Great day out in a Drascombe Duffer

[castaway]

All summer long my mate John has been going on about buying a Drascombe....IMHO hugly over priced and slightly dull.

However saturday pm he emailed to ask if I fancied a sail in his new purchase, so on Sunday ( yesterday) off we go to Calshot. We go through all the proceedures so beloved by trailer sailors; dropping clevis pins and checking wheel bearing temeratures etc.

Eventually we get launched in what I guess was a 15kt N/Easterly breeze, the sun is shinning and with a reef in the tiny mailsl. I settle down to expect a pedestrian spash around Southampton Water.

Blimey what a suprise! This thing of course is a 'Longboat Cruiser' so is nearly 22ft with a cabin cuddy arrangement over the fwd 1/3 of the cockpit. We managed abeam reach to Lymington in about 90 mins with the w/bound current and a close reach back in approx 2 hrs.

This boat has gavanised steel rudder only about 18inch deep which lowers through a centerboard like slot and looking at it I thought the thing is going to spend most of the breezy day gripping up the windward, but no, the thing is so well balanced that even with the reef shaken out and with the gunwales almost awash she tracked dead straight and fingerlight on the helm.

We managed to hold off all sorts of the usual 36ft fractional cruisers on the same course and what fun..yes fun!

Came back wondering what I pay all the upkeep on the Halberdier for when I cound be keeping one of these on the drive!

Of course we then had to recover the thing and get the trailer lights going in the dark, but what the hell! Back to basics!

All best Nick

 

[DJE]

Has he got the car sticker yet? The one that says, "I've got a Dracombe Lugger and I don't give a [--word removed--]"

 

[Cornishman]

The late John Watkinson, the original Drascombe designer, would have been pleased to hear your account. I'm not so sure he would have approved of the car sticker, though, as he was a real gentleman. He also had a huge amount of naval architecture historical knowledge and experience of old designs.

 

[CliveSmith]

I was chating to a chap at Calshot the weekend before last who'd just bought one. He'd traded up from a GP14 and he was on his inaugural sail. As a dinghy cruiser, in a Wayfarer, the boat looded nice, but the cabin seemed claustraphobic and seemed to offer less room than a boom up tent fitted to the Wayfarer. I know where I'd rather spend the night. Of course, when it suddenly starts chucking it down and you can dive into the cuddy rather than spend 20 minutes putting up a tent I may reconsider. The cost is also way more than a Wayfarer and tent.

 

[castaway]

Yes that would have been my mate. In fact the GP he was trading up from was one I found for him many years ago.

I actually tried to get him to buy a Wayfarer (I learned to sail in one at Pin Mill in around 1968)as I really like them, but having sailed the Longboat I think he has done the correct thing.

BTW it does have a complete boom up tent as well. John who is 6ft3in or so reckons that he managed a decent nights sleep on board in just the 'cabin'!

 

[CliveSmith]

Ah. but that was with the boat in his back garden.

We were talking about cruising and he said that the night before (we spoke) he'd spent the night on board in his garden.

Not sure how the Drascombe would take to the mud if drying out over night. The Wayfarer is flatter in section than the Drascombe.

On the plus side at least you'd be able to roll over without the thwart getting in the way. My main complaint about overnighting in the Wayfarer.

 

[bilbobaggins]

Aha! Dinghy-cruisers! I feel a flame coming on....
Most dingy-croozers ( sic ) make a song and dance about their 30s 'Boy Scout' painful camping on board, slats and knees and pintles sticking into places you'd forgotten you had - 'cos their boats are too heavy to pull safely up onto a beach. Any eejit can be uncomfortable on a boat, and lots of 'em are!

Real dinghy-campers use a lightweight boat, pull it up above the tideline of an evening, and put a good tent up in the garden of a decent hotel. Beef Wellington and a good claret for supper in the restaurant is lots preferable to cold, burnt beans under a leaky tarp in the rain. I knowz, I've tried it.
And one can more readily afford the restaurant.....