There’s a lot to be said for an inside steering position on a cruising yacht and although I would never admit it there were times in the past when I would have given my last case of rum for some shelter. When I started sailing, British yachtsmen were expected to sit in an exposed cockpit and suck up whatever the weather threw at them. Yacht designers were complicit in this by failing to include any form of shelter in their plans. Real yachtsmen sat at the helm in all weathers, donned their leaky oilskins, and did the right thing by keeping a good watch at all times. Behave like a man they said and look into the wind and spray, and we did, be manly that is, even my wife.
Our first boat, on which we crossed oceans, was just 23 feet long, with a large open cockpit and no protection from the elements at all. Wind, sun, salt—we took it all on the nose and that is one of the reason’s I now have problems with ‘weird’ things on my skin. Back in our early days, we wouldn’t have been seen dead sporting a spray hood, no sir, they were for wimps. Our yacht would always remain sleek and uncluttered by unsightly canvas and stainless steel frames. The only exception was a French Plexiglas ‘bubble’. Wow, I wanted one of those real bad because they smacked of Bernard Moitessier, Cape Horn and voyages through the Southern Ocean. Whereas a canvas spray hood made you a wimp, a bubble made you a hero!
With maturity came common sense, well, at least some, and on our next boat we fitted a spray hood and in so doing all my morals went out the porthole. Why? Because we fit a spray hood to a classic yacht! There, I’ve confessed and feel better for it. Not only did we fit a spray hood, we also fit a frame at the back of the cockpit. This allowed us to attach a canvas top with a removable back and sides, in fact we turned the cockpit into a greenhouse and it was wonderful. I did the steel work and my wife sewed. I must say, when the whole thing was rigged, the boat looked like shit, but boy were we happy. At the first sign of bad weather, we would roll down the sides and sit in comfort.
On my final voyage with this boat, I left St. Maarten with her looking like a classic yacht but by the time I was north of Anguilla, I was watching the world go by from the comfort of the greenhouse. I took the thing down before docking in the Azores, so that people would know how tough I was and did the same before entering Falmouth in England.
The boat we have now was designed to the old British character building code of ‘real yachtsmen sit out and suck it up’ and I am currently seeking ways to protect us from the weather. It looks like another greenhouse is on the cards, my wife likes the idea so much she is reading up on Hydroponics.
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