Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Practical Boat Owner

Boat ownership can be frustrating at times, usually when gear failure prevents you from heading out. But these niggles are always forgotten once you are out at sea, the boat heeling to one side with the elements roaring in your face. This is why I’ve never understood why some say that one of the best days in a boat owner’s life is the day the boat is sold. For me, boating has always represented freedom and escape, and why would you ever want to give up your means to experience that? Sometimes selling is a necessary evil due to a change in circumstances, other times it’s positive if it means you buy a boat more suited to your needs which allows you to continue life on the water. In this…

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has fined the United Kingdom €32million for its delay in banning the use of red diesel in private pleasure boats in Northern Ireland (NI). In 2018, the CJEU found that the UK wasn’t complying with the EU Fuel Directive by allowing leisure vessels to use marked diesel. The UK Government didn’t introduce the red diesel propulsion ban in NI until October 2021. Owners of private pleasure craft with one fuel tank in NI can’t use red diesel unless it was put in the tank before the ban or in a jurisdiction where red diesel can legally be used to propel a pleasure boat, like Great Britain or the Channel Islands. Although the UK has left the EU, NI remains part of…

MDL Marinas is seeking nominations for its Sail Training Awards 2024. Each year, 12 inspirational young people will be invited to experience sail training with the Ocean Youth Trust South (OYT South) on board the 30m Bermudan ketch with a bowsprit, Prolific. If you know a youngster aged between 12 and 18, who has supported those around them, shown exceptional accomplishments and achievements or who has overcome adverse personal circumstances, then send in a nomination before the deadline of 12 January 2024. Interviews will be held in March 2024 and the winners will depart on 4 April from Ocean Village Marina in Southampton. ◼ Sailtrainingawards.co.uk…

Welsh skipper Dafydd Hughes was the first entrant to depart on the Global Solo Challenge from A Coruña, Spain, on 26 August aboard his S&S 34 Bendigedig. This round-the-world, single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation via the three Great Capes, prides itself on being budget-friendly and environmentally conscious. Nineteen sailors are due to take part, with staggered departures, the fastest boats starting last. Juan Merediz, Spanish skipper of Class40 Sorolla who is due to start in late October, was among those to attend. He said: “I didn’t want to miss Dafydd’s departure. I wanted to meet him in person and encourage him!” Dafydd’s son James said: “He has spent the last three years preparing for this moment and I know he will be fine out there.” ◼ pbo.co.uk/globalchallenge…

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 Yacht racers, as PBO readers well know, are apt to wear silly clothes and talk nonsense and say things like: “To finish first, first you have to finish.” Well, duh. This is when they’re not all shouting “water” at a nearby boat that is obviously in water, because that’s where sailing happens. Well, double duh. Other things they’re fond of shouting are: “Where’s the protest flag?;” “The results are a travesty;” “I’m getting my lawyer on to this;” and “Rule 17 clearly states that if a boat clear astern becomes overlapped within two of her hull lengths to leeward of a boat on the same…

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. The Tideway is a marvellous craft. My Tideway was No.462, a GRP version that was named Jackdaw by a previous owner presumably because she is black. Calling out her name on the VHF would be a bit of a mouthful – ‘Juliet/Alpha/Charlie/Kilo/Delta/Alpha/Whiskey’… too late! But I liked the name and kept it. However, if ever I name a boat it is always ‘Tui’ after a little bird that lived in my garden in New Zealand. Tui is easy to spell out; ‘Tango/Uniform/India’. When naming a boat it’s worth keeping to just a few letters.…

Norwegian-born Hans Jakob Valderhaug has been cruising Norway for five decades and writes the regularly updated Norwegian Cruising Guide. He is also the Honorary Local Representative (HLR) of The Cruising Association in Oslo. Valderhaug kindly gave some suggestions, which you can find below, during a quick stop on board their Koopmans, 39, Anna. Norway has a fantastic coastline. Make sure you don’t rush and miss the country’s middle section, with great places to visit. A lot of N people sail to the Lofoten Islands, the North Cape or Spitzbergen, but miss seeing some great parts of Norway. Anchorages: The best anchorages between Ålesund and Lofoten are: Hjartøya, near Sandnessjøen; Hagabukta, Træna; Myken, Nordfjordvågen-Nordfjorden; Hansøya/Renga; Straumshamn, Hamarøy; Hegstadosen, Svinøy. Peak season: School holidays mean July is the busiest period of the…

This continuous line furler was designed as a reliable unit for jibs and gennakers of dinghies and small catamarans and trimarans. Initially, the need was identified by Roger Kitchen of Weta Marine who was looking for a better furler for the 4.4m (14ft 5in) Weta trimaran: “Something which worked well under load, is easy to service, reliable and wouldn’t wear out quickly,” he says. “The team at Allen came up with a great furler which solved the issues we had.” Advantages compared to more conventional furling drums include its compact low profile which allows a sail with a longer luff length. In addition, the continuous spliced furling line can be kept short to minimise the risk of tangles. Five rows of Torlon ball bearings reduce friction to a minimum, even…

Electric outboards are very different beasts from petrol ones. They’re lighter, quieter and cleaner but do have some drawbacks, such as top speed and cost. I first tried ePropulsion’s Spirit 1.0 while testing the Tuffy Tender (PBO October 2022). I was impressed by its simplicity. It had no problems powering the 3m GRP boat and achieved a top speed of 4 knots on full throttle (but with a battery life of just 1.5 hours) or 1.4 knots at 20% throttle (giving 7 hours battery life). As this was against 2 knots of tide, I felt it would be more than adequate for driving a little tender around the harbour. If you want higher speeds, then it’s worth looking at the ePropulsion Navy 3.0 or 6.0, which have a longer range…

The saying goes that the two best days in a boat owner’s life are the day they buy a boat and the day they sell it. To the contrary, PBO readers often tell us that selling their boat is the saddest day of their lives. While we can’t help with that bitter-sweet goodbye (aside from providing lots of inspirational ‘armchair sailing’ in the pages of PBO) we can help you prepare for the sale. Is now a good time to sell? Crispin Lennox is group sales and marketing manager at Avon Marina in Christchurch, Dorset, which sells motorboats ranging from BRIGS to Zodiacs and Cranchis. “It’s certainly been a flatter year,” says Crispin. “There’s a sense of calm, which I think is a direct reflection of being post-Covid. The bubble…

Pop-Zzzzipp it went. I looked up to see my trusty spinnaker flailing in shreds. I loved that sail. Everyone loves a spinnaker, but I really loved this one for several reasons. Firstly I got it free, given away because it was so raggedy. Who doesn’t like free stuff? But the fact it was free meant I wasn’t afraid to use it. It wasn’t a precious £3,000 sail that I was too scared to put up. So I used it a lot. On a catamaran, we don’t need a pole to fly a spinnaker which simplifies things considerably. We fly it off the windward bow and control it with just two lines, a guy and a sheet. So simple that I even use it when sailing solo. And it stops all…

Love them or hate them, certain things are here to stay. If it moves and shouldn’t, gaffer tape it; if it doesn’t move and should, then spray it with WD40. If you need to tie cables up, then cable tie it. Cable ties have one weak spot, you can’t undo them except with a sharp knife or cutting pliers. That is until CPC Farnell came along with releasable cable ties. You no longer need a sharp implement and you no longer keep throwing cut cable ties away. It’s not just the cost but, better for the environment. I used them mainly for keeping mic, speaker, dmx, and mains leads neat and tidy. No wrapping electrical tape round, no waste and no sticky cables. Then my thoughts turned to my sailing…

Two record-breaking female solo circumnavigators are among the latest six big names to be inducted into the Cape Horn Hall of Fame. British yachtswomen Dame Ellen MacArthur and Jeanne Socrates have been added to the Honours Board, along with Grant Dalton (New Zealand); Skip Novak (USA) and French yachtsmen Franck Cammas and Michel Desjoyeaux. Together they have amassed 24 circumnavigations via Cape Horn and nine world records. The names were added to the Honours Board during the opening of the new Cape Horn Hall of Fame Clubhouse in Les Sables d’Olonne, France, where visitors can find memorabilia and history of those who have rounded the cape. The event in September was attended by the International Association of Cape Horners (IACH), Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, president of the association, and town mayor…

Propeller painting The elusive quest for a reliable paint to adhere to a propeller has long been a source of frustration and disappointment. Therefore, I was sceptical when I read that there’s no need to source mystical ingredients like crushed unicorn horn dust mixed with mermaid scales (PBO, December 2022). Instead, Hammerite Special Metals Primer was proposed as a viable alternative. I promptly acquired a 250ml pot, applied a single coat, and still had plenty remaining. Once dried, I applied two coats of Seajet 034 Antifoul. As I admired my handiwork, I feared it would all be in vain within a matter of weeks if not on the first trip to the breakwater. We used the boat frequently from its mid-April launch until mid-July, followed by weekly day trips whenever…

Sam Llewellyn writes nautical thrillers, edits The Marine Quarterly, and is perpetually patching up a 30ft ketch: samllewellyn.com Beautiful morning, for a change, and I am sitting in Dahlia’s cockpit thinking net zero, because I have just dropped in to a marina to fill up with water and the claustrophobia is kicking in. Here comes a 32ft boat, and there is a noise like a Magimix with Covid, and it is a bow thruster. On a 32-footer, give me strength. The boat seems unable to get into his slot without it… oops, there he goes, third time lucky, and my water tank is full and I am out of here. Now here comes a speed merchant, eight years old, whose daddy has said get off that phone and take the…

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of sailing single-handed, providing your boat is easy to handle and well prepared. The perception that small is better for sailing solo isn’t always correct. What’s more important is the way the boat is set up, how she performs and how sea-kindly she can be in heavy weather. It’s easy to assume that solo sailing is a choice but there are many occasions when the situation forces it on you, such as injury or illness inflicting your only other crewmember. It’s also common to assume a lone sailor is a hardy character who sets off to circumnavigate the world, whereas many just happen to be on their own through unplanned circumstances. Either way, if you plan to intentionally sail alone, then it makes sense…

Several of the World War II Coastal Force bases on the south and east coasts of England were named after stinging or biting insects: there was HMS Wasp at Dover, Bee at Weymouth, Midge Great Yarmouth, Mantis Lowestoft, Hornet at Gosport. The best-named however was surely HMS Beehive at Felixstowe. This was the first base on the East Coast and was chosen for its pre-existing facilities. As well as the old Felixstowe Dock basin itself (now filled in as part of the 2012 extension of the modern container port), there was an RAF flying boat development site adjacent. No longer in full use, it offered all the necessary infrastructure for a base – a powerful crane, engineering sheds, accommodation and quick access to the sea. When Robert Hichens arrived there…

The safety of the boat and the people on it have been my priority for the last 50 years, having cruised both sailing and power boats. Plan for the worst and hope for the best has become my mantra, first when I was a doctor in ICU/anaesthesia and now as a recreational sailor. By doing this I get more enjoyment from being on my coastal hops knowing if something does go wrong I am prepared. If coastal cruising is new to you, get trained first. The RYA has many courses for those starting sailing or wanting to take their skills further; these will increase safety, enjoyment and proficiency. I speak from experience having done almost all! I recently spent six weeks coastal hopping from Emsworth to the Isles of Scilly…

My wife and I are now both in our 80s and find jumping ashore no easy task. If it can be avoided then we avoid it. So I have made this helpful aircraft carrier-type arrester line. This allows my wife to hook the line with the boat hook without drama – it’s so much easier than trying to catch a cleat on approach. Our berth on the finger pontoon at Port Solent is to the north side and generally being blown off. I am not overly quick out of the wheelhouse of our motor-sailer, so this arrester line has proved very useful. The line is supported by 5in square blocks securely knotted at 20in intervals and this keeps the line off the deck at all times making hooking on really…

PLUS OFFERS ON BINDERS, GUIDES & SPECIALS See the entire range online at MAGAZINESDIRECT.COM/WINTER23 or phone 0330 333 1113 Outside of the UK? See our international offers online Offer closes 31st December 2023. Offer open to new subscribers only. Direct Debit offer is available to UK subscribers only. We will notify you in advance of any price changes. All gift subscriptions will start with the first available issue on-sale after December 2023. If you would like your gift subscription to start with an earlier issue, you can choose an earlier issue when ordering or you can contact customer services. Orders purchased for your self will start with the next available issue-please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery (up to 8 weeks outside of the UK). Payment is non-refundable after…

ENGINES Is there a better diesel fuel? Q Recently I fell foul of the dreaded ‘bug’ when a plug of gunk in the fuel line caused our engine to fail at just the wrong moment. We were returning to Conwy after a trip to Ireland and the engine failure necessitated returning to the Menai Strait under sail, and then a night on a mooring in Beaumaris during storm Betty. An internet search for non-FAME diesel later revealed the existence of something called ‘GTL fuel’ as a straight replacement for diesel, something I’d not heard of but seems to have many advantages over biodiesel. I wonder if you know whether recreational boat users could obtain gas to liquid (GTL) fuel? Apparently, offshore vessels, inland barges, tourist boats and cruise ships in…

For the last five years, Mark Ashley-Miller has been sailing his Nauticat 331, Good Dog, around England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland–including the Isle of Man and Channel Islands–in a bid to meet every harbour master. On 28 September 2023, Mark sailed up the River Boyne into Drogheda, County Louth, east Ireland to meet Captain Laurence Kirwan, the final harbour master of the 9,000-mile sailing challenge. Supported by Inland and Coastal Marina Systems, Mark has raised more than £25,000 for The Seafarers’ Charity, visited 310 harbours and met 256 harbour masters. “The thing that will stay with me now I’ve fulfilled this personal challenge is just how incredibly welcoming and supportive of my mission the harbour masters I’ve met have been,” says Mark. “In Newlyn, Capt Rob Parsons texted me before…

Got a news story that would interest a fellow PBO reader? We want to hear from you! Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at pbo@futurenet.com SOUTH COAST & CHANNEL ISLANDS Digital first Cowes Harbour is celebrating being the first to adopt a new digital payment solution for visitor moorings. The smartphone payment system for all short stay visitor moorings of rigid inflatable boats and small craft was specially designed by parking and payments specialist Avalon Pay. It follows the launch of new charging points for electric boats in Cowes Harbour. Cowes Harbour Commission CEO Gary Hall said: “After successful trials at Town Quay we have rolled out this process to Trinity Landing and have received very encouraging feedback from visitors that this saves time when berthing and is very simple…

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. ‘I was very grateful for being alive at all, but I couldn’t help feeling wistful’ Three weeks of Indian summer greeted me when I got home at last from the hospital, with nearly-pain-free ribs (so long as my most affectionate cat didn’t curl up on them), permission to put both feet flat on the ground, and a zimmer frame, crutches and a wheelchair. I couldn’t manage my daily walk–my best effort was from one side of the house to the other–so my husband, Philip, took me for a hurl round the village in the wheelchair instead. It was wonderful to be outside. There was a warm,…

Considered by many to be one of the most beautiful places to sail in the world, it is hard to say exactly when I first heard of the Lofoten Islands. I’ll never forget, however, the strong impression photographs of that stunning place in the north-west of Norway had on me. Looking at the images of steep rocky mountains plunging into the dark blue sea planted the initial seeds for my desire to visit the archipelago once occupied by skilled Viking sailors. To my delightful surprise, Yves Baulac – not one of those ancient Scandinavians, but a non-stopping French adventurer who I met a few years ago while cruising in the South Pacific–told me he was soon heading to Northern Europe. I could not miss that unique opportunity, I thought, especially…

After the Berlin Wall crumbled in late 1989, Hanse Yachts’ founder Michael Schmidt was quick off the mark and searched for a boatbuilding property on the former East Germany’s coastline. He realised there’d be manufacturing opportunities for those who got in ahead of the crowds. Hanse’s first GRP production yacht was launched in 1993. Compared to the start-up dates of other production boatbuilders–Beneteau 1963, Jeanneau 1964, Westerly 1963 and Nicholson 1962 – Hanse was much later on the scene. But after giving its major European competitors a 30 years head start, Hanse is now a market leader. Schmidt later retired to set up YYachts in 2016, specialising in 20-30m carbon fibre yachts. Schmidt’s eye for a bargain helped him get into yacht production in double quick time. Instead of designing…

Although the TEMO 1000 electric outboard is still in the final stages of production, PBO was lucky enough to take it for a spin on Southampton Water recently… and got a bit more fun than we bargained for! The bigger, more powerful sibling to the TEMO 450, the TEMO 1000 is designed for tenders over 3m and sailing boats up to 8m. But those expecting an upsized version of the eye-catching 450 will be surprised; the engine is altogether different from the debut model. Rather than having a long tail, the 1000 is a sleek oblong design built to accommodate a slide-away tiller and adjustable shaft length, allowing it to be switched between boats with different height freeboards. “It’s a more powerful product than the 450,” says UK distributor David…

When our son was born and my daughter was three we wanted to buy a Moody 346. We knew it was a well-built and solid design with an aft cabin and centre cockpit, providing security for the children. Moody yachts have a fabulous pedigree and the most amazing owners’ association. When I look back, the Moody Owners Association was so valuable. There’s an active community of people who know these boats inside out and have even itemised every single part. This makes it really easy to replace a worn-out part. It also had a bilge keel so we’d be able to keep it in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset. We scoured the whole of the UK trying to find a Moody 346 and ended up buying one locally which was on a…

For many years refrigeration on board my 1980s IOR ¾ ton cruiser-racer Zen Again was a portable Waeco unit, that sat in an open compartment in the galley. Although the unit worked, its volume was small, its power consumption large and it robbed us of work surface. So we decided to replace it with a custom compartment plus an ‘off the shelf’ condenser/evaporator. Separately, the galley sinks had rusted through so we decided on a galley makeover. Planning The old galley had the portable fridge mounted aft of the cooker. There was no work surface above it. The forward area was taken up with dual sinks and an uninsulated wooden locker outboard. So the galley had very little work surface for food preparation, and more of it would be a…

My Beneteau 381 is now 24 years old: the time has flown by since we bought her 14 years ago and things are starting to need replacing. Among them the Lewmar portlight lenses have crazed – as they all eventually do – and look unsightly. The hatch lights are the same. I looked at the replacement costs of the portlight lenses and found the prices to be rather horrifying: £85-ish for the smaller ones and around £180 for the larger ones. The portlights fitted to my boat and other yachts of that era up until 2000 or so are called the Old Standard Portlight and lenses are made from flat stock Perspex The newer ones, the Standard Port Light, as my neighbour in Portugal has found out, have part of…

Purely for personal achievement reasons, my fiancée Sam and I are keen to achieve our Yachtmaster Ocean certificates to cap off a range of qualifications, including cruising instructor for Sam and Yachtmaster instructor for me. Last year storm-force winds forced us to seek shelter in France (PBO, November 2022), coming ashore for running repairs and rest, and therefore our 600-mile passage was broken into two voyages and not submittable for qualification. Undeterred, we set about trying to cross the Bay of Biscay again in June with two-thirds of the previous crew and our new friend, Jerry. Malcolm, Smithy, Sam and I were excited to put to bed the disappointment of the previous trip, Nigel and Charlie being otherwise engaged – though Nigel, was meeting us in A Coruña to skipper…

1 Marking the length and position of the keel permanently on the gunwale helps in positioning her correctly on the trolley at haul-out. 2 If using a crane, it’s kinder to have cross beams across the strops to avoid imposing crushing sideways loads on the hull. 3 In strong winds, boats can vibrate so much that the chocks and props can drop out. Leaving the mast up makes it worse. 4 Nowadays most yards and insurance companies insist that the props are cross-braced to stop them shaking loose. 5 In Spain, I saw how they used very narrow cradles, or braced props, but attached guy ropes to the mast to stop the lot from falling over. 6 In Scandinavia, they seem to favour webbing straps, either as ratcheted-tight bracing between…