The Boat

Katla is a 26ft Wooden Gaff Cutter built by Martin Lund in 2006 of the Wynfall design by Mark Smaalders.

She is Carvel built of Mahogany planks over sawn Pine frames. The planks are fastened with Stainless Steel (316) screws and the frames are glued and fastened using wooden pegs and Galvanised bolts. Before painting, all wood was treated with a mixture of Turpentine, Pine Oil and Cuprinol.

The deck is Marine Plywood epoxy laminated and covered with chopped strand mat in epoxy resin. The Spar is of Siberian Larch. The rudder is transom hung on Stainless Steel (316) pintles.

The ballast keel is a Stainless Steel (316) box of 6mm sides and bottom, which has lead ingots in it. The lead is then laid in poliester resin inside. Five Stainless Steel (316) tubes are welded inside vertically through the keel box, where the keel bolts go through, meaning the box is completely sealed from seawater. There are 5 Stainless Steel (316) keelbolts to carry 1.5 tonnes. It is a massively strong construction.

There are no through hull fittings and a water tight bulkhead under the cockpit.

The broker described her as: 'A sturdy and salty little lady. Which will appeal to traditionalists on a budget'.

There is no inboard engine, no toilet, no electronics, and traditional (Block & Tackle) rigging (no winches).

LOA: 26' - 5"
LWL: 23' - 10"
BEAM: 8' - 10"
DRAFT: 3' - 10"
DISP: 9500 lbs
BALLAST: 3300 lbs
D/L: 343
SAIL AREA: 466 sq. ft.

The Trip

View Katla

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Falmouth to Brighton.

KATLA is now 'home' in Brighton marina and all is well after an amazing sail up from Falmouth.
With the South coast being so busy with pleasure boaters and shipping, instead of flying solo, this time I was joined by my very good friend Dave who came down by train from Brighton. It was really nice to have company and conversation (and sleep!) for the last 210nm leg.

We left the visitors Yacht Haven in Falmouth 'early' around 1100utc Saturday morning mainly out of boredom instead of waiting for the optimum tide around 1300utc to flush us out to the Channel.
Wiith barely any wind, we scratched our way East for the first 24hrs with around 10kn of wind from behind. Full sail - prevented mainsail, goose winged with poled out Jib and stay sail sheeted in tight gave us ~4kn of speed.

With the 48hr forecast threatening only 5kn of wind from the NW it was a surprise to be flying around the Isle of Wight at over 6kn on Sunday night in over 20kn from the SW! However, I still cant get used to sailing fast 'on the spot' due to tides!

Good progress and perfect weather gave us a sunny arrival in Brighton at 1100utc Monday morning. We had been a bit lazy and not made progress to windward through the early morning which meant we were over 4nm off course and wide of our planned approach but KATLA squeezed herself up tight to the wind for the final beat and made us proud, just making the marina entrance without having to tack. Sails down, fenders and warps ready - Its so much easier and relaxed with another person onboard. The outboard threatened to run out of petrol literally yards from the berth but Heidi was there waiting to catch a rope and save the day - a perfect end to an epic trip home.

210nm in 2 days exactly - not bad for an ickle 26ft gaffer!

After such a long voyage KATLA is in desperate need of some TLC, especially in the paint department, so I'll be posting more updates in the near future.

Stay tuned...
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2 comments:

  1. Simon (Boo).26 July 2011 at 09:36

    Very Special Thanks to all you good ppl who posted comments, followed my progress with interest and literally 'kept me company' during the long voyage back home from the Caribbean. I got them all via my Satphone and it made the 3 months at sea a lot less lonely! Thank You ~x~

    ReplyDelete
  2. liza26 July 2011 at 13:32

    A good job well done ~ 'chapeau!' x

    ReplyDelete

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