Practical Boat Owner – August 2019

In last month’s letters page,

‘Tragic tale of Cliperau’ Dan

Tack asks for information

about the boat lost at sea

with his Grandfather on

board as skipper. I once

sailed on the boat and have

an old photo. It is an image

on slide film taken in 1968:

this is a photo (right) of the

projection I took on my iPad.

Philip Hughes

Wrexham

Wanted: Colour photos of Cliperau

Readers share their thoughts and opinions

Letters

Email [email protected]

or write to us at the address on page 5.

Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited.

PBO March 2019 had

interesting articles on

anchoring: they reminded me

of interviews I read some time

ago with experienced sailors

about how they anchored. I was

surprised to find less than half of

them routinely dug the anchor

in by motoring backwards, until

I read that one said you should

anchor, have a cup of tea, then

dig the anchor in.

That was a Eureka! moment

for me! It should have occurred

to me years ago – being a

chemistry teacher in a former

life – that mud is thixotropic.

That means that if you apply a

steady force to it, it acts like a

solid; if you vibrate a weight on

it, it acts more like a liquid. You

can see this in fine wet sand on

the beach: stand still and

nothing happens; wiggle your

feet or legs and you sink slowly

down. The extreme example is

quicksand: lie flat (greatest

surface area) and still and you

won’t sink.

So when anchoring in mud or

fine sand, if you wait for 5-

minutes after dropping the

anchor, the constantly

changing force on the anchor

from wind and tide movement

and the slight shaking of the

chain from water flowing past

will soon partially liquefy the

mud and the anchor will sink in.

Then dig it in if you want. But if

you motor back immediately,

there is more chance that the

anchor will slide along the

surface rather than digging in.

Alan Wilson

Tollesbury, Essex

I just wanted to let you know

that our Vivacity 24 Langkawi

has now found a new owner

who seems very keen on

sailing and thinks all his family

will enjoy sailing her, which is

what we really wanted.

Our thanks to you for your

help passing on details and

information for which we are

very grateful.

Harry Leach

In Yachting Monthly

December 1972 I found an

advert for the Scimitar

Schools of Sailing and

Seamanship – the company

Free to a

good home

As part of an extensive refit,

I recently bought a 15in

Windex which is now in situ

but I was astounded at the

price for a few bits of bent

wire and some plastic

mouldings, the tooling for

which must have paid for

itself years ago.

How about one of your

experts, or a reader maybe,

coming up with a DIY

version? It seems an ideal

candidate for recycling a wire

coat hanger and all that

plastic we are encouraged to

find alternative uses for.

Peter D. Harvey, Ely

The chemistry of anchoring

WIND INDICATOR?

ABOVE

Golden Hind

31 Cliperau

featured on

April 1971

cover of PBO

LEFT This

image of

Cliperau was

taken four

years before

she

disappeared

with the loss

of four crew

Yachting Monthly ad of 1972 Harry Leach’s Vivacity 24

Langkawi has a new home

Windex is light in weight,

well balanced and made

for the job

Has anyone ever made their own....

that owned and operated

Cliperau. I Hope it might be

of some help to Dan Tack.

Ron Allen

by email