Zagato
Well-Known Member
It's a good point. My trailer is a superb design, the boat straightens itself on recovery, you can winch by hand and you don't even have to get the wheels wet. My whole rig also just pulls up by hand when you attach the fore-stay, there is no extra rigging involved apart from slotting in the mizzen mast.
A friend however with the same Drascombe Drifter boat has a piggy back trailer and can have all sorts of grief trying to line his boat up on the cradle then getting the cradle to winch onto the trailer and due to the extra weight needs an electric winch, rigging takes him about 20 minutes.
I'm happy to launch and recover mine for a 2 day trip but he says 3 days for his. I think alot of it comes down to individuals though, some don't find trailer sailing a hassle and others do.
I've never found towing a problem, or reversing a trailer into water, or rigging something in 20 mins (about the same as getting your yacht on a mooring ready, once you have got out to your yacht!). I havn't found slips to be busy around the Solent, it's nice to have the flexibility of sailing in locations around the country or abroad and it's nice to have a boat in your garden that's secure and you can work on easily AND it's a blimmen cheap way of sailing.
Level of hassle can be comparable, I mostly think it's personal preference, skill and circumstance which dictate if people want to trailer sail or not. Lets face it the majority of dribbling Drascombe owners are over 200 years old, can't see, can't walk, are permanently sozzled but still spend most of the seasons on the water trailering around the country in what has been described on here as heavy boats!! Watch 30 of the guys all get their boats in and away with 45minutes at the beginning of a rally - no problem!
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