There have always been two small boat trips that I have been inspired by, the first is Shackleton’s trip “South” and the other is Robin Knox Johnson’s round the world trip in his 32 foot Suhaili. This race was recreated in 2018 and again now in 2022. Not feeling confident about joining in I decided to have ago at making a model of Suhaili. The hull is based on the Bearospace Emma but with a modified deck and rig.
The finished boat seems to sail very well and is remarkably balanced. There is a bowsie on each of the three sheets, so the relative sheeting angle can be adjusted and after an initial sail, a slight easing of the jib meant the boat tracked along quite nicely. The sheets are controlled by an arm, which only just gives enough travel. The sails are my first attempt at “home made”, the battens are very thin plastic strip, perhaps a touch too thin.