Shearwater sloop sailing in the 1960s

Genevieve Leaper shares her late father John Leaper's recollections-compiled from handwritten notes-of cruising the Channel

- John Leaper

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