A circumnavigation concocted in the doldrums of 2020’s Covid-19 lockdowns finally gets under way
APRIL ROSE
A 1989 Dale Aquastar 38 flybridge re-engined with Volvos in 2017 and skippered by her owner, Phil Carter
JOIE DE VIVRE
A 2006 Aquastar 38 pilothouse powered by a single Caterpillar C9 and skippered by her owner, Neil Cotillard
After more than a year of planning, our Round Britain challenge is finally under way. Waved on by family and friends, our two Aquastar 38s make their way out of St Helier Harbour, Jersey, bound for Brighton and the start of a very big adventure.
I have known Neil Cotillard since he was a young lad, playing with dinghies at Bonne Nuit on Jersey’s North Coast. We’ve both grown up a bit since then (‘bit’ being the operative word) but the boyish enthusiasm for boats is a habit that neither of us can kick. So when we were forced to stay at home during the Covid-19 lockdowns, Neil found other ways to get his boating fix. Circumnavigating Britain by boat had always been a dream of his so this was the perfect excuse to watch every YouTube video he could find on the subject. This included Harry Dwyer’s “1,500 miles in a Tiny Speedboat” series, John Boyle’s “The Great Motor Boat Tour”, Spirit of Cardiff’s circumnavigation speed record and others. He also contacted various people from the boating industry who had taken part in the legendary 2008 Round Britain Race event.
CHANGE OF PLAN
By the end of 2020, he was determined to go round Britain himself and started planning the attempt in earnest. At the time Neil owned a Princess 33 Mk1 and co-owned a Tornado Super 7 RIB, which he planned to use for the challenge. The RIB was sent off to be re-tubed and re-engined to ensure it was fit for the challenge ahead. Neil then contacted a number of other local boat owners, myself included, to see if any of us would be interested in joining him on his round Britain adventure.
Most of the other invitees already had RIBs or Botnia Targas but I owned a 1989 Dale Aquastar 38 called April Rose that I’d re-engined in 2017. It wouldn’t be as fast as the planing boats but with its robust semi-planing hull and secure seakeeping, I reckoned it was the ideal craft for this epic journey.
Neil’s proposal was to leave Jersey in July 2022 to coincide with the school holidays so his wife and four children could follow us round as land crew. We agreed to meet on a monthly basis to plan the challenge in greater detail but by March 2021 most of the boats had dropped out for one reason or another.
Neil also had a change of heart about using the RIB. Few if any of the fuelling berths in the North of England and Scotland stock petrol so he’d have to arrange tanker visits or
