This microskiff boat has a length overall of 16 feet, a beam of 5’9”, a draft of 5 inches, and a dry weight of 500 pounds. The maximum power rating is 70 HP, making it a beast compared to the other models in this guide. Despite having such a powerful engine, we can still classify it as a microskiff because of its size and features. His route to this boat, having owned “a 30ft ketch when the family was small: a slow but very good sea boat; then a Drascombe Longboat when I got fed up with paying mooring fees for the ketch; slow again, but also a very good sea boat; then a Cornish Crabber Mk1 until I got fed up with not sailing too well… Then I bought a Cornish Shrimper because it was solid and had a roof and sailed quite well and, most importantly, it was trailable.” The micro-voyagers seem to share a different way of looking at the world, a can-do attitude galvanised by their repudiations.

Unlike the previous Duffy model we discussed, the Bay Island has an even greater battery life! You not only get to take an extra passenger along for the ride if you like, but you also get almost double the battery life at cruising and top speeds! Dave got caught in heavy winds off Felixstowe on an early trip and found that the wide companionway meant he could stand on the keel box in the cabin and reef the sail. Paul also enjoyed racing the Medina, telling me: “We sailed in the Round the Island Race several times when there was a fleet of maybe 10 Medinas. She was equipped for cruising; not stripped out for racing. We now keep Melinda on shore at Emsworth, sailing around Chichester harbour with my now grown-up children.”The Microcat HD sits higher out of the water than previous Microcat systems thanks to a redesigned hull. This means that the hoppers are well clear of the waterline, even in windy and choppy conditions. This, in turn, reduces the risk of water leaking into the bait, ensuring that your bait has maximum impact when it enters the water column. The Microcat HD features two hoppers, which can be opened independently for spreading bait over a wide area or simultaneously to distribute a huge amount of bait in one location. This gives you incredible versatility of use, as it enables you to target two features simultaneously, and this is an excellent choice for the carp angler who fishes with multiple rods. Farmers Weekly quoted him as saying “There were grown-up seas, wonderful wildlife – dolphins, seals and a whale – and tremendous scenery, but best of all there were great people all around the UK who couldn’t have been kinder, more helpful and interested in the project.” Moving to Bermudan rigs, one of the most successful and yet overlooked designers of small trailable cruisers was Ian Proctor.

Angling Technics know that, more often than not, you’ll be baiting up in the early hours of the morning and after the sun has set. A controllable spotlight on the front of the boat aids viability at night and in low light conditions, allowing you to not only see the boat itself but also see where the boat is headed. The Mircocat HD is compatible with echo sounder technology, so if you decide to upgrade your bait boat with a fish finder you don’t have to change boats. This makes the boat a great introductory system for the angler looking to get into using high-end angling technology, as it gives you the flexibility to upgrade and modify your gear without having to reinvest in expensive technology. And just like when choosing a house, you have to ask yourself whether the patio is all that important to you or not. Would you rather have more house instead? Only you can answer that question.

The rudder blade lifts vertically in a transom mounted ‘box’, making it removable for trailing or drying out.

We crossed the Channel several times and cruised most of the south and east coasts. Melinda was towed to Greece and Croatia by my parents when they retired; and I remember a lovely holiday on the boat in the Sporades with my wife.” He “was surprised when friends said later it was a Force 7”. Dave does not, however, use his keel as an echosounder. The Cornish Shrimper is one of the UK’s most successful small boats. More than 1,100 have been built. It comes with a variety of interior layouts and choice of an outboard well, a Yanmar diesel and now an electric engine.A microskiff boat is a small and lightweight boat. It has a narrow beam, low horsepower, and a flat bottom. Microskiffs are evolutions of dinghies. It fits one or two anglers. They go fast and far without too much effort.

With all our equipment, and the unnecessary items our two guests brought out with them, it was quite a character-building event… Still, that was the last rain we saw for 17 weeks.” Lifting keel system Often the smallest boats to cross oceans look much like a child’s crayon picture of a little boat on a big sea, certainly Yann Quenet’s Baluchon does. Baluchon is only 13ft 1in (4m long), with one simple sail and a stubby, blunt-nosed hull painted cherry red and ice cream white.The history of sailing across oceans in the smallest boats is a surprisingly long one. With a few exceptions (of which more later), it is not about breaking records. This is about stripping away everything complex and extraneous – including other people. Indeed, many sailors downsize to smaller cruisers after retiring and decide to ‘own little and charter large’. Following hot on the heels of his game-changing Hunter Sonata One Design, the smaller Medina 20 went into production in 1979.