Electric converts

Self-confessed fair weather sailors Jim and Libby Earle share their take on the TEMO 450 electric outboard, after six months of use

- Jim Earle

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Earle learned to sail in the Army, and became a criminal barrister after the Soviet Union wisely called it a day. Libby runs an allotment, keeps bees, and learned to sail because Jim persuaded her that she need not get wet, cold or seasick. They began with charter holidays, crewed with friends, had a share in a Moody 333 and eventually bought Merly, a Bavaria 32 based in Mallorca.

There’s no denying that my wife and I are the sort of sailors who’d perplex Horatio Hornblower or Jack Aubrey. Neither of us has any intention of braving gales if we can avoid them, and both agree that cold, wet tippy tidal sailing belongs in our distant past. On the more positive side, neither of us has ever caught scurvy or been keel-hauled. And we seem to be among the first people in the Balearics to buy a TEMO 450 outboard motor.

Here’s how it happened. We bought our 2004 Bavaria 32, Merly, three years ago. We brought her round from Alcudia to our home port of Arenal, and then suffered separation anxiety throughout the Covid lockdown. Eventually, we had an opportunity to try out the Yamaha 2-stroke perched on Merly’s stern. This took place on the island of Cabrera, a favourite haunt and a beautiful maritime conservation area. We have been there so often that the owner of the coolest bar in the Mediterranean recognises us. But not this time. We emerged from a miasma of blue smoke and tried to pretend that a sinister oil slick was nothing to do with us. It was obvious ‘Smokey Joe’, as the 2-stroke was immediately named, would have to be replaced in order to save the planet.