About Kitty B
Kitty B is a Hallberg-Rassy 36 mk 2 yacht, build number 384, launched at the Hallberg-Rassy yard at Ellös, Orust Island, on the West coast of Sweden, in September 1997. She was originally named ‘Servalan’ by her first owner who sailed her from the River Medina, near Cowes on the Isle of Wight, England, until the end of the 2003 season. At that time, the current owners bought her, in partnership with two co-owners initially, changing her name to Kitty B, and from 2004 to 2021, she was sailed from a swinging mooring in Poole Harbour, and regularly crossed the English Channel to Normandy, Channel Islands, and Brittany, and cruised to the south coasts of Devon and Cornwall in England.
Following the 2015 season, one of the co-owners sold their interest to the remaining partners; and towards the close of the 2021 season, Kitty B came into our sole ownership. This, together with modern communications, enabling our work to be conducted from anywhere with a decent data signal, opened up the opportunity to relocate to a new base, and in early October 2021, Kitty B was sailed up from Poole to her current base at Largs Yacht Haven.
The 1997 vintage chart plotter, radar, wind instruments and VHF served us well until a minor refit in 2015 when these were upgraded, bringing AIS receive facility to the plotter and VHF; an AIS transponder was fitted before our passage to Scotland in 2021. A further minor refit in 2023 has upgraded the autohelm to a Raymarine Evolution P70 unit, plus a Garmin GPSMAP 923 plotter with Garmin Navionics charts on deck under the windscreen (moving the previous 7” plotter to the chart table); the original through hull fittings were also changed (some showing some reddening in the metal, indicating near end of life), for TruDesign plastic units with reinforcing collars.
The original Volvo Penta MD22L continues to give good service; the original fixed three blade propellor was changed for a Brunton Autoprop for the 2005 season, and has been reconditioned by Brunton twice, including new blades.
About us
Rob & Sharon Cronk are both chartered surveyors working in the commercial property sector. Rob comes from a sailing family and was introduced to sailing aged about 5; and has rarely been off the water since; initially racing and cruising various dinghies on rivers, reservoirs and the sea, mainly in the South, with some dinghy instructing; also, cruising on modern and classic yachts from 28ft through to 70ft mainly from Devon and around and across the English Channel, and various charters in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and in Scotland. Sharon was introduced to the sailing life by Rob, and fortunately, loves being afloat; following a charter in the BVI, we bought a third of a Hallberg-Rassy 312 based in Poole. After a few seasons, the syndicate had the opportunity to upsize when Servalan was bought, and our lovely HR312 was sold for others to continue to enjoy.
Another blog post is here, in which Rob’s sailing background is detailed a bit further.
Travels of Sailing Yacht Kitty B 