Len Surtees

Len was attempting to sail his little trailerable cat around Australia. He got hit by a big system of Western Australia and has pulled the pin on the attempt.

Interesting talk on the loads on cats. Len is an engineer and one of the bolts holding his mechanism together failed.

The boat is now for sale in WA

http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/...unshine&program=sunshine_cooloola_coast_drive

http://www.surteesmultihulls.com/

cheers

Phil

 

It sounds like a prudent decision under the circumstances. I've seen some photo's of Zeavard under construction and it certainly looked like a well put together and finished boat.

 

What's great to see/hear is the open & honest representation of the damage issues, very often the "secrets" never get out.

Glade Len got back unharmed etc.

Jeff.

 

Not surprising really, the lows come a long way north now and through till early summer. They are as much a risk as cyclones for the size of the waves that can be produced, in fact you can have better conditions in a cyclone if you stay out of the dangerous quarter and have enough sea room to keep out of shallow water. The southern ocean weather systems are very dangerous.

He talks about being hove too which is also a concern since he should have been lying to a drogue in a multihull to prevent inversion. A lot of small boat rudder damage come from a boat being set back on it's rudder. They are just not designed for the resultant force. A decent well deployed drogue would have prevented that too.

But an odd time of year to be heading south in such a small boat