Roger Taylor - A Blog for our times

I found this Blog post from June 2009 on Roger Taylors (skipper of the amazing MingMing) web site (http://www.thesimplesailor.com/),  which made me laugh and think how 5 years later, nothing has changed...


"June 2009

CONFESSIONS OF A CREDIT CRUNCH CRUISER
(Warning: This article is not suitable for those of a nervous disposition)

The signs are omninous. The portents are not good. The outlook is bleak. The prospects for my particular sailing business look worse and worse. I'm worried. Very, very worried. I'm not sleeping well. My attention span, never great at the best at times, can now be measured in nanoseconds. I'm permanently irritable. My conversation has become monosyllabic. I now write very short sentences. Can't manage long ones. My world is falling apart.
I blame the credit crunch. It's ruining my business. I was on a roll. I was a high-flyer. Now, if you'll pardon my French, I'm foutu. Stuffed. I thought I had cornered the market. Got myself a nice little monopoly. Found my ideal niche. Worked up a unique selling point. I thought I had it made. Now I'm not so sure.

At first I didn't take them too seriously. The signs, the indications, that is. A yacht broker gone bust here. A superyacht builder closed down there. A boat show cancelled. A marina offering discounts. Yes, I'll say that again. A marina offering discounts. Maybe you'd like it a little bigger. A MARINA OFFERING DISCOUNTS. Something was in the air and I didn't spot it.

It's the old story. Complacency. Self-satisfaction. Or, if you want it in business-speak, a failure to critically re-examine, while successfully splitting infinitives, market forces in the light of ongoing changes to the econometric paradigm. Asleep on the job, that is.

My own behaviour should have alerted me. There's me stocking up for my next voyage. Do I buy, as usual, ten packets of Jordan's Super Luxury Specially Selected Exotic Fruit and Hand Picked Nut Muesli, at an eye-watering price? I do not. A strange magnetic force pulls my hand towards the Sainsburys Basic Muesli at 58p per packet. It is dry and dusty muck, with scarcely a shrivelled currant to be found therein, but I load my trolley with it. And feel good and virtuous into the bargain. It's the same story at the tinned vegetable shelves. Forget Hartleys Individually Polished Garden Peas in a Sumptuous Home Mixed Brine. Those cheapo tins of, yes, you guessed it, Sainsburys Basic Leftover Reject Damaged But Very Credit Crunch Friendly Pea Scrapings will do just fine. Yes, I'm stocking up for a voyage to the Arctic, and happily buying duff provisions in order to knock £3.57 off my food bill.

I just didn't get it. Now I do.

Every man and his dog is going Basic. No more superyachts. No more gin palaces. No more gin. No more conspicuous consumption. No more extrovert extravagance. No more chuckaway chequebook Charliedom. Forget your Fairlines. Forget your Oysters. Think more, well...yes...Corribee.

Yes, dammit, the world is coming my way, and I don't like it.

It's taken a lifetime of sacrifice and deprivation to become a Simple Sailor. It's not been easy, honing those skills of sailing frugality. I've suffered, let me tell you, to get where I am today. Don't think it's easy, being a contrarian. If only you knew what I've had to put up with. Those condescending smiles. That amused disbelief. You go to sea in THAT? How on earth do you manage without a satellite telephone and an inbuilt entertainment system? Have you had a sanity check recently?

Yes, I've suffered every kind of insult and innuendo and not-so-subtle put-down. But that's the lot of the contrarian and, of course, I enjoy it. There's nothing better than getting up people's noses. Challenging their assumptions. Cocking a snoop at convention. Presenting two fingers to the established mind-set. A spot of iconoclasm is good for the soul.

It's become my business, this advocacy of plain sailing. And now it's under threat. Every Tom, Dick and Hooray Henry wants to get in on the act. If we end up with a world full of Simple Sailors there'll be nothing left for me to do. It's pretty clear the way things are going. The Chief Executive Officers of FTSE 100 companies will soon be hosting corporate bashes aboard Hurley 18's and Westerly 22's. Ageing billionaire playboys will lure nubile arm candy aboard their Pandoras, anchored enticingly in pristine sun-drenched waters off Southend-on-Sea. The Vivacity will be the must-have status symbol for A-list celebs. Offshore powerboat racing will be sponsored by Seagull. I have it on good authority that the next America's Cup will be contested in Halcyon 23's. Well hotted-up, of course. Team Alinghi is already scouring the mudberths of the East Coast for a nice little hull to renovate. I've gone very long on the designs of Maurice Griffiths. Even as I write, Camper and Nicholson are securing the rights to a production run of luxury Eventides, with an eye to the Mediterranean Classics Circuit. No expense will be spared, with the top of the range model featuring a Portapotti with varnished MDF seat. And, joy of joys, the OSTAR, which, by the way, should really be the NOOSTAR - the Not the Original Observer Singlehanded Trans Atlantic Race - will have a maximum overall length limit of 25'.

Yes, the world is going Simple and I, dammit, am almost out of a job. Redundant. On the scrap heap. Yesterday's man. As relevant to the New Order as Gordon 'My MP's Kept Strictly Within the Rules While Diddling the Taxpayer' Brown. Let's face it, there's not much mileage in preaching to the converted.

So I'm considering my options. Thinking outside the box.

Keep this to yourself, but I just might abandon the Simple Sailor monicker. Go for some corporate re-branding. Get myself back on the other side of the fence with something brazen and consumerist and nicely at odds with the zeitgeist. I've been rolling a few possibilities around my head. The Buy-it-Quick Boater. The High-Spend Helmsman. Hmmm. How about the Chandlers' Chum? Or the Size-Is-All Seaman? You get my drift.

Mingming, of course, will have to go. From here on I wouldn't be seen dead in a thirty-year-old ridiculous-sized junk-rigged Corribee. Junk-rigged? Yu-uck! How sad can you get? What I want now is size, shiny brute power, gizmos galore, fifty or sixty feet of thrusting phallic aggression. What I need now is a montrous throbbing engine, an illegal decibel count of good old-fashioned pollutive noise, infinite excess, whale-loads of wastefulness. Henceforth I'm not going anywhere at less than twenty-five knots. Watch out for the Great White Monster! Mobility Dick's a-comin'! Hold on to your hats! Yee-haa! "

PBO and Pocket Cruisers

This months PBO has some great articles on Smaller boats and in particular has a detailed article on smaller cruisers that can be had (as project boats from as little as £500)

There is also a great article on a Kelt 550 having its rig tweaked for better performance to windward too.

Peter Poland (of Hunter Boats fame) is obviously very well experienced in smaller yachts and rather than discuss his own option on boats he offers other peoples insight into their own experience of smaller craft so that they can 'own small and charter large.'

The list is varied but I took heart from a number of boats that are not on my 'Nano' budget and would be keen to investigate.


New to the list from the article has come the following pocket rockets.

1. Prelude 19
2. Sailfish 18
3. Express Pirate

The magazine is also packed with relevant projects tips and reviews such as Non Slip paints and Electric vs Propane outboards and all the usual.

Priced almost the same as a paper back book all magazines are becoming an expensive luxury, but I do love a good thumb through, but the digital lovers you can subscribe at a much reduced rate here http://www.pbo.co.uk/digital-editions/uk

Sailing Clothing for Kids

Great sailing kit for kids can be found here

Pico Cruising

With very little money and a little thought people have produced some very capable Dinghy's for weekend cruising. I'm personally favouring the ever popular Mirror, I love the example above.

John Perry from Hostellers Sailing Club has designed and built his own 16 footer which here describes HERE in great detail.

Build it yourself... if you have the time

Interesting article here about a 20ft self build...

http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/justright/index.htm

Less is more?

Lets be frank, money is becoming ever thinner on the ground and with 2 young children I don't see the finances coming through any time soon, unless our number some up on a scratch card or Saturday night!?

To this end I have come up with a further reduction in the finances and have born out 2 further sub categories to my sailing options.

Nano (nano – n – billionth) and Pico (pico – p – trillionth) budgets have been established to allow to to have a possibility of actually making it out on the water. 

Nano sailing has made me look to the older smaller pocket cruisers such as the Hunter 18 and the very attractive Leisure 17. I have seen these boats for as little as £500 and as they have a much more trimmed down and basic set up the overhaul of such a boat should be vastly reduced.

Pico sailing is set to take it all back to basics and look at sailing lakes and coastal waters in the likes of a Mirror Dinghy or GP14. This option makes simple weekend camping trips very possible with less than £1000 to spend.

I am very excited that these 2 options have been established and I am especially keen to look into the Pico option for New Zealand whether we are there for 2 months or 2 years. 

Hunter Europa... a history

I have simply copy and pasted this from another web page as it is just plain interesting...

Hunter Europa

HUNTER EUROPA : a epic success in the 1972 Single-Handed Transatlantic Race 

Hunter Boats started life close to the Wakering marshes near Rochford back in 1969. A few years later the company moved to a new custom built factory off Sutton Rd, in Rochford where the building of Hunter boats continues to this day.

The first famous sail-boat was the National Squib, designed and finished by Oliver Lee and first moulded by Hunters (then called the Essex Boat Company) in 1968. The Squib flourished, achieved National Status, and is still built to this day (not by Hunter Boats), with total numbers now above 800. 
A year or so later, one Michael Poland asked Oliver if he could put a lid on a Squib, so that he could go cross Channel JOG racing in a boat that would cost less than a full set of B&G instruments. Oliver relented, and designed a proper fibreglass lid to go on the Squib. Since Michael Poland’s other favourite pastime was hunting, the new model was called the Hunter. And so began the new Hunter line. Oliver designed several other Hunters for the renamed Hunter Boats Ltd between 1969 and 1975; the 16′ lifting keel Hunter 490, the 23′ Hunter 701, the Tracer (a mini Squib with lifting keel) and the revamped Hunter 19 that changed her name to the Hunter Europa. All sold well, and multiplied in yacht harbours in the UK and abroad.

Perhaps the most famous exploit was David Blagden’s epic success in the 1972 Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race. His diminutive Hunter Europa 19  “Willing Griffin” survived many Atlantic storms and finished the race, the smallest yacht ever to do the official Single-Handed Transatlantic. Visit your library and find “Very Willing Griffin” by David Blagden. It’s an inspiring read

The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race was conceived by Francis Chichester and Herbert “Blondie” Hasler in 1956. The whole idea of a single-handed ocean yacht race race was a revolutionary concept at the time, as the idea was thought to be extremely impractical; but this was especially true given the adverse conditions of their proposed route — a westward crossing of the north Atlantic Ocean, against the prevailing winds. 

1972 Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race

Skipper	Nation	Yacht	Type	LOA	Time(D H M)	Place
Alain Colas	French	PEN DUICK IV	Tri	70	20 13 15	1
J.Y Terlain	French	VENDREDI TREIZ	Mono	128	21 05 14	2
Blanden David	British	WILLING GRIFFIN	Mono	19	52 11 06	37

Hunter 19/Europa Details
Built From:	1972
Built To:	1982
Number Built:	782
Designer:	Oliver Lee
Specification
Length Over All (m):	5.78
Length at the water line (m):	5.24
Beam (m):	1.87
Draft (m):	Fin 0.91, Shoal 0.68
Air Draft (m):
Displacement – fin (kg):	681
Displacement – twin (kg):	NA
Ballast (kg):	340
Sail Areas (sq m):	Main 7.80, Jib 6.30, Genoa 11.10
Berths:	2 to 3
Engine:	O/B
Remarks:  Hunter 19  built Sep 72 – Feb 74,    Hunter Europas built 74 Nov 82

Mixing children and boats

When I first started to think about my sailing venture I was young(ish) and free of family life, constraints and concerns, but times have changed. I now have a young family meaning that sailing has had to take a back seat for almost the last 10 years, and in fact my partner has never know me to sail and has very little interest in it, in fact its safe to say that she has no interest.

That said I would love my children to, at the very least, have the opportunity to try sailing and if they like it, pursue it. The obvious route (like mine) is small dingy sailing, which can offer all sorts  but I would also love for them to be able to experience the 'camping' style of cruising offered by a small trailer sailer.

Safety is an obvious concern on board a boat and currently we have a 5 year old and 2 year old, and IF we were to get a boat then these tender ages need to be taken into account. Interestingly enough there is a site that offers advice for sailing with children, which oddly enough is run by... women.

Womenandcruising is a great site for the real practicalities of cruising with kids and offers a great amount of resources from real experience, but surely there is some fatherly advice knocking about for cruising with young children?

This is still a theoretical exercise and all depends upon actually getting a boat and then convincing the other half that her and the kids would be safe aboard!? 

Kids in the Cockpit

Penguin Post Office - Radio 4

Around lunch to day I listened to Radios 4s first instalment of Penguin Post Office and the voyage of some BBC wildlife crew travelling to Goudier Island in Antarctica. Some great commentary on what sounded like very large seas!

RADIO4 - Penguin Post Office

£25 depth sounder!?

Inspired by the beautifully simple Navigation setup on the Europa 19 on my previous blog, I started to think about what I would need for a similar set-up.

£25 sounder / fish finder

I already have a basic Hand held GPS and a Iris 100 (as well as a 50) so just needed to sort out a hand held VHF (see previous post) and so I was a little unsure as to a sounder.

After a trawl over the usual sites I had a quick skim over ebay where I found a portable hand held sounder (Lucky Fish finder!?) which had a cable (7.5m) attached transducer, allegedly good for up to 100m. At £25 I was wondering if anyone else ever used one as a sounder rather than a fish finder?

Hunter 19, I wish!!

Hunter 19

Looks like the Hunter 19 is trying to push itself into my mind this week. After seeing a link on Dylan Winters Site (KTL) to a YouTube video of a Shetland - Norway trip, I was inspired by the owners Hunter 19 and how effective she was and also how well maintained!

The genius that I liked was the way the boat had been kitted out with affordable items but offered fantastic functionality. A small wooden plinth has been cut to size to sit in the companion way and then crafted to take a GPS, Plastimo 100 and a Garmin fish finder. The hand held VHF completes the set at the end.

GPS / Compass / Depth / VHF - £350 all in. Genius!

This if definitely on the plans for my boat now!

Blow me down if theirs not a Hunter 19 for sale in NZ on the TradeMe site inviting offers of around NZ$2500, that's about £1250!

If only we were there already I'd have snapped it up!!

Items pre New Zealand

With the move to New Zealand now looming large I've been looking over what is best bought here and taken with me and what I can get out in the Antipodes.

As I already have a number of items it comes down to the usual suspects...

A Hand Held VHF Radio, such as the cheap and cheerful 3 Watt HH125 and perhaps a bulk head compass such as the Mini Contest. But when you start to look into the price of technology via on-line stores you find there's very little difference in price between the 2 countries once you take the exchange rate into account, although Compasses are a little more expensive then here.

So sadly as much as I love to buy kit, I'll wait till we get there.

Updated WebSite

I've managed to get round to updating the look of the web site and slim it down a little.

Updated WebSite Look

Funds are building and we're now waiting on confirmation of a job offer in New Zealand which will have a massive impact on this project.

I just can't to get this project off the ground now, either here or in New Zealand!

GRP Clean Up

As I'll be looking for older boats,which will suffer from Rust stains and the like, www.starbright.com looks like it can help with cleaning up!

I do however think that most of my time will be spent with a jet washer and a paint brush.

New Zealand - Sailing heaven!

So... long time no Blog and all that. Hope people have had a good Christmas and New Year Break, but sadly it back to the thick of it and yet another list of things I'd like to do, but other than winning the Lotto, will perhaps not yet have the chase to fulfil.

That said, there is exciting news that the Sunny shores of New Zealand could well be calling and the back end of 2014 sees us in Auckland! If this is the case then this will only serve to push the sailing project further ahead and base the whole experience from the Southern Hemisphere.

If something does becomeof theis then the website will be revisited with a new twist to it! Fingers crossed this is just the thing needed to spur me on yet again!

Lake Taupo - New Zealand!