Describing the Sailfish 18 as the Reliant Robin of the seas is likely to cause offence, as I found to my cost when a posse of Reliant Robins set off to Maldon in mass protest.
Fortunately, there’s an off-camber bend in the way into town and all three of the three-wheelers that’d made it that far ended up on their backs in a ditch with their rear wheels spinning frantically like upended cockroaches. But that got me thinking.
The Robin and its forbear, the grandiosely titled Reliant Regal – which really should have been called the Reliant Legal, as a loophole in our laws meant you could drive it on a motorcycle licence and tax it as a motorcycle and sidecar – are acknowledged as classics. Why then isn’t the Sailfish 18?
When I drove up to a county fair a few years ago in my 1989 Volvo 240 estate a parking marshal even let me in for free and ushered me to the classic car display area, where I parked alongside an Austin All-Aggro authentically displayed in its natural setting – on the back of an RAC recovery truck.
Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Practical Boat Owner.
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Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Practical Boat Owner.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Orca sink yacht in Strait of Gibraltar
Spain's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, has reported that a 15m (49ft) yacht sank in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar following interaction with a pod of orca.
No kill cord or lifejackets were worn during fatal powerboat crash
A kill cord and lifejacket are useless unless worn-that's the warning from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), following its investigation into a powerboat crash that killed a 32-year-old woman and five-year-old girl on 2 October 2022.
Multihull sail work
Brush up on multihull sailing skills before heading off on charter with Gavin Le Sueur's guide to spinnaker handling, tacking and gybing
Five top causes of engine failure and how to prevent them
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Sail the Atlantic with strangers
Would you sail across the Atlantic with someone you've just met? Ali Wood meets the cruising crews who've done just that
IZIBoat: simple sailing
Rupert Holmes sails an innovative catamaran design intended to widen participation in sailing among those with little time to get on the water in more conventional craft
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Boats for restoring under £20,000
Duncan Kent picks the best sub-35ft sail and power boats to look for when aiming to undertake a restoration on a budget
Seaworthy dinghies for less than £500
For low cost traditionally-styled GRP trailer-sailers, consider the Foreland and the Otter available at bargain basement prices
Playing with coloured sails
Maintaining an hourglass-shaped balloon and ratcheting up the log numbers
