Conachair

Due to a change in their personal circumstances, Scott and Linda Moss have regretfully decided to sell the Conachair.  She has looked after us very well for some 13 years and we have worked hard to look after her.  While we hope to get back to sailing in a few years, it would be wrong to leave such a seaworthy boat either ashore or under-used in the meantime.  For the usual details, including an updated maintenance history of interest to potential purchasers but not to more casual web surfers, please visit http://www.scott.moss.name/conachair.

Conachair is an Ebbtide 33 (10.06m), steel, ocean-going sailing boat sailed by Scott and Linda Moss since 1992.
We have keep her on a swinging mooring in the Menai Straits and have sailed her to the Outer Hebrides, Spain, Brittany, the Scilly Isles, and various places in Ireland and Scotland.

The Ebbtide was designed by Alan Pape.  This particular boat was the first Ebbtide 33 to be built as a sloop but we have converted her to a cutter.  Two smaller heads'ls are a lot easier to handle than one big one.  In a really serious blow, she sails and heaves to with balance and comfort with three reefs in the mains'l and  a reefed stays'l.

The sail plan (Alan Pape's drawing) is this:

For a picture of the real thing underway, click here, and at anchor, click here. 

She has a small doghouse and a spacious, uncluttered foredeck.  Here is the deck plan:

For a picture that gives a sense of the openness of the deck and the rigging, click here. For a picture of sensitive helming, click here.

Conachair is named after the mountain on Hirta, the main island of St. Kilda 60 nautical miles into the Atlantic from the Outer Hebrides.

Sometimes we meet interesting people.  For example, in the photo below we are exchanging a salute (by dipping ensigns) with HMS Britannia, the Queen's yacht on her final cruise with the Royal Family on board. The photograph was taken just off the north coast of the Ross of Mull.

We have, of course, the usual load of (frequently but not always true) stories about our exploits at sea.  Scott's current favourite is about sailing at the end of October from the Menai Straits to the Mersey with a new collaborator now at the Stockholm Environment Institute Oxford Office.  We left the Straits at 0400 with a SW 6 on the port quarter.  The forecast was for the wind to drop to SW 3 and the sea state to decline from rough-very rough (as it was at 0400) to slight - moderate just after sunrise.  I was sceptical.  My climate modelling crew assured me that the "now forecast" is always right.  I never believe forecasts.  Sure enough, just after sunrise the wind increased to force 7 (near gale) and the sea state increased from rough-very rough to plain old very rough.  In response to my raised eyebrow, my crew reassured me about the "now forecasts" but did acknowledge that they were better on a continental scale than at a point.  Since I am only ever at a point and never continent-wide, I'll stick to my scepticism.

However, if you ever want crew that is bright enough to know when to be scared and brave enough to remain competent and good-natured, ask me for the name of my climate-modelling collaborator.

Linda also has her favourite story.  It has to do with Scott sailing out of Lagavulin Bay (where they make the best whisky known to modern man).  He did it against her advice (she wanted to motor out).  He hit a rock. She wrote a bit of doggerel  about it for a sailing club competition.  One couplet was "It's no big deal -- the boat is made of steel". (He was right: no damage was done except to a few barnacles scraped off the foot.)

Conachair is not fitted out with every possible electronic aid.  She has an echo sounder (to tell us the depth) and a VHF radio.  There is a GPS in case of emergencies but it is never on. That is the extent of Conachair's electronics.