Friday 21 January 2011

Corribee

We were down at Emsworth on a cold overcast day, wandering around the boat yard, seeing what interesting boats had been hauled out for the winter. On the slipway this Corribee had just been pulled out by a young man in a wet suit.

Apparently the boat is his eighteenth birthday present, what a fantastic way to celebrate adulthood.

The Corribee is just one of many small cruisers which can be bought for not much money, but will provide bucket loads of cruising fun. The bilge keel version above has come in for some criticism of its sailing ability, but just look at those hull lines, they are so pretty.

9 comments:

  1. Sweet little boat! I think I got a suitcase for my 18th birthday.

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  2. Lucky chat! Can't remember any of my 18th bday presents.

    Best bit is he must have somewhere to store it plus car: lack of storage is my bug-bear.

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  3. Brandon - I seem to recall my 18th was somewhat more modest, but times and expectations change - you can pick up a boat like this anywhere from £1000 to £2500 - which is cheaper than a good Laser.

    JP a drying mooring down these parts is still pretty cheap - make a nice weekend pad to get out of town to!!

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  4. Are bilge keels still as popular in Blighty as they once were?

    I remember reading quite a lot about them in British sailing books 25 years ago.

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  5. O Dock -depends what you mean by popular - there are plenty of old bilge keelers which continue to be popular with owners but there aren't too many new boats available with twin keels - odd really as British Hunter boats built some good performing twin keels and the French RM yachts have an excellent reputation.

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  6. Hey,Guys, before you disparage the sailing qualities of the bilge keel Corribee too much, remember that Roger Taylor sails his bilge keel junk rigged (also frequently disparaged} Mingming to some pretty interesting places. And whales like her and him. It seems to depend on whether you are in a hurry or not, what kind of experience are you looking for?

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  7. Tom, I was very careful how I phrased my point - as I have never sailed a Corribee - I have however owned a Caprice twin keeler which was good and a Vigo Voyager which really had bilge plates and was ok - both would take the ground but it was something I did rarley.

    The facts are the facts - Hunter made some great mostly David Thomas designs but very few builders now offer twins - could be much more about buyer perception than reality.

    I think I make the point about this being a cheap way to get afloat and go cruising and Roger's achievements only go to reinforce that point - money doesn't need to limit your ambition when it comes to cruising.

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  8. MMmmm. Thats the 'young chap' who came into the workshop and 'borrowed' the LAST pen, complete with 3 ft of dyneema attached. Promised to bring it back but didn't. Probably left it in Daddies Wange Wover.
    Can't wait till I see him again.

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  9. As a Newbie, I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thank you

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