Corribbee to Centaur

On the website I can see how many people have clicked on a picture to see it in HD.  I know that you blokes are much more likely to click on an image of a boat than on one of my beautifully composed landscape shots. Almost no-one clicks on the weird/witty ones - I guess because a visual joke has to work at low definition.

 

 

 

I recently put up some images of a Corribbee for sale in Elie

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the pictures were opened again and again.

 

Now a Corribbe is a great little boat - but the cabin is a pitiful coffin of a thing. However, we should not let practicality get in the way of dreams.

I was dead chuffed to get this email

Hi Dylan, this is ‘pensky’ I posted about Nathan on this recent posting:

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/sailing-around-britain/corribbee-for-sail-in-elie/

I’m attaching pictures of my latest acquisition, a 1978 Centaur that I
bought together with a friend of mine.

The boat came with a terrific provenance and story. The former owner,
had owned the Centaur from new. Prior to this he also owned a
Corribee (as I did).  And the story goes that in 1978, together with
his wife, he went to the London Boat Show just to buy spares for an
outboard and a Reeds almanac.  He in fact bought neither but came away
with a Centaur instead.  I must have one of only a handful of
Centaur’s that has remained in single ownership. I’d be interested to
know how many Centaurs exist from the original production run and how
many are still the original owners.

Anyhow, despite being on the hardstanding for two years she needed
minimal work, just antifoul and some cosmetic cleaning and we had her
lifted in  last week.  We left the Deben 09/05/15 and
in one go went round to the Orwell - to my mooring in Ipswich -
against wind and tide, and she performed brilliantly.

I’m thrilled with my Centaur. As mentioned it was purely down to your
videos and blogs that got my attention towards this boat. My previous
boat, a Corribee, was a beauty and a joy to sail but I’m 6ft 2in and
it was cramped down below, and in the cockpit, to say the least. By
contrast the Centaur is sheer luxury, commodious interior, I can
almost stand up straight, and when in the forward cabin I can lay our
straight. And most importantly she is a joy to sail, as you know.

OK, please keep up your good work. I have a stressful job that also
involves an exhausting 4 hours per day commute, one of the ways I like
to relax is to watch your videos. Some of those based in my local area
(East Coast) I must have watched dozens of times. I particularly enjoy
the “Gourmet Sailor” series, which reminds me, where is the one of the
Fray Bentos pie video, I cannot find it and I wanted to copy what you
did there – food of champions!

Thanks again Dylan, and please keep up the good work.

cenatur blue centaur blue 2 cenatur blue 3 cenatur blue 4 cenatur blue 6

This is about Dylan Winter's Blog.

17 Responses to “Corribbee to Centaur”

  1. 18 May, 2015 at 12:17 pmJes says:

    I have to say the Corribee is an attractive boat though the bilge keels look big, somewhat out of proportion compared to some other bilge keelers, as well as the rudder, but I can imagine sailing one if I was in the UK. I had a 3 day trip this weekend on Lake Malawi and had downloaded Roger Taylor’s first book onto my kindle to fill in the long evenings (gets dark at 5:30 and lots of mozzies) and I’m now on the second, thanks for the tip!

  2. 18 May, 2015 at 8:15 pmJohn says:

    My first boat was Corribee, bought it in 1984 a bilge keeler. Sailed all round the East coast from the Medway to the Alde, sometimes 3 up, it was very cosy? Sailed all the way to Snape once in a F6, reached Snape had about an hour for a quick look round then back to to Aldeburgh for the night. Had it for two years, great boat, but as you said too small in the cabin.

  3. 18 May, 2015 at 8:31 pmdylan winter says:

    three in a Corribbee cabin – no bog – well done that man and his friends…

    Now…what about a Caprice… always had a soft spot for them too

    Ever since I read Shrimpy

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Acton

    now there was a man who could show you what can be done with a crap little yacht

  4. 18 May, 2015 at 10:38 pmJohn says:

    Actually there was a bog, a Porta Potti in the forecabin, if anyone wanted to use it the other two were banished to the cockpit!

  5. 19 May, 2015 at 10:16 amdylan winter says:

    Bogs on boats are always a problem. Never been a fan of the porta potti under a berth. Sleeeping over turds has never sounded like an attractive proposition. In the eboat we used a bucket in the cockpit – during daylight hours using it involved sitting under the number two genoa like some sort of defecating ghost

  6. 20 May, 2015 at 9:03 amGiles says:

    You chaps are wimps! For years I and two great friends (they had to be) cruised on a 20′ Vivacity. Very similar to a Corribee, not quite so pretty, but just as challenging spacewise. The trick is to be horizontal below and do all your standing either in the cockpit or with your head out through the companion way. The bog was a porta-potti located in the cockpit when at anchor – no privacy, but you could pretend to be reading a book and at least there were no contained fumes. Other members of the crew retreated along the foredeck or went horizontal below.

    Simples

  7. 20 May, 2015 at 9:46 amdylan winter says:

    and now you sail a……. Centaur

    Perhaps you are a slow learner

    as indeed am I

    D

  8. 20 May, 2015 at 12:29 pmGiles says:

    Very slow – got to nearly 60 before discovering the delights of vertical cooking and dressing. And the old Centaur is no slouch really…

  9. 20 May, 2015 at 12:32 pmGiles says:

    Very slow – got to nearly 60 before discovering the delights of vertical cooking and dressing. And the old Centaur is no slouch really… nips along handily in a good breeze!

  10. 20 May, 2015 at 12:32 pmGiles says:

    Sorry Dylan – delete at will.

  11. 20 May, 2015 at 12:37 pmdylan winter says:

    no apologies needed anywhere

    it looks like a low wind weekend in scotland

    limbering up for a long drive

  12. 23 May, 2015 at 5:39 pmkeith lewis says:

    I am the proud owner of a Corribee, and it is a great little boat to sail, as I used to sail dinghies and the Corribee (sometimes referred to as a ‘Pocket Cruiser’) has the excitement of a dinghy, but the relative comfort of a cruiser. Also she always provides a talking point (you know being Dame Ellen first real little ship) and last week I had my Corribee lifted out for seasonal maintenance, she was placed in Harry Kings Yard at Pin Mill (you know where that is D), in between several ‘ginormous’ yachts. Later a rather distinguished looking gentleman and his partner approached me, and ignoring all the expensive acquisitions around him, walked up to my little Corribee and said to his partner, “I am pretty sure that boat is a Corribee” to which I replied (proudly) “It certainly is!

    K.

  13. 2 June, 2015 at 9:09 pmGraham Tipple says:

    I jointly owned the first Corribee (No.10) from new. (The builders started with 10 so people would think there were more!). Fin keeled, she was and was a lovely little boat to sail in the Solent and around the south coast. Had an exciting return from Poole with my two kids up the Needles channel in F5. They never forgot it! We also trailed her down to Restronguet in Falmouth estuary and had a lovely time there, even racing some of the local boats in their regattas. Did O.K.
    A bit spartan below, but we were all much younger then and since then we progressed through a Seal 22, a Dufour 1800 and a Stag 28 before giving up real cruising (better half no longer enjoying it) and now I share a Jeanneau Sunfast 20 which we daysail and race with the very occasional “camp away” in the Solent.
    Realise with a shock that I have been sailing now for about 70 years.

    G.

  14. 5 June, 2015 at 9:28 amRon says:

    I had a Mk1 Corribee, fin keel.
    Great little boat.
    The Mk1s had a bigger cabin and smaller cockpit than subsequent versions.
    We cruised, once, with myself and wife, a great old (in both ways) friend as crew, and two young kids.
    It can be done !

    Had all sorts of other boats since, including a marvelous wooden Purbrook Heron which eventually became more than I could handle on the maintenence front.
    So now, a few decades on,, and sailing single handed, I’m seriously looking at a bilge keel Corribee.
    Maybe not a Mk1.

  15. 5 June, 2015 at 1:56 pmdylan winter says:

    once is the crucial word here

    we spent a week with four people and a retreiver in an eboat

    – once

    never repeated it

    D

  16. 20 June, 2015 at 1:44 amSteve says:

    Surprised none have mentioned the Coromandel,the junk rigged version of the Corribee………

  17. 29 May, 2016 at 5:19 pmTony Wardle says:

    Years ago I owned a Corribbe Mk1 in the Outer Hebrides I took the bog out ( under the ‘chart table’) and replaced it with crates of beer. When sailing with my girlfriend (now wife of 30 years) I used to make her go over the side……as we all did!

    During winter when iout and in the car park we used to hold parties onboard often several revellers found asleep onboard in the morning.

    Corribee Mk 1 Maybee

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