Yachting Monthly – March 2018

Bigger isn’t always better. As ageing

joints make some jobs harder,

Julian Mounter rediscovers the

fun and freedom of a smaller boat

SAILING LIFE

L

ike a nighttime mid-Atlantic squall

it comes – vaguely anticipated,

and yet unexpected when it

arrives. Surprising, unwanted

and yet you know that

it’s inevitable. The first clear sign is the

roughness of the mainsail; it pulls at your

fingertips as you fold it. You used to lift one

that size on your own. When was it you needed

help? How long ago was it the sailmaker asked

you to let go and sent for his colleague when

it was clear your back was complaining? The

captain could handle the ship, but could no

longer dress and undress her.

The second sign was the questioning look

on my Admiral’s face (she’s always been ‘my

Admiral’, I a mere captain). She used to have

such confidence that anything the sea, the boat

or fortune threw at us, I could handle. But now? It

was just a glance, but it held the question: can he?

‘The windlass is strong enough to raise the

anchor. But can he, by hand? I mustn’t show

it, but has he lost his strength, his agility?’

At first you shrug off the doubts. You push

yourself and test your strengths until a year or

five later, that back twinge becomes a back pain,

the nagging doubt becomes worry, and then

you know. Fear takes over. Will this be the last

summer? Are these days of sitting on warm teak,

with cold stainless on my back, as a sunset fades

an anchorage into twinkling black... Are these

days almost gone?

Sod ageing! Damn Old Father Time. What right

has he to take my boat? I thought winches worked

with buttons, rudders steered by electronics and

anchors raised by power would let me sail Leone,

our Grand Soleil 50, for decades more, until

that metaphorical squall finally sneaked into my

consciousness. But sailors are fighters. After 50

years and all those miles in estuaries, seas and

oceans, it cannot just end so I planned an escape.

Does the mainsail have to be as big? Would I be

able to handle a lighter anchor and slimmer

chain? If the hull was smaller and the decks

shorter, the mast easier to climb and not a jump

to that pontoon, just a step down, would there be

Downsizing:

an age-old

conundrum

CRUISING LOG

Our Grand Soleil 50 Leone

was the largest of our boat

owning career

Steadily growing boats:

our enormously

capable Nicholson 31

Our Lightwave 48,

Pacific Pearl

Enjoying Med sailing

in our Contest 37

Fun afloat with the family

in younger days

JULIAN MOUNTER

Julian has logged more than

100,000 sea miles, including

several Atlantic crossings