Windflower at Marlow Shepperton Cruise September 1972

This is the article that appeared in Bulletin No 76 but it has been slightly amended to take account of some changes in circumstances that have occurred since then.

The Otter, built originally by John Baker at Exeter, and named after the local River Otter, not the quadruped, was one of the first dinghies designed for moulding in GRP. Hence it has a round bilge hull of optimised hydrodynamic design which was never available to the home builder. This, and the fact that it was built only at Exeter and, in effect, only to order, kept the numbers small and confined the ownership to those who wanted a boat of just that sort and were prepared to take the trouble to find it. The result was that Otter owners were keen and their small number gave a friendly air to the Association.

In some ways the Otter can be compared with a Gull, but there are important differences. The Otter has a fine entry opening to full shoulders and then a flat run aft without any keel or skeg. There is a single thwart and the internal arrangements are very clean and uncluttered. Its foredeck is about eight inches below gunwale level. This feature was copied by the Pacer and for a while by the Gull. This is most convenient for the boat in its GP role when a brace of small children can be up front but still in the boat.

There is a keen racing following but I will consider the boat only in relation to cruising. However I shall consider only craft from about 50 to 550 (my own is 206) because in the middle of the 500’s there was an important change in the internal arrangements which eliminated the locker below the mast step without replacing it with any capacity nearly so useful for stowing cruising stores and gear. At a stroke, therefore, the advance of moulding technology brought the later Otters much closer to the GRP hull. John Baker, wanting to concentrate on small yachts, passed the business to Porthole Boats, and it later passed into other hands. As far as I know, the Association no longer functions. However, the 2003 list of DCA members’ boats shows the Otter to be among the Top Ten, albeit at the bottom end.

Otters came with either Bermudan spars or a gunter. Both take identical sails, main, jib and spinnaker. To my mind the collar gunter is a splendidly convenient device infinitely preferable to the conventional Bermuda spars. The mast rotates, with the boom spigotted through it, so that no kicking strap is needed. The square section gaff comes flat-to-flat against the D-section mast and can be used, with a slight mod of mine, as a perfect sliding gunter. The gaff has a luff groove, so when it is up, and with a sheave at the peak, it is, in effect, a normal Bermudan save that the mast can be shortened by any amount (max 4’) in hardening winds. Reefing and unreefing is most easy, 10 seconds for the former and 5 for the latter. The mainsail has a Cunningham hole.

It is no effort at all to lower the gaff and unstep the mast to pass under bridges or even to reduce drag when rowing is necessary upwind. For this purpose the forestay lanyard is brought back to a cleat in the middle of the temporary foredeck which I use when cruising. This DIY, plywood and batten, detachable foredeck just locks into place. On top it carries bow fairleads, a large GP cleat for the forestay and anchor, a pair of jamming cleats for diverse purposes and the line-of-vision compass. Under it go the software; spare clothing, sails, sleeping bag, a roll of plastic foam for a mattress, oilies, etc., all dry items being in their own waterproof bags. Victuals for 7 days, primus, fuel, lamp, radio, barometer, etc, etc, go in the locker. Beer, drinks, fruit, and other impervious items, travel in the bilge or on deck as appropriate.

When it comes to actual cruising, I am a confirmed single-hander and the further arrangements reflect this. The Otter hull weighs a bare 130 lb, the spars another 30-ish, which allows me to handle the boat on my own for launching and recovery. Once afloat, I add six 5-litre containers of water which are ranged by the c/ b case and are for ballast as well as drinking. This brings the deadweight to about that of a Gull. For estuary trips I carry an inflatable dinghy (10 lb) which, with its paddles, stows flat against the c/b case. In all, the cruising gear with ground tackle weighs around 160 lbs, and with that aboard, all low down, the boat is stiff enough for me to be able to stand on the side benches or sit on the gunwale when the boat is at rest.

The 12-oz canvas canopy rides, folded, in the stern sheets. It is green and I like it that way because it defines the interior space when it is erected — a white canopy only shuts off the clear view of the outside world like a mist. At night the sail is rolled loosely on the boom and the gaff makes the ridgepole. The canopy goes over it and is held by four ties under the hull so that if it is blown away the boat goes with it. The front flaps of the canopy close over the rear of the foredeck and are tucked under a transverse lanyard. All this has worked well for many seasons, in open water, alongside, and on the mud, and I have slept dry in some pretty wet weather. Sleeping — on the bottom of the boat to starboard — is positively comfortable and I don’t wait long after sunset to get into my Arctic down bag with the air cushion and the buoyancy for a pillow. I hate getting up in the morning.

Ordinarily I don’t bother with the jib. It might be decisive in a race but for cruising in reasonable winds one can get full displacement knots (4.44) out of the 60 sq ft mainsail, and a single sail is plenty for a singlehander. One comes to use it by instinct like a wing and, without the jib, the forward view is open which helps to make for less strain when sailing all day. However, I carry a jib-boom and on occasions it is very convenient to set the jib self-acting (see Bulletin No 69).

The Otter has no particular vices if sailed under an area of canvas appropriate to the conditions. I hold to the earlier view that an open boat should not be sat out in rough water, for cruising, and I can always stay in the boat because reefing etc is so easy. To get the weight too far forward in choppy water is like putting on an invisible brake and moving one’s backside a foot aft can make a great difference to the response. Like any 12-foot boat the Otter tends to be stopped by anything of a sea on beating to windward. The freeboard aft is a couple or three inches less than Eric Coleman would have liked to see, but she rides like a duck even when approached from the rear by the near-breaking wash from a tug with a clutch of dumb-lighters and she has never shipped green water. As to capsizing an Otter, it is best not to do it because she floats high. Fortunately I have avoided this kafuffle but I carry means for re-boarding should the occasion arise. It would take too long to go into this now.

All my sailing in the Otter, that is all my dinghy cruising, has been on inland and estuarial waters; I have yet to attempt a major offshore passage. I took some trouble sorting out dinghies before I found the Otter and, for my needs, I could not have chosen better. I have no thought of changing. ‘The smaller the boat, the better the sport’.

Further articles about the Otter in cruising mode will be found in the Bulletin in Numbers 59, 62, 69, 71, 76, 84, 88 and 107. I should add that, between cruises, the Otter has served excellently for leisurely afternoons on the river, either with a 40-plus Seagull or, as I prefer, under oars. When rowing it is necessary to lower the centreboard a few inches, else the boat will spin.