Yachting and Boating World forums: Living the dream...... with a Centurion 32

I would like to tell you a little story about some friends of mine who arrived here (Barbados) a couple of days ago after a 16 day textbook passage from the Cabo Verde islands.

They are Jon and Genevieve, and their wee daughter Skye, who will be 2 years old in a few days time. Here is a photo of their Centurion 32 'Vadis' at anchor off the customs dock at Port St Charles - isnt she just lovely? (well, I think she is, but then I do have a weakness for '70's designs, and earlier)

I last saw the Centurions in September 2005, when they were starting to do a refit on Vadis in Lymington. They worked on her all winter, and set off last summer for new horizons and distant lands, bound for New Zealand (where they are migrating to), with high expectations of a few adventures along the way!

As you might expect, Jon and Genevieve are on a shoe string budget and the boat is most definitely not bristling with interfaced electronics all talking to each other (shock, horror! How can they navigate without a chart plotter?!). Their electronics comprises a 2nd hand radar (bought at a boat jumble), a Garmin GPS 128, an old green Sailor VHF (not DSC!) and an old B & G depth sounder. And thats it really.
No autopilot - an old 2nd hand Aries is infinitely more reliable.

They became very proficient at sun and star sights on the way across and were never bored, especially as they had Skye to look after, entertain and be entertained by - she is an absolute sweetie and a real water baby who is totally at home on Vadis - give her another year or so and I am sure she will be standing a watch very competently....

Vadis has no refrigeration, but she does have a bimini awning over the cockpit to provide shade (which is much more important really) - they spent a couple of weeks visiting the more remote islands in the CV's before heading across, and fresh fruit and vegetables in these islands were pretty much unobtainable, so they ran out of fresh produce soon after leaving the islands - but they did have a large store of tinned foods.
A cold beer tastes especially wonderful when you havent had one for a month....... !

The Centurions are living their dream, and proving conclusively (yet again) that you do not need truck loads of dosh and / or a large modern yacht bristling with electronics to go off around the world with - I 'tip my lid' to them and wish them fair winds and fine sailing when they leave here (they will be staying here for a couple of weeks) bound for a potter up the island chain, and then a run to Panama in May.

To all of you who say 'Oh yes, I would love to do that - but....'

A Donf!

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If you are going on holiday to Barbados, google us for the lowdown on places to stay and things to do, or have a look at http://www.doyleguides.com/barbados.html
for an impartial yachtsman's guide.