A truly comfortable and capable cruising yacht

£65,000 VAT paid

Early Days

Arco Iris is a Peter Ibold designed long keeled cutter. The hull was made by Windboats of Wrexham in 1985. Every other element of the boat was then built by the first owner and she was launched in 1997. We don’t know her cruising history in detail, but the RORC badge on her mast was explained when we met someone who said, “I know that boat, I raced the Azores and Back in the same year as she did”.

When we bought her in 2003, she was in a pretty poor state so a major refit was undertaken involving a complete redecking and rebuild of the cockpit. We had the coach roof raised three inches, - well, we asked for 3 cm, but got 3 inches – to give more headroom for a 6’ 2” skipper. Navigation equipment was updated and various unfinished interior elements completed. We also sandblasted the hull down to the concrete and applied a Coppercoat® and epoxy system which lasted 15 years.

We wanted a boat that we could sail two handed and that would comfortably take us and our German Shepherd Ludvic, on adventures to new sailing territory.  Note - when looking for a boat, we took Ludvic with us to see what he could and couldn’t cope with as far as getting around a boat was concerned. We lowered the bridge-deck as part of the refit to make the companionway more dog friendly.

We had no idea whether he’d enjoy sailing but as he didn’t bother about being in the car and basically was happy doing whatever we were doing, we thought it was a pretty safe bet he’d get on OK and thus was proved to be the case.

Our first cruise was to southern Ireland…. though we didn’t get there due to unfavourable weather – sailing was ever thus.  Instead we spent an enjoyable six weeks in the south west which included a week in the Scilly Isles. We were both still working freelance so some of this time was spend on laptops.

The following year we managed a total of ten weeks away and this time we managed to get to SW Ireland. The plan was to see if we could work from the boat and leave one or the other of us onboard with the dog while the other was away. With the slight exception of a lonely anchor watch which demonstrated that one person and the dog on board was better done in a marina, working from the boat was deemed eminently practical and comfortable.

Further afield and living aboard

The west coast of France and the Baltic

Having tested the living on board practicalities, we rented out the house and moved on board in April 2007. Our subsequent cruising included the French Atlantic coast,  transiting the ‘mast up’ route through the Netherlands including wintering onboard there, picking up visiting crew in central Amsterdam, a long stop in Terschelling due to persistent easterlies, then through the Kiel canal into the Baltic where the boat stayed for ten years.

Sailing stints varied greatly as work allowed. The waters of Denmark were well explored in the summer months interspersed with wintering in the water and ashore in different years. Denmark was our introduction to box berths and minimal tides. However, persistent wind from one direction over several days would lead to ‘mock tides’ where water was blown away, on one occasion leaving us high and dry leaning against the posts of our mooring.  A couple of city breaks in Copenhagen brought variety to otherwise very rural cruising area.

Next stop Sweden. Unfortunately, we barely scratched the surface of the cruising potential of Swedish waters due to growing work commitments. Parking varied from box berths – which we were getting the hang of now  - and anchoring, taking a line ashore and round a tree. It took quite a bit of getting used to getting close enough to the rocks ashore to be able step off the bow line in hand, of a boat that draws 2m.

Navigating the marked channels – which have very little room for error - was also an experience, but the satisfaction of having sailed rather than motored through was immense. The boat here was wintered in an unheated shed, though we could have opted for a heated one. When we rented a holiday home for three weeks in November to do work on the boat while she was out the water, we regretted not opting for the heated option….