. At the age of 12, I was cast as Able Seaman Titty when the original film Swallows and Amazons was made on location in the Lake District in the summer of 1973. Dame Virginia McKenna played my mother and the six of us children had fun making Ronald Fraser walk the plank. Now hailed as a classic sailing film, I’m assured it has been broadcast on British television…

Mechanical dehumidifiers that run from a mains supply are often left on the galley worktop to drain into the sink so they don’t cut out when the water bucket fills up. That’s unless you have a top-of-the-range boat dehumidifier that’s ‘plumbed in’ and expels water to the outside. Your first choice is likely to be whether to buy a condenser type of boat dehumidifier or one of the desiccant types. The former use a compressor and refrigerant gas to create cold plates or coils on which moisture in the air, drawn in by a fan, condenses before dripping into a bucket. With the desiccant dehumidifiers, the air passes over a rotating wheel coated with an absorbent material (typically zeolite). The saturated wheel is dried by hot air that’s then cooled…

Does your storm jib live stowed, pristinely folded and unused under the forward berth? Then perhaps it’s time to start thinking about it in a different way. Many sailors carry a roller-furling genoa, furling it progressively as the breeze increases. But if you expect to encounter heavy conditions, a well set up storm jib will not only give better speed and boat handling, but will also prolong the life of your main genoa. Rig set-up Choosing your storm jib should be as important as the rest of the sails. If sailing with a roller-furling headsail you may find a storm jib to be more efficient in as little as 25 knots. Think about the way your boat handles, especially under reefed genoa. Is there a point at which the reefed…

Paul’s exact route is no longer run by Sailing Holidays however, their Paxos flotilla in the North Ionian starting and finishing in Plataria is very similar. At least one person on board would need to hold a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Day Skipper qualification or International Certificate of Competence (ICC) –the crew can be novice. Skippered charter options are available. This flotilla sailing area is largely sheltered by Corfu and Paxos Islands. When to visit? Best times to go are from the start of June until the middle of September (for the highest chance of settled conditions and warmer seas) although sailing in May and October can also be fantastic as the harbours are quieter and the weather is mainly good. Typical itinerary Days 1-2: Following a transfer from Preveza…

A record-sized 430-strong fleet took on the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s (RORC) biennial Fastnet Race. Departing from Cowes, Isle of Wight, on Saturday 22 July into the Solent and a south-westerly gale, the 695-mile course took up to five days for the slower boats. But with winds gusting up to 46mph, heavy rain and challenging seas of 4m, more than a quarter of entrants had retired by the end of Sunday. The route saw sailors racing past Land’s End, Cornwall, to Ireland’s remote Fastnet Rock and back, then on to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Normandy, France. The diverse, international fleet included 32x23m Ultim trimarans, 60ft flying IMOCAs, Class 40s, purpose-built 50-footers, yacht club, association, family, sailing school and charter boat entries. RNLI crews from Yarmouth, Poole, Swanage and Weymouth…

More than 40 organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of inland waterways are calling for the Government to increase its funding offer to the Canal & River Trust (CRT). The Government has announced a long-term funding settlement for the CRT for the period from 2027 to 2037, to follow on from the current grant agreement–but the amount represents a 40% reduction in real terms, in the already under-invested canal and river network. Members of the Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW) coalition–which includes the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) –are deeply concerned that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has only gone as far to offer ‘over £400million’ for the 10 years from April 2027, when the current funding–fixed at £52.6million per annum since 2021–is already failing to…

Offshore capability As usual, I much enjoyed the latest PBO. My attention in particular was drawn to Duncan Kent’s article on round-Britain boats, specifically under 25ft motorboats. Having just hung up my solo sailing spurs, I (a Guernseyman) have just got a 40-year-old Channel Island 22ft, now fully refurbished. Duncan described the CI 22 as “primarily intended for coastal and estuary cruising.” I accept his qualification of “primarily” but the CI 22 brochure description states: “Its inherent seaworthiness enables it to perform offshore duties in most parts of the British Isles and Northern Europe…” All 400 or so CI 22s were built in Jersey, and every CI 22 that was sold ‘abroad’ was delivered on its bottom, including to Finland, Wales and France. I have only had mine a few…

Sam Llewellyn writes nautical thrillers, edits The Marine Quarterly, and is perpetually patching up a 30ft ketch: samllewellyn.com Once upon a time the coastline of Britain was a wild affair. There were cliffs, beaches and marshes, interspersed here and there with ports large and small. Some of these ports had facilities for yachts, which mostly took the form of stone quays and mooring buoys in sheltered bays. Then along came a civil engineering company skilled in hammering piles into seabeds, and some director or other noticed all that unprofitable mud and all those boring seabirds and seals and so on, and had a Dream; and lo, the marina was born. The first of the big marina companies had the idea that boat owners were rich, and is rumoured to have…

Before starting the search for your dream boat, think carefully about the type of sailing you want to do. This will make the process of selecting and buying much easier. While single handed ocean crossing might be the ultimate fantasy for some, many will simply want to enjoy fine weather cruising along the coast with their family on board. The right boat is key to ensuring everyone stays happy. Trying to learn the basics of sailing in a big, heavy displacement, ocean-going yacht will actually make the process much harder, and more expensive. So it’s probably better to gain that initial experience in a smaller, cheaper boat that can take the odd ding without worry and not cost a small fortune to run, moor and maintain. Trailer boating Trailer boating…

As a result of skipper’s self-reliance, the Jester Challenge has had an impeccable safety record. Unfortunately, during the recent Jester Baltimore Challenge in June, the event suffered its first-ever loss, and to one of its most experienced yachtsmen. Veteran Challenger Duncan Lougee was first reported as overdue and uncontactable, and then missing. After a wide search by both UK and Irish coastguards, his 25ft (7.6m) Folkboat Minke was found adrift in the Celtic Sea. Duncan is presumed to have been lost overboard, and with the yacht now recovered, an investigation into his disappearance is currently ongoing. When mishaps have occurred on previous challenges, invariably due to equipment failure, the skippers usually have an on-board solution to hand. If not, another skipper will often be in the vicinity and can come…

Winches carry huge loads. If the internal mechanism doesn’t work properly, the winch can spin and pass these loads straight through the handle, which can be enough to break an arm. Keeping your winches running smoothly is a safety-critical job, as well as making sail handling that much easier. The good news is that modern winches are evolving to make maintenance easier and reduce the time required for the annual service. Once you know what you’re doing, it shouldn’t take more than an hour and a half to service a winch. It’s a job worth doing at the end of the season before leaving the boat on the hard for the winter. What you need for servicing winches Servicing on a workbench is the best place, and many winches can…

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All inflatable boat valves have an outer component that houses the dust cap screwed into an inner component through a reinforced hole in the fabric of the boat. Outer valve problems are usually easily surmountable; you just unscrew the outer component – ideally using the correct manufacturer’s tool – and then replace it. The inner valve part consists of the valve itself and the valve basket, which is simply a cage of some sort around the bottom of the valve that allows air in and out but does not allow the valve to drop into the tube. This inner valve component is, by necessity, larger than the hole in the boat, and was Cap seals Cap fitted from the inside during manufacture. This meant that Fabric replacing the Nut completely…

Model ships built by two young brothers have been launched on a mission to circumnavigate Antarctica. Ollie and Harry Ferguson from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, aged 13 and 11 respectively, took inspiration from the Ross scientific expedition of 1839-1843 where HMS Erebus and HMS Terror discovered the Ross ice shelf. After two years of planning, building and testing, their 1m-long elm wood replicas were shipped to family friends in the Falkland Islands. Then, following approval from authorities, launched into the Southern Ocean by Pharos SG, a South Georgia fisheries patrol vessel, on 11 July. Their 12,500-mile route following the circumpolar current could take two years. The brothers’ project was supported by their father, MacNeill Ferguson, an ecological specialist, and mother, Vicki, a school principal. Their father, Mac said: “The sheer amount of…

With luggers to day boats, gaff rig clinker classics to sleek launches with electric propulsion systems, the Classic & Day Boat Zone is set to be an attraction in itself at the Southampton International Boat Show. Visitors can learn about boatbuilding skills, try rope-making and test their knot-tying skills, as well as meet the Swallows and Amazons star Sophie Neville, who played able seaman Titty in the 1974 film (see page 40). The Arthur Ransome Society has acquired and restored the clinker-built dinghies Swallow and Amazon, and Sophie will share film set tales and reveal how funds were raised to buy and restore the craft. Exhibitions will include tiny tenders, nesting prams, Drascombe yachts, Lakeland Wooden Boats, fishing and motorboats, fenders and watersports equipment. There will also be a Dinghy…

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. This summer my sailing was cut short by a bizarre starting-line accident. I was hit by a boat. It was at the Brae Regatta in July, and I was being foredeck monkey and jib wrestler aboard my friends’ Contessa 32, Cynara of Arne. It was a tight start-line, and the fleet had just stormed across it. There was serious luffing going on below us so I was by the mast, ready for a fast tack, when there was a terrific bang and a dreadful pain in my chest that squashed me against Cynara’s mast–and then I realised a white bow was slipping back from me, taking…

Anyone wandering through Mayflower Park and staring at serried ranks of Jeanneau yachts at the Southampton Boat Show cannot fail to be impressed. Much the same can be said of Jeanneau’s many ranges of motorboats that now fill sections of the marina. The sheer size and number of exhibits show that this now world-famous name means business–big business. Both Jeanneau and Beneteau have pushed ahead with extensive new model programmes. Yet although Jeanneau has only been part of the Beneteau group since late 1995, it started life in a very different way. Building the Jeanneau brand Back in the mid-1950s, Henry Jeanneau was keen on fast motorboats. He entered France’s top race: the Six Heures De Paris. High-speed skimming dishes propelled by powerful outboard motors careered around a short course…

More than once while our Maxi 84 Project Boat was kept in a marina last year, I arrived at the berth to find our battery voltage had dropped to 12.4V, despite having connected it to shore power. Each time it would appear to have tripped – though never while I was on board. When Adam McMenemy of ACM Marine next visited Maximus, I asked him to take a look. We flicked the breaker back up on the RCD box and reconnected the shore power. The charge jumped to 14.4V on the Victron smart meter, a sign that the battery was going into bulk charge, as all batteries will do when initially charged. We left it a while and moved onto other tasks we’d planned. Adam’s colleague, Ciaran Vernon, showed me…

Because my previous inflatable tube repairs have involved small holes, not self-inflicted 3in-long gashes, I never thought to include an inner patch. My repair looks to be excellent and thanks to using the correct two-part adhesive should be long lasting, but some extra peace of mind might have been brought by incorporating an inner patch, perhaps of a larger size than the outer one. You’d 100% need the polythene bag in the tube trick if effecting a repair with an inner patch. I took time to grease up all the plastic on plastic threads and the rubber on the plastic valve and cap seats with petroleum jelly. This helps seal any possible valve leaks and means the valve will unscrew much more easily next time. If this was a higher…

Creeping out of Dartmouth before first light for what promised to be a lively sail to Guernsey, the forecast was for a consistent northeasterly, Force 3-4. I enjoy night sailing, but my partner, Jacki, is less keen, so an early start was called for. Our boat Sunfish is a Sirius 31DS, not perhaps the fastest boat in the world, but well built and comfortable. There is no dedicated chart table–the saloon table suffices–and instruments live in a special box I made, which has been dubbed the ‘skipper’s handbag’. I learned navigation in 1965 from a wartime minesweeper skipper who, entirely off his own bat, ran evening classes in coastal navigation at Wandsworth Tech in south London, before the RYA concerned itself in such matters. It was pure navigation, the bible…

There’s no doubt that despite the often idyllic moments, travelling with youngsters can be a hugely stressful time. The experience ranges from the cherub-like faces of the babe in arms to the screaming toddler which seems to impact one’s head like a jack-hammer. So it was with some surprise that I found myself agreeing to a family flotilla sailing holiday in the North Ionian, my crew including my grandson, Ted, at 18 months and Charlie aged 3½. My wife and two sons have sailed before and we all agreed that it should be fairly easy with five adults to share the workload. My firm standpoint was that, while on the water, my role as skipper would be to run the boat safely and get us to our locations all in…