Tim Steel explains how he came to own the very first Dale Classic 37
During my childhood, I enjoyed many family adventures on the local rivers and canals in a Canadian canoe that my dad had built himself. I vividly remember the excitement of exploring, whether it was out on the River Wye in the early hours to hear the dawn chorus, or heroically (as I remember it), paddling a kayak alone “all the way across the harbour” during a camping holiday in Fowey. Fast forward many years and my wife Annette and I were spending more and more time on the South Devon coast, where we now live.
By 2017, that desire to explore had led me from paddles to propellers in the form of an XO 270. She was cool, fast and seaworthy and we loved her. Our trips covered much of the South Devon and Cornwall coastlines, visiting harbours and anchoring at our favourite coves.
However, with a crew comprising our young son Joe and his sidekick, Paddy the cocker spaniel, it was mainly day trips or hopping between B&Bs for longer cruises.
Then the pandemic hit and, while drowning in endless work video calls, I found myself daydreaming about what life might be like when things returned to normal. One recurring dream involved venturing further and for longer than we had ever done before. I could hear Chief Brody (of Jaws fame) whispering his iconic advice in my ear “you’re going to need a bigger boat!” But which bigger boat?
Mike Reynolds of Dale, Tim and Arthur Mursell of TT Boat Designs after putting Iolar through her paces
The boating wish list
With Plymouth as our base, we had our eyes on the Channel Islands, France, Scillies, Wales and even Ireland. This meant being able to cruise for at least a week or two. While we often take family and friends out, longer trips usually involve just me, Annette, Joe and Paddy.
We would therefore need two usable cabins, a single heads with a decent shower and a galley good enough to cook proper meals. But to ensure simple handling, to keep mooring costs down and to allow us easy access to smaller harbours, we didn’t want anything over 40ft.
We like to boat all year round and, being based in the West Country, we needed a boat that would keep us safe in a variety of seas. Annette has also suffered from sciatica, so a smooth ride was imperative. We also wanted it to be good looking in a way that felt a bit different. And lastly, we wanted a boat that we could keep for many years.
Shortlisted brands included planing boats from Targa, Sargo, Nimbus and Marex and semi-displacement boats from Dale Motor Yachts and Cockwells. We ruled out displacement boats as too slow and, while our budget led us towards used rather than new, that didn’t last. I won’t discuss this further, other than to say that we ended up buying new – and way above our budget!
The hull plug before final fairing, illustrating the fine entry of the Arthur Mursell-designed semi-displacement hull
The big decision
We looked at all of the above and more, but I kept coming back to Dale for their heritage, quality and seakeeping. So when a pre-owned Dale Classic 45 came up, I ignored my own sub-40ft rule and dropped Mike Reynolds at Dale an email.
It was already sold but Mike told me about a new model he had started working on with Arthur Mursell of TT Boat Designs – acclaimed designer of the Nelson range of pilot boats. It was a Dale Classic 36 (and no, 36 is not a typo!).
The drawings, layout and size looked very promising, so it was time to take Mike up on the offer of verifying Dale’s seakeeping claims for myself. I headed out west to take out their Dale 38 – and after a couple of hours throwing her around in some lumpy seas off St Anne’s head, I was sold.
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Creating and connecting
With only drawings and a sea trial on a different boat to go on, it certainly felt like a leap of faith. However, I had trust in Mike and the Dale team and the opportunity to be fully involved in the design and build of our new boat gave me the impetus to go for it.
First stop, a weekend on the Isle of Wight with Mike, his wife Heidi and their daughter Patsi (who is a similar age to Joe) to spend time with Arthur. It immediately felt like a team was forming and it marked the start of a strong friendship between our families.
From there on, it was collaboration all the way, as she moved from initial design to final design, to plug, to mould, to hull, to fit-out and finally to sea trials some two years later. In addition to regular trips to Wales, Friday evenings were for video calls with Mike (over glasses of wine), talking through every aspect, from the flare of the bow and the curve of the roof to the sightlines from the helm.
Tim witnessed proof of Dale’s painstaking craftsmanship first hand
I still remember Mike announcing one day “I think she needs another 12 inches of length”. We looked at it with Arthur and all agreed. For a while she became the Classic 36+12, before we eventually relented and let her become the Dale Classic 37.
But one element that didn’t change was the seakeeping. Exceptional sea manners were paramount and that could not be compromised. To that end, she has a semi-displacement hull, twin shafts on Yanmar 440hp engines and a hull built to RCD Category A standards.
The 1,350L fuel tanks are built into the keel to aid stability and with plenty of freeing ports to aid the deck drains (I learned a lot about those from Arthur!), she is also designed to shed water fast.
So does she deliver?
Our cruises to this point have shown her to be a boat with a soft ride and immense capability and that’s something we’ll talk about in future articles. But she has also delivered friendships and bonds. That’s something we had not expected and for us, it’s made Iolar even more special.
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