Widen your search and you'll find a limited number of boats that allow you to explore the same remote territories in complete safety. No longer quite a base camp, but more a yacht capable of taking you safely along the roads less traveled. Yachts with which a couple, a family or a group of friends can broaden their horizons in complete safety and comfort, with the advantage over a vessel fitted out for polar tourism of being able to free themselves from the commercial constraints of waiting for a favorable weather window.
Further investigation will eventually lead you into the realm of plastic production boats, designed to coexist with the marina environment. A combined approach that has generated a family of boats full of berths, with limited tank capacities and minimal mooring and safety features. These boats, which perform their function admirably, should be left on the pontoon whenever even moderate bad weather occurs. They certainly don't deserve to meet even the broadest definition of an expedition boat: they can therefore be directly eliminated because of their inability to allow long periods of sailing in perfect autonomy.
Construction fundamentals
To qualify for the expedition label, a boat must be of sturdy construction, whether steel or aluminium. It must have watertight bulkheads at each end. It must be well insulated, with double glazing and an efficient heating system. The boat must have a propulsion system capable of keeping it moving in rough seas over a long period of time. The rig must be solid and the sail plan simple and reliable, with particular attention to windy conditions. The cockpit must be protected and there must be an excellent anchoring system. Every aspect of the boat must be designed and built with redundancy in mind.
In my opinion, there are only a small number of boats that meet these specifications, and it's difficult to make the right choice among them. Rather than listening to your feelings, it's much safer to sit down and really define the scope of the adventure you want to undertake. Only a clear and impartial identification of your aspirations will enable you to find the boat that's right for you, whether or not it's in the expedition category. After all, sailing boats of all kinds are adventure facilitators. Don't forget that a beginner can enjoy the same challenges and rewards from a Channel crossing as an experienced sailor would from a transatlantic crossing.
Know what you're looking for
The question of matching the choice of boat to the type of adventure envisaged can be illustrated by our next boat. Changing family circumstances have forced my wife Tracey and me to reduce the scope of our cruising area, originally conceived as planetary - which is why we sold our wonderful Garcia Exploration 45 "Pearl of Penzance". As we need to stay closer to home in the future, our next adventure will be to explore the coast, coasts, rivers and canals of Europe. So we've designed a 32-foot epoxy plywood boat called "Oddity". Although capable of ocean navigation, its mast can be quickly lowered, making it a river boat capable of negotiating low Air draft bridges. It is fitted with a 10 mm metal shoe to protect the keel, so that if it is caught in winter in a remote area, it can safely be dragged ashore behind a tractor.
"We've never regretted choosing a high-performance boat capable of doing much more than its duty."
For the purposes of this article, I'd like to focus on the features that led us to purchase our wonderful Garcia Exploration 45 "Pearl of Penzance". Although we didn't end up taking the roads less traveled, we never regretted the choice of a high-performance boat capable of doing much more than its duty. Just like peeling an onion, we had to peel away many layers and options before we had the revelation of what would be the right boat for us.
The purchase of Pearl was a very substantial investment for us, forcing us to sell what we had and devote ourselves fully to this project. The children had left home, which gave us the right to leave, but we were also aware that aging parents and, hopefully, the arrival of grandchildren, would one day force us to return to our beloved Cornwall. With this in mind, we felt it was important to choose a boat that would retain a good resale value and remain something of an asset. Taking this aspect of the boat's life cycle into account proved crucial to the success of our project, because when it came to reselling "Pearl", it was done in the blink of an eye.
It was also pleasing to note that, although my wife Tracey was a novice, our selection criteria complemented each other. I wanted a solid, practical boat, offering total safety, plenty of redundancy and rigged to exacting standards. As we had a small window of opportunity, it was imperative that this boat met our needs, rather than us having to constantly look after it. Tracey, for her part, focused on the need for a house with all the necessary comforts, from double glazing to fridge, freezer and hot water for the shower. But above all, our boat had to be light enough to walk in the small airs and have a "pilot house", as she would never understand the point of a craft designed to take you to exotic places, but in which you would be staying in a cave below.
Aluminium and centreboarder, a beneficial combination
Over the course of my career, I've sailed on all kinds of boats built in fiberglass, carbon, wood, steel and, in the case of "Pearl", aluminium. Each of these materials has its advantages, but if you want to live aboard a boat with big ambitions,aluminium is the best choice. It's a light, strong material that protects itself with an oxidation layer. You can, of course, paint it, but in my opinion, this negates the advantage of oxidation and opens the door to unnecessary maintenance efforts. Indeed, "Pearl" was initially coated with a lacquer paint that we eventually had sandblasted bare, and we've never regretted that choice.
One of the best decisions we made was to opt for a centerboard boat rather than a Lifting keel.
Because of the confusion that too often reigns, I feel obliged to draw a brief comparison between these two formulas, focusing in particular on the question of the righting moment. An absolute fundamental which diminishes as you lift a Lifting keel. In contrast, on board our centreboarder, we were able to surf the Atlantic swell with the confidence provided by a ballast that offered constant stability, whatever the position of the daggerboard. Being able to raise the daggerboard downwind meant that the boat wasn't fiery and became stable in direction, almost docile even. This made sailing more comfortable, and in fact eased the strain on the whole boat, including the autopilot and power consumption. What's more, we gained an extra half-knot by fully raising the centerboard when motoring.
As we didn't have to lift tons of ballast, we benefited from the same simple system as on a dinghy, with an end reaching into the cockpit and allowing the daggerboard to be lowered by hand or raised by winch. This elegantly simple system is both reliable, as it eliminates the need for a complex hydraulic system, and easy to use, as it eliminates the need for a keel compartment right in the middle of the living area.
Our draught was 1.15 m centreboard up and 2.90 m centreboard down, giving better upwind performance than I had envisaged. When this system is well designed, it allows you to benefit from the best of both worlds, and as it happens, the advantages of a shallow draft are numerous. In a busy anchorage, this no-man's-land between the mooring area and the shore seemed reserved for us. If the anchor of one of the boats at anchor were to slip, its trajectory would take it away from us. Of course, this possibility of approaching the shore is open to a boat with a Lifting keel, in which case its crew will have to put up with the disordered fore-and-aft movements caused by a reduced righting moment.
One of the joys of sailing aboard "Pearl" was having access to magnificent small anchorages, off-limits to deeper-draught boats. If we hit the bottom with the daggerboard in the down position, it simply pivoted and, far from creating a violent shock, acted as a sounding rod. We could run aground to carry out maintenance tasks, or slip between the rocks to ride out a gale, with the confidence that comes from knowing that the righting moment is always at its maximum. In fact, lifting keels and full centreboards are two separate worlds, and we've always been happy to be on the right side of that fence.
A boat that creates fond memories
Tracey wanted the cabins to be separated by the galley and saloon. For our part, we needed a large double bed accessible from either side, and a generous bathroom. On the other side of the saloon, another Double cabin, and yet another with two separate berths. This layout proved attractive, as jet-lagged visitors could lie down without disrupting our daily routine, which starts with a nice cup of hot drink. Generous, easily accessible storage was a matter of course for both of us, along with a separate technical room for tools and spare parts.
"We have the concept of this boat: a comfortable and safe dream-fulfiller".
Here we have the concept for this boat: a comfortable and safe dream-fulfiller, but how big should it be? We opted for 45 feet, which we felt was big enough to accommodate visitors and go anywhere, but small enough that we could easily manage everything with just the two of us. We didn't want to be dependent on a crew, so it was important that all manoeuvring should take place in the cockpit. A cockpit that offers both shelter from the elements and entertainment for sunset lovers like us.
So many accidents occur when boarding from the dinghy, dropping anchor or mooring alongside another yacht. That's why I wanted to have good visibility so I could control everything from the helm. But also an open, safe transom for boarding, a good, sturdy anchoring system and a bow thruster. It all added up to two and a half years of the most rewarding experience of our lives. I was once told to spend my money on memories, and in our case, the good memories clearly lay in having chosen the right boat.
This is the second in a series of articles by British sailor, author and adventurer Pete Goss.
Find out more about Pete Goss on his official website
