Pete Goss has sailed more different yachts than most of us could imagine, but it\u2019s a home-built 32ft gaffer that is his chef-d\u2019oeuvre, as Elaine Bunting finds outThey won\u2019t come into a marina very often, but when they do, Pete Goss and his wife, Tracey will be doing a lot of talking. They were in Mayflower Marina in Plymouth when I met them, taking on fuel and water, and a steady stream of people stopped as they walked by. All asking, \u2018What is this boat? What is she for?\u2019
\nThe name says it all. Oddity. Spelt out in a groovy 1970s font. Turquoise with a bright yellow tender, a big squared off coachroof, a gaff rig and daggerboards. This curious boat absolutely screams \u2018Story!\u2019
\nPete Goss has time for every passer-by. He answers all their questions and invites one man on board to look around. He listens to descriptions of their own boats and sailing history, but he doesn\u2019t counter with his own. Pete Goss is one of the humblest people you could ever meet, and you might never realise the full story: this boat is the creation of one of Britain\u2019s most heroic ocean racing sailors.
\nOddity tells you so much about Pete and Tracey Goss. It is a very personal boat, a downsizer that they plan to take on a nomadic journey to all the nooks and crannies of Europe.
\nPete Goss planned Oddity to be the perfect yacht for the kind of cruising he aims to do. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nA few years ago, this wasn\u2019t even on the horizon. In 2017 they launched Pearl, a Garcia 45 Exploration named to commemorate their 30th wedding anniversary, and set off across the Atlantic with the intention of sailing slowly round the world through the Tropics.
\nThey were on the east coast of the US in March 2020 when the pandemic struck and the world closed down. They managed to get a flight home with little more than what they stood up in and returned to their UK home, a Mongolian yurt in a Cornish wood (more about that later\u2026). By the time restrictions lifted, family life and commitments had changed. The window had closed.
\nThey put Pearl on the market and were shocked when it sold six hours later, as lying, with their possessions still on board. They never got to return. \u201cWe left our tools, Tracey\u2019s sewing machine and a drawer full of my holey underpants,\u201d laughs Pete.
\nAlthough sad about this, they were also free to imagine what might come next. An idea had been brewing in Pete\u2019s mind. I remember him telling me some years ago that he wanted to build a small plywood epoxy cat-rigged boat. Oddity is not exactly that, but it definitely grew from those seeds, the vision of an uncomplicated, robust boat that could gently explore the coasts and canals peacefully overlooked in the scramble for ever bigger craft.
\n\u201cWe started with a very simple principle: we want to go to Odessa and the Black Sea through the canals and go through these beautiful old cities that show their soul,\u201d explains Pete. \u201cOne thing we learned from cruising is that the slower we went, the richer the experience was.
\nTwin daggerboards aid sailing performance for the internally-ballasted Oddity. Photo: Lloyd Images
\n\u201cWhen you want to stay in places, then the whole game changes,\u201d he observes. \u201cYou go when the weather tells you and you have the time to really embed yourself in places like the upper reaches of rivers.
\n\u201cThe anchorages of my youth are full of commercial marinas and jetskis now.\u201d
\nHe adds: \u201cWe loved cruising. The people we met were all bright-eyed and enthusiastic and had a fascinating backstory. We made more lifelong friends in a couple of years than we had in the 10 years before.\u201d
\nTo design and build this new pocket explorer yacht, he turned to his old friend and longtime collaborator Chris Rees, a designer and master craftsman of the old school. They sat down together and sketched it out.
\n\u201cWe sat down with a glass of wine and drew the boat,\u201d says Pete. There was no CAD software or computer modelling involved; they simply pooled their joint knowledge and \u201chundreds of years of experience in different boats.\u201d
\nThen they built a 3D model and did some tank testing. \u201cWe built a model and looked at it and felt it, and we did an inversion test in the kitchen sink.\u201d
\nOddity\u2019s gaff rig promotes easy handling, and can also be completely lowered to the deck by hand for canal cruising. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nThe result is a 32ft gaff cutter, with 11ft beam, a long keel that draws 3ft, 6ft daggerboards, two lifting rudders and a mast that can be lowered by hand. It has a rounded, scow bow and a hard chine that runs right aft and is \u201cdesigned to heel to about 12\u00bd\u00b0 and stay there\u201d. Oddity will be able to sail perfectly well offshore, yet take the ground, go through canals, bump up against rough docks and be hauled up the beach.
\nFrom the beginning, the boat was known as Oddity \u2013 a humblebrag of course, and a nod to its licence to be the most practical, utilitarian little boat possible. It is, says Pete Goss proudly, \u201ca farmer\u2019s boat, a loveable scruff.\u201d
\nA tough little boat
\nOddity is large enough to live on, but handy for two to sail and small enough to go through the French canals. Pete had never owned a gaff rigged yacht before, but this sail plan allows all the spars to be lowered by hand and fit within its overall length.
\nThe hull\u2019s rounded bow gives it plenty of volume below and, along with its slight reverse sheer, a contemporary vibe. \u201cShe\u2019s a mixture of modern and traditional,\u201d Pete notes. Oddity was built over seven months in plywood epoxy glassfibre, a simple building method \u2013 the marine ply was cut with a jigsaw \u2013 and because, he explains, \u201cwe wanted a tough little bugger.\u201d
\nThe build started as Goss did a deal on 1.4 tonnes of lead from the breaking of a local boat. Oddity\u2019s ballast is all internal. The joy of that is that it can be moved fore and aft to get just the right trim, and easily altered. The current displacement is about 6 tonnes, but Pete says: \u201cWe are playing around with the ballast and we might add a half tonne over the winter. We want to see what that will be like.\u201d
\nPete Goss onboard Oddity. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nThe hull sides are protected by a big rubber rubbing strake of the kind you see on ferries and pilot boats. A 10mm wide steel shoe runs along the bottom, a bash plate, and there is a steel lug on the waterline at the bow so Oddity may be hauled out of the water by a pick-up or tractor. \u201cWe can drag her along the road making sparks,\u201d says Pete. \u201cOr we could dry out on rocks. The daggerboards will act as legs.\u201d
\nThe bowsprit, stanchions, pushpit, pulpit and arch at the stern are all made of galvanised steel. Pete boasts that there is no stainless steel on board at all. The stanchions are high and the feet are structural \u201cso we can put blocks on them.\u201d
\nPractical galley is also very colourful. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nThe high pulpit has two purposes. It sweeps down to a deck hinge just in front of the tabernacle and becomes an A-frame for lowering or raising the mast with a block and tackle.
\nAt the stern a galvanised steel arch provides a structure to support a Superwind 350 generator and 150W of solar panels (the boat has 260Ah of batteries), a saddle to support the mast when lowered and also houses, lifts and launches Oddity\u2019s bright yellow tender, the aptly named Qwerky.
\nThe little boat rows beautifully, according to Pete, and has a lug rig for sailing. It was built from a local mould. \u201cOne of the old fishermen said it came from the best of the boats that went out from Cawsand and Kingsand to the old [trading] luggers,\u201d he says.
\nThe rear part of the arch hinges back and swings the tender out and down to the water on a block and tackle, so that this too can be done by hand.
\nA board closes off the transom between the two lifting rudders and hinges down to become a boarding platform, or can be dropped into the water to act as a ladder. Like so many details on Oddity it is simple, inexpensive, clever and totally foolproof.
\nThe cockpit is deep and secure \u2013 perhaps too deep, Pete thinks. \u201cI think we got that wrong. The floor is too low but I will fix that this winter.\u201d
\nTo go down into the saloon, you enter through a keyhole shaped door (reminiscent of the David Sadler-designed Contessa 26, for yacht history fans). Beneath the steps sits the boat\u2019s 43hp Beta engine. As the couple expect to be doing a lot of motoring they wanted a big engine, \u201cwithout electronics, one that is designed to be reliable.\u201d It drives an 18-inch Brunton Autoprop feathering propeller.
\nAfter a bad experience with a fuel tank that split, Pete and Tracey had plastic tanks custom built by Tek Tanks. They have 426lt of water and 344lt of fuel that\u2019s divided between two tanks in case of contaminated fuel.
\nThe boat is fully insulated and has a Webasto heater so they can be comfortable in cold weather.
\nOddity\u2019s saloon is colourful, surprisingly large, and very bright. \u201cAfter Pearl, we could never go to sea without a large pilothouse that shares the beauty of an anchorage as we potter below,\u201d Pete comments. There are windows all the way round and across the forward end of the coachroof.
\nIn profile, the forward sloping windows at the front give Oddity the shape of a frowning forehead. There is a practical reason. The angle cuts the glare of reflections from the water \u2013 which is why similar profiles are used on the bridges of trawlers and ships.
\nLarge double cabin sits well forward. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nThere is a big double cabin for the couple right forward, a heads and shower starboard aft, and a double cabin that extends under the cockpit on the port side. There is no navigation station; the saloon table will be used instead.
\nThe interior is multicoloured and cheerful as a children\u2019s playroom. The locker doors are an assortment of orange, yellow and blue; the saloon table is a patterned red colour. They are made of laminate from Italian company ABET Laminati bonded to marine ply.
\n\u201cThe challenge was to create something simple and functional,\u201d says Pete. \u201cOddity is to be our home from home, a centre of gravity about which the family and grandchildren can orbit. We wanted this to be a fun refuge.
\nPete and Tracey Goss have created a light and airy main saloon with space to entertain the family. Photo: Lloyd Images
\n\u201cAll my boats have had totally different concepts and had a clear purpose. When people come to me for advice I always say: what do you want to do and how do you want to live? Why wouldn\u2019t you want ice in your G&T, why wouldn\u2019t you want a boat to be light and comfortable and have a proper kitchen? Why wouldn\u2019t you want all-round views?\u201d
\nPete Goss \u2013 living off-grid
\nAfter Oddity was launched this spring, Pete and Tracey did a shakedown cruise by sailing west from Plymouth. On the way out to the Isles of Scilly they met their first test. \u201cWe had 22-25 knots on the nose and big bumpy seas but we were motoring through it at 1,600rpm while sitting below drinking tea,\u201d Pete smiles.
\nTall, galvanised pulpit creates security at the bow. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nThere are some modifications to make this winter, such as adding ballast and changing the height of the cockpit floor, and then Oddity will be ready to venture forth. In the meantime, however, Pete and Tracey Goss have another project on the go: they recently got planning permission to build a house in the woods where they have been living off-grid. It\u2019s a hands-on project, and the same principles of simplicity and practicality will apply.
\nIt could hardly be less like the pressured, high-cost, high-tech, high-profile world of yacht racing where Pete Goss made his name. But he insists he doesn\u2019t miss any of that.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve done all the races I wanted to do. When I think of the Vend\u00e9e Globe, [a campaign] is four to five years in the grind of the sponsorship and the business. The sailing didn\u2019t quite offset that price for me, partly because I have such a diverse life. You are gifted such a small amount of life, just 11 hours per day to invest in something. I have already scratched that itch.\u201d
\nYet when I ask if he could be tempted back on the race course, he admits: \u201cI would love to do the Mini Transat. Would I like to jump on a big boat and do a round the world race? Yes. But I don\u2019t want to set up a company and make the millions. And I\u2019ve never repeated things. The joy is doing different things. I have got enough. I\u2019m happy.\u201d
\nender Qwerky is suspended from a galvanised steel gantry. Note transom board that\u2019s also a bathing platform\u2026 and a ladder. Photo: Lloyd Images
\nIn its way, the eccentric-looking Oddity is the expression of sufficiency, yet it manages to be one of the boldest little yachts you\u2019re likely to come across. Who else could it be for other than a pair of unconventional free-thinkers?
\nIf you peep into the forecabin, you may see what could be a manifesto for this boat, and indeed for life. It\u2019s a quote from Dr Seuss, printed on a cushion on the double bed. \u2018Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don\u2019t matter, and those who matter don\u2019t mind.\u2019
\nPete Goss\u2019 unique sailing history
\nThere are clues to Pete Goss\u2019s racing history in the details of Oddity. The twin rudders and daggerboards are reminiscent of his Open 50 Aqua Quorum, which he raced round the world in the 1996\/97 Vend\u00e9e Globe.
\nThe bowsprit and flying Code O make one think of the little Seacart catamaran he and Paul Larsen raced round Britain and Ireland in 2006. The hull chine has the vibe of the Class 40 he sailed in the Route du Rhum in 2010. Its long keel and traditional look are very much part of the history too, because Chris Rees designed and built Spirit of Mystery, a 37ft replica of a Mounts Bay lugger, for Pete and a crew to sail from Cornwall to Australia in 2008.
\nA hero\u2019s welcome for Goss after his Southern Ocean rescue of a fellow Vend\u00e9e Globe skipper. Photo: PA Images\/Alamy
\nPete and Tracey Goss were always jointly committed to these exploits. They first met as youngsters at Torpoint Mosquito Sailing Club near Plymouth, when Pete needed a crew for his Mirror dinghy. After school, Pete worked on a salvage tug, then joined the Royal Marines. On a bus one night he bumped into Tracey again. She was about to turn 21, and when Pete discovered she had no special plans to celebrate, he invited her out. The couple have been married for over 35 years, and have two adult sons, a daughter, and now a toddler granddaughter.
\nPete stayed in the Marines for nine years. \u201cI never thought of it as a career,\u201d he says. \u201cI ended up as an instructor in the sailing centre just when it became a profession. But when I left the Marines with no qualifications it was a job. I had to make a living.\u201d
\nHe wanted to be an ocean race skipper, and Tracey was up for that. \u201cWe had to sell our house and we both threw everything into it,\u201d he says.
\nLugger Spirit of Mystery was sailed to Australia. Photo: Silverport Pictures\/Alamy
\nIn 1988, Pete raced a 26ft catamaran, Cornish Meadow, in the Carlsberg Single-Handed Transatlantic Race. In 1990 he was taken on by Chay Blyth as a training skipper for the British Steel Challenge, a hugely ambitious westabout round the world race for amateurs. Pete raced as skipper of Hofbr\u00e4u Lager, finishing 3rd.
\nSince then his projects have been on both a huge scale and also very small. He is still, rightly, most famous (and revered in France) for his Vend\u00e9e Globe in the 50ft Aqua Quorum, when he battled upwind in the Southern Ocean to rescue fellow competitor Raphael Dinelli from his upturned hull. Goss returned to a hero\u2019s welcome and was awarded the French L\u00e9gion d\u2019Honneur medal.
\nThis led on to a much bigger and even more daring sailing project, but one that did not end well. In 2000 he built Team Philips, a giant 120ft catamaran, on the banks of the River Dart in Devon for a new non-stop round the world race, The Race. Its wave-piercing hulls and twin rotating rigs were to be revolutionary, and in many ways it was ahead of its time, but the venture ended catastrophically.
\nTeam Philips was a daring and ultimately unsuccessful project. Photo: Brenton West\/Alamy
\nThe boat suffered a severe structural failure during a training sail in the Atlantic and the crew had to be rescued. The various subsidiary companies bearing the Goss name were wound up.
\nIt is something he doesn\u2019t dwell on. \u201cThe Race was irresistible. You have a choice of taking an idea and doing it bigger or coming up with your own idea and doing something different. It was the coalface of technology and innovation. Yes, it\u2019s a tough old one. You could say it was a great white elephant, but that does it a disservice. The tech is out there now.\u201d
\nThere have been numerous other adventures since, but never with quite the same profile. Perhaps, having been burned by failure, that was intentional. In 2006, he raced the bantamweight Seacart 30 catamaran in the Round Britain and Ireland Race, in 2008 he sailed the lugger Spirit of Mystery to Australia, in 2010 he raced a Class 40 in the solo Route du Rhum transatlantic race, and in 2012 he downsized yet further by paddling and sailing a sea kayak round Tasmania.
\nGoss kayaked around Tasmania
\nIn between, Goss has done all kinds of work: fencing and building, renovating a farmhouse, leading expeditions to the North Pole. He is also still a speaker, a business coach and a lecturer at Said Business School of Oxford University.
\nHe and Tracey, \u201cblessed with restless spirits\u201d as he puts it, seem spectacularly unafraid of change. Fed up with British winters, they sold their farmhouse some years ago to buy a \u2018bach\u2019 or beach shack in New Zealand and a Mongolian yurt (complete with horsehair guy ropes) to live off-grid in a Cornish wood bought from Pete\u2019s parents. Now they\u2019ve sold both, they have Oddity and are building a new home in the woods.<\/p>\n
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Pete Goss has sailed more different yachts than most of us could imagine, but it\u2019s a home-built 32ft gaffer that is his chef-d\u2019oeuvre, as Elaine Bunting finds outThey won\u2019t come into a marina very often, but when they do, Pete … <\/p>\n