Spanish Armada
Sailing the wrong way round Britain might have brought about the downfall of the Spanish Armada, but has proved successful for the British crew onboard a 28-foot Marlin RIB powered by the latest Suzuki twin 250hp four-stroke engines.

“ The engines were absolutely outstanding and definitely gave us the advantage,” reported Nigel Steljes, who skippered the grueling 25-day fundraising adventure.

Nigel, who is Chairman of Steljes Ltd, the technology and AV market development, distribution and services organization, said, “We motored over 2,000 miles and had a top speed in excess of 52 knots (60mph). These engines never faltered in starting and their reliability and performance were superb. Although they were incredibly powerful, they were so quiet that we kept listening to check that they were still running.”

“It’s said that the worst place to put an engine is on the sea, therefore top priority is dependability – which is exactly what the Suzuki engines delivered.”

Against the Tide!
The course went against the UK’s prevailing winds and tides by navigating up the east coast round Scotland, then west and on towards Northern Ireland.

The reverse nature of the voyage was curiously mirrored in other ways, Nigel added: “Notoriously stormy and treacherous locations such as Cape Wrath were fine. But other normally calm places were horrible and there were violent storms going up the east coast. Plus the trip was planned in endless days of sunshine last year, yet we ended up spending the whole time in full weather gear battling endless rain!”

The crew raised nearly £20,000 for the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society (BRPS), set up to research and help people with RP live with and overcome their visual problems.

The Happy Octopus was named after a drawing by Nigel’s daughter, was fited out with twin Suzuki 250hp four stroke outboards. The Happy Octopus was to be seen at Southampton Boat Show on the water.

Oct 2007