YOUR MBY
HAVE YOUR SAY IN PRINT AND ONLINE
SOUND ADVICE
As much as I appreciate most of your articles and information on new products, I have to say that I don’t agree with the idea of sub-marine speakers (New Gear, January 2020). Underwater lights are bad enough, but underwater sound pollution is a new low.
I support free choice but there have to be some limits to personal freedom. We all complain about excessively loud music late at night or early in the morning, and many of us want to relax while swimming rather than listening to music.
Imagine a nice quiet bay, a few boats at anchor and then suddenly everyone turns on their underwater speakers. And that’s before you take into account other people’s taste in music and the effects on marine life. A little more respect for mother nature would serve us all well. Philip Fischer (sailor, motorboater, diver, MBY subscriber)
You make a fair point but I like to think that most boat owners are respectful of their surroundings and other water users. The company in question claims the sound can only be heard up to around 20m from the boat so it shouldn’t be any more disruptive than the boat’s above water sound system, provided the owners use their discretion about where and when to use it. Hugo
BEGINNERS’ LUCK
This may sound an odd request but could you do an article for newbies on how to become a skipper please?
Like many who read MBY the dream is to own my own boat in the near future but I have no idea where to go or start with acquiring a skipper’s licence. I live in North Yorkshire so although there are plenty of harbours up here, from what I’ve found the majority of training centres seem to be on the south coast.
Jonny Wilson
You’ve already taken the first and most important step towards owning your own boat by starting to read up on the subject in magazines like ours. As it happens we are about to restart our “How to…” series on all aspects of seamanship from next month. However, you should also look into what’s available locally. The Royal Yachting Association website (www.rya.org.uk)
has some excellent advice on starting boating as well as a search page detailing clubs and training centres in your area. You don’t actually need any form of licence to start boating but we’d always advise getting some proper training and experience before putting yourself or your boat at risk. You can start with some class-based theory and go on to book the more expensive practical training once you’re ready to commit. Hugo
SIMETRA UPDATE
I thought I would add my knowledge of the Simetra 12.2 (Your MBY, April 2020) as I owned one for a while. They were built by Artemis Marine Ltd (Simetra being Artemis spelled backwards) and were originally priced at £47,000.
I bought mine in 2000 from a man in Penarth, Wales. It was the third and last built and not completed until 1980. It had spent its early life in Malta and was fitted with Mermaid 212 Majestic Major engines. At the time it was called
Scorpio. I believe it is now on the
Thames near Henley.
There was another one on the Hamble at Foulkes Yard, which I think had a flybridge conversion. And there was one
on the east coast, which I never saw.
They were spacious boats with an aft double and ensuite heads, a single midcabin with another heads adjacent and a
saloon with U-shaped seating facing the galley and a forward vee berth. I have attached a 2001 photo of Scorpio in her prime. Steve Terry
Great photo and thanks for the extra information on how many Simetras were built and where they ended up. With any luck at least one of them will still be afloat. Hugo
TOP GUN 2
Great to see the Formula SR1 Top Gun flying about again in Nick Burnham’s latest column (Boataholic, April 2020).
We remember her from the early noughties around Pwllheli. At that time she was running three V8 petrols with custom stainless headers and was reportedly capable of 70mph.
She spent a lot of time on her custom built articulated trailer unit as I’m not
sure the owner could stomach the petrol bills but made an awesome noise when she did run. I will dig through my USB sticks to see if I can find any old photos of her.
Gary Matthews
Thanks for getting in touch, and that’s really interesting about Top Gun. It’s an
amazing boat.
I’m sure her current owners Ian and Jacqui would love to see some old
photos so if you do find any, please feel free to send them to me. In case you’ve
not seen it, there’s a video we made last summer of Top Gun on my Aquaholic Youtube channel. Nick Burnham