Yachting Monthly writer Tom Sampson is selling his Nauticat 331, Katanne.

Tom, 66, and partner Nicolette Knoop completed a circumnavigation in Katanne last year. The Nauticat is on the market for £145,000, lying Lagos Marina, Portugal.

He says: ‘After nine years of living on board Katanne and sailing round the world we’ve decided to sell her. No yacht could have served us better than the Nauticat which kept us safe and secure and comfortable as we battled through storms in all the oceans we sailed.

‘Solid, honest and reliable, she never faltered. In ports around the world she was admired whilst we enjoyed the comforts of the ‘biggest little ship – 34ft outside and 43ft inside’.

Tom gained his love of sailing while in the RAF, sailing Nicholson 55s.
An RYA Yachtmaster and dinghy instructor, he retired from the RAF in
1991 and bought Katanne new in 2003.

Explaining his reasons for selling, Tom says: ‘The downside of circumnavigating is that you are away from home and family for months and years at a time. I have five grandchilren and Nicolette very recently became a grandmother. We both want to spend more time with them and our families and therefore there will be less time for us to sail Katanne.

‘I don’t want her to spend months tied up in a marina and would much prefer to know that she is out sailing somewhere giving someone else as much pleasure as she bestowed on us.’

Unsurprisingly for a proven blue water yacht, Katanne is well fitted-out. Tom says: ‘She’s equipped for blue and warm water sailing and so is very extensively equipped. From the Jordan Series Drogue, wind and solar power generation, to the sunscreens and hatch covers, she is prepared for anything.

‘One aspect of long distance sailing is the constant maintenance. Whilst it can be a drudge at times, it’s absolutely essential. The other upside is that the boat is always in tip top condition. As things wear out they are replaced and now that she is for sale we are completing a refurbishment of the ‘cosmetics’. New carpets and curtains, varnishing where needed and we’re replacing anything that is showing signs of wear. The cooker, for example, was working fine, but nine years of constant use showed, so we have replaced it.’

On Katanne‘s cruising performance, Tom says: ‘She’s not built for speed but for comfort and strength. That said we crossed the 3100nms of the Pacific from The Galapagos to Fatu Hiva in French Polynesia in 24 days at an average speed of 5.38kts. Katanne held her own against bigger, supposedly faster boats and we did so in comfort; I read 21 books on that trip. Moreover, Nicolette claims she has never had a drop of sea water fall on her throughout the eight years we have been on the boat. A testament, surely, to her high and dry cockpit and the ability to control the boat from within the pilot house.

‘I think she has been the perfect boat in which to undertake a circumnavigation and what’s more many of our circumnavigating friends think so too. Most visitors are amazed at the room we have below decks.

‘Her wide beam and heavy displacement ensure that she has a high comfort level in bad seas and with a decent wind she goes very well. It’s fair to say that she doesn’t do well going upwind but behaves wonderfully when off the wind and going downwind. We know life is good when we set the pole for the genoa or spinnaker.’

The full specification for Katanne can be found at www.katanne.co.uk