A smile spreads across my face. Before I laugh, in astonished delight. As our speed climbs to fourteen knots. We streak across a deserted Solent, toward the Isle of Wight. Hard on the wind. The low, autumnal sun glinting off a sea of chased silver.
Straight as an arrow, we scorch across the water. Astern, we trail a smoking white wake. The tiller extension is alive, but fingertip-light, in my hand. The hulls run as if on rails. Heel minimal, despite the squalls and shifts. We skip lightly over the waves, with the effortless speed of a dolphin at play.
Conditions are ideal, for my Dragonfly trimaran baptism. A brisk south westerly breeze gusts, from sixteen to twenty six knots. Backing and veering, as it squirms and squeezes between the island and mainland shores. Ushering the morning's thunderstorm away; and providing suitably taxing sailing conditions, with which to test the mettle of Al Wood (UK Dragonfly agent)'s Dragonfly 28.
Our destination is Wootton Creek. Where a Dragonfly 32 (Sistership to 'Firefly,' see Dandelion 131) is moored. Richard, her owner, greets us on arrival. Regaling us with tales of a summer trip to Falmouth. Where the boat's shoal draft was taken full advantage of. In the creeks, and off the beaches, of the scenic west country ria. Granting access to its, less frequented, anchorages.
The cruise was a family affair. With Richard, his wife and their two (adult) sons aboard. Richard, a trimaran veteran, now on his second Dragonfly, praises the combination of passage-making pace and creek-crawling capability. "The flat sailing, no heeling; it's a real game-changer," he confides, as we cast off.
The (twelve nautical mile) return to the Hamble, is completed in three quarters of an hour. Speed peaks at nineteen knots. The wind now on our quarter. Al is itching to hoist the kite. To lift our pace into the mid twenties. I dissuade him. Preferring, instead, to experiment with gybing under black sails (jib and single reefed main). Which proves to be singularly straightforward. Speed without drama. Richard's words ring true.
Credits
Dragonfly 28, and an afternoon of onboard coaching, provided by Al Wood, Multihull Solutions (UK Dragonfly agent). Who also brokered access to Richard's Dragonfly 32.
Your scribe aboard Al’s Dragonfly 28 (Photographs 1 &2) courtesy of Al Wood
Dragonfly 32 brochure shots (Photographs 3,5 & 6) courtesy of Quorning Boats ApS
