About our boat

Planet is a Heard 28′ – a modern version of the Falmouth working boat. The Falmouth working boats can be found within the Carrick Roads, fishing for oysters in the winter and racing during the summer. They make an impressive sight, and are unusual in being one of only a handful of fleets still fishing under sail in the world today. She was moulded in 1990 by Martin Heard at Gaffers and Luggers in Mylor, Cornwall – http://www.gaffersandluggers.co.uk/.

Planet carries a gaff cutter rig, which makes a fine working and voyaging rig that is easily handled by two people. All of Martin’s boats are semi-custom, and ours is unique in that she was built with wider than normal side decks, which makes deck work easy, and provides plenty of space for lounging around. Downstairs the boat has many of the mod cons one might expect to find in a very small flat, including a cooker, toilet, electric lights(!) and running water. We also carry a diesel heater for the times when we have run out of jumpers to put on. We have an installed diesel engine, for those occasions when we feel too lazy to sail. Consider that all this is contained within a space smaller that an average living room – which means we are good at putting stuff away.

We bought Planet in 2008 from a nice gentleman who had kept her very well in the River Hamble. We sailed her back down to Cornwall during one of the worst periods of weather in the past couple of years. Although the trip back was ‘sporty’ and the wind and spray made it thoroughly uncomfortable for us, she gave a good account of herself, and incredibly the only thing to break was a small leather washer in the pump which pressurises the stove. She is currently sitting on her mooring off Freshwater beach in the Percuil river, within half a mile of a number of other 28’s – it’s a herd of Heards.