Return to Home Page
There seems to be an embryonic theme developing on the Web Site regarding why people have chosen certain boats in which to set off. With this in mind here are the reasons, both practical and romantic, why we chose 'SURWAYA'.
Circa mid 1980's we started seriously developing the idea of sailing off into the wide blue yonder. We visited the London Boat Show year after year and discussed the merits of one tub of plastic and stainless steel versus all the other plastic and stainless steel creations. Of course, when you are still at the dreaming stage you seldom notice the 'Show Offer' price tags.
As I pointed out in the initial article that I wrote to this site, my Wife and I didn't really have any genuine previous sailing experience on which to peg our thoughts. It was only when we swallowed the reality pill that we realised that £100k plus was pie-in-the-sky for our budget. OK, we could have sold-up everything and realised something approaching this sort of figure but did we want to - I'm afraid we were not that committed.
The whole venture was to be part of life, not all of life. In hind sight this was a common sense decision, the first, I believe, of many that have helped to make our dream become reality and a success. Selling Up and Sailing {I mean in total} is too brave for us but we know many who have done just that. For some it works, but what happens if it doesn't? Moreover, I read somewhere that the 'Average' cruising experience lasts just five years if you're Mr and Mrs Average, what happens then? Just food for thought.
Having read 'all' of the 'Sell up and Sail' genre of books we had developed some idea of what sort of boat we wanted. It was to be around 38' in length, long keel, steel, painted anything but white!, sloop rigged with tan sails. In idle moments at work I had mentally designed everything from the tooth brush holder to the exhaust manifold all of which turned out to be a complete waste of time but that's what dreaming is all about I guess.
The catalyst happened when I was driving through the industrial sites of Corby in Northamptonshire. In a scruffy yard I saw a steel boat wrapped in tarpaulins with a car at the bottom and a ladder up the side. Knocking on the hull and introducing myself to the occupants was the start of both our current adventure and a long-standing friendship. Their boat was a self built 'Bruce Robert's 44 ft Mauritius' which they had had built locally by canal barge fabricators and which they were in the middle of what turned out to be a four year fit-out. They subsequently sailed for the Caribbean where they are continuing to cruise and make a living.
This was our first exposure to DIY boat acquisition and we were so impressed by our friends boat that we sent off for the 'Bruce Robert's' plans catalogue. We eventually decided to purchase plans for the 'SPRAY 38' design {circa £400 in 1988} because it met most if not all of the previously mentioned criteria and, more importantly, I had just finished reading Joshua Slocum's books. I would like to think that the practical factors out-weighed the romantic factors in the decision process but don't hold me to it. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we eventually started building in October 1989 on a farmyard in South Yorkshire and launched Surwaya at Hull Marina on the 9th April 1996.
I forgot to mention perhaps one of the most important decisions we made. Based purely on financial considerations we had decided to build Surwaya ourselves from scratch; Oh! My! The first question most people ask is, "would you do it again"? the answer is No! Not because we didn't enjoy doing it, to the contrary, I absolutely loved the building phase but it did take 6 years of evenings, weekends and most holidays.
At the time of building I intended to work for another ten years and so the five years estimated to complete the project still left five years to learn to live and sail on her. In reality an opportunity for early retirement with a pension {aged 40 years} meant that I finished work at Christmas - We launched in April - and set off South in July.
Deep down {in fact quite near the surface} I would love to build another boat, but I can't see us giving up another four plus years of the life we now live, just to create another 'pride and joy'.
The second question is almost always, "how much did it cost"? I can be more precise here because to this day I've logged every expenditure on the boat mainly for interest and intrigue. Prior to building we estimated £25,000 would see the project in the water, however, in reality it was £39,478.07; precision accounting or what! There is a good lesson here I think. In our travels to date I don't think we've come across anybody who hasn't under budgeted for the acquisition, by whatever means, of their boat. It's another factor in the dream-stage - optimistic budgeting makes the whole concept more attractive. In our case a large percentage of the over-spend was due to us ordering our spars, running rig, and standing rigging from a manufacturer rather than building it ourselves which was the initial plan. Even without this unplanned spend we would have been significantly over-budget - it seems to happen to everybody so keep it in mind if your venturing down this road.
The type of boat you chose is obviously largely one of personal preferences. We chose steel because all of the cruising books of the time suggested that it was the way to go for long distance cruising in view of its durability, ease of repair blah!, blah! , blah!. Steel also had the advantage of being relatively cheap to build and, believe it or not, it's pretty forgiving for the DIY builder. Our steel work is ten years old this year having been on land for six and at sea for four years. Having meticulously shot-blasted and painted with epoxy paints we are delighted to say that we have no corrosion either inside or out. In fact we are repainting the outside this year purely for cosmetic reasons. If we built another boat it would most definitely be in steel.
We rigged as a Cutter Rigged Sloop with roller furling on both fore-stays and the main {remember that overspend} in order to reduce the need for leaving the cockpit. This was another good decision. We've never had a moments trouble with any of the systems and even though the mainsail has started to develop a bit of a belly the furling is still totally reliable. If you're interested, and I'm no salesman, we chose Sailspar - they were, and have been, superb. We also welded a continuos stainless steel tubular hand rail 30" high around the entire deck which has been excellent particularly with my Wife who is still a self confessed deck wobbler. On more than one occasion I've been very grateful for something solid to either grab hold of myself or something substantial to tie things to.
We don't have a dog house and we are caught in two minds about this one. Surwaya has a deep centre cockpit which keeps you out of nearly all of the wet stuff {to be fair we don't get much on board} but there have been occasions when I've dreamt of being able to sit out an anchor watch in a Med. thunderstorm under cover. The trouble is I think any addition would spoil the lines, beauty being in the eyes of the beholder of course.
What you definitely need as you go South though, is shade from the sun! We've got a large white cover that we string-up at anchor which is vital. What we still need is a bimini type set-up that we can sit under when under way - another spring project for this year. Something we don't have, but I wished we did, is a power anchor winch. Aged 44 years, 6' 2" and 13 stone I'm still capable of hauling-up the 3/8" chain and 55 lb anchor by hand {it's a sight quicker than using the manual winch} but when the water gets down to 10 mtrs or so it starts to become a pain, quite literally.
Conscious that I'm starting to ramble; let me sum-up. For us steel is the right choice. Yes, it's a bit on the heavy side at times when the wind is light but that same weight gives us a smooth ride both under-way and at anchor.
At the time of building, 38' seemed the right size for a normal crew of two but in hindsight 44'-46' is easily manageable especially if you can run to some labour saving devices such as a bow-thruster and electric anchor winch. The extra space would make it easy to provide decent guest accommodation without eating in to valuable day-to-day living space. The penalty, of course, is one of cost - berthing fees, size of fittings, mast, sails, engine, anchors, et al.
Keeping the boat simple is a decent philosophy but if you spend all, or a good portion, of the year aboard it doesn't have to be austere. In our experience many of the tales of woe regarding electronics are exaggerated. We have a TV, video, computer, CD player, radios, and the usual array of navigation instruments all of which run on 12 volts. To date, fingers crossed, they are all in tip-top condition with absolutely no sign of corrosion etc. You don't have to go waterborne camping to go cruising! - to my mind it's not supposed to be an endurance test.
In reality it's amazing how little you need on a day to day basis but it's also fun to watch a film with friends on a stormy winter night in the Med. - believe me , they do happen. The main thing is to be a "doer and not a dreamer" - it's easy to talk about 'setting off' but, in my opinion, it's even easier to 'set-off' providing you keep your feet on the ground; if you see what I mean. Another occasion for the '6P' rule I think:-
Prior Planning Prevents P*%s Poor Performance!
Cheers and Happy Dreams
Andy & Meredyth, Yacht Surwaya,
Almerimar,
Almeria, Spain.