Moody 31 Mk II

Sailing a dinghy is a youthful joy. But can the adroit touch of a dayboat be transferred into a six-berth cruiser? Dick Durham finds out

- Dick Durham

A second-hand 30ft yacht is a good staring point on the road of boat ownership. A step up from a dinghy or dayboat, small enough to manhandle into and out of berths, cheap to keep on a mooring and not crippling in marina fees either. There are many on the market, but few offer standing headroom, a fully appointed galley, a proper chart table and double berths in two separate, decent-sized cabins like the Moody 31. With the feeling of a big dinghy, those stepping up will be familiar with her feel, but also those downsizing won’t feel she is too much of a compromise either.

Performance

With between 8 to 15 knots of chilly northerly breeze we threw off Aquaholic’s fore and aft moorings at Eling, and navigated between the large red and green pile beacons towards Southampton Water.

It was the perfect breeze for this boat; she dipped and accelerated with each gust, luffing slightly. She held just enough weather helm to let me know she was harnessing the elements.

Although she is easily driven and a cinch to tweak, she is a touch skittish. It was like sailing a dinghy, a fact made manifest by the aluminium tiller extension which enabled me to scramble up onto the weather coaming as she started to heel.

I could throw her around from starboard to port, from fetch to fetch without hardening in the sheets, so manoeuvrable is the Moody 31.

Yet not until the wind increases to 18 knots does the first reef go in, she will sail thrillingly on her ear before that. The second reef goes in at 25 knots of breeze, skipper-owner Mike Turpin tells me.

We motored back over the ebb to