One Man, One Boat, 4000 Miles!!!

Tropic 4 Cancer Trans Atlantic challenge is an expedition to sail single-handed 4000 miles across the Atlantic, from the western seaboard of Africa to Antigua. The route follows a defined course along the Tropic of Cancer, which is a circle of latitude running around the Earth at approximately 23 degrees north, and which marks the most northerly position at which the sun may appear directly overhead. Find Out More

Day 18 – Its all about the Boat.

Posted on November 20th, 2013

classmini logoA number of people have asked why I chose to do the Topic4Cancer in Haskapa. The reason is pretty simple – she’s perfect for it!!

Haskapa is a 6.50 Classe Mini yacht, and these powerful little yachts were designed to exactly the sort of voyage I’m doing. The origins of the Classe lie in a response to the ever increasing costs and complexity of ocean yacht racing, and the idea was to produce a more affordable means for sailors to compete in solo ocean racing. The Classe is governed by a set of design criteria relating to length, width, etc, but within the dimensions of this ‘box’ anything goes – so the Classe sees many innovations and developments, some of which go on to become mainstream in yacht design.

Primarily based in France, the Classe has ironically because of the innovation and development, become more expensive if you wish to compete at he highest level, and most of the elite sailors are pretty much full time professionals. Some of them will go on to become the Rock Stars of solo ocean racing – the Classe Minis are the go-karts to Formula 1 in comparison with motor racing. However, there are still a large number of sailors who are drawn to these boats because they provide an affordable way to sail a solo ocean race.

I too have always loved the ‘bang for your buck’ that these yachts offer. The minimum commitment of 2 years to undertake a campaign to race in the Mini Transat was way beyond me, so when looking for a yacht to do the Tropic4Cancer, these were the obvious choice. I love the purity and the purpose of the design, as so often yacht designers are obliged to compromise design for commercial reasons – offering options of cabin layouts, mod cons, and so on. Haskapa is not an extreme example of the Classe, so does not have things like canting keels, and this was attractive in that there was less to go wrong!

I guess that there is a price to pay for the lack of compromise, and that really is the spartan nature of the boat. It is simply a hull with sailing bits stuck on to make it go. The interior of the boat essentially has three sections: forward of the mast is where the sails live; the back of the boat has bulk storage of food, water and liferaft; and I live in the middle, in a space about the size of a 3 man tent. this is my bedroom, my office, and my kitchen. I normally dine al fresco up on deck!!

There are no frills, no luxurious fittings, no nothing!! In particular this means no sound proofing, so every noise echoes and reverberates around the boat. On deck one doesn’t really notice, but in the cabin the noise is massive! There are good noises, such as the water rushing past the hull, the gentle sawing noise the auto helm makes, and even the gentle metallic ‘ting ting’ noise the little camping stove sat in its gimbal makes. Then there are bad noises, like sails flapping or a rope slapping against the deck or hull. Outside you can scarcely hear it, but in the cabin it sounds like a pistol crack!

Last night there was a new noise, which first I thought was a sail flapping, but turned out to be a flying fish messing about on the deck. I helped the poor chap back into the water! That was then followed by an enormous bang and more flapping – which got me up on deck pronto thinking something else had broken, only to find another flying fish who tried to jump over the boat and missed!! The boat is now covered in fish scales and beginning to smell like a trawler!!

I’ve also been asked about what will happen to Haskapa next. Well she’s up for sale. She needs to be used, and my future plans don’t include her sadly. So if you fancy owning a yacht, or know someone who does, here’s the deal:

Haskapa can be yours for a minimum price of £10,000. This would be ‘as is’ in Antigua. She will need a bit of TLC, so this is a fair price. Anything I get over £10,000 (which I need to recover costs) will be donated to Sail4Cancer and Sobell House. There is no extra charge for the fishy smell!! Get in touch if you’re interested!!

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Today’s thank you goes to T. Nielsen and Company Ltd for their very kind donation to Richard’s charities.