Sailing

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Damn You Tillerman!

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I've become obsessed on finding a Laser.
Other boats won't do. How did you brainwash me?

Truth be told there a lot of terrible boats on the used
market. I know, I must have looked at half of them.

How old is this boat? I believe it was built in the 60s.
(note: Beware when no mention of the boat's age is
in the ad. Also, beware when the photo looks like it is from
a manufacturer's website or is a distance shot.)
How about the sail? Original.
Hmmm, the transom looks pretty sketchy.
I used an outboard on it all last summer, she's
solid.

God knows I don't want another project, just a nice
used Laser. Can anyone help me?

Some of you have asked me about using the Banshee
as a Summer play toy.
Banshee downwind = pearling = swimming. It's fine
for the Winter when there is less wind. No me gusto.

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No One Is Picking Up My Call From The Darkside.

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No Lasers to be found. What's a guy to do? Look at scows?

I found an Melges 16 up at Clear Lake on Craigslist.
It looked promising at $700, so I threw a line in the water at SA and came back
with a definite don't buy from a scow guy who said the boat was an old warhorse
from the sixties that should be put out to pasture.
He pointed me toward an MC up in Sac-town.

Isn't it a big Laser that needs a few more blokes to carry it to the water?

I'm starting to think Hobie.
Puffy, she is one of those multi-hull watchamacallits that loves the beach.
I found an '82 Hobie 14 on Craigslist that has no soft spots, new running
and standing rigging for the same price as the Melges.

Should I take the plunge or wait on the beach for a
Laser to wash ashore?

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Shhh!

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Don't Tell The Tillerman.

I want to buy a used Laser for some excitement over the summer while I build
my boats.

The damn things can be so much fun to sail.
The trouble is that used boats are few and far between.
Is a 1980 boat worth $1,000? That's a 27 year old boat!

If you know of a good used Laser please contact me:
jtrouse at gmail.com

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For My Next Sailing Gig.

I will be playing Gilligan on the Sailing Vessel Polaris throughout the summer.
I'm just a dinghy sailor you know. You wouldn't want me to be in charge of a
gaff rigged sloop.

The Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in Sausalito plans to offer free sailing
outings this summer on the Polaris, a refurbished 40-foot sloop built in 1906.

The sailing trips will begin June 24, the day of the Master Mariners Benevolent
Association's annual wooden boat show at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon.
Trips will then be offered every other Saturday from July 7 until October,
said Mark Welther, the center's executive director.

Welther said the trips are intended to introduce residents to the boat center,
a nonprofit created to restore classic boats and educate the public about
traditional wooden boat building.

The Polaris can accommodate the crew and six passengers, so reservations are
encouraged. Sailing time will be 1 p.m., weather permitting.

For more information, call 332-3179.

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Sailing Photo Of The Day.

Do you know what this boat is?
Our Swedish cousins can tell you a thing or two about her.
Now if they would only share the secret source of their awesome D-kanots,
I'd be happy. The plans boss, the plans!

sidenote: I have been sick as a dog these last three days and couldn't take the
ski out. As it happens this weekend was glorious, 87 (31) degrees today.

FotoHorse: May 2, 2007 San Francisco Bay

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It Ain't All Rock And Roll.

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Sometimes the sea can be a very scary place.

A very, very scary place.

Before you undertake a voyage to adventure, make sure you are well trained,
have some real sailing experience, and know how to survive if things go
wrong. Believe me things can go wrong. Thank God I have my Navy training.

Don't assume that the guy sitting in his flight suit on the ready alert is
going to come and rescue you. You might be out of range.

For God's sake, learn how to read the weather!
For home work, I made my sailing students keep a notebook chronicling
the daily weather. It had to have the forecast from the newspaper with
their own observations.

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Awesome!

That would be sailing in New Zealand. I'm getting the itch to go there. I was fortunate
to visit the land of sheep when I was a teenager. It truly is a beautiful place.

Speaking of beautiful, the above photo is of a Navigator from  David Perillo's
fantastic web site Openboat.co.nz. In my opinion, David has the best sailing
lifestyle video ever made. He and his cousin are seen waking up on the beach,
eating breakfast, then off for a great day of sailing and fishing. Can life get any
better?

I started thinking about open boats today after visiting a new blog from
a fellow Ulua enthusiast and future builder, David Nabors. He has a
Norseboat 17.5, what a sweet boat. I betcha it has room for a cup holder.

Links: Never Sea Land | Open Boat | John Welsford's Navigator | Ulua

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Edward, How About A Cross 18 Trimaran?

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The Cross 18 is a home built trimaran that can be sailed single handed or with
Grand Ma and the keiki. There is even room for a cup holder.

The construction used here is mahogany plywood. Thicknesses of crossectional frames,
decks and below the chine of the main hull are 1/4". All other skin thicknesses are 1/8".
West System® epoxy for adhesives and coatings are used throughout. Four ounce
fiberglass cloth is used for added strength.

Specifications

Length Overall
18' 0"

Draft Board Down
3' 6"

Length at Waterline
17' 1"

Draft Board UP
1' 3"

Beam Overall
12' 0"

Sail Area
200 sq. ft.

Beam Folded
6' 6"

Boat Weight
400 lbs.

Hello Joe,
   
Great blog!  I would like to extend an invitation to you to sail on my CROSS 18.
I know you are based in the bay area and I am in Southern Cal.  Still, if you are
ever in the area I would be glad to have you aboard.  Even if you select
Chris Whites design as your favorite. ;-)

Jeff Turner
CROSS Multihull Designs

       

A dialogue follows:

   

Joe: Thanks for the kind words. I would love to go out on your CROSS 18 if
I get down to SoCal. Can the 18 take SF Bay or would she be overwhelmed?

Jeff: I am not familiar with typical conditions there so I am not sure how to answer this.
I sail all the time in the outer harbor and open ocean in Long Beach and Los Angeles.
There are times when I would like to be able to reef the main but am not set up for it.
Photos I have seen from Latitude 38 suggest that some days would be great, some a
real challenge and others better spent watching the big guys sail.  The bay area seems to
spawn a heartier sailor than what exists down here.

The CROSS 18 is a very fun, responsive and forgiving.  My favorite days are solo in the
Catalina channel.  Deep blue water and the boat charging over the swells, sitting aft on the
windward float you can see the whole boat.  The personality and wildness of the boat really
begins to show.  I hope you can come down and sail on her some time.  The Chris White
design looks like a great boat as well.  It is a bit bigger too.

   

Joe: Do you have photos of the 18 under sail out in the channel? How about a video?
I'm biting on the lure you threw in the water. How fast can she go? How does
she handle in rough seas? Being wet doesn't bother me unless I forget to
wear my wetsuit. What's the set up time? Someone on SA said the Discovery
20 takes 3 hours to set up, of course he was trying to convince me to build
a Tremelino instead.

Jeff: This is all I have for sailing shots and they are all in the bay.  The boom has been
repositioned since these were taken.  I will see if I can get some video for you. As for set-up.
Including stepping the mast, the process takes just under an hour.  I currently store the boat at the
Alamitos Bay Yacht club with the mast already stepped.  Set-up time solo is about 30 minutes.
As for weather handling goes, she is a strong hull and slices through chop very well.

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v251/joserouse/Sailing/Trimarans/Cross%2018/SouthernCrosslaunch.flv

Set up of the Cross 18.

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v251/joserouse/Sailing/Trimarans/Cross%2018/SouthernCross.flv

The Cross 18 under sail.

Thanks Jeff!

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What Happnes When You Have A Big Sailboat And No Wind?

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You get tow from a giant zodiac.
Ah the fond memories of towing my students back and forth across
Richardson Bay in search of wind.

¿Dónde está el viento?
(From The Independent) One day of racing does not make an America's Cup, and
there was barely enough puff to make the postponement flag flutter for the fifth time
in six days yesterday. However confident the organisers were about the race track
when they chose this Mediterranean city over Lisbon, Marseilles and Naples, the
record so far has been little short of dismal, with just one day's racing in the first week
of the Louis Vuitton challenger series....more.

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"Friends Don't Let Friends Sail Multihulls"

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Edward, A Horse Is A Horse, Of Course, Of Course,..How About A Unicorn?
Sorry Steph, saying no to multi-hulls is verboten here at "The Horse's Mouth."

Why a Unicorn?
It can be built at home.
No crew problems - "Hey Phil, do you want to go sailing today? No thanks Joe
my wife and I are going up to Wine Country."
Easy to rig and launch single-handed
18ft waterline means good handling in sea conditions
Trailer fully assembled
Very light weight, hulls and cross beams 60kg minimum,
all up sailing weight 108kg minimum
Can be sailed for fun two up
Strict class rules but significant but flexibility in the design of rig and variation in
hull shape and materials

The Specs:
Single handed National 'A' class cat (A Cat baby, A Cat!)
Trapeze and una rig
PY of 775, ISAF 1.09
Length 5.49m (18ft)
Beam 2.29m (7ft 6in)
Sail Area 13sqm
Mast Height 7.93m (26ft)
Superb boat in light winds with high performance up to F6 due to the
flexibility of the rig settings
Daggerboards for high efficiency and superb pointing
Flexible mast with loose footed main. Adjustments to outhaul, downhaul,
kicker and lower shrouds.
With a full cut sail this gives terrific scope for control of sail shape
Trapeze for the ultimate sailing challenge
Una rig for simplicity of sail handling (13 sqm sail area to A class specification)

Edward, a wire does not make a boat complicated. Check out the Wiley Wabbits
that sail out of Berkeley.

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Hi Joe, Streaker? Phantom? You've Got To Be Kidding Me? What About A Contender?

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Hi Joe:

I'm writing in response to the query about recommendations for a singlehanded boat.
My answer: why hike when you can put yourself out on the wire?
Edward's Dad-In-Law needs a Contender! It saves your back and knees a
load of grief, and with the trapeze, weight is not as much of an issue as it is with
the Finn. There are still several active Contender sailors who are near their 60s.

The early Canadian fleet featured a bunch of homebuilt Contenders that are
still sailing, so it would be a great winter project. There's also a pretty good
used boat market. The class has also moved to carbon rigs (so there's no
chance of becoming a dinosaur fleet), and there are solid fleets all over
Europe, Australia, and we're bringing it back in North America.
The 2008 Worlds will be in Kingston, Ontario.

Some links:

http://ica.contenderworld.de/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5341076536249820244&q=contender+denmark

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8132468469133809309&q=contender+denmark

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7343625481025308679&q=contender+denmark

And the mother of all great racing videos:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-8638397849528913806&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=garda+contender.mpg

I've also attached a picture of one of the earliest Canadian homebuilt contenders
(looks nice doesn't it?), and a more modern action shot from the US Contender
class site. The skipper is Gil Wooley (getting to 70 but still kicking butt).

Cheers,

Stephanie "Tetley" Mah
KC47



It's very uncanny, but the woman in the above photo looks like my cousin
who lives in the Channel Islands.

Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, you are an agent provocateur. Shame on you for
stirring the pot!.........Not really, this is fun, in fact it could be endless. Whose next?
Any multi-hulls out there for Edwards older gentleman?

Check out this thread on SA.

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