Daisy Grace is out of the water and is going back to Swallowboats to sort out various bits that arose in her first partial season afloat. After that she is going into a big shed near Sharpness, which is not far from my home. I have various plans for alterations and additions and no doubt I shall post them here. It is a good way to keep a record of what I have done to and with her. Relaunch should be in early April, back in Poole Harbour.The first photo shows her just out of the water with Matt Newland (designer and builder) on the left. The other chap has just paid his own deposit for a BayCruiser, due to be delivered next April. He is going to be in Poole Harbour too, so we will have the core of a racing fleet.
The puddle underneath is the last of the ballast water, drained out before towing.
The second photo show the extent of fouling underneath after 3 months afloat. Matt thought it was a lot, but for Poole Harbour it is astoundingly good. Fouling here is about the worst in England because of the warm, slightly brackish water. A Hawk 20 hauled out last week could hardly go on its trailer because of the festoons of weed and barnacles. The only growth here is on exposed stainless steel. There is practically nothing on the CopperCoat. I am really very impressed.To summarise the season overall then.
- Launched mid July and hauled out early October.
- Total distance covered 243 nautical miles (that is roughly the sailing distance from Poole to Rotterdam. I'll have to actually do it one year)
- Cruising range, Swanage in the south and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight in the east, and all round Poole Harbour and Studland Bay
- 10 nights on board, three with my daughter, one with my wife and six on my own.
- Three nights in marinas (Poole Quay and Yarmouth), one night on a mooring and six nights at anchor in Poole Harbour.
- 12 sailing outings altogether, discounting launch and haul-out days, so an average of about 20nm per outing. Not bad considering it is a brand new boat and I live nearly 90 miles form Poole. I don't think most of the yachts moored in Poole go out that much. In fact I know they don't. Most seem never to go anywhere.
- Max sailing speed, 8.3kts, but typical high 6-7. Cruising speeds seem to be 4-5kts.
- Overall impression; I am absolutely delighted with her. She does what I wanted and more. I has forgotten how much I like the ketch/yawl rig. It gives such a balanced boat, with a great range of sail combinations. Very easy single handed sailing. I had been disappointed that the self tacking jib of other Swallowbaots was not feasible, but in practice I think a conventional jib gives more versatility. I like to be able to back the jib to get through a dodgy tack in light winds. I spend lots of time hove to, and that may be more difficult with a self tacker. The jib sheets fall straight to hand from the cabin roof, so are very easy to use. We are going to reconsider the jib furling over the winter to see if there is a better way of doing it.
- I love my boat!
