MAIN: Drying out in Zoe Bay Inlet.
LEFT: Approaching Palm Island, beautiful tropical sailing.
ABOVE: Herald Island off Townsville, the pirates have landed.SMALL HOTEL is a Seaway 25 trailer sailer
built in 1978 and designed by the late
Doug Peterson.
Although the design was originally more
racing orientated, we have found her to be
a handy small cruising boat. The fractional
rig with small headsails, combined with a
mainsail that can be depowered, makes her
easy to sail shorthanded.
Most of the Hotel’s ballast is internal so the
keel is relatively easy to lift up and down on
a simple rope pulley system. Small Hotel is a
Mark 1 and still has the original rudder setup
where the rudder sits in a cassette through the
cockpit f loor.
We purchased Small Hotel in 2004, she
was bought to replace a 22 foot trailer sailer
that had become a bit small due to the fact
our two daughters were getting older. It was
becoming obvious that a bit more space
between crew members was needed. Back
in 2004 we were based in Launceston and
had many enjoyable seasons racing and
cruising the boat in Tasmania.
We are both still working and the trailer sailer
has allowed us to make the most of the sailing
time we have available. We can tow the boat to
a popular cruising area, enjoy the highlights
then tow the boat home.
The downside of the trailer sailer is lack of
space. While been on the boat has taught us to
be tidy and put things away, a shower would
be nice. We swim regularly but it is just not the
same as a shower.
While living in Tasmania most of our cruising
was based on Tassie’s east coast; Maria Island,
Coles Bay and Schouten Island were some of the
worthwhile destinations we visited. Seldom are
east coast anchorages crowded and the scenery
is stunning.
Being Tasmania there is the occasional un-
forecast change of weather and wind direction
thrown in just to keep you guessing and
disorientated at 3:00am in the morning.
With sailing there is always something to
learn: learn to sail, learn to race, learn to handle
bigger boats and not run into things, learn to get
the boat on and off the trailer and stay married.
Then we had to learn to go cruising.
We read the books on how to do cruising
stuff, we felt we passed the theory test but the
practical assessment can sometimes take a
bit longer to get right. One such moment was
heading back to Triabunna from Maria Island
after a very relaxing four day cruise. We were
sailing on a ¾ reach with full main and small
jib, the wind was gusting 20 knots and we
were catching the odd wave; life was good, the
universe was in balance.
Suddenly the boat stopped dead in water, my
first thoughts was that we had hit a submerged
object. A quick check proved that was not the
case, then I looked astern and could no longer
see the inf latable dinghy and outboard, both of
which I had borrowed for this trip from a friend.
I then looked straight down into the crystal
clear waters of the Mercury Passage and there
was the dinghy and outboard combination,
straining at the end of its six metre painter. Our
borrowed dinghy had decided to bury itself into
the back of a wave and head for the bottom. As I
watched, the dinghy turned on its end and then17
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