"Yesterday I took the Magnum 18 for its first sail, accompanied by my regular dinghy sailing partner. We sailed for six hours in the Solent, during this time we experienced a wide range of conditions. The graph of recorded wind speeds logged by the weather buoy on the Bramble Bank showed speeds of up to 28 Knots at one point with sustained 24 knot winds for some time either side of the peak.
Launching and recovery was very easy, the boat floats easily in just a few inches of water, which is just as well as it was big spring tides yesterday with a very shallow launch site. The break-back facility on the trailer was a big help during the recovery operation.
The boat felt very seaworthy, handling was predictable and it coped well in the conditions that we encountered.
We had a lot of FUN, the performance was in line with my expectations and although we were only able to use the Mainsail and Jib the boat sailed well on the reaches. It also sails to windward very well; we were able to make good progress when sailing up wind and were able to point noticeably higher than some of the yachts that were sailing on the same tacks as us.
The boat was comfortable; the view for the helmsman looking under the mainsail is excellent.
Trapezing is a must on this boat! The position of the crew obviously has a big impact on the balance of the boat.
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As soon as the wind picked up to more than about a force 3 the crew needed to move out onto the trampoline and very soon you found yourself on the float wanting to hook in and lean out more! This will be great fun and a Trapezing Harness is now on the shopping list. In fact if the tiller extension was long enough I would think that the helmsman could trapeze as well.
The outboard motor worked well and seems just the job."
Steve Davis
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