There had been a strong blow the night before and so we had a huge length of chain out, it took us over two hours to recover it all and be on our way back to Ocean Village. The solution we came up with was to attach a hook to a length of rope, clip the hook in to one of the anchor chain links then manually winch the rope in as far as we could which was about only about 5 meters, then choke off the anchor chain and repeat the process until we had it all in. The failure of the hose and subsequent loss of hydraulic power left us with the small problem of being stuck at anchor and having to retrieve it manually. Under his experienced eye several other fittings were cut in half which revealed that almost all the hoses were defective and needed to be replaced, so it was better that we discovered this in home waters rather than mid Atlantic or some other far flung place. Mr Millar, the owner, was extremely knowledgeable about hydraulic fittings having made some of his wealth by supplying such equipment to the aircraft industry. generators had split and dumped high pressure oil everywhere. The swaging on the main hose from the hydraulic pump which was attached to one of two I.H. Our chief engineer Mark Prangnell went below to the engine room to see what might have caused the hydraulics to stop and was met with the sight of hydraulic oil dripping all over the place. The following day we watched the start of the race and after waiting some time for the huge flotilla of small craft to disperse the order was given to haul anchor (hydraulic powered windlass obviously) We had recovered a small amount of cable when it just stopped. Mr Millar was a member of RYS so he and his guest went ashore for dinner at the clubhouse. ![]() It was for the start of what was then called 'The Whitbread Round the World Race' We sailed from Southampton the day before the start of the race and anchored in a prime spot in front of the Royal Yacht Squadrons clubhouse at Cowes. In all the time I was aboard, the owner, John Millar, only came to sail on her once. This put us in a better place for the amenities needed to finish her off and also provided a better base for sailing trials which at first all went off without too much drama. She was a real luxury yacht and no expense had been spared in her refit however the run of bad luck that had affected her early voyages was far from over.Īfter the majority of her refit was completed on the Isle of Wight we came back across the Solent to berth in the Ocean Village Marina. Centurion left Lisbon on October 9th 1985, the return journey took nine days and Centurion arrived at the Groves & Gutteridge yard on the Isle of Wight on Friday 18th October 1985. Carr (1st mate), Rob Fisher (engineer), Nigel Clarke (crew) and R. She was then sailed back to the UK under her own power with a crew of five, comprising Ian Middleton (skipper), P. Over the next week Ian and his crew set to work getting her as fully operational as possible to make the return journey. Electrics were corroded and winches in need of overhaul, the main engine needed work as the Lisbon harbor authorities would not let her leave without a working engine. Due to Centurion being swamped whilst on her side nothing really worked when Ian arrived on board. Ian Middleton of Compass Yacht Deliveries joined Centurion on 2nd October '85 as skipper, charged with returning her to England for repair. Once she was upright again she was dried out with the assistance of the Portuguese authorities. She had run aground on a falling tide and was stuck there for two days before she was able to be refloated. Although the boat was not that old she had suffered considerable damage to her interior and mechanical systems as a result of being grounded on a sandbar on the approach to Lisbon in September '85. I joined RYS Centurion in 1989 near to the end of a total refit which had taken place on the Isle of Wight. The hydraulic sail control systems were both a blessing and a curse, but more of that later. As a result of all this hydraulic gear it was possible to sail her with a relatively small crew of five which included the cook although when we went transatlantic we took a crew of seven. ![]() The large main deck winches were hydraulic powered although they could be operated manually if needed. She was rigged as a Brigantine but all the sail handling gear was modern with roller furling, even on the 'square' sails. The hull was Aluminium as was most of the superstructure. ![]() Built in 1983 by Palmer Johnson, Centurion was 110 feet overall, 90 feet on deck and about 60 on the waterline.
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