Somebody on your notice board was asking how to get the best out of a Prout.
We have done about 20,000 miles in our Prout Snowgoose 37 in the last few
years.
The number one priority if you want to go well in a Snowgoose is keep it
light. Ours is a pre-Elite model. She doesnt take weight as well as the Elite
but kept light she is quick enough. We sailed her from the Cape Verdes to
Barbados in 2004 with just the two of us onboard in 15 days in very light
winds. We only got trade winds in the last two days. We were faster than
a wide cross-section of monohulls upto a 48ft cruiser racer that did the
trip in 16 days. We even beat a 50 ft french cat by a day. We only carried
25 gallons of water but made 5 gallons per day on the watermaker.
We have the taller Elite mast which I know helps plus a laminate genoa, roller
on the inner forestay for the storm jib and a fully batten main. We also
carried a huge spinnaker and a twistle yard rig. We did use these both with
success.
Whilst sailing in the Caribbean we had lots of sailing in company with friends
we met. They were usually in similar sized monos. We came to notice that
the heavily laden cruising mono (typically 6 inch down on its marks) was
no better to windward than Grace May. Our sails by then were well past their
best so we can only assume it was the weight of the mono that was causing
the poor performance.
We had an interesting chat one night in a bar with a south african guy who
was sailing his Admiral 38 ft cat. He was the builder who had just sold his
business. The other guy was a designer and builder from florida. They got
to discussing cat design and both agreed that Grace May was "early on the
evolutionary scale of cat design". We agreed on a race to the next island
the following morning. 42 ft mono vs modern 38 ft cat vs Grace May. We beat
the Cat and the mono!

We are currently refitting Grace May at Fiddlers Ferry boat yard 14 miles
up the river Mersey from Liverpool. The closest we could get her to home.
We intend to lighten her by replacing the loose plywood panels that make
up the under bunk areas. We hope to use foamcore panels that should be significantly
lighter. If we can save 200kg, which I believe is possible then it should
be a noticable improvement. This should offset the fact we cruised the Caribbean
with a 9 ft rib and a kyak. When we lifted out in Caribbean for new bottom
paint, we were just over 7 tonnes on the crane. We are supposed to be 5 tonnes
so even though we really do try to keep her light, we still had 2 tonnes
onboard. Imagine what you would be like if you didnt even try to stay light!

We have just completed an epoxy treatment to the bottom of Grace May. We
intend to apply copper plus as soon as we get some decent weather.
If any body wants to discuss any issues of sailing a Prout across the Atlantic
or any prep issues please get in touch
at gunendbarn@tiscali.co.uk  my pet subject is power onboard and fridges,
etc

Tim and Gayle Evans


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