BRUCE HALABISKY42 CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016OCEAN GOING GAFFER
it might be worthwhile to address specific concerns
regarding Vixen’s construction, rig and hull shape.WHY WOOD?
First, it must be understood that Vixen, although launched
in 1952 and first taken around the world by her original
owners in the 1950s, had a major 12-year refit just before I
bought her in 2002. When I say ‘major refit’ I mean
re-framed, re-planked, re-powered and everything else
re-done to produce a vessel very similar to the one that
rolled down the railways in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1952;
she was, in short, a new boat. As a result of this extensive
work we were able to cruise for 11 years without doing any
work on Vixen’s wooden structure. Of course there was
plenty of painting and a fair amount of varnishing but
the new healthy wood took care of itself even in the
relentless heat of the tropics.
While in Fiji we replaced Vixen’s wormshoe but by using
local wood this was an easy repair. In fact, many of the more
remote areas of the world we visited, like certain areas of
Indonesia and Africa, have a vibrant wooden boat culture
and skilled shipwrights on hand. In 2007 we motored up the
Kumai River in southern Borneo and there on the shore of a
sleepy village I saw the largest wooden boat I have ever seen
being built in the mangroves. It was a newly constructed
wooden motor vessel 180ft long!
Aside from the advantage of being able to repair a
wooden boat in very remote corners of the world, Vixen’s
rich history, not unusual in a wooden boat, is absent or
seriously diminished in the glassfibre alternative. I found this
comforting when pushing the limits of the boat in adverse
conditions. “She has been through all this before,” I would
think to myself when setting off on a long passage.
“It is only a new experience for me.”
Vixen’s rich history and friends from previous voyages
added another dimension to our own trip around the
world. It wasn’t uncommon for Tiffany and me to anchor in
a crowd of modern cruising boats only to see a kayak or
skiff put in from the shore and have someone row directly
over to say hello. “Our friends got married on Vixen’s
foredeck in the 1970s,” a couple once shouted out in
passing. An old sea dog with a steely memory once
proclaimed: “I anchored next to your boat – Tahiti, 1957.”
These experiences enrich the cruising life. Even
complete strangers were often drawn to Vixen. A classic
yacht makes a statement that the owner values traditionV
ixen, my 34-foot (10.36m) gaff cutter, rested at
anchor on the calm waters among Madagascar’s
west coast islands. My wife, Tiffany, and I had
just crossed the Indian Ocean with our three-
year-old daughter, Solianna, and were about to row ashore
to explore the island of Nosy Be. We had been voyaging for
five years – Solianna was born in New Zealand – and we
were about halfway through what was to become an
eleven year circumnavigation; a voyage originating
and concluding in Victoria on the southern end of
Vancouver Island in western Canada.
There was only one other cruising boat in the anchorage:
a ratty-looking 30ft glassfibre sloop with what appeared to
be a singlehanded captain. As I examined his vessel I could
see he was lowering a semi-deflated dingy and looking my
way with furtive glances. The dingy hit the water, he pulled
the cord on a war-ravaged two-horse outboard which
sputtered to life only to die with a strangled squawk.
But my neighbour was persistent. After a second pull he
navigated straight to Vixen’s stern in a cloud of blue smoke.
Killing the engine and drifting alongside he laid a hand on
the rail and rather breathlessly asked a single question:
“Why? Why have you chosen to sail around the world in the
antithesis of performance?”
Indeed, it was a fair question. A casual survey of any
marina in the tropics or of any offshore rally will reveal a
paucity, if not a complete absence, of wooden hulls, gaff rigs
and even traditional hull shapes. From this evidence one
might be led to believe that Vixen – an Atkin design launched
in 1952 – was a poor choice if not a reckless or dangerous
choice for a boat on which to sail around the world in the
21st century. But my experience on Vixen suggests otherwise.
Tiffany and I have lived on the boat for 13 years, eleven of
which have been spent circumnavigating. We had two kids
born along the way (Seffa Jane was added to the crew after
we reached Brazil) and our circuitous route included three
Atlantic crossings and over 50,000 ocean miles in a wide
range of challenging currents and winds. In fact, as if to
prove her performance, a month after meeting my neighbour
in the Nosy Be anchorage, Vixen encountered a three-day
gale off the coast of South Africa with sustained winds of 70
knots. The high winds and seas damaged a score of other
yachts but Vixen hove-to comfortably until the storm passed
and we made our landfall in Richards Bay, South Africa.
Knowing that I am somewhat of a lone voice in
advocating a classic gaffer for offshore passages, I thoughtAbove, l-r:
Solianna blowing
a conch shell in
the Caribbean;
Vixen anchored
off the remote
Komodo Island
in Indonesia;
Seffa Jane with
flying fish