Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

T

he Clipper round the world
race yacht Derry-Londonderry-
Doire diverted to Hobart in
Tasmania for a medevac of an
injured crewman.
Crew member Michael Gaskin, 54,
from the West Midlands, sustained
suspected broken ribs after he fell
by the helming position in rough
seas and 35 knots of wind, roughly
130NM to the south-west of
Tasmania. Team medics Ali Boeree
and Jan Chatzis administered first
aid while the skipper contacted
ClipperTelemed+, the Clipper Race
remote telemedicine service. Doctors
at the Praxes operations centre in
Halifax, Canada confirmed diagnosis
and directed the provision of pain
relief and anti-nausea medication.
Skipper Daniel Smith contacted
the Clipper race office on 8
December to report the incident and

Clipper Race crew suffers suspected broken ribs

his decision to divert as a

precautionary measure. The team

continued the race to Sydney once

Michael had been transferred to

hospital on 10 December.

Race director Justin Taylor said:

‘A wave broke over the side of the

cockpit and Mike says he hit the

pushpit and heard his ribs crunch.

He was then washed into the

A-frame and sustained a small

cut to his head. He was stopped

by his safety tether.’

This is the first medevac of the

Clipper 2015-16 Round the World

Yacht Race, which will take 11

months to race between six

continents. Only a handful of the

3,300 amateur sailors who have

participated in the race over the last

19 years have had to be evacuated,

the majority as a precaution

following medical treatment aboard. Derry-Londonderry-Doire under way in Albany, Western Australia

Clipper Race crew

Michael Gaskin

L

iveaboard boat owner Chris

Tunstall of Portland Marina

was picked at random to scoop

all the top 10 items of PBO’s big

Christmas giveaway.

The prize, which represented our

pick of 2015’s best-on-test items, is

worth more than £3,000. Thank to

the generosity of the manufacturers

it included two Pontos Compact

winches, a weatherproof Diskus

padlock from nothingbutpadlocks.

com, a B&G Vulcan 7 plotter, a

Mirka Deros 650CV ‘dust-free’

sander, a 1kg bag of Gin Gins

Caramels, a Meridian Zero 20m flat

hose, Musto-Clark Orson Drift deck

shoes, a Draper Expert 5W CREE

LED Waterproof Torch, a TillerClutch

and a LifeProof Nuud waterproof

phone case.

Winner of

PBO gear

prize

Newly-retired Chris, 59, who lives

aboard his 985 Westerly Corsair,

said: ‘I was gobsmacked about the

value: £3,000 is a lot of money. It’s

great timing because I was just

thinking I had to either get one of

my winches replaced or swap the

one that’s least used for the one

that’s most used.’

Chris’s boat is currently in the

boatyard undergoing a refit. He

added: ‘I’m hoping to relaunch in

early summer. When I finish the refit

and my partner retires we’ll head off

to the Med or the Caribbean and

see where the boat takes us.’

PBO competition winner, 59-year-

old liveaboard Chris Tunstall

T

he majority of the 450 staff at

Fairline Boats have been

made redundant after the

powerboat maker went into

administration in December.

Administrators kept on 69

workers to keep the business

running and finish existing orders,

but the remaining 381 were told

not to return to work after being

sent home on 3 December. Most

of the retained staff are at Fairline’s

Fairline Boats administration

factories in Corby and Oundle in

Northamptonshire, where the

52-year-old company designed

and manufactured a range of

boats under the Targa and

Squadron brands, ranging in

value from £350,000 to £2.5million.

At the time of going to press, joint

administrators Geoff Rowley and

Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory

were attempting to arrange a sale

of the business or its assets.

Mike Pocock and his wife Pat

on their boat Blackjack

F

ormer Ocean Cruising Club
(OCC) Commodore Mike
Pocock – the naval architect
and designer of Al Shaheen,
Troubador, Brown Bear, Sadko,
Arabesque, Tin Fish, Q2,
Blackjack and Twilight amongst
others – has passed away.
Mike, who lived in Lymington
and was a member of the Royal
Lymington Yacht Club, was quite a
force in his own modest way. He
was a member of the OCC for 48
years, and Commodore from 1999
to 2003. He also co-wrote The
Pacific Crossing Guide as well as
other books. Mike was married
for 55 years to Pat (née Barton),
whose father was OCC founder
Humphrey (‘Hum’) Barton who
worked in the Laurent Giles office
and famously sailed Vertue XXXV
across the Atlantic in 1950 to
prove that small boats could
cross big oceans. The voyage
took 47 days.
In a statement, the OCC paid
tribute to the ‘talented naval
architect and yacht designer’ who
passed away on 22 November,
recalling how: ‘In 1999-2000, Mike
and Pat led what must be the
longest rally in OCC history – the
Commodore’s Millennium Rally –
from the UK to the Caribbean, the
US East Coast, and back to the
UK via the Azores. Mike and Pat
were serious long-distance
cruisers, having visited most

Tributes paid to yacht

designer Mike Pocock

regions of the world on a boat

designed by Mike. We extend

our deepest sympathy to Pat

and family.’

Tragically Pat’s stepmother

died just a few days after Mike.

Former OCC Commodore,

Admiral Mary Barton passed

away on 1 December, shortly

before her 95th birthday. OCC

Commodore John Franklin

said: ‘As many will know, the

club went through troubled times

in the 1980s and, by the time

Mary became Commodore in

1988, it was both insolvent and

riven by deep divisions. It was

due in large part to Mary’s

devotion to the OCC throughout

her six years as Commodore

that it survived to grow into the

vibrant club it is today.’

News

➜

Aaron Bunch Photographer

onEdition