Nangijala er en UFO 34, oprindeligt bygget i England i 1978. Hun er toprigget og har et sejlareal på lige over 60 kvm.

Besætningen bliver udskiftet undervejs, så forskellige mennesker kommer til at sejle med i forskellige perioder fra en måned og op til to år.

Udstyrsmæssigt er Nangijala udstyret med hvad vi har råd til af langtursudstyr. Hvilket vil sige; ikke så meget, men altså en rimelig stor vandtank, vindror, stærke sejl, ny stående rig og alle de der småting man ikke kan leve uden såsom trykkoger og gasbageform.

Vi skal ud og se verden på ryggen af vores hus!

- Vi ses i Nangijala!

UFO 34

The UFO 34 came on to the market at a time when many other similar designs were falling by the wayside and yet within the first year nearly forty complete or partbuilt boats had been sold. The success of this Holmann & Pye design, launched at a time when the boatbuilding industry was going through a very depressed period is something of an anomaly but was the result of some astute thinking on the part of the marketing company, Oyster Marine. Increased VAT meant that more and more people were turning thier mind to homebuilding, so the UFO was offered primarily as a kit boat and to date the vast majority are sold in this form. The design was launched when many owners were thinking of updating thier four or five-year-old cruisers/racers, particularly on the East Cost, and at a time when the gap between cruisers and racers are getting wider and wider with the cruiser/racer of five years ago no longer really competitive, it offered a happy compromise between a comfortable performance cruiser and a racing boat able to acquit herself well against the pure racing machines.

HULL AND DECK She is an attractive boat with her low profile coachroof and the designers have not had to resort to slab topsides to give full headroom below. The keel, unusually for such an extreme fin keel design, is a moulded shell rather than a externally fitted fin, with ballast bonded in internally and the spade rudder is well aft. She carries maximum beam allmost amidships giving excellent accomodation for a boat of her size. The GRP hull and deck are moulded by Ardleigth Laminated Plastics and the finished boat completed by Landamores. The deck has no obvious obstructions and because the shrouds are well inboard it is easy to work for'd. Twin spinnaker poles stow either side of the coachroof and are well out of the way. Generally the non-skid deck was good, but on the coachroof below the boom there was none and this is exactly where one needs to stand when reefing. However this could easily be rectified with a few strips of suitable material. Although there was a single ventilator above the main saloon there were none over the forecabin or the heads, the places where most needed (wet sails, etc). The cockpit is large, although the tiller takes up quite a lot of this space and there is a short after deck, below which is a suprisingly large locker. As on most Holmann & Pye designs the main hatch is sensible small and well protected by a high bridge deck and the sliding hatch is Perspex giving good light below.

SPARS AND RIGGING She is rigged as a masthead sloop with the mast keel stepped and stayed with cap shrouds, forestay, backstay, single lower shrouds and inner forestay. On the production boat all spars are by Kemp and Oyster Marine have arranged a "package deal" with Hoods to provide the mainsail and five headsails and two spinnakers together with Hood's Gemini twin luffgroove headstay for about £3.100 (inc vat).

ACCOMMODATION Another of the great attractions of this boat is that although there is a standard layout there is great flexibility allowed to meet individual owners' requirements, both for the home builder and someone who wants a completed boat. Landamores will tailor interior layouts to suit and this makes a refreshing change from the mass production "you can have anything as long as it's standard" approach. Naturally as this means that each boat will be different, more work will be involved and this must be reflected in the price. The ply used is teak faced and has a matt finish and the standard og joinery is high. The trial boat had a standard interior consisting of a three cabin layout. The foc's'le has two folding pipecots with sail stowage below them - when folded out of the way as they would probably be at sea there is adequate space for full wardrobe of sails. The head is to port with a large wardrobe opposite and because of her beam there is enough room for pilot berths on both sides in the saloon. Clothes lockers and general stowage is below these. There are flexible water tanks below the settee berths with 35 gallon capacity as well as further lockers. The galley is to starboard and is well equipped with gas cooker with oven, sink with both fresh and seawater pumps and icebox. The gas bottle stows in a self draining locker in the cockpit. Opposite the galley is the navigator's area with a large for'd facing chart table and plenty of space for instruments and charts. The 90 amp hour 12 volt battery stows below the navigator's seat (this is not, as with some similar boats, part of the quarter berth). Because of her beam the quarter berth is outboard of this seat and this means that there is enough space for a cockpit locker inboard at the foot of the berth to starboard and there is so much room here that it almost constitutes a separate cabin albeit with restricted headroom. Generally, the layout is well planned and should prove thoroughly practical in seagoing terms.

PERFORMANCE UNDER ENGINE The trial boat was fitted with a Leyland Thorneycroft 90 35hp diesel although the option on a smaller engine, a Yanmar 12hp diesel is offered. As installed by Landamore's in a soundproofed casing this is very smooth and quiet running and provides adequate power plus much in reserve. One advantage of over-engining a boat like this (and surely 35hp is rather un-necessarily on the highside for an auxillary) is that cruising speed is attained at fairly low engine revs wich is less wearing both on the engine and the crew although somewhat more thirsty in diesel oil. Under power she cruised along very quiet at about 7 knots and had very good control ahead, turning quickly and positively in just under two boat lengths. Performance astern was not so good as she had a folding propeller and the helm tended to snacth once way was on. The fuel tank is stainless steel and will hold 30 gallons and is sited below the cockpit sole.

PERFORMANCE UNDER SAIL We had to carry out the trial sail in attrocious conditions - bucketing rain and a cold and squalling Force 4 to 5 on the East Coast in early winter - so decided to keep it as short as possible before returning to sample the delights of the West Mersea Yacht Club's superb steak and kidney pudding. Under full main and No 2 genoa we beat out from the mooring. At first she was rather mouthed and the steering felt hard and unresponsive - so much so that it would become quite an ordeal for a helmsman on a long watch - bot once we put a balance slap reef in the mainsail she became much lighter and easier although still with some weather helm and still not feeling quite as balanced as one might expect a boat of her type. However, she footed along at a very respectable pace with little fuss. Under this sail combination she hove to making about 11/2 to 2 knots leeway and we were able to gybe her round from this posistion without freeing sheets. Once on a reach we shook out the reef and she showed no tendenscy to gripe in the puffs. Finally we ran off back to the mooring and she showed no bad tendencies over this short distance in these conditions.

CONCLUSIONS The UFO 34 owes much of her popularity to the fact that she is offered as a partfinnished boat and because of the flexibility of stages offered. At the least a home builder might purchase hull and deck mouldings or for someone not too confident about his own handiwork various kits are offered right up to the stage where he can buy hull and deck with ballast and all main bulkheads fitted, all the difficult joinery work done and a kit of pre-cut parts to finish together with all deck fittings and spars. Oyster Marine can offer any stage according to what the customer requires right from the bare shell up to the finished boat. The UFO 34 is a true cruiser/racer in the style of a few years ago but if her results to date (she rates as a 3/4 tonner) are anything to go by she should be able to give good account of herself in fairly high level competition. She has excellent accommodation for cruising and has an unusually full inventory including many items normally sold as extras such as echo sounder, compass and fire extinguishers.