Waiting for the tide
Boat show season – at full chat
The editor’s welcome to this month’s PBO
For some, the autumn may be the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness; for the marine industry it’s one of aching legs and chatting. In other words, it’s boat show time. The aching legs are inevitable, but the quality of the chatting varies enormously, according to whether one has something interesting to chat about. A few months ago, I was looking forward to the nowjust-past Southampton Boat Show with some trepidation – we had been spoiled for two years by having our project boat in the marina, and enjoying some really interesting conversations with readers on board. With Hantu Biru having moved to waters new, our snug base and topic of discussion had gone in a single stroke.
Until, that is, Dave Selby hatched his plan to sail Marlin around from Maldon to Southampton in a two-pronged effort to promote budget small-boat sailing and to raise awareness and funds for GAIN, the Guillain-Barré and Associated Inflammatory Neuropathies charity. Dave’s stand at the show was certainly unique, with Marlin and Phil Brook’s Hurley 20 Ciao Bella adding realism to the show or lowering the tone, depending on your point of view and the depth of your pocket. Dave’s morning talks on getting afloat for less never failed to draw a crowd, and we were kept pleasantly busy talking to PBO readers and sailing newcomers about the trials and tribulations of getting on the water for a few hundred pounds.
The message was simple: you don’t have to spend a fortune to go sailing. A selection of photos showed boats for sale or which had been purchased for as little as £63; Silky Marine gave regular demonstrations of how even quite tired gelcoat can shine with cutting compound and polish, and East Dorset Sailing Club talked to would-be sailors about mooring options which don’t break the bank. The South Coast can be a horrendously expensive place to keep a boat, but in reality there are moorings available comparatively cheaply, if you know where to look.
The message might be simple, but not everyone appreciated it. We were criticised for potentially having a negative impact on new boat sales, for encouraging people to sail in old, ‘dangerous’ boats, and for suggesting that people sail with inadequate training.
Taking those one at a time, the first is a nonsense. People buying old boats do it for one or both of two reasons: they like sailing and maintaining old boats, or they can’t afford a new one. Neither of these groups will buy new, but the latter might if they become more affluent. As any sailor knows, once the salt gets into your veins it’s impossible to give it up, so it’s in the long-term interest of boatbuilders to get people afloat whatever their budget.
To address the second point, there is no reason that a well-maintained old boat should be dangerous. Glassfibre is so far proving embarrassingly indestructible – next month we’ll be publishing a report on the pan-European discussions on how to dispose of it – so you’re highly unlikely to find a boat with a dangerous hull. If it is, it’ll be obvious by the gaping holes. That leaves bulkhead bonding, keelbolts, rigging, spars, chainplates, deck gear and the engine to check, all of which a surveyor should be able to do for you.
Finally, training. In a guest appearance on Dave’s stand, Sam Llewellyn suggested that there were two ways to learn: get some tuition or go out and make mistakes. But whether you take all the courses or go out on the water on a keel and a prayer, new sailors are well advised to choose sheltered waters for their first adventures. Running aground on a harbour shoal is far preferable to striking an offlying rock near a headland. Mistakes make the best lessons, but out of respect for the sea, try to make intelligent ones.
Fair winds,