Motor Boat & Yachting June 2022

Remember Barry McGuigan, the pint-sized Irish boxer who defied the odds to become WBA featherweight champion of the world in 1985? I certainly do. But not so much for his fighting as for his homespun philosophies. The one that sticks in my mind from a particularly gruelling but ultimately victorious post-match interview was his assertion that “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.” While I hesitate to make a comparison between having seven bells beaten out of you in a boxing ring with the rather more genteel sport of motor cruising, the man has a point. Take MBY reader and contributor Andrew Morton, who last year took his 25ft single-engined Finnmaster pocket cruiser on a 300nm round trip to the…

Looking at this spectacular photograph of sea birds wheeling around Stac Lee with the main island of Hirta in the background, it’s not hard to see why local author and historian Charles Maclean once described the St Kilda archipelago in the Outer Hebrides as “the islands on the edge of the world”. Thankfully, their remote location proved no barrier to boat owner and keen amateur photographer Andrew Morton, who cruised almost 300nm there and back in his single-engined 25ft Finnmaster to experience their unique charms and paddle round the islands in his kayak. You can see more of his images and read the story of his cruise starting on p50.…

THE EDITOR’S VIEW … This is exactly the kind of application where ELECTRIC POWER makes perfect sense. Displacement hulls don’t need vast reserves of power and inland cruising will be even more pleasurable without the rumble of engines and smell of DIESEL FUMES to spoil the moment. Once there’s a suitable network of fast chargers in place, this should actually be a better proposition than a diesel boat. All credit to BENETEAU and Delphia for taking the initiative on this. 1 DELPHIA’S ALL - ELECTRIC FUTURE Delphia has launched its first all electric model and announced that it will only build electric boats by 2024. The Polish brand was bought by Beneteau Group in 2018 and is the first in the French giant’s stable to commit to going 100% electric – by the…

I’ve been following Jeremy Clarkson since his journalistic career began in the 1980s with a column in Performance Car magazine. I can still remember his hilarious account of wiring a ‘Revenger’ (a stress-relieving box you stuck to your car’s dashboard that made machine gun or bomb noises when you stabbed the buttons) to a loudspeaker behind the grille of his Honda CRX. Indeed, his unique prose inspired me to take up writing. I have a book he wrote in 1997 called Hot 100: Cars That Make You Go Phwoar. Rather than just being about the best or fastest, it highlighted the most iconic. Amongst the Bentleys and Lamborghinis are a Matra Murena, a Peugeot 504 Estate and a Monteverdi. And it made me wonder which boats I’d include in a…

QUARR ABBEY TEA SHOP FISHBOURNE, ISLE OF WIGHT Any boater familiar with the north coast of the Isle of Wight will be aware of the spire of All Saints, Ryde, the landmark which dominates the town’s skyline. But how many, I wonder, know of Quarr Abbey, whose tower is also visible from the water just two miles to the west? Well, my wife spotted it one day and that was that; all other plans were instantly abandoned as the very sniff of an ancient monument (self-excluded) is more than enough to set Mrs S off on a voyage of discovery. I know there’s no point in objecting or grumbling, so instead of heading for a relaxing lunch at anchor in nearby Priory Bay, we changed course to Wootton Creek where we tied up…

We’ve been looking forward to seeing this boat in the flesh since we first clapped eyes on the renderings over two years ago. It didn’t disappoint. Gone are the traditional but dowdy interiors and big, fuel-hungry engines of the old semi-displacement range to be replaced by a fresh, contemporary look and a slippery vacuum-infused hull powered by efficient IPS1350 engines. The positive impressions start the minute you step on board. A Seascape bathing platform not only helps with tender launch and recovery but also creates a mini beach club for guests to hang out close to the water. Climb the teak steps up to the aft cockpit and you’re greeted by a magnificent lacquered teak table bearing the GB logo with space for 12 that sets the tone for what’s to…