Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

Cruising

SKIPPER: PAUL THOMPSON

CONTESSA 32 PISCES

Paul Thompson, from Dorchester,

Dorset and David Everett from

Adelaide, Australia met in Australia

in 1978 and spent more than a year

sailing together, covering more than

10,000 miles. The duo’s Contessa

32, Pisces, ‘one of the few boats here

with a twistle rig,’ was built in 1978

and was the second-smallest boat in

the ARC 2015 fleet – ‘and definitely

the oldest’. The pair had a Honda

petrol generator and no watermaker,

instead carrying about 240lt in two

separate tanks and bottles. David

noted: ‘It’s for drinking and cooking,

not washing – you’ll smell us coming.’

Paul clarified: ‘We have a salt water

pump at the sink for washing.’

 HELPFUL HINT: Use salt water

for washing.

CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY

Duco Pulle and his yacht Briet

Double-handers Paul Thompson and David Everett onboard Pisces

about to use the inverter, please

don’t switch anything on”. It’s

ideal, particularly for anchoring

and going backwards.’ With a

long keel and a Hydrovane,

Duco’s boat is not manoeuvrable

in astern, and he finds the

bow-thruster a great help.

 HELPFUL HINT: Use LiFe

(lithium-ferrous) batteries: ‘more

capacity, generally better’.

Washing and wrapping fruit and veg

ARC provisioning

guru Clare

Pengelly

SKIPPER: DUCO PULLE

NAJAD 34 BRIET

Australian-based Dutch sailor

Duco Pulle has designed an

innovative bow-thruster for his

Najad 34 yacht Briet. Duco,

who has a PhD in electrical

engineering from Leeds, bought

a conventional bow thruster unit

and then removed the 12V

brushed DC motor from the gear

leg assembly and replaced it with

a three-phase mains-powered

permanent magnet synchronous

motor, which is 50% lighter. He

said: ‘Existing bow thrusters have

brushes that wear out and create

black soot. This is easy to install,

it took me an hour.’

Duco uses an inverter so he can

run the bow thruster when the

engine is on. At other times, the

mains power can be used for

other high-current loads. He

added: ‘All I say to my crew is “I’m

Provisioning tips
Clare Pengelly, who has worked
at every ARC since 2003 and
completed several transatlantic
crossings herself, continuously
gathers tips from participants to
add to her provisioning advice.
 Buy fruit and vegetables with
different ripening times.
 Meat: Chicken lasts the shortest
time, then lamb, pork and beef.
Choose a solid cut of steak
without any veins, add red wine,
vacuum pack and freeze. That will
be good for the duration.
 Wrap tomatoes and lettuce in
kitchen roll and keep in the fridge.
Change the paper frequently.
 Wrap root vegetables like carrots
in tin foil. Juicy root vegetables
should be allowed to dry out
slightly before being wrapped.
 Salt water and cans don’t
mix, so beware bilges: use
watertight lockers.
 Double-wrap pasta, bread and
flour in plastic bags or watertight

boxes to avoid infestation. Don’t

buy all your pasta from the same

place or store it altogether.

 Have snack boxes for each

week and ask each crew member

what their favourite snacks are.

 If you’ve just got one fridge,

think about eating the chicken

and lamb very quickly, and store

frozen things together.

 When you’ve cooked

something like mince, cook it and

keep the pan lid on, the next day

stir it and cook it: eat it again and

put the pan lid back on. Do the

same the following day.

 Anything you cut with a knife

won’t last as long as solid food as

it will have air contamination.

 With legs of cured meat – pull

back the fat, take meat slices and

then lay the fat back on. Rub with

salt if it starts to go off.

 Water is very important. Have a

2lt water bottle for each crew with

their name on it, so all the crew

can look after each other, and

make sure they’ve drunk enough.

Big bottles mean less plastic. If

you have a really big bottle, get a

plastic pump (r2.5) so you don’t

have to move it on a rolling boat.

 Water budget: At a minimum

you’re looking at 3.5lt per person

per day – 0.5lt for brushing teeth,

2lt for drinking, teas, coffees etc,

0.5lt for cooking and washing-up,

and 0.5lt for everything else.

 Liquid is liquid. If you’re a British

boat, remember to take a lot of

UHT or powdered milk for tea.

Nothing goes to waste

The Caribbean has taken a while

to catch up with the European

drive to recycle, but sailors are

now urged to separate their

rubbish ready to recycle in

St Lucia. ARC participants can

also pass surplus food on to the

ARC office for distribution to a

number of charities.