Trimarans & Sailing
Trimaran information from
Today would have been a good day for sailing. But I went rowing instead.
I spent more time than I planned at Beaumaris Town Regatta yesterday mainly because of the impoverished light airs that plagued the early part of the day. They brought everybody to a standstill at some point in the day but at least it gave us an opportunity to try all the sails (all at once)!
The other reasons I stayed so long were the glorious sunshine and spectaular views that must responsible for Beaumaris's name.
Our quiet sail was livened up at the close by a freshening SW wind which enabled us to reach 7 knots whilst beating towards the finish with the gennaker but our average was a meagre 2 point something knots. This was quite a contrast to the lively sail in a force 4-5 off the Great Orme on Monday 2nd August with Georgie from Dinghy Sailing magazine. Watch out for the short review in the next edition. I think we made something like 11 knots that day on a broad reach before the wind reached its maximum. Exhilarating!
What a beautiful place Pembrokeshire is! I've always known this. I've seen the pictures. I've always promised myself that I'd go one day but I'd never been till this last bank holiday weekend. And what a weekend for sailing!
On Saturday we arrived at Dale, the westernmost shelter within Milford Haven, partly assembled the Magnum 21 and anchored her for the night. We'd already found a local B&B and been to inspect Jack Sound, a narrow passage that I had considered using to progress into St Brides Bay the next day. I'd quickly dismissed any idea of using this route after reading the speed of the current from the chart, especially as we were approaching spring tides. Our inspection confirmed this conclusion.
On Sunday we attached the boom and main and set sail with two reefs. The wind was SW force 5-6. As we left Milford Haven we found ourselves joining a line of keel boats heading out to Sea and quickly overtook the first two. This was not before they had disappeared from view a couple of times behind waves that must have been half of our mast height. I put this down to the funneling effect of the estuary and assured myself that it would not be so bad as we got further out to sea. This turned out to be the case and we enjoyed chasing after the next somewhat larger and faster yacht as we beat towards Gateholm Island and then alongside Skokholm Island.
At The Head our pilot tacked and then turned back. We, on the other hand, tacked and continued through the races past the Head and onto Skomer Island, made famous by Bill Oddie. Still in the races we were having a lively time and the Magnum 21 perfomed spectacularly well handling everything that the Irish Sea could throw at her with aplomb. We tried all manner of tactics to avoid getting too wet but we did had a wave break over us from behind our backs that resulted in some damp underwear for a while. The water was pleasantly warm due to the Gulf Stream, I'm please to report.
I was relieved eventually to be able to bear away once we entered St Brides Bay and this was when we really started to enjoy ourselves. Now with the waves behind us and the wind on the quarter we were able to surf our way to Solva at speeds of up to 14.5 knots. Remember we had two reefs in the main.
The approach to Solva was magnified on our Imray chart, thank goodness because it is quite difficult, if one has never been there before. We were almost upon the Green Scar that obscures the entrance before we could make out that it was not an outcrop from the mainland. We ran along its jagged southerly edge and then reached into the harbour with the main soft to control the speed that our Magnum 21 was so eager to show. What a relief to drop anchor and drop the sails in the calm of this extraordinarily picturesque little village harbour.
We were greeted by name, as we came ashore, by the friendliest harbourmaster in Christendom and spent the first of two delightful nights in Solva.
For the voyage back to Dale on Bank Holiday Monday we collected as much local knowledge as we possibly could about Jack Sound and were up for the passage but decided that in the two hour wait for the advised optimum time we could easily get around Skomer Island and through Broad Sound, especially as the wind, now a good force 4 was coming from a more north westerly direction and we were sailing at 10 knots most of the time with just the one reef in this time. The maximum we hit on the way back was 14.8 knots. Not bad for a little boat in a big sea.
On our return to Dale, at the end of their weekend regatta, we retrieved the boat from the water and towed it back to Solva before last orders for dinner at the Harbour Inn.
By Tuesday morning the wind had disappeared and the sun was shining gloriously.
Where else can you go with a trailer sailer? Watch out for a review of trailer- sailers appearing in Sailing Today later in the year.
The next place that this Magnum 21 will appear is the Southampton International Boat Show, Sept 10th - 19th, where it will be available on the water for you to try yourself. It will be for sale at £14,500.
The TOHATSU 8HP 2 stroke engine on the CATRI 24 did some serious work in tough conditions on the way to England from Latvia. Lots of salt spray. Lots of hours. I had the engine looked over by Tohatsu after the Southampton Boat Show and they found that the advance and retard had seized up due to salt. This had been affecting the performance and I have to say it has been a lot easier to start since and runs sweeter too. Much more as I am used to it being.
They recommended something I'd not heard of before, which, no doubt, many of you salty sea-dogs out there will already know about but it is worth repeating here for those who don't. They suggested that each time I am about to use the engine I take the cover off and spray inside with inhibitor oil; water dispersant oil. Recommended brands included RockOil, Rockeze, Supermarine inhibitor.
They also supplied me with a new prop as the two I had tried had either too little or too much pitch. The new one works fine and I had 10 knots out of TARDIS on the way back from Weymouth, after the wind had died and we were only achieving 3 knots under sail. Prior to that we had been doing 18.6 knots under sail!
The propeller specification is not published, as it is a modified original, the work being done by a manufacturer on the south coast of England. It is available through Ahoy-Boats at 125GB pounds plus carriage plus VAT.
Yesterday I popped down to London to have a look round the London Boat Show as, this year, Ahoy-Boats is not exhibiting there. Instead I shall be taking more space at the National Boat, Caravan and Outdoor Show in Birmingham at the NEC from 18th - 26th February, a much better time for a boat show and much easier to reach by road, rail or air.
London looked much the same as usual except that this year there were no trimarans to be seen at all, as I was not there to exhibit the VirusBoats Magnum 21 nor the CATRI 24 and the other trimaran manufacturers' representatives had given it a miss also.
It seems evident to me that the best boat show for exhibitors and buyers alike is the Southampton Boat Show in September where there is a much wider choice of boats to view and as it is outdoors they can be shown in all their glory, full masts an all.
I'm off to the USA today for a week on business but you should still be able to contact me by telephone. Best way is probably by text on my mobile number, 07985043981, which I am assured by Carphone Warehouse is a triband phone and will work there.