Sailing made simple

By ROBIN BAILEY

Not too many years ago New Zealand led the world in the design and development of trailerable sailboats.

Richard Hartley was the pioneer with his home-built kitset designs in ply. New material, including GRP and foam, brought designs by Jim Young, Bruce Farr, Murray Ross and other big names.

Many of our established clubs continue to provide racing for trailerboat classes and the level of competition has remained high. But there is no longer a range of trailerable yachts in production.

Scientist Richard Bailey came to New Zealand from Wales in 1989. His job took him to the United States, where he sailed in a Catalina 14.2 and became hooked on a relatively high performance, but inexpensive class of sailboat that could be towed home after a day on the water.

On his return to New Zealand two years ago Bailey and his wife Karen looked for a locally built replacement but were unable to find anything suitable. So they began studying what was available in the United States and settled on the Precision range out of Palmetto, Florida. The company had been building trailer-sailers for more than 20 years and the model range seemed right for New Zealand conditions.

"We arranged an initial shipment of just three of the Precision models which will be here early February," Bailey says. "Once these have been extensively trialled and market-tested we will look at bringing in other models from the range."

The Precision 185 was named "2003 Boat of the Year for Best Value" by Sailing World magazine and Bailey believes it will be quick to make its mark on the local small-boat sailing scene.

The boats are designed by Jim Taylor, who says people go sailing because it is fun. The problem for would-be sailors everywhere is that combination of high interest rates and increasingly scarce mooring and marina space has made boat ownership difficult.

Taylor says: "Nowhere is it written that in order to enjoy a day on the water a sailor needs a boat that costs as much to buy as a house and even more to maintain and requires half a football team to sail properly.

"On the contrary, as the explosive growth in board sailing has shown, the purest sailing can often be delivered in small and simple packages. That concept lies at the heart of the Precision design philosophy: A boat that is small enough to be towed behind a small car, simple enough to be inexpensive, but big enough (in the cabin version) to sleep aboard. It must also have the lively performance and good sea manners to make sailing fun."

To hype-resistant Kiwi boaters, that may seem a tall order. But Bailey believes the boats he is bringing here live up to the designer's promise.

He cites the features of the award-winning 185 to support his case. The boat has a big self-draining cockpit, a secure spot for a chilly-chest, practical under-deck storage, straightforward rigging and high-quality Harken hardware. The swim platform at the transom is the sort of feature usually found only on offshore cruisers and allows swimmers back aboard more easily and boarding from a dinghy.

From the performance perspective he lists the boat's speed, stability and control over a wide range of conditions and the ability to sail beautifully under main alone in short-handed or heavy conditions. The broad beam (2.4m) for a boat that is just 18'5" (5.61m) long accounts for its extraordinary stability.

The first three Precision models to be imported are the 15, which will cost $14,997, the 185 at $18,642 and the 18 cabin version at $27,975. All prices include GST and the boats come on a galvanised trailer, mainsail and furling jib and motor mount.

For details check Sailing Action