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ON TEST • Sea Doo Challenger 210 • Cobra 8.0 RIB • MasterCraft 300 ON THE LEVEL Everything you ever needed to know about trim tabs GREEN AND GORGEOUS Can eco-friendly boating really be sexy?

Mingling with megastars at the world’s most exclusive marina

iPhone revolution

Marine navigation hits the next level

Lifestyle Viagra Inside the wonderful world of classic powerboats

INDUSTRY PROFILE The man behind Britain’s biggest new show

WIN FIRST ON-WATER TEST OF THE MASTERCRAFT 300

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UK EXCLUSIVE

FEBRUARY 2010

A SUNSPORT INFLATABLE TENDER

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CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2010

REGULARS Word from the water.................................................. 10 What’s hot and what’s not as we head towards the new season

Superyacht news........................................................... 16 A sideways look at the extraordinary Wally 58

Cutting edge accessories........................................ 19 Find out why you need an £8,500 watch

Word from the circuit................................................. 24 Latest developments in powerboat racing

Word from the web..................................................... 29 Slipway talk from the reader’s online forum

Special retreat................................................................. 32 Mooring up at Keith Floyd’s waterfront pub

‘Naughtical’ terms........................................................ 92 Jibber-jabber for the salt-free sea dog

WIN a boat....................................................................... 99 A SunSport inflatable worth £659 up for grabs

FEATURES Formula 1 from the water. ................................... 35 The greatest petrol head weekend ever devised

Lights, camera, action............................................. 42 Live a filmstar lifestyle with a classic powerboat

Get on board.................................................................. 65 Nail the basics with our wakeboarding tutorial

Boating overseas......................................................... 70 Expert tips for that holiday of a lifetime

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NEWS I SportsBoat AND RIB

HOLY TRINITY Abarth, the famous Italian car tuning company, has made its debut in boating with a Sacs project powered

by Yamaha. The ‘Powershore’, developed by Italian designer Christian Grande, is basically an aggressive new version of the Sacs Strider 12S. In partnership with ‘Centro Stile Fiat Group Automobiles’, it has taken advantage not just of Abarth’s performance pedigree but also of the famous reliability and marine-specific experience of Yamaha motors.

On the transom are three of Yamaha’s flagship F350 V8 outboard motors and all that power is transformed into controllable motion by a combination of extremely acute hull angles (the deadrise is 27 degrees at the stern) a substantial stabilising collar and a hull step to improve planing efficiency. The result of all that is a 12knot plane, a cruising speed of 48 knots and a current top end of around 62 knots.

The boat’s livery exhibits typical Abarth colors but there’s more to this thing than just pace and style. With a retractable sun top, a fully equipped galley ‘kitchen’ (with grill, sink and fridge), a bathroom with shower and no fewer than eight square metres of cushioned sunbathing surface, there is plenty of practical leisure ability on offer here too. Abarth, Sacs and Yamaha might just be a threesome worth keeping an eye on . . .

FILM STARS FLOCK TO WICKLOW On 02 December 2009, famous actors, Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, took time out of a busy filming schedule to drop in and say hello to Wicklow RNLI lifeboat volunteers and to get a tour of the lifeboat station. The two stars had been in Wicklow filming scenes at the East pier beside the lifeboat station for a new movie called ‘The Guard’. Irish actor Brendan Glesson also starred in the drama ‘The Lifeboat’ in the early 1980s, filmed at St Davids in Wales, while American actor Don Cheadle is well known for many films including ‘Hotel Rwanda’ and ‘Oceans 11’.

Tommy Dover, Wicklow volunteer lifeboat press officer, said: “The two actors were filming beside the lifeboat station and we invited them in to look around. They were very friendly and happily posed for photos with the lifeboat crew. We took great pride in showing them the lifeboat station and our two lifeboats. Wednesday night is the onshore training night for the lifeboat crew, so plenty of the station’s volunteers were present for the surprise visit.”

www.rnli.org.uk 10 I SB&RIB

SportsBoat I NEWS AND RIB

PONTOON PERFECTION

A new chandlery in Portsmouth is offering a rather more attentive service than most of us have come to expect.

You Boat, based in Gosport, at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, is providing a ‘Pontoon Pickup’, whereby passing boaters can call ahead with their order, pay by card and then have the goods waiting for them at the end of the pontoon when they arrive. The chandlery itself is to be stocked with all the big brands and will offer a customer loyalty scheme for regular patrons. If they can just add Pusser’s Rum to the kit-list, it will no doubt prove a very popular service indeed.

02392 522226 www.youboatmarine.com

INDEPENDENCE DAY FOR UK LIFESAVERS

TOP TRICKERY FROM BRP

On 26 February 2010, for one day only, the independent Lifeboat crews of the UK will be joining forces to raise awareness for the rescue services that operate outside the auspices of the RNLI. There are around 60 lifeboat units throughout the UK that are not run by the RNLI and every year their volunteer crews respond to pager callouts in an identical way to the RNLI crews.

Training is to a very high standard and all rescue craft must adhere to the same strict code as those of the RNLI. But these are often very small teams, responsible for their own fundraising, training and maintenance of equipment. If something breaks it is up to those present to work out how to fix it.

These independent units do, however, need support and the hope is that, by celebrating independence on the same day every year, they can highlight the number of non-RNLI units in operation and raise awareness for their cause. In support of that, the organisers urge everybody who has an independent lifeboat unit near them to join in with the day by wearing something orange or by holding an ‘Orange Fundraising Event’ and donating the funds raised to their local group. For more information, visit the website.

BRP has been named the ‘Grand Award Winner’ by ‘Popular Science’ in the annual ‘Best of What’s New’ event.

The Popular Science award is extremely prestigious, as products from every form of recreational activity are considered - and BRP’s Sea-Doo GTX Limited iS watercraft, the only marine product in the running, was selected as the Best of 2009 in the ‘Recreation’ segment.

Much of the acclaim is attributed to the introduction of Intelligent Brake & Reverse (iBR), the only braking technology on a watercraft, but Sea-Doo has also introduced Intelligent Suspension (iS) on the same craft to provide class-leading smoothness of ride. Bob Lumley, Vice President, North American Sales and Marketing at SeaDoo, explains: “The Sea-Doo GTX, equipped with iControl, is defining the future of personal watercraft with innovations that improve the levels of safety and change the way Sea-Doo watercraft riders have fun on the water. The innovation of iControl technology will be enjoyed by more riders as the technology expands to more Sea-Doo models in the years to come.” BRP’s iControl technology is due to expand from just two models in 2009 to seven in 2010. We’ll keep you up to speed with developments . . .

www.i-lifeboat.org.uk

www.brp.com SB&RIB I 11

SUPERYACHT NEWS

SHAPE-SHIFTERS

N

Tom Isitt takes a long, hard, caustic look at the world of amusingly shaped superyachts . . .

obody does it quite like Wally Yachts. Really, nobody.

Not even Bugatti or Apple Mac are able to summon up such high-profile selfgratification as Wally. “Look at us,” they purr, unveiling yet another multi-million pound white elephant, “Look what we can do!”

That’s not to say Wally don’t build some nice things. In the same way that the Veyron is quite marvellous, so too are Wally’s boats. They may be similarly expensive and not entirely practical, but we do thank God for the vision (and money) that makes these things possible.

The WallyPower 118 was a fantastic piece of design, even if it didn’t go nearly as fast as everyone had hoped. And the Wally Tender is still the coolest way of getting from jetty to superyacht.

For their latest creation, in conjunction with Hermès, the French fashion house renowned for its scarves beloved of rich Sloanie aunts and trophy wives, Wally has embarked on something called the WHY 58 (Wally Hermès Yacht 58-metre).

Okay, we’ve seen limited-edition Hermès Veyrons so why not a Hermès Wally?

Some might stifle a yawn but it’s worth sticking with this because the new WHY 58 heralds a new dawn. Sort of. You see, the received wisdom in the boat-building world is that boats should be long and thin, with a pointy bit at the front and a blunt bit at the back. But the WHY 58 isn’t like that at all. It’s more like a wedge of cheese, or a slice of cake. And it’s much, much wider at the back than the front.

In fact it’s a sort of triangular shape, measuring 58 metres LOA, with an enormous maximum beam of 38 metres. It has three decks, and is designed to be more of a luxurious floating villa than an actual boat in the conventional sense.

And therein lies the purpose of this craft. It’s not so much a boat as a floating island. And this isn’t actually a new concept for Wally. You may remember the WallyIsland concept unveiled a year or so ago. It was basically a 325-foot container ship (albeit a very stylish one) with a huge garden on the 1,000-square-metre foredeck instead of 200 freight containers. You could spec a tennis court or five-a-side football pitch, and there was a large swimming pool in the bow section. The idea

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LIFESTYLE I FORUM

FORUM FOCUS WWW.SPORTSBOAT.CO.UK

STARTING EARLY Jamie 1131 I’m hoping to start my boating season early this year and I don’t want to be restricted by the weather. My first child is due in April so it’s going to be fairly tight for boating time anyway. So to encourage myself to go out even when it’s raining, I’ve bought a set of Musto HPX foulies.

They’re extremely heavy duty and should last a while but I am wondering what experience any of you might have with young kids on boats?

My family was always around the water. My brother and I were on the water in our own boats at about three and I can remember taking my sister on the ocean at six months of age. However, my wife is not so impressed with the idea of the newborn on the boat. She is a bit nervous on the boat herself and I need to convince her it’s okay.

Big Zeb

This month, the online contest to take your copy of SB to the most outlandish places reaches fresh new levels of one-upmanship

My daughter was born in May and we were boating that summer. You just boat a little differently when you have babies on board. Take your time to get to where you’re going and don’t play around with ringos when a baby’s on board. Drop them off at a beach if you really must have a thrash. Giving up boating or not letting your baby on your boat for a whole season is over the top. Just take your time and your bambino will be fine.

Centaur

Big Nige

We’ve had Baaldi AT sea level and Big Zebedee BELOW sea level, so how about this - 10,000 feet ABOVE sea level . . .

We sailed and powerboated with our three kids from birth onwards, with no problems. It’s all about common sense precautions. It’s when they get older and want to try the donut that you really start to worry . . .

THE SPORTS BOAT TOUR CONTINUES

TRAILER TO THE LAKES Taylor We’re planning to take our Maxum 1800SR3 across to Italy next summer to enjoy some quality lake skiing. For us it’s about as good as it gets for the stuff we value - namely, camping, wine, skiing, beer, fine food, skiing, sunbathing, beer, wine, fine food, wakeboarding and beer. Trouble is, after trailering across half of Europe, by the time we get there, we are not exactly in the mood to enjoy each other’s company. It usually takes two days before we are speaking again!

Any tips much appreciated.

Secondly, try to take someone along who can share the driving, so your progress is non-stop and you can snatch some decent sleep without having to double the amount of time it takes. And if the idea of a bickering family really is a problem, think about putting them on a cheap flight and picking them up at the airport at your destination once the boat’s in the water and the fraught stuff is all behind you.

Even now, there are plenty of cheap flights to be had if you book in advance and the credit you will get from the rest of the family for your sacrifice will be immeasurable.

Smudge Long distance trailering need not be a trauma. There are several things you can do to make it more bearable. Firstly, sort your rig out before departure so you don’t have to fix things in the dark en route to Italy. And if you’re not the DIY kind, then get it properly serviced and kitted up with all the regular trailer spares.

WRITE TO US AT: SPORTSBOAT AND RIB MAGAZINE, CSL PUBLISHING LTD, ALLIANCE HOUSE, 49 SIDNEY STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 3HX E-MAIL: EDITOR@SPORTSBOAT.CO.UK

SB&RIB I 29

Special Retreat THE MALTSTERS ARMS AT TUCKENHAY

Bored of beige?

Want something a bit more colourful? Alex Smith thinks he knows just the place . . .

Below: The moorings at the pub are fine as long as you time the tides and do not deviate from the zigzag channel on your way through the creek

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A

h, Keith Floyd. What a memorable man he was. What a strange fusion of ogre and English rose - awkward, offensive, funny, disturbing and yet oddly attractive all the same. Can you imagine how great he would have been as the landlord of a pub? Well it turns out he was exactly that, down in the wilds of Devon at a boater’s haven known as the Maltsters Arms, and I’m delighted to say that, even today, the old pub feels like a manifestation of those very same paradoxes that characterised Keith Floyd himself.

For a start, it’s ludicrously difficult to reach. By land you approach through a maze of tiny, steep, hedge-lined roads about a foot wider than your car. And if you elect to come by boat, which, frankly, you should, the access route is similarly challenging. Tucked in at the end of Bow Creek, half way up the River Dart, neap tides tend to give you more time to get afloat than springs but the water races out of the channel here, so you have to be very careful.

The guys at the pub advise that, in general, if you can float off the pontoon, you can probably get away but the pub’s website puts things squarely in perspective: “Coming up on a rising tide is easy, but going either way on a falling one can be rather exciting.”

Once you’re tied up at the pub’s pontoon, you step up onto the quayside, where an outdoor bar and barbecue serve a set of picnic tables with views of the creek. The barbecue is a permanent summer fixture, peddling high quality local meat and fish and in season, there is regular live music out here, timed for high water to allow visiting boats from Dittisham, Stoke Gabriel, Dartmouth and Totnes to access the pub and join the party.

Inside, the pub is split into four sections, the bar, the restaurant, the Dart Cabin, with its open fire, and the Map Room, filled with local charts. It’s a heavily worn and rambling place with plenty of bric-a-brac, board games and books. There’s even a dedicated smoking area, complete with ashtrays, seating, a fire and a river view.

At the bar, a local IPA is the order of the day, alongside a couple of equally local guest ales. There are about 15 wines available by the glass too, including at least one from the vineyard at Sharpham. Like the wine selection, the menu changes often and the food is impressively imaginative.

How about whole gurnard baked with lime and sambucca, or belly of pork in Cajun spice and honey? How about Lamb’s kidneys in sherry or a plum and ruby port crumble?

If the strangeness of the place or the serenity of its location grab you in the same way they do me, you should think about staying the night but be warned - you will find none of the generic box rooms with chipboard tables and pay-per-view porn channels your average roving journalist is forced to endure. These are beds with names and personalities and my own room for the night is known as ‘Khun Akorn’. The moment I enter it, I am conscious that there can be no other space on earth quite like this. With its low ceiling, sumptuous bed drapes and rather raunchy Thai-influenced decor, it’s a splendid riposte to all that is dull and standardised. I love it and yet, if you have the choice, Floyd’s Cabin, a seafaring room named after the famous chef, is definitely the one to have. The clutter with which the cabin abounds is apparently made up of the various artifacts and mementos that Floyd brought back from his travels. It’s like a journey into the great man’s head and, compelling though that is, if you can take your mind off the impressive strangeness of the place, you will be equally impressed that

Formula for success When the Formula 1 Grand Prix rolled into the ‘Monaco of the Middle East’, Sports Boat and RIB was there to soak up the atmosphere, ogle the kit and learn just how good a marina can be.

Words and pictures by Tom Isitt.

SB&RIB I 35

CRUISING WITH THE CLASSICS Simon Everett dons his best threads and invites us to join him on a voyage of boating discovery, classic style . . .

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LIFESTYLE I CLASSIC RALLIES All of these events, both at home and abroad, are dedicated to the classic marques of the past, where visitors and participants gather to revel in the glory of such style icons as Riva, Donoratico, Chris Craft, Century, Abbate, San Marco, Albatross, Delta, Colombo, Rio, Tremlett, Fairey, Levi, Souter and a whole host of other, more obscure, builders. Some owners dress up in smart outfits while others dress down in regular boating gear but the atmosphere is always the same - refined yet electric in the most dazzlingly addictive way.

Euro-thrash

There is always something out of the ordinary at a classic boat gathering but one of the biggest differences between homegrown events and those on the other side of La Manche consists in attitudes. Here in the UK, we suffer from an endlessly conservative, reactionary and repressive regime, where our elected (and occasionally our unelected) authorities see fit to make it almost impossible to use classic boats in anger.

But on the continent they have grand festivals, which wholeheartedly embrace the roar of vintage engines.

They are not stupid. They know that nostalgia is a magnet and that tourists will travel from far and wide to see such rare and exotic boats. The difference is that rather than shying away from it as something raucous and unsavoury, they recognise it for exactly what it is. It’s an openness that has seen classic boat rallies develop into major local festivals, especially at Aix-les-Bains in the foothills of Mont Blanc where the week-long festivities are centred around the old harbour and the classic boats.

A trip to Aix-les-Bains during festival week will see you enjoying Rivas, Chris Craft and Rio boats, plus a selection of steamboats that really jazz the place up.

And there are plenty of opportunities for visitors to get out on the water and sample these beautiful creations for themselves. That is the whole idea, for people to enjoy and be entertained by the activities and the boats - and it works.

Back in Blighty

It used to be like this at the Windermere event. Billed as the British Classic Motor Boat Rally, it ran like a charm for 15 years, before a particularly clueless and shortsighted bureaucrat slapped a blanket 10mph speed limit on the water with no concessions. The result?

An immediate fall off in the local economy around the lake and a once thriving event reduced to a couple of pottering boats and a selection of disappointed diehards attempting to relive how it used to be . . .

Below: Straw hats and sea dogs are all part of the colour of the classic boating circuit

W

hen you conjure up images in your mind of classic boating, the pictures that appear tend to be of straw hats, summer frocks and striped blazers. You see people raising glasses of Champagne under azure skies with varnished decks stretching as far as the eye can see. Well certainly such events do exist but they tend to be held on the Continent, in France and Italy, where a sense of style is still very much to the forefront. Homegrown events tend to be a touch more down to earth than that but the participants are no less enthusiastic about their boats or in fact about everybody else’s.

SB&RIB I 43

COBRA 8.0 With the emergence of the new Cobra 8.0, the epic Yamaha F350 adds another willing transom to the club. Mike Pullen gets predictably excited . . .

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– ING

D R A O B E K A W

S C I S A B E TH G N I L I NA

With so many foreign venues available throughout the winter, it pays to remind ourselves of the technical foundations upon which all great wakeboarding is built. Whether you’re looking to get involved or brush up on your basics, Matt Crowhurst is the man who can help . . .

Pictures by MC Inc and Justin Lemm

SB&RIB I 65

TALKING POINT I GREEN BOATING

GREEN AROUND THE GILLS? With technology improving at a pace matched only by the increasing vehemence of the green lobby, Mike Pullen thinks it’s time to put things in their proper perspective . . .

Cardiff Marina Village had to complete the piling work for a 150-berth expansion. Rather than get it done there and then, they conducted the job at a time designed to avoid causing upset to the native fish spawning cycle and to the nearby nesting birds. It’s little wonder that we have seen the establishment of the Green Blue, a body dedicated to providing an ever more willing public with guidance on how they can enjoy their boating recreation in a better and more sustainable way.

The double edge

I

t is absolutely right that the boat industry, like any other, should treat the natural environment with the appropriate respect. After all, a clean and natural seascape, full of healthy fish and litter-free beaches, forms a fundamental part of an enjoyable boating experience - and there are plenty of developments in the last five years that have helped to achieve that desired end . . .

For instance, back in 2004, legislation banning Halon as an extinguishing agent played its part in reducing the amount of ozone-depleting gases released into the atmosphere. It was an early example of a trend that has seen products like non-toxic biodegradable boat soaps and special ‘oxygen-release’ spot removers for boat maintenance emerge as a means of limiting the hazardous materials involved in our recreation.

Products like fuel collars to minimise spillage at the point of refill have also been developed, as have mini-containment kits to clean up the mess should an escape occur.

As for the engines themselves, well the banning of the old style two-strokes might have seemed a rather foolish and short-sighted piece of crowd-pleasing legislation at the time, but even so, the latest four-stroke outboard engines (and the latest Direct Injection two-stroke outboards), are simply unparalleled for efficiency when used on a well matched boat.

It only really came home to me just how far modern engines have come when, having spent a couple of hours on the Finnish fjords in an aluminium sports boat with a 70hp Suzuki on the transom, I came back to discover that we had used virtually nothing. Even at 27 knots, we had been burning less than 13 litres of fuel per hour - and that was with three rather large Scandinavians on board plus a full tank of fuel. It’s fantastic stuff, not just for the planet but also for those of us who need the price of a weekend’s entertainment to remain realistic.

These developments have all resulted from a general upturn in the public’s ecological sensibilities and that is nothing but positive. I remember, for instance, when

But while we strive to be modern and respectful powerboaters, let’s do our best to guard against simplistic acceptance of green imperatives and recognise instead that a great deal of the stuff we’re looking at here is double-edged. As I sit here at my desk and ponder the matter, three issues immediately spring to mind:

Left: In the absence of antifouling, a slippery hull becomes a seagoing scourer, sapping your fuel and your performance in equal measure

1 - Antifouling. Antifouling gets a bad press because the traditional stuff is so poisonous. There are non-toxic varieties available now but, whichever you use, it’s actually about as green as a product gets. Think about it this way. According to the Marine

SB&RIB I 79

The incredible iPhone

The iPhone was always a first rate bit of kit but here, in the hands of the forward-thinking skipper, it has finally found its true calling in life. By Mike Pullen.

O

n the Apple iPhone launch day, I did not understand the long queue outside the O2 shop in Exeter.

Now that I own one, I am surprised that it was not much longer. Possession of it has done much to reorganise my personal and working life and it is already playing a big part in my boat management. And happily, that puts me ahead of the game, because I have no doubt that the iPhone represents the way in which we shall all enjoy using our boats in the future.

Those who don’t yet know the iPhone will not yet comprehend its versatility, so let me briefly explain what mine has done. It has taken over my mobile phone comms, some of my email and internet activity (bye bye to the Blackberry) my address book, my expenses tracking, my games, plus the audio books and music to be enjoyed on the train and when the boat is marooned by bad weather. I also have my diary stored ‘on a cloud’ and yet accessible from my two offices, from my boat or in fact from anywhere in the world. But most crucially, this new magic box is having an increasingly serious impact on my marine recreation.

This happy fact is mostly due to the Navionics iPhone application (or App), which is one of the best and most innovative programs ever to land on my desk. For starters, a full Navionics Gold cartography package can be downloaded via iTunes for a mere £14.99. Now you think about that. On this little machine, I now have Navionics Europe West, comprising charts for both sides of the Channel, from Belgium to Portugal, including all the small harbours and obscure channels at the head of estuaries, for a price pretty much on a par with a bag of fish and chips and a couple of beers. It’s just astonishing value for money.

In action

The App downloaded quickly and I was immediately pleased by just how well the small screen handles complex, layered (vectored) cartography.

There is no pretence that it can compete with a full-size chart plotter but then I would

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BACK END I INDUSTRY PROFILE

JAMES BROOKE . . .

James Brooke, Royal Marine, Powerboat Instructor and driving force behind two national shows, talks to Alex Smith about life, boats and Eric Cantona . . .

B

ack in 2005, I was taught to drive a boat by a man who has since gone on to great things. His name was James Brooke and his company, Advanced Yachting, was doing good business.

He went on to write a couple of articles for SB&RIB magazine but it was in 2007 that things really started to kick off for him. He became the driving force behind the Earls Court Boat Show and is now set to bring us a new national event in March 2010, known as the British Leisure Show. One way or another, he has become a man very much at the forefront of the British marine industry so it was high time we popped down to his Lymington HQ for a chat . . .

So James, when did you first get into boats?

I first went boating when I was about five. It was in my dad’s 16-foot Dateline Bounty, with a 90hp Mercury Blue Stripe. It was seriously quick and the noise was just amazing.

What would be your ideal boat if money were no object?

Well money’s always an issue so I’d want the best deal I could find but right now I would have to say the superyacht belonging to Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky. It satisfies the three Ps - it’s got personality, it’s got punch and it’s got lots of room to party . . . plus an escape pod and military-grade water cannon.

Yeah, they’re all vital assets. So what’s your most memorable boating moment to date?

It was during Royal Marines training, when I was helming one of six 28-foot Pacific RIBs, fitted with twin 300hp Mercury outboards. Our brief was to ‘intercept’ the Barfleur ferry, which was en-route form Cherbourg to Poole on a wet and windy December night. I was the coxswain of RIB 2, with a port-side approach from the stern. Brock, my instructor, was guiding me in and, as we approached what seemed like a mountain of a stern wake, I gave it a little bit ‘extra’ and we took off into the biggest, darkest hole, to be met by the best the English Channel had to offer. It filled the boat in a nano-second.

As the sea drained, I listened to Brock intently and manoeuvered our RIB alongside the point of assault. It was the most surreal experience I’ve ever had at sea, keeping the RIB static at 20 knots alongside an enormous ferry, in the middle of the night with all the passengers asleep in their cabins. It was great fun though, and I’m so proud of the extraordinary efforts our troops our making

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BACK END I CANNIBALISM AT SEA

THE CUSTOM OF THE SEA It may be considered the final taboo but for centuries sailors have practised the ‘custom of the sea’ in order to survive. If faced with the choice, would you dine or die? By Craig Barnett.

A

bandoned on a drifting boat under the blazing Caribbean sun, four people surround a quiet fisherman. In desperation they demand he do something to save them. For two weeks they’ve eaten nothing, sipped on occasional rainwater and regularly heaved the bodies of friends and relatives into a watery grave. Eventually the man can take no more. Gregorio Maria Marizan relents and dejectedly shuffles forward, wiping his knife on a rag and proffering small portions of raw flesh to his four companions. By now their bodies are convulsing with starvation and their senses swimming with acute dehydration, yet each pauses momentarily before placing the repulsive life-saving morsel into their mouths. It’s desperation that drives the five remaining souls to reach this point, but having watched 27 others die, they’re

forced to give in to the unthinkable, the survivor’s last resort – cannibalism.

As distasteful as the subject may be, occurrence of cannibalism at sea is far more common than most may wish to believe. The practice has been so common in fact, that for centuries it has been known as ‘the custom of the sea’ and a set of unwritten rules surrounds the act.

These ‘rules’ include requiring the consent of all those aboard, followed by the drawing of straws – the recipient of the shortest straw is killed and eaten, while the recipient of the next shortest is forced to be executioner.

But taking this terrifying moral step in pursuit of survival is not an act experienced solely by those from a bygone age. Gregorio Maria Marizan, the fisherman in our story, told the press in a very matter of fact way: “We cut from his leg and chest. We cut little pieces and swallowed them like pills.” He was speaking immediately after his rescue in November 2008, little more than a year ago . . .

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