26 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com APRIL 2016ANY QUESTIONS
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QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Q
I am an avid armchair
circumnavigator but I dream of
actually cruising the oceans one
day. I would want a medium-to-heavy
displacement, long-keeled boat between
28ft and 32ft (8.5m to 9.8m), with a cutter
rig and made of GRP.
The closest I can fi nd in GRP in the UK is
something like a Nicholson 31 or Contessa- In the USA, however, there seems to be
more choice, such as the Bristol Channel
Cutter 28, Westsail 28 or the Baba 30.
Are there any traditional pilot cutter-style
boats still made in the UK?
Rob Searle
A
Duncan Kent replies: You can
get a brand-new British pilot
cutter. There’s the glassfi bre
Cornish Pilot Cutter 30 (£142,250, see http://www.
cornishcrabbers.co.uk) and a few traditional
yards, such as Cockwells of Mylor, can buildyou the real McCoy in wood,
but it won’t be cheap.
Your list of required
features in a blue water
cruising yacht is quite typical- although most people
choose a hull between 12m
and 18m (40ft to 60ft) long
for world cruising – but some
of these elements shouldn’t be taken as a
must-have. For instance, a well-maintained
wooden boat can take you anywhere and
an ocean-going yacht doesn’t necessarily
need a long keel – in fact very few do.
A longish, deep fi n keel is just as good.
And whilst a cutter rig offers a useful ‘gearbox’
in heavy weather, a sloop with an inner
forestay often serves just as well.
Some second-hand yachts worth
investigating are the Heard 28, Contest 28,
Great Dane 28, Twister, Samphire 29, MG 30,
Rustler 31 and Nicholson 32 to name just a
few. Also, don’t dismiss boats such as the
Westerly 31 or Sadler 29 just because they
have a fi n keel.
Once you have a well-found hull, the vital
ingredients are a top-class crew and good
quality equipment. Personally, I would just
get a cheap boat to learn to sail in and get
used to living aboard, before you make your
fi nal decision – you’ll probably fi nd your
idea of the ‘ultimate’ cruising yacht changes
considerably after a few years afl oat.
Ed: Also look at Duncan’s book: Choosing
and Buying a Yacht (Fernhurst, £16.99).PHOTO: GRAHAM SNOOKWhat’s the best ocean-
going small yacht?
A Twister, like the
editor’s Cleaver,
is a seaworthy
pocket ocean
cruiserNew generation anchors such
as this Rocna have a lot of
holding power, but are
they always best?Why stick with old-
fashioned anchors?
Q
Your article How to anchor
like an expert (YM January
2016) was fascinating, but as
the fi rst essential of good anchoring is a good
anchor, I wondered why only three of the
eight experts use modern bower anchors such
as a Rocna while the others use old-fashioned
anchors like the Delta or Bruce?
We struggled with a 28kg Delta plough
for years before changing to a spade anchor,
which digs in much more effectively. Why
would anyone want an anchor that ploughs a
furrow through the seabed?
John EptonA
Ken Endean replies: In 15 years and
hundreds of anchorages, our Delta
has never let us down, which is one
good reason for using it. The Delta has alsodemonstrated a high degree of reliability on
‘diffi cult’ seabeds such as rock, weed and
other uncooperative materials that occur
around the British Isles, which is why the
RNLI adopted it for use on many lifeboats.
Its holding resistance when tested in sand is
lower than that of ‘new generation’ anchors
but has been quite adequate to keep our
boat secure.
More to the point, there is reason to suspect
that some of those modern anchors might
struggle on the more treacherous holding
grounds, and I have not yet seen evidence to
disprove those suspicions.yards, such as Cockwells of Mylor, can build Rustler 31 and Nicholson 32 to name just aNew generation anchors such
as this Rocna have a lot of
holding power, but are
they always best?2016) was fascinating, but asdemonstrated a high degree of reliability onAdd or subtract for GMT?
Q
In James Steven’s article How to pass
RYA theory exams (YM February
2015), the section on ‘Confusing time
zones’ adds to my confusion. France is one
hour ahead of GMT (UTC) so I would expect
the time zone designation to be UT+1 for
Cherbourg not UT-1, and UT+2 in summer, not
UT-2. The website http://www.timeanddate.com also
presents it as UTC +1 hour. Who is right?
Albert LevyA
James Stevens replies: I agree it’s
confusing but, as far as French tide
tables are concerned, UT-1 means
subtract one hour to get from the time on the
page to UT, because the French inconveniently
set their clocks an hour ahead. 1300 French
time is 1200 UT. Once we get well to the west,
for example the Azores, the tide tables show
UT+1 because you need to add an hour to get
back to UT: 1100 Azores time is 1200 UT.