Dusting cobwebs off Australia II

Andy Rice went sailing on KA-6 for her first outing on British waters

Her first day out on the Solent was pretty bumpy - 16 knots from the south-west on a choppy sea. "This is the most breeze we've had since we've started sailing her again," says skipper Skip Lissiman, one of the boat's original trimmers. Getting on the pale-green deck from a RIB is no easy feat, and the first thing that hits you as you step on board is just how little she is. She has none of the volume of your average 60-foot yacht, and there is little room for two guests. The other journalist Tim Thomas and I are put as far out of harm's way as possible, which turns out to be on the grinders.

For a first day out, Lissiman and his crew are amazingly up to speed, already working on the minutiae of detail on setting up their new North rags. Lissiman is easily hitting his target numbers upwind, which suggests sail development has moved on somewhat in the last decade and a half. Lissiman calls some tacks. We set to work on the grinders. "Good tack, guys," says the trimmer. It's hard to tell whether I made any contribution to the manoeuvre - I think Mike the grinder was dragging my arms round with him, but he didn't complain.


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