A boat that marked his adolescence
Leo Corouge was born and raised in Paimpol. It is with his father that he learned to sail in the bay. As a teenager, he discovered in an article in the Chasse-Marée the sailing boat Coaster from the English shipyard Drascombe. He remembers "It was my father who made me discover it. This boat caught my eye! We had never seen one in the area. We started to discover them on the water in Brehat and then in Port-Blanc. We started to look at ads, but without much assiduity. There are very few. It is a boat that is not produced on a large scale. Built in England, it is not easily imported. And new, it's very expensive, which didn't fit my project."
If other boats are eyeing him, it is not with the same conviction. On January 24, 2020, he finally became, with his father, the new owner of Isabella a Drascombe Coaster, the N°49 to be exact, built in 1979 at the Honnor Marine yard in England.
"I had this purchase project with my father to reduce costs, but also because we enjoy sailing together. He taught me how to sail. Getting him to accept a polyester hull was difficult. My father and his brother have always sailed on wooden boats. But in the end, we spend more time working on them than sailing. The plastic hull simplifies maintenance, so you can spend time on the water."
A sailboat with a shallow draft that can be beached to sail in the Bay of Paimpol
He bought it from its first French owner, who was too old at 75 to continue sailing on it. This is how he became the owner, or rather co-owner, of his first boat, who previously owned a sea kayak.
Leo details, " The program is not so different after all. It's a full dinghy. This type of boat corresponds to my way of sailing and to the sailing basin where I evolve. I sail in the bay of Paimpol and around the archipelago of Bréhat. It's wonderful for boats with a shallow draft. To run aground too."
A small boat to cruise with the possibility of spending a few nights on board
The Drascombe Coaster is a production sailboat with an overall length of 6.63 m, a beam of 2 m and a weight of only 580 kg. Designed by Watkinson, it is a polyester boat that imitates traditional English wooden boats. She has a fractional ketch rig, with a small mizzen mast, and a fairly short main mast with a military Houari-type mainsail with a vertical peak and no boom.
The small cabin of the Drascombe Coaster allows two people to sleep quite comfortably. A cockpit tent is easily installed to set up a hammock and increase the number of beds. A choice made by Leo in the summer of 2022 to accommodate his wife and two children during their 5-day cruise.
Its very low freeboard is a priori sufficient to avoid getting wet. In case of bad weather, the roof can be extended with a canvas for shelter. If it allows you to stay dry, this system nevertheless reduces visibility. It is therefore preferable to use it at anchor.
The cockpit is very large and quite deep, but with a weak point, it is not self-draining. Although low to the water, the depth is achieved by having the cockpit bottom lowered below the waterline.
The tiller has a "very English" rudder system as Leo explains: "It's fully liftable and integrated into a well. It's very special. It allows to bring ballast, but also to lower the center of gravity. Articulated on its lower part, it lifts up on its own in case of impact."
Under the small roof, the centerboard well is positioned in the center and takes up half the length of the cabin. There are lockers on both sides to store your belongings and two benches that can be used as sleeping areas for two adults, or even three with a child, or two children and an adult. Finally, at the level of the descent, a small sliding drawer is used as a kitchen with a stove installed on a gimbal, to cook even in the gite. Batteries, solar panels, some lighting and a telephone charger complete the equipment on board Leo's boat.
As for the sails, Leo's Drascombe Coaster has a furling jib, a mainsail and a small mizzen sail, also called a tape-cul. In total, the sail area is 15.22 m2, not huge for a 6.60 m sailboat. The Mariner 4-stroke 6 horsepower outboard motor is installed in a well, which has an advantage, as Leo explains: "It may be a loss of efficiency, but it plays on the comfort of use. The cockpit does not go all the way to the bottom, since there are lockers, so the engine is installed right behind. It goes deeper into the water and therefore the boat does not discharge. In Lanveoc, we had 1 m of hollow in the harbor. When I was at the front for the maneuvers, the engine stayed in the water."> The Drascombe Coaster, an educational, simple and safe sailing boat Besides the fact that this boat caught his eye when he was young, the Drascombe Coaster fits perfectly with Leo's agenda: find a cheap boat, teach his children to sail, sail and store his boat on a trailer in a shed in winter. He explains: "p1"light weather"It's a perfect boat for learning to sail with the whole family. It is easy, not demanding and relatively seaworthy for its size and weight. We feel safe even up to force 5, conditions that I was able to test in the summer of 2022. I have a program of coastal sailing, rock shaving, day trips. It is also a boat in which you can spend one or two nights on board in comfort, like camping. I am a fan of overnight stays in a van and the Coaster offers a very similar program. You can do many things with this boat, which is full of compromises. It is a cheap boat, with very simple fittings, sails that can be handled without winchâeuros¦ I bought this boat when my children were 3 and 5 years old and were being introduced to light sailing through courses. It is easy enough to introduce small children. The sheets are easy to handle in light weather. It is a pedagogical and safe boat. With its 30 cm draft, you can go anywhere, especially to spread out a gale. Light, it is also dismountable. At anchor, if there is a gust of wind, I can easily put down the mast in 10 minutes the boat is in the water three months of the year. When the kids are older, we'll sail in seasons other than summer." 
sail settings. It is very flexible and turns very easily. Its biggest flaw is its lightness. When the wind picks up, it reacts quickly. But its advantage is that it can lower the mainsail and continue to sail under tape-knot and genoa, while remaining stable and maneuverable. Beyond force 5, the boat does not even heel anymore. I haven't tried it yet in heavy seas, I don't want to do it with my family. I've been able to read about sailors' adventures that indicate that the boat goes well in the chop formed, even in the swell. "> A light air sailboat that allows for a lot of mistakes
