To hybrid or not to hybrid?

Not long ago we all sat down around Jeremy and Fiona's kitchen table and did a good job of convincing ourselves that we didn't want a hybrid engine. There would be constant drag with the prop spinning we thought, and anyway, the brief was to keep things simple. Then Graeme Hawksley from Hybrid Marine came into the yard and quietly but very convincingly explained why we definitely do want a hybrid engine. He allayed our fears about a constantly spinning prop (we can feather it when it's not needed which won't affect performance when racing) and we can integrate it with the solar and wind systems, helping to keep things simple. The truth is, electric is way things are going in the car industry and it's going to be true of boating too, so we might as well lead the way!

Metamorphosis

Breaking Calypso out of the mould was a bit like a fairly long and painful birthing process. The mould groaned and creaked as it was prized from the hull. We looked on anxiously. Would it all go ok? Would she emerge unscathed? Would she be perfect? Finally, after a morning of coaxing, the mould came away and there she was, the ugly duckling transformed into a beautiful swan.

Sealing the keel

When Jeremy first started building boats the keel was made by carrying molten lead in ladles up into the boat and pouring it into the keel cavity, a highly skilled and quite dangerous job. Nowadays the keel is cast at the Henry Irons factory down in Cornwall and sent up ready made. I find it hugely reassuring to see two tonnes of lead being lowered into Calypso, knowing that this (together with a great design) will keep us upright! During the disastrous Fastnet race of 1979 when so many boats and lives were lost the Contessa 32 stood out as an exceptionally seaworthy boat - since then she has been used as the benchmark for stability. There is, of course, a compromise when it comes to space down below, but for me there's no question which is more important.

Greening the Blue

The image of yachting has changed a lot over the years and it seems the RYA (Royal Yachting Association) has been keeping up with the times. Last week we had a visit from the RYA's very own green team The Green Blue who had got wind of the embryonic Calypso and wanted to know more. The Green Blue team donned the hard hats and looked around the yard while Jeremy quietly and very persuasively outlined the green advantages of building the Contessa 32 out of fibreglass. (Jeremy argues that because the Contessa 32 is built to last - potentially forever if maintained properly - it's actually quite a green option). OK it can't be recycled but no one seems to be trying to recycle their Contessa 32s, unlike many of the cheaper GRP boats out there. By the end of the visit there were plans afoot to take Calypso to the Southampton Boat Show to use her as a showcase for green technology and products. This would have a rather dramatic effect on the build timetable, but could provide a great opportunity to make Calypso something very special. Watch this space!

Breaking the mould

Recently we have been dropping down to the yard en masse to check on the progress of Calypso. I'm not sure whether our children are especially wild or whether it's normal for boys but they seem to explode out of the car and disperse like a gas into all corners of the yard, causing all sorts of trouble. The twins are only four, so I don't expect them to really grasp what is going in terms of "building our own boat" but I am hopeful that the bigger boys will learn a lot from the process. The concept of the inside-out boat has been quite hard to grasp, one day we spent a few minutes discussing this and although Inigo, our seven year old, was concentrating really hard, it clearly wasn't getting through. Suddenly I came up with a great way of explaining it. "Ini, you remember last year you made those chocolate Easter eggs using a plastic mould"? - Inigo's face lights up, and that's it, the boat has gone, his brain is entirely full of chocolate. "How many days is it til Easter Mummy"? Suddenly I find myself calculating how many days til Easter, one of the twins falls over, and the moment is lost! Maybe next week I'll think of a better example, not involving chocolate.

Ugly duckling

For most of the year the Contessa 32 mould sits outside in the car park at the Lymington Yacht Haven with "CO32" scrawled across it in spray paint. Of course, I know it's inside out, and the outside doesn't matter, but I have to admit it's not been really obvious to me how those beautiful boats come out of such a rough looking thing. All became clear last week when the mould was brought into the yard and cracked open. Once polished up, the inside of the mould is like a perfect replica of the outside of a Contessa 32. First, two layers of gel coat are laid down on the top sides, and then layer after layer of fibreglass, soaked in resin. It may be the least green part of the boat building process, but it is at least reassuring to see the strength built in to this hull when I think about the sea miles this boat will carry my family.

Rough hands, happy heart.

The transition from living afloat to living on land is often a hard one.
I found it relatively easy as motherhood consumed and satisfied me to a large degree but Kit, unsurprisingly, found the contrast between being skipper of a whale research/wildlife filming boat and teacher in a large secondary school rather harder. One of things that seemed to upset him most was the disappearance of the callouses on his hands. In recent weeks he has been cycling down to the boat yard on Saturday mornings to help on Calypso and I've noticed a few changes taking place in my husband. One is a very slight roughening of the hands, (though there's a long way to go before reaching Jeremy's award winning league). The other is a contented smile on his face!

Teak Performance?

I've been kicking around the Rogers' boat yard for over 10 years, so I'm not completely new to what it takes to build a boat, but I guess watching your own boat being built is a bit like having your own baby, suddenly the subject becomes a whole lot more interesting - that's probably where the comparison ends! Jeremy is now experimenting with a new type of teak replacement called Kebony. There is no doubt that teak is an amazing wood, but as demand outstrips sustainable supply it's important that a really good alternative is found. There are plenty of examples of resin filled softwoods on the market, but these proved problematic when the toxic resin started leaching out. Kebony, a Norwegian-based company, claims to have found a solution to this; waste Kebony can be disposed of as untreated wood. It comes ready planked which makes it more appealing than a tree trunk from the builders' point of view, but it will be interesting to see what Jeremy thinks of it as a craftsman.

In the beginning there was a deck

When recently we were pondering how to get our family of four boys and a mildly neurotic collie dog out on the water for some sailing adventures my father-in-law, boat builder Jeremy Rogers announced he had a spare Contessa 32 deck "in the yard which needs using up". So, after a collective emptying of piggy banks, the work of building our very own sailing boat has begun. My husband Kit is a teacher and will work alongside his father in the school holidays and on weekends, so that hopefully by late summer "Calypso" will be ready. The plan is to make her as green as we possibly can. Although there's not a lot going for fibreglass in the green department, Contessa 32s are at least built to last. The first 32s were rolled out of the factory in Lymington 40 years ago and there's every reason to believe they will last another 40 and 40 after that, which is more than can be said of their cheaper counterparts. Fibreglass hull aside, we'll be looking at other ways we can reduce the environmental impact of the boat, not only during the build, but also so that when sailing it is easier to make the right environmental choices.