For our honeymoon in June 1962, Mary and I decided to go touring and give sailing a rest. But we missed the sea and when my father-in-law's cruising yacht became ready for collection, we cut our special holiday in Cornwall short to help him sail Wataita home from Poole, Dorset, to Chichester Harbour.
Wataita was a Dell Quay Shearwater, a 22ft cold-moulded plywood sloop of 1.5 and 4ft draught with tons displacement centreboard down.
Borrowing the boat later that summer for a short trip, Mary-a keen dinghy sailor -had her appetite for cruising thoroughly whetted and I found the responsibility of skippering much more satisfying than the navigating and watchkeeping I had done before with the Island Cruising Club.
That winter we made plans for a longer cruise. I made a chart table, acquired the charts to go with it and borrowed a pilot book. Navigation equipment consisted of steering and hand-bearing compasses.
I considered a log to be essential for crossing Lyme Bay or the Channel but it was an expensive item at over £20. Having the line and rotator already, I decided to make one myself. The design involved a magneto ball bearing, a Woolworths plastic food container, Meccano gears and a Lucas cyclometer held together with Araldite (total cost 25 shillings). A leadline was easily made with a fishing weight; it was to prove adequate for anchoring but too light to use under way.
The meth stove was stowed under a cockpit seat and pulled out over one of the bunks. Cooking at sea would be difficult as it wasn't gimballed, so two large vacuum food flasks were purchased.
Extended voyage
On 19 May 1963, Wataita left her Hayling Island mooring at 1600, beating into a westerly wind. It took five hours and many tacks to reach Wootton Creek.
Esta historia es de la edición November 2023 de Practical Boat Owner.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 2023 de Practical Boat Owner.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Shearwater sloop sailing in the 1960s
Genevieve Leaper shares her late father John Leaper's recollections-compiled from handwritten notes-of cruising the Channel
Timing an Atlantic crossing
Professional meteorologist and sailor Chris Tibbs shares his knowledge of how to choose the best time to sail 'across the pond'
Transatlantic first
It's 70 years since Ann Davison became the first woman to sail solo across the Atlantic. Katy Stickland looks back at her achievement
Going dizzy on an island sailing odyssey
Ken Fowler becomes the first sailor to circumnavigate every island in England and Wales-and all done in a 4m dinghy!
Boats for coastal cruising
Duncan Kent chooses a selection of the best sail and motor boats under 40ft most suitable for adventurous cruising along the coast
Industry view on HVO
The RYA, IWA and CA are working to help recreational boating transition to a Net Zero future, as the CA's
HVO RENEWABLE DIESEL Myth or miracle?
A new generation of biofuel that's cleaner, greener, better for your engine and less prone to microbial growth sounds too good to be true... but the facts beg to differ
Little ships and the wrong sort of waves
Why the correct manoeuvres for the sea conditions will reduce hogging and sagging stress on both ship and crew
Watching boats, saving jerseys
It's amazing what you can see from a hospital window if it's the right hospital
Sweating the mooring asset
Sam Llewellyn looks at ways of getting top value out of his boat's swinging mooring