Thomas Jucker

Thomas Jucker and Marta

Marta

"Marta" is a Bristol Channel Cutter 28: A traditional boat designed by Lyle Hess and built by Sam L. Morse in 1990. I purchased the boat with the idea of taking part in the Jester Challenge. But because I trusted the boat more than myself I first had a wary try to find out if I could be a single-hander. So in summer 2009 I sailed "Marta" from the United States - where I bought her - to Bermuda; then to the Azores and finally to England. This voyage was my 12th Atlantic crossing but it was the first time that I did it single-handed and I was rather nervous about the fact of being on my own for longer periods of time.
I am 57 years old and sailing since I was a little boy – having grown up at a lakeside in Switzerland. I love dinghy sailing and for many years I was racing Fireballs,“420” and Laser II.

Thomas Jucker

In the 1980s and 90s I owned a charter boat and I did many seasons in the Caribbean, several in the Mediterranean and I even spent foursummers in the English Channel where I had a contract with the Swiss Student Travel Agency to take young people sailing from the Solent to Cornwall and the Channel Islands.
In 1992/93 my wife Irene and I built a 37-foot yacht in a barn in France. A very radical boat with asymmetric boards, water ballast and a huge, fully battened mainsail. We sailed this boat around the world from 1997 to 2001. The construction proved to be seaworthy and fast but we had a very uncomfortable ride - especially down to New Zealand and around South Africa - because the boat, built of wood and epoxy, is very light. So the acquisition of “Marta”, a heavy boat with a very long keel, is partly a reaction to that experience.

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