I’m still a bit shaky. I’ve watched the video that accompanies this post three times wondering whether I should record it again and pretend it was the first attempt (that’s what proper YouTubers would do).

But I am strictly an amateur – so much so that the GoPro is back in its box because I can’t be doing with all the online instructions.

On the other hand, I suspect that part of the success of this blog is its unvarnished honesty – people who have read the Faster, Louder, Riskier, Sexier book will know that I possess “a compulsion to share inappropriate intimate details.”

So, I can reveal that the first day with the new electric outboard has scared the pants off me.

This is the RemigoOne, made in Slovenia (which is the first thing in its favour. All the competition seems to come from China). The Remigo is the equivalent of a 3hp petrol outboard. I only ever had a 2hp – and I haven’t had that for four years. I did try an electric “trolling motor” which had to be connected to a 12V lead-acid battery (not a terribly good idea in a rubber dinghy). Anyway, I think it was only rated at 1.5hp – and that was with a full battery.

So, the Remigo was a bit like going from a pushbike to a Porsche.

Which would be fine. But this is Panama and the cruising community, not the Solent and an RYA sailing school. Nobody wears lifejackets. Nobody uses kill-cords.

With the sort of excitement that accompanies a train set on Christmas morning, I offered up the magnetic safety switch. It snapped into place with an enthusiasm that could have been taken as a warning – by someone sensible enough to heed warnings.

The battery indicator blazed with ten green lights showing that the six hours connected to my folding 400W solar panel had pumped it full of energy which was now bursting to be released.

I pressed the “Forward” button once. There was a muted “click” and the big two-bladed propeller began to turn. The little dinghy moved off rather in the manner of a hearse leaving a set of traffic lights.

Another press of the button and we were up to Step Two.

I wonder what Step Ten will be like?

A word of warning here: If you should ever be in charge of a RemigoOne electric outboard on a tiny 2.3m inflatable weighing just 13kg and you decide to go straight to Step Ten, DO NOT LET GO OF THE TILLER!

You don’t have to. I mean, I wouldn’t have let go if I hadn’t been trying to film everything and needed my other hand for the phone.

What happened next demonstrates the wisdom of wearing a kill-cord and why the desire to “see what happens” generally ends in disaster.

In this case, the full 1,000 watts kicked in faster than you could say “Whoooah!”

With electric motors, there’s no build up to full power. It comes literally at the flick of a switch.

And all that power has to go somewhere. Where it’s supposed to go is into forward motion but that is easier said than done with a 75kg passenger and what the physicists would call “inertia”.

No, it’s far easier for the thrust to be dissipated by slamming the helm over – after all nobody’s holding onto it. This meant the whole assembly was thrown into a hairpin turn that reminded me of my first sail in a Laser, shortly before my first capsize.

It would have made great video (if, of course, I had pressed the Record button).

Still, it did prove that the RemigoOne is a powerful motor. Once I grabbed the tiller and recovered my equilibrium, retrieved the phone and opened the Navionics app, it turned out we were doing 4.6knots and leaving a wake to rival the local “lanchas” which ply between the islands with 25hp on the back.

Having a decent bit of power is important because, as I have mentioned elsewhere, the real reason for wanting an electric outboard is not just to get me from Samsara to the dinghy dock – I can row that far. It is to power the boat during those ocean calms that leave her rolling through 60° and the skipper’s nerves in shreds. The motor will even run while it’s still charging – a sort of perpetual motion as long as the sun shines.

OK, so it might also be useful in getting to the customs office on the other side Barbuda’s 2-mile-wide lagoon against a 15kt Tradewind – and I do, sometimes, want to take a passenger…

Meanwhile, I stepped the power down to 70% (3.9kts) and then 50% (3.4kts). Who needs to go any faster than that? Besides, it’s a shame to spoil the silence with a lot of terrified shrieking.

The embarrassing YouTube coverage is at: https://youtu.be/MEkAe7A_z-M?si=vA_Dj9moU-XIioEc

And since the Remigo people gave me a discount, the least I can do is include a link to their website. I just hope they don’t want it back because I’ve gone and spoiled their reputation: https://remigo.eu

Update March 5th 2025

Actually, none of this need have happened. I have now discovered there is a system for locking the outboard in a central position – you just pull the tiller, lift it vertically and let it snap into position and the steering is locked – and very useful it is if you need both hands for something else…

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in my books: https://oldmansailing.com/books