Sumara of Weymouth

21st February 2026

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Nerdiness Quotient: 7/10

We have just returned from the Jester Challenge Symposium in Letchworth. Most of you who follow my blog will have a shrewd idea what this symposium will be about but for those who have stumbled upon this website and think that I may have taken up juggling or dancing with bells, then I had better explain.

Jester was the name of a small Folkboat that was sailed in the first OSTAR race by Blondie Hasler. After 48 days at sea, he came in second after Francis Chichester. The boat was junk rigged and fitted with a servo pendulum self-steering gear which Blondie invented. The gear mechanism is widely used on yachts today, including Sumara.

(By the way, Roger from the Vertue Yachts website has kindly prompted me that David Lewis came third in “Cardinal Vertue” after 54 days which included a return to Plymouth UK to rebuild his mast!)

The Jester Challenges are not races but “challenges” which encourage fine seamanship from single-handed sailors whilst undertaking adventurous voyages from Plymouth UK to either Baltimore in Ireland, the Azores or, most challenging, to Newport, Rhode Island. There are no strict rules but generally the boats are between 20 and 30 feet. There is no entrance fee, no safety inspection, you just turn up on the start line and take part.  You can find out more here https://jesterchallenge.org/

Now you might wonder what a group of 93 attendees would gain from such an event, after all we have all read the same books, we have all spent hours in the pub discussing batteries, anchors and the best way to store eggs.

Nevertheless, I decided to take my waterproof note pad and I jotted down the following observations. Some notes were directly from the excellent speakers, some were prompts to get on with things already on my massive job list and some notes may have just been my mind wondering. Anyway here they are:

• Storm Tactics by Lin and Larry Pardey was recommended by Hugh Davies. Action: Might be an interesting read
• Breather pipe for the fuel tank could let water in. Action: Fit plug or tap
• Competitors mucked in to help one of them who had a damaged rudder with supplies of epoxy etc. Action: Make up an emergency crash kit with a piece of ply to make a window board, some underwater putty, clout nails, and other blobby stuff to solve an emergency ingress of water. Have them in one place rather than spread across various cupboards.
• “Glad my locker lids didn’t fly open when I was knocked down” Action: Get some stainless “R” pins to secure my locker catches. Tie them on with cord.

• Rigging failure possibility. Action: Explore purchase of rather costly Stalok long eye terminal plus spare wire plus stainless steel 6 mm and 4 mm cable dogs.
• Talking about Parachute Anchors. Action: I have a small ships liferaft sea anchor but I should make up a strong 20 mm polyester octoplait bridle with polyester round sling tubing chafe protection for use with the sea anchor and also for trailing lines or towing. So far I have never felt the need to trail warps or deploy and anchor but there is always a first time.
• Water ingress. Action: Devise method of sealing Dorade and other deck vents ideally from below deck.
• Inreach. Action: Test receiving texts from shore crew with weather routing.
• Forecasting. Action: Explore wwwfastseas.com forecasting
• Predict Wind. Action: Diabolically clever but far too clever for me
• Jordon Series Drogue. Action: I have already decided against carrying one on this years trip but maybe for future I will explore www.dragdevicedb.com
• Twister survived a hurricane by deploying a builders bag. Action: Reminder to take a builders bag.
• Backup devices. Action: Might be worth buying a cheap handheld GPS and keeping in a Faraday pouch.
• Navigation. Action: Explore www.nauticalalmanac.com to save money buying celestial data.
• Sheet to tiller steering. Action: I am happy with my Windpilot but if it breaks I should explore Scallywag’s method on Youtube.
• Bilge Pumps. Action: I only use hand pumps but I will consider fitting my large brass pump as a back up.
• Electronics. Action: Explore Simrad software update, although mine still seems to work fine.
• Weather information. Action: Investigate weatherfax charts receiver.
• Weather information. Action: Explore Blackcat app on tablet for use via Sony SSB radio.
• Grib files. Action: Look into www.saildocs.com as alternative to Mailasail.
• Solar and Wind controller Victron MPPT is very efficient. Action: I don’t think I need one but worth noting if I buy a solar panel.
• Staying clipped on. Action: Consider mini Jacklines in cockpit to allow access to Windpilot without unclipping.
• There was mention of carrying a foot strop on lifejackets. Action: Not needed unless self-rescuing but interesting concept. (I have made a rescue net).
• Fit snap shackles to lanyards where they attach to lifejackets so they can be released. Action: Consider idea but knife would also solve the problem without risk of accidental release.
• Liferaft. Action: Be careful not to take food that makes you thirsty.
• Liferaft, Waypoint type weight is 17 kg and only requires three year services all the way to 25 years (as opposed to 10 years then yearly) Action: Check if weight is canister or valise and how it compares with others.
• Liferaft, Waypoint are making a two-man liferaft. Action: Investigate once it is released.
• Communications, if sending a text from Inreach to a sat phone be sure to check the country code prefix. Action: Check if it is 88 or 80. Make note on the phone.
• Health. Definitely take antibiotics, ideally for two weeks. Action: Ask my dentist again.
• Health. Infection can be a big problem. Action: Ensure cuts are quickly treated with Savlon (or iodine).
• Health. Cracked Linseed is a great source of fibre. Action: Stock up.
• Health. Clotrimazole is great for treating fungal infection. Action: Stock up in medicine chest.
• Stokey’s routing talk. Action: USA Routing charts are free, Zoleo satellite communicator will accept texts 900 long making it great to receive routing weather from shorebase.
• Stokey’s routing talk. There was a question why fronts don’t show on Predict Wind and Windy Apps. Stokey advised “Blue” Windy. Action: Download free trial period. It looks good!
• Tracking. Action: I need to get my Inreach tracking blips to show on a map on my website.

The whole event was held over Saturday and Sunday. There was a full schedule of speakers, many of which had completed one or more Jester Challenges. There were a few exhibits too including the impressive Sea Feather self-steering gear below.

A big thanks to the organisers for an excellent event!