iNVESTIGATOR)563
Cruising Helmsman
Written by Robbie Kirk, a freelance writer and Investigator owner. Reproduced from Cruising Helmsman, (March 1999).
When the day came to sail Odette to Queensland's Manly Marina with her new owner I know Ian had mixed feelings. He was so proud of her and she had been a real friend to us through fine weather and the times when we three faced Mother Nature at her angriest. We knew we could count on her to get us there. It was like saying "Bon Voyage" to one of our children. I looked away with tears in my eyes as the new owner took the tiller and steered Odette into a berth at the marina. We had decided to scale down. "You realise you won't be able to sit up in bed and have your morning cuppa?" Ian said, looking concerned. "And you won't have a diesel engine," I countered. "But we can get in close to shore and there's no need for a dinghy;' he sighed. All this agonizing was over selling our 25ft Top Hat Odette, and buying a trailer sailer.
Odette was a John Illingworth design and had been our home. She was fitted out for comfort and voyaging. Now our circumstances had changed. We had swallowed the anchor and built a house on Macleay Island in Moreton Bay near Brisbane, so our needs were different.
Admittedly the Top Hat did have a huge forward berth with generous headroom. We're not giants - I'm only a squib and Ian is 178cm tall, but in a new boat we would need a double bunk that was long enough for the two of us. The layout would be ideal if it had a couple of settees to laze on when it was raining and we were both below. Not only that, no matter how amorous you are, when the Queensland heat hits one person needs to bail out of the double berth and sleep on the settee for com- fort.
Then there was the question of a galley. What sort of stove would I have? Gas, spirit, or kero? A sink was no problem as I always use a four litre ice cream container to save water. The soft plastic bends to fit the frying pan when washing up. Odette's fridge had been a boon for keeping a beer cold and storing perishables on a cruise, but we would most probably be back on an ice-box in a trailer sailer. We wouldn't have an enclosed head, but we weren't worried about that. And what about a centreboard? Would the case take up too much room down below? Then there was the size of the boat. We had a four-cylinder car and couldn't tow over one tonne. We would have preferred a tilt-trailer to launch the boat off our flat beach. Another justification for selling the Top Hat and going into a trailer sailer was the fact that a lot of money was sitting on the water and not being sufficiently used. Also, with the cyclone season getting closer, being able to tow the boat home and keep it in the back- yard was an appealing thought. We mulled over the choice of boats available. We needed something with a shallow draught that we could take into gutters and creeks and wonderful mangrove areas and something that had a good ballast ratio for sailing short distances offshore.
There was a lot to consider before we moved on the change- over. After writing down what we'd miss and what we'd gain and which boats would fit the bill we came up with an Investigator trailer sailer, designed in Sydney by Kevin Shepherd. At 5.63 metres long and with a ballast ratio of 50 percent and a 50cm fixed keel, we felt we could sail in our local bay and still enjoy limited coastal cruising.
The boat we ultimately chose, Sherlock (what a pun!), is perfect for our present needs. On the day of the test sail the wind was light, but we could feel she was a stiff little boat with good canvas and rigging. Her previous owner loved the boat and had kept her and the trailer in immaculate condition. After paying for her and filling out the endless paperwork we couldn't wait to get her out on the bay.
There was a lot to consider before we moved on the change- over. After writing down what we'd miss and what we'd gain and which boats would fit the bill we came up with an Investigator trailer sailer, designed in Sydney by Kevin Shepherd. At 5.63 metres long and with a ballast ratio of 50 percent and a 50cm fixed keel, we felt we could sail in our local bay and still enjoy limited coastal cruising.
The boat we ultimately chose, Sherlock (what a pun!), is perfect for our present needs. On the day of the test sail the wind was light, but we could feel she was a stiff little boat with good canvas and rigging. Her previous owner loved the boat and had kept her and the trailer in immaculate condition. After paying for her and filling out the endless paperwork we couldn't wait to get her out on the bay.
Since that first tentative sail Sherlock has lived up to our expectations and sails beautifully with about 10 to 20 knots of wind; but she could use a big- ger headsail for light airs. One of our early sails put her to the test with a good breeze punctuated by gusts of up to 30 knots. We were on a close reach and flying! It was real dinghy sailing and exhilarating. The difference between sailing a fixed keel yacht and the Investigator is obviously a decrease in power and also that everything hap- pens more quickly, but it only takes a short time to adjust. Hearing the water rush past so close to you and being able to reach over and touch the sea brings out the excitement of sailing.
Everything is a compromise on boats, but the great thing about the Investigator is that the centre board is housed in the keel and this creates more space in the cabin. There is no galley so a barbecue on the starboard rail and a gas bottle with trivet handle the cooking needs. I'll have to learn to cook with heat beads as I'd always used the pressure cooker for an oven on Odette's two-burner spirit stove. We may no longer have a fridge on board, but there's room for an esky behind the toilet - a marine head is installed under the forward berth. There are two settees with small lockers for cutlery, crockery and our silver tea pot. Well, the Captain demands a decent cuppa no matter where he is! The rest of this area is filled with buoyancy foam. However, the four lockers under the forward berth provide ample space for clothes, towels, food, extra water and tools. Water storage was one of our considerations when scaling down. We store 30 litres of water in plastic bottles under the cockpit. The cockpit lockers are really large and hold another 10 litres of water, fuel, snorkeling and fishing gear and a deep-cycle battery. The Queensland sun can be quite relentless and I was relieved to find a sun awning included with the boat. Odette had a dodger and the 77-watt solar panel above the chook's roost seat at the stern provided shade. We fitted a 20-watt solar panel to Sherlock. There's nothing worse than not being able to play the stereo when we're away for a week or two.
Down below looks very cosy with its arched bulkhead leading to the forward berth and shelves under the sidedeck for navigational charts and tide tables. The blue and white curtains give a simple homely look to the boat that appeals to us. One novelty (for us) was the furler for the headsail. It's great when sailing single handed. She also came with an extra rudder and tiller and a blow up dinghy. The accommodation below is adequate and I'm sure we'll make it very comfortable with a bit of imagination.
The pop-top is a boon, but needs a weatherproof surround with mosquito screens sewn in to make sleeping below more comfortable in rainy weather. Living in a tropical climate is beautiful, but the mosquitoes and sandflies love it too. The last time I sewed a pop-top surround was for our Tropic 520 trailer sailer many years ago and I couldn't get it to fit properly. Of course the pop-top wasn't square and I was nearly beaten until I told Ian, "Get me a bottle of Guinness. Only a drunk could fit this thing properly." Well, it did the trick and the pop-top screen is still used by the present owners!
Moreton Bay is a perfect place to sail. The main channels are marked by buoys and beacons, but the areas that dry out at low tide lend themselves to hours of exploring, crabbing, fishing and mucking around the mangroves. A sailor can experience steep seas in the channels when the wind is against the tide. Shallows and sandbanks have to be navigated carefully, but if you do run aground the sea bottom is mainly soft mud or sand. Caution and an awareness of the state of the tide is vital. It's the perfect sailing ground for a trailable yacht. The bay is a marine park and it's not uncommon to see dugongs lazily surfacing after feeding on the sea grass bottom. I was in the dinghy near our mooring when a loud "Pshew" sound frightened the daylights out of me. It was an old dugong we call George who had decided to visit our bay. He was about three feet away from me. Dolphins love to race the bow wave and are a delight to see. They are such friendly, cheeky creatures. Turtles pop their heads up for a look around before plunging below the green water. Migratory birds fly from all over the world to spend time here while the northern hemisphere endures winter.
Also, the whole Moreton Bay area is steeped in Queensland's early European and Aboriginal history. We live on one of four islands known as the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. It's a haven for yachties, with protected bays for moorings and the feeling of serenity that the water and bushland offer. Peel Island, which is five and a half nautical miles from our mooring, was once a leper colony, but is now a Mecca for all sorts of boats. Horseshoe Bay on the southern side of the island has a beautiful sandy beach and it's a perfect place to swim in the clear, clean water. There are often over 200 boats anchored there on a weekend. And yet through the week we may have the place to ourselves. Our special spot is a small bay at the south-eastern end of the island where we rarely meet another boat. We couldn't take Odette in there, but it's perfect for a trailer sailer. We anchor beside the old pioneer stone jetty and snorkel off the wreck of the dredge, Platypus. The little sandy beach is shaded by trees. Wild flowers, a legacy from the lepers' gardens, grow amongst the beach vegetation. This is only one of the many anchorages within a pleasant sail from home and only a short distance to the suburbs of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane.
Parting with Odette and saying good- bye to her at Manly left us feeling sad. I remember Ian and I were silent as we caught the ferry home to Macleay Island. We toasted Odette with a glass of home brew beer then walked out into the backyard and stood looking at Sherlock sitting prettily on her trailer. "You know" Ian said, at last sounding excited, "we're going to have a lot of fun on this little boat. She'll be able to take us to a lot more places apart from the bay. We can do the lakes down south and rivers we haven't even seen yet." "It'll be great, we'll have everything we need," I said. "Only in miniature." Then I couldn't wait for our next sail.