Trailer sailers versatile

Press, 9 March 1978, Page 14

Trailer sailers versatile

The average New Zealander would not be able to afford a yacht. Even if he could raise the money for a deposit, he would have the problem of finding and paying for moorings. t He would need to spend time scraping b: rn les off the hull, painting and varnishing, and making repairs. The trailer sailor, on the other hand, can thumb his nose at the week-end barnacle-scrapers, hitch his boat to the back of the car, and go off cruising wherever he chooses. The initial outlay on a trailer yacht is much lower, maintenance is minimal, and there are no moorma nrnhlpm< Instead

of crashing about m a storm, his boat is snugiy parked in the security of his. own backyard. As a result of the enormous growth in trailer yachting, the market has become more competitive and buyers more discerning. Designers seek to create a boat combining Speed, comfort, safety, and plenty of accommodation and this seems to have been achieved in the Sabre 20, one of the newest trailer sailers. It has the refinements of a racing machine and the safety and ease of handling essential in family cruising. Its designer, Alan Scott, has married theory and practice in designing a long waterline of 5.7 m and a 2.5 m beam. As a result, the Sabre, although only 6.3 m long, is more of a small cruising yacht than a trailer sailer. It is very stiff to sail because of the 270 kg of lead encapsulated in the full-length stub keel and tends to handle like a small keeler. The boat is absolutely self-righting. During tests, two strong men with block and tackle could not pull the mast down further than the normal heeling angle hard on the wind. A car, using a rope attached to the mast-head, was used to pull the mast

level with the water, with the. spreaders submerged. No water was taken aboard and the cockpit remained dry. When the rope was released, the boat shot back to the vertical. Other built-in safety features include a deep, protected cockpit, a moulded, non-skid deck surface, and a large anchor well to provide security when changing sails in a blow. The side decks are wide and flat, which makes going forward simple and safe. The Sabre 20 has been designed for single-handed sailing. All lines lead back to the cockpit, the spinnaker is easily dropped by one man in an emergency, and the centre plate is raised and lowered from the cockpit. The rigging is simple. With the aid of some fittings, it is only a 15-min-ute job for one man. Launching and retrieving the yacht is fast and efficient: the Sabre comes on a float on-off trailer with a telescopic drawbar to make launching easy on shallow ramps. On deck, many items included as standard equipment are often seen only cm more expensive boats. There is a built-in fuel tank with 25-litre capacity, a moulded toe rail, moulded combings for all-

round cockpit dodgers, cockpit side pockets for ropes, winch handles, specially reinforced pads for winches, stanchions, and angled mouldings for genoa and spinnaker blocks. The boat has the potential to be exploited by a racing enthusiast. The sharp knuckle bow gives a fine water entry and a slicing action, followed by a wide beam aft of tfie centrepoint, which creates stability, and flat planing sections right aft to get the boat flying off the wind and close reaching. It has backstay adjusters, barber haulers, slab reefing, and the proven light three-quarter rig. Below decks are five roomy berths, including a private forward cabin for the skipper and his wife, with a 210 cm by 180 cm berth. An icebox, cooker space, a sink, dorade ventilators, and a table to seat six are provided. The sail-away price, including trailer, is $BO9l but great savings can be made on that by doing some of the assembling and fitting yourself.