38 Practical Boat Owner t http://www.pbo.co.uk
BOATS
back in Portland Harbour I was already
planning the next year’s trip.
The following year we took our second
trip across the Channel with plans to sail
the French coast from Treguier to Saint
Malo. One day, we left Saint Quay
Portrieux bound for Treguier in beautiful
sunshine and within the hour we were
joined by pilot whales as we made good
progress along the coast. We had
checked the weather and were expecting
the wind to increase in the evening when
we were planning to be sheltered safely
up the river.
With an onshore wind blowing on to a
rocky coastline our plan was to get
beyond the overfalls being caused by the
shoals offshore and then tack straight in to
the river mouth. As we sailed over the
shoals the waves stood up and gave us a
taste of how choppy it could be, even on a
glorious day.
Proceeding towards deeper water we
anticipated that the seas would drop but
they didn’t. Hurricane Bertha which was
now crossing the UK was sending us
some big swell, producing some
extraordinarily high waves as they entered
the shallower seas from the Atlantic. This
was our first experience of big seas but on
top of this the winds increased until they
were gusting well over 30 knots. Each
time we tacked Jan would struggle to
keep control as we dived headlong in to
the massive waves.
We emerged unscathed but it was a few
days before we headed back out towards
Saint Malo, our confidence a little shaken.
We managed to clock up quite a few miles
that summer but more importantly we had
gained some experience of the big seas
we could expect if we ventured further.
Plans for improvements
Next on the list of improvement was our
compliment of sails. They were in pretty
bad shape and had on a number of
occasions started to come unstitched. It
be on a gantry out of harm’s way. This
would also allow us to lift the tender out of
the water rather than tow it as we
coast-hopped. We fitted a new SPX
autopilot, additional batteries for all the
extra equipment we were installing, and
added to the list of equipment we still
needed, such as an AIS transponder.
The year 2015 had seen a number of
key events in our lives which made us
consider how we wanted to live the rest of
ours, but it is such a big decision to sell up
and sail away. Would we like it? After all,
we’d only ever lived on the boat for three
weeks at the most. How would it be after
three months?
We spent many hours discussing the
pros and cons. We had a lovely home but
we spent all our time on Twenty 20. It was
a difficult choice and a big step but we
came to a compromise. We quit our jobs
and entrusted our home to a good friend
who was between houses. This way we
could test the lifestyle before doing
something irreversible. We both knew we
could get similar jobs if we decided not to
take up the cruising lifestyle. Leaving our
home intact we could come back at any
time and resume our old life.
With a deadline looming we set about
getting more jobs ticked of the list. I was
buying the spares we’d need to take and
equipment to complete the inventory.
Even a delay in leaving my job did not
detract from the building excitement.
We agreed that we would sail further
than we had ever gone before and had
even factored in the possibility of going
through the Canal du Midi into the
Mediterranean. Our one and only criteria
was that we’d bring the boat back to
Portland in October to complete the
list of essential jobs.NEXT TIME Pete and Jan fall in love
with the liveaboard life but face the
huge task of getting their lives in order
as the ARC departure date approachesWe quit our jobs and
entrusted our home
to a good friend
was obvious we needed new ones if we
were to be doing longer voyages. In
addition I wanted to be able to reef the
sails easily from the helm.
I looked at various slab reefing methods,
a version of which we had already. It didn’t
work well. In-mast was the best choice
until you look at the cost. So after much
research we opted for in-boom furling.
We were now regular visitors to Lulworth
Cove dropping our anchor in our favourite
corner, enjoying barbecues on the beach
as late as October. The 320-mile round trip
from our home to the boat paled into
insignificance as we enjoyed just being on
Twenty 20. Our third trip to France in
summer 2015 was more sedate as we
stayed longer in each port or marina,walking and exploring the surrounding
areas. Delicious fresh seafood was readily
available and relaxing evenings were spent
with other sailors, listening to tales of past
adventures. A wealth of experience and
knowledge was willingly handed over by
our new friends and we soaked it all up.
Each time a yacht would enter a marina
I’d watch how they brought the boat in to
its berth. Some were experts, others not
so refined, but the experience all adds to
your knowledge.
Each year when the boat was taken out
of the water and placed in her cradle we’d
get to work making modifications and
fitting extra equipment such as an electric
windlass with stainless steel chain and
new covers for the deck seating. I was also
planning the installation of a holding tank.
We’d fitted solar panels on the
coachroof previously, but these needed toABOVE Jan’s DIY
upholstery skills
helped transform the
look of the boat
RIGHT The proud
owners show off
the interior aboard
Twenty 20
Clare Pengelly/World Cruising