I'm sorry, Concerto, I have been a part owner of a Fulmar, admittedly not as smartly turned out as yours, but it really did not do it for me. It had a lot of features that I liked but for me, and I stress it is a personal view, the Contessa's outweigh them. Possibly because I was only a quarter owner I never felt the relaxed peace of mind bordering on mindfulness that I get when the donk goes off and the sails take over on the Contessa.
That moment of quiet for us is usually co incidental with a decent dose of adrenaline. The first pop of the battens precedes some quite dramatic acceleration by 1/4 second if it’s breezy. Not much time for mindfulness. I thought you might be an embryonic DF sailor, it fits most of your other criteria. But definitely not peace and mindfulness unless there’s only 5 knots of wind.
I don’t think you realise how windy it was in that video.
I am not criticising here because I pretty much love all boats and any excuse to get on the water, a tug will do it for me - so I prefer to take a positive rather than a negative view of all designs and can appreciate adrenaline rushes as well as I appreciate stability, comfort ratios and the rest.
Your Blakes seacocks may well be made of DZR. Nothing wring with DZR - Blakes changed from Bronze to DZR sometime in the 1970s - records of the date lost in the mists of time.
I have to admit I have liked the Dragonfly 32, but the 28 is fairly limited down below and can be towed. Both certainly able to cover lots of miles.
Back in 1971 my parents bought a Nicholson 30, which we raced on the East Coast. That year we raced from Harwich to Ostende. Course due SE. Wind at the start was NW 15 knots true. We started 15 minutes after the large class under full main and full spinnaker. The biggest yacht was a Nicholson 43. Half way there we passed the Nicholson 43. The wind had increased and due to all the B&G instruments being analogue, we do not know exactly what our boat speed or the wind speed was. The log was stuck on 10 knots and the wind speed was stuck on 48 knots from astern, so adding those together makes 58 knots +++. We constantly planned her for over 4 hours. This was an early model with a skeg, so to keep her on track took 3 out of the crew of 5 on the helm. The following 2 years we again planned her, but using a star cut spinnaker, with only one on the helm after we removed the skeg. We would set the spinnaker in gale force winds, which difficult to do as the kite always opened about halfway up the mast, but as soon as we started planing it could be winched to the masthead.
Last week I serviced my Blake's loo seacocks which are original equipment from 1980. No pitting at all in the cones. Just a regrease. Later models have grease nipples fitted, a great improvement in my opinion.
Caravan Club sites wouldn't accept me and my nicely converted ex-British Telecomm workshop lorry, so I'm not sure I agree.
Dragonflys have competed in the Fastnet race. Mine is not suitable for it, I wouldn’t wish it was allowed to, I know it’s not the boat. Put a 32 or a 40 in that scenario, I think you’ll find they have as much chance of surviving as the boat next to them. Relaxed, you jest surely. It was a fight for survival on every single boat. Not a sail into the sunset puffing on your pipe. The mechanism isn’t a weakness, as long as it’s maintained. The design is not extreme, no. Other multis have the same or greater structural stresses. But we’re now comparing 21st century boats with one designed at the end of the 1960s. Modern multis sail solo round the world, now some of those are extreme. But the days of multihull sailors taking their life in their hands are over. If you don’t know that, you are indeed re living the past. It’s good that some people have the dedication to own a floating museum piece. The world would be poorer without them.
Clearly you’d need to be prepared to retire or DNC. I’d be perfectly happy to sail around the rock, and back to Cherbourg as a cruise, at a time of my choosing. Perhaps not with Mrs C as crew, she’s not keen on multiple long days at sea, she needs to walk about for the sake of her replacement joints.
We are indeed!!!. Funny how others see it different. Must be some deep hidden envy when they get passed on the water and see such a pretty stearn disappearing over the horizon.
Its the time I have to admire them. When I’m anchored
