After nine years of ownership she displays many of my ideas of how a small, single-handed cruising yacht should be equipped. Speed, comfort and economy; one can have any two in a cruising yacht but not all three. One has to admit that the accommodation is not of the type lauded at the Boat Show, but is quite adequate for a single-hander in his fifties and, no doubt, also for younger couples.

Construction Hand lay-up GRP using first grade materials

Principal Dimensions LOA 23’-0” 7.01m LWL 18’-6” 5.64m Beam 7’-1” 2.16m Draft - Plate up 2’-6” .762m - Plate down 4’-11” 1.5m

Sail Areas (sloop) Main 116ft² 10.77m² No 1 Jib 103ft² 9.57m² Genoa 160ft 14.86m²

Weights Displacement 1.55t 1574kg Ballast (inc. plate) .79t 802.6kg Ballast Ratio 51% TM 3.7

Berths Four full length

Headroom Mk.1 Low Profile 4’-6” 1.37m Mk.2 High Profile 5’-6” 1.67m

Capacities Water 10 gal 45 litres

I chose to have a Pansy cabin heater rather than a pump-out WC. Once the stove is going it needs no attention, makes no noise and will burn all night on one filling. It is a great comfort on cold, wet days keeping the cabin warm and dry. And preventing condensation because of the chimney. I have an Anchorman winch which deals with the 25 lb CQR anchor and its 40 metres of 5/16” chain. The chain, anchor, winch, sails and heater put her down by the head slightly, making for quick tacking but also a tendency to scoop the top off short seas and pitch them back into the cockpit! However the weight is counteracted by engine, batteries, petrol and water tanks situated aft.

The auxiliary is a 2 cylinder 12hp Dolphin two-stroke petrol engine which drives a two bladed propeller. There is no gear box. To reverse, one stops the engine, then restarts with the crankshaft going the other way! Most ingenious and very reliable, with a comprehensive instruction book for non-technical owners. About 3 cwt of 15 lb lead pigs stowed beneath the propeller shaft, held in place with wooden wedges, increase her stiffness when going to windward.

Before I describe the extra rigging and the reasons for it. I should point out the very great cost advantage of experimenting with a relatively small yacht. 4mm diameter flexible galvanised wire is quite easy to splice if made of six strands with a fibre centre core. One simply cuts out the fibre core and splices double strands like a normal three stranded rope. I use a Swedish fid held in a vice, allowing both hands to manipulate the wire. The mizzen mast came from a 420 dinghy and its boom from a windsurfer.

So; how did the rig come about? It started with an inner forestay which is fixed to a stainless steel chain plate 30” back from the forestay, going through the deck and bolted to the after bulkhead of the forepeak, the chain plate being wide enough to take both the stay and the tack. A tang on the mast 2’-4” above the spreaders holds the top, another 4” lower holds the halliard block. Running backstays are held by tangs on each side 2’-2” above the spreaders, secured to D slides at the forward end of the jib sheet tracks on deck.

The inner forestay carries a stays’l of about 40 square foot which does not overlap the mast very much as to do so would cause the leech to foul the forward lower shrouds. Sheeted to a track inside the handrail gives a horizontal sheeting angle of about 100, a bit on the close side for a cruising boat, but sheeting to the inner side deck gives 14°, which I only use when reaching or when sailing in strong winds without the mainsail set, The sheets are secured through combined ‘bull’s-eye’ cam cleats at the after end of the deck, between the handrail and the main hatch. The stays’l is furled on a Holt-Allen luffspar.

This arrangement moves the centre of effort forward but limits the amount of foresail area that can be set, so I fitted the mizzen mast, reinforcing the hull to take the downward thrust and fitting four stainless steel u-bolts to take the shrouds. The mast is 18’-4” long, 2’-6” being below deck, the shrouds being secured to two stainless steel bolts through the mast 14’-4” and 14’-10” above the heel. When seen from astern these shrouds are parallel with the main lower shrouds, which looks right. A D-ring riveted to the fore side of the mast 6’-4” above the heel, is used to secure the wishbone boom 6’-8” long. The boom has double sheaves in the end. allowing tensioning of the sail by means of a small double block attached to the clew. The tack of the sail, which resembles a jib set vertically, is tensioned by a small tackle secured to a D-ring at deck level. A double sheet passes through single blocks with cam cleats on each quarter. Thus the sail is self tacking once the sheets are correctly set each side.

I tried it out using an old jib which looked promising, but a jib is set on a stay which sags and this sail is set on a mast that bows about 1½”, so a special sail was made of about 45 square foot; a 17% addition to the total sail area. With this sort of sail one does not need a bumpkin, a spar sticking out the stern, which could damage a dinghy towed astern when the yacht rears and plunges in steep seas. This mizzen proved to be a big success, particularly when going to windward in a short chop with the wind against the tide. Set flat and sheeted so the luff is not quite lifting, produces a noticeable weather helm and pushes the bows up to windward when thrown off the wind by the seas.

Stowing the sail is easy. With the outhaul let go (it cannot pass beyond reach) the clew can be pulled to the pushpit, leaving the boom supported by the fixed topping lift and steadied by the sheets. The head is left in the luff groove and the tail of the halliard used to tie up the sail. In the marina, the lashing is freed from the D-ring and the boom brought inboard for safe stowage and reduced length overall.

The downside was on a broad reach, when the weather helm became excessive even with the sail set full. The wishbone boom cannot be squared right away because it fouls the after mizzen shrouds. The only cure was to take the sail down which seemed a pity. The answer was to fit a bowsprit to set the jib further forward. Puzzling over how this could be done occupied idle moments through the following winter. Finally, a very large A-frame was made of 30mm diameter stainless steel tube fastened with offset bolts to the forward pair of aluminium bollards (formerly stanchions), the first three inches of tube each side being parallel to the centreline of the boat.

The tubes 10’-4” long, are welded to a ¼” thick stainless steel plate at the apex, with 2¼” between them. The crossbar of the A-frame is of 1” diameter tube 11” from the apex and is 9¼” long. This arrangement allows the A-frame to be swung from horizontal to vertical. passing outside the pulpit. A stainless steel bobstay is secured to a U-bolt through the stem just above the drain hole of the forepeak. The bobstay is clipped to the bowsprit end with a snap shackle, allowing the bobstay to be shipped clear of the chain when at anchor. A flexible wire stay from the masthead is secured to the bowsprit end (cranse iron?) with a lashing. Not too tight, or one cannot operate the snap shackle on the bobstay.

The bowsprit end extends 2’-6” beyond the stem head and can be reached from the safety of the pulpit. The only function of the stay is to allow easy setting and recovery of sails by hanking them to it. Once hoisted, they are set up tight by the winch. The tightness of the luff is not of critical importance when reaching, and it is suitable for windward work in light winds. Once the luff starts sagging and the A-frame starts bending, it is time to set a smaller jib or to revert to using the original forestay. The frame would be stronger if the crossbar could be further from the apex, but this would foul the pulpit when raising the frame.

The advantages of this system are:

1. Yankee jibs or the easy-rider (asymmetric spinnaker) can be set from the bowsprit. eliminating the weather helm when reaching.

2. The A-frame can be used as a pair of sheer legs for raising and lowering the mast.

3. The frame provides a toe rail around the foredeck.

4. Raised to 45° in the marina, the bowsprit does not project beyond the stem reducing the charges payable.

5. The bobstay can be unshipped easily when at anchor so as not to chafe against the chain.

Ease of handling is the great benefit of the cutter headed yawl rig particularly the ability to heave-to when changing the jib, reefing the main or when answering a call of nature! With the mizzen sheeted as for a close reach, the stays’l backed and the helm about half down, she sits like a bird on the water, making no headway. If the mainsail is set, the sheet is let out until the sail is just flapping. This allows jibs to be changed without getting soaked, even in bumpy conditions, as little or no headway is being made. Reefing or unreefing the main from the normal position at the mast is not a dangerous business because the motion is quite gentle.

At about Force 6, there is no need to use the main at all. She goes along comfortably with just mizzen and headsails. But a gusting Force 7 produces a heavy weather helm with only the 20 square foot storm jib to balance the 45 square foot regular mizzen. I have had a heavy weather mizzen made of only 20 square foot, but have not yet had the opportunity to try it out. In the gusting Force 7, she sat very comfortably with only the storm jib set on the original forestay, with the helm hard down Although there was a lumpy sea with the tide against the wind, there was little motion in the cabin. Had I not been in a narrow channel used by shipping, I could have put on the kettle and made some tea! Instead, I unrolled some stays’l and scuttled back to the shelter of the weather shore!

So, if she is so good, why am I selling her?

Well, I am not sure that I am! I have bought a Twister and I will be sailing that next season, but I may find that I have not got the time to spare that would justify the extra investment and running costs. Meanwhile, Abeth is laid up in her usual place — in the barn at home — waiting for her owner to make up his mind!