Showing posts with label sailing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sailing. Show all posts

Going sailing tomorrow

Monday, March 14, 2016

The last few months have been very hectic here getting ready to sail south for the winter.
The Hogfish Maximus has been gone over from stem to stern. All looks well. I will be leaving in the morning sailing single handed out Ridley Head Channel heading east sailing with a forcast of NNE winds from12-23 knts . This is forcast to last for 4 days and will then start veering down to ENE for hopefully the rest of the trip south. HFM does well when hard on the wind as does my wind vane "Sinclair." Should be a one tack cruise. Well see. I will be shooting to make landfall in Antigua with the goal of making it in time for Christmas. Iam not a fan of the western worlds idea of capitalist Christmas 
but I have lots of friends there so should be a good feed if the wind gods treat me well.
Rachel and our dog Bequia will fly down and meet me after the new year. Bequia is 11 years old and does well in day sails but 10-12 days at sea would not be fair to her.
I want to thank every one that has commented on my posts and to all the readers through out the world that seems to be reading my posts. I can see by my traffic that people from all over are reading what I have to say. Well thanks for taking the time.
It is very easy for me to answer emails so email me at ... Spankthemermaid@gmail.com
This is a good way to talk.
I will try and get some good photos of HFM sailing along on this trip for all the flat bottom boat followers. This IPad contraption is quite remarkable . I have not figured out yet how to get videos to play on this blog but will take a bunch and post on my facebook page when I get near the WYFY matrix again.
 So to everyone out there please enjoy your customs, beliefs, and family as the year ends.
Talk soon... See you down island
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Boat deals In the Caribbean today ! ! ! 3 sloops for sale for very little Save the time sailing here theyre already here

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Columbia 45 sloop for sale in Jolly Habor Antigua. Asking $ 6,000.00 US or best offer. Ready to live aboard and sail the West Indies.... Well after a few days of cleaning her up and sorting a few things out.

Own a 33 racing winner of a sloop for the asking price of $6,000.00 US OBO that out sails bigger brand new J-Boat 42 racing machines that cost over $300,000.00. Ready to win races now! On a dry hoist in Jolly Harbor Antigua.

31 classic fiberglass shoal draft sloop in the Bahamas duty paid. Ready to sail any where... Well...yes you will have to finish the interior some. $2,500.00 US.

The first two boats that I will be talking about I have just learned that they are up for sale. The Hobie 33 sloop has been beating the boats I have been crewing on for the past Saturday races. Boat for boat and on corrected time. A blast from the past that still shows its stern to most everything in sight. 
The Columbia 45 sloop I have been looking at as I motor by every morning in our dinghy going to work on Wild Bird.
Iam not being a yacht broker here in any sense. What Iam trying to provide and show you is that there are lots of opportunities out here to find a waterfront home to live on and fix up at your leisure and then when up to your standards sail over the horizon on. 
I get no moneys from the first two boats. Iam doing this blog as a favor to Rodger the owner of the first two sloops and hopefully to someone else out there that can see themselves in one of these boats.The third boat I own and am no hurry to sell. But will for the asking price.
All of three of these boats are fiberglass. They will most likely out live all of us given a very lackadaisical amount of effort. Unless you run them up on a reef or open the seacocks these three sloops could live forever, and with a little attention they can and will perform as good or better than todays store bought brand new boats for about the initial cost of a deflateable dinghy. Or "Condom boat" as I think of them.

The first boat shown...ah "Featured" is a Columbia 45 Sloop. When I was a kid growing up In San Diego Califorina this boat was new and all shiny. It was so out of place among all the wood boats, cement boats and all the classic boats about. Most of those boats have died off but this sloop lives on through basic simple fiberglass construction and not much else to go wrong. It has a new and taller mast. The engine is twenty years old, the winches have been replaced with bigger self tailing ones. It now has roller furling now on both the genoa and main sail. Back then it was hanks and undersized winches. A smaller motor. No mode coms. Now its all been upgraded.
The owner Rodger has put over $30,000.00 US in this boat over the past several years. He is moving back home to England. He would like to find a good home for this boat. It needs about 3-4 days of cleaning . Most every thing works on the boat now or can be made to work with a little fiddling. I took these photographs this morning. I have not surveyed the boat but am passing on his words to you. I feel that anyone with a bit of energy can be off sailing in this boat in a week after cleaning up. What a big floating sailing home. Look up the specs, on sail boat data on line.
The engine is a reconditioned Perkins 4236. 
The mainsail is in boom roller furling.
The Genoa is roller furling. 
It has an inner staysail if wanted.
The hull is fitted with ultra sonic growth inhibitors system.
Propane stove
All heads work
Most all winches self tailing. 
New batteries 
Solar panel new
Power anchor windlass
Anchors, roads, lines cushions and on and on.
Listen... This is a boat that you could spend years just sailing about the Caribbean in for very little output in dollars and with just a bit of elbow grease. 
Dont email me ... Email Rodger at... Hodgkison@sky.com 
DONT put an N in hodgkison !!! Fn autocorrect wants to put that in.

Lets look her over.

Columbia 45 I think was a Bill Trip design?

This boat has a big bow sprit to get more sail area. All done very well large foredeck to put your dinghy on. Deck is very solid.

Large roller furler, bow plank all done to massive standards.
Solar panel showing here.

4236 Perkins diesel 
All the stuff to run a boat of this size. Theres a generator down there too. I dont know if thats working. All pretty typical of a boat this age, but all good stuff.
Ask Rodger for details.
Galley of the era. Propane stove which is great for down here.
Main companionway. Lots of room here. Very easy to get to engine and all related equipment under these floorboards.
Stern cabin bunks. Needs a hosing and scrub out thats all.
Aft head. Foreward one is new never used.
Dinning table across from galley.
Propane tank in locker on deck.
Steering wheel and cockpit. Winches just out of sight.
Taller mast than original rig. 
Looking aft.
Vee bunk area.
Anchor well on deck. Power anchor winch.
The bow sprit.
SO..... Yea she needs a bit of a scrub, But the interior is set up on a massive all fiberglass hull pan. This is fantastic because nothing can really ever go wrong with this. This boat needs some elbow work. Clean her up and move aboard. Get the systems sorted and start sailing. At anchor the windflow through the hatches will bring this boat back to life. Rodger has only used it for a couple of weeks a year. Now with you onboard she will have a new life. Get rid of all the stuff that you dont want to deal with. To me I would put this boat at anchor for a couple of days to scrub the bottom and get the sheets and winches sorted and then I would be off to Carriacou to haul out at the best and cheapest yard in the Windwards. From there I would spend the rest of the season slowly repainting the interior to my satisfaction and get to know her. 
Email Rodger... Make an offer.
" Mango Pearl" has British registration.

HOBIE 33 sloop " Sling Shot " 
Rodger also owns this Califorina racing Sled.
This sloop is for those that live down here and want to have a line honers winning boat that does not cost a fortune. She is in good shape but looks ruff below. This is not a live aboard cruising boat unless you are very young. No headroom. Look up all info online at sailboat data. 
She is for sale with very good compostite main and jib that are put away after every sail. This boat has a full wardrobe of spinnakers, jibs and spare mainsails.
Lots of stuff to go with her that is not seen or listed here.
Last week the latest J-Boat, a 122 with its new sails, rigging with the Hall Spar people and sail makers aboard and the owner raced against Rodger who is 77 and his crew which are not far behind. I was crewing for the yacht clubs Commodor on his Bavairia 42. Needles to say we were so far behind. Sling Shot came in behind the J-Boat by less than 60 seconds. Not bad considering the J-Boats jib cost the owner $12,000.00.
This is a very fast boat for those that want to go fast for very few dollars.


On his lift. She only sails on Saturdays.
Long and lean. 
Keel joint looks perfect.

Rudder joint is smooth. I would deepen the rudder for more control in heavy winds.

Profurl roller reefing if wanted with the other sails. Racing jib has battens.

Rodger has complete new main sheet traveler to be installed.
Floor grid. All looked good to me when looking at it this morning at a glance. No cracks.
Keel bolts. Water is from the rain. 
Compostite sails

Yea, some leaks over time. You can see the bunk top at the hull side is collapsing. But no cracks in the fiberglass hull. I would reinforce the top of the bunk with a bolted piece of wood or aluminum angle.
Heres the other side same thing. But everything else looked fine. 
Headliner cloth is off. I would go in with a pressure washer and clean out. Then come back in and paint with enamel over everything after I did my fiberglass upgrades.
Spinnaker pole.
 Again this boat needs a bit of cleaning due to its barely being used and sitting. It has wear and tear in it but all is mostly cosmetics. Contact Rodger via the same email address.
This boat does not currently have a title but a bill of sale can be gotten. It has been owned locally by several prominent sailors so getting a title should be able to be done. It has no motor so has been sailed as a dinghy.

This could be you showing this local rebuilt Hobie 33 your stern!

Ted Irwin designed and built 1978 solid fiberglass shoal draft sloop. " Island Gem"
The short story on this sloop is that she has been sailing out of my island for over ten years. The original owner that sailed her there had spent over $27,000.00 on upgrades on her but after one bad passage sold " Island Gem " to a local for $2,700.00. He never used her. Then an American that spends 3 months a year on our island bought her for $7,500.00 and then sailed her for 7-8 years. Hes gotten older so wanted out.
I at the time two years ago thought she would make a good project boat to keep at our dock for local cruising. I bought her for $1,000.00 and have done lots of upgrades with a now total expenditure of 
$2,500.00. This is my price period. Shes on a mooring that she has ridden out 7 major hurricanes on so can stay there till I sell. She is registered in the Bahamas so duty has been paid which means she can stay there forever costing only $100.00 registration fee. Cheap for a second waterfront home in the Bahamas.

She Has the following;
Yanmar diesel 2Gm with 700 hours
New engine mounts
New hoses for engine including exhaust 
New stuffing box
New rigging with stay locks
New sail cover for mainsail and ne sun strip on Genoa
All sails in excellent condition.
Deck holes fiberglassed over and new Awlgrip over deck.
Anderson winches
All stantions, bow and stern pushpits.
Bimini frame.
She is solid fiberglass and is in great shape in hull and deck.
She was a centerboarder but the case has been glassed over.
And lots of other stuff to go with her like anchors boarding ladders etc.

Now the catch. The interior has a solid fiberglass hull pan through out. Everything is there. But it needs to be finished out. My plan is to redo the insides in 100 year old old growth pine that I have already cut out to length. Will need to be rewired. 
This boat sails wonderful. She can be sailed to Florida with ease. I could do this if needed for a buyer there.
The reason Iam selling is because 2 months after I bought her and did this work I found and salvaged a Dick Newick Val trimaran which I now own. This Trimaran is a more logical boat for us in the future and I cant see owning so many boats.


I made sheer legs for her to replace the stuffing box. Works great.
Sitting at our dock in the Bahamas. The dinghy is NOT FOR SALE With this boat. I mean the two part one thats on deck.

Lewmar winch to pull the Bruce and anchor line in with.
She has Bahamian registration, a Florida title and was documented.
Any questions on this sloop email me at.... Spankthermaid@gmail.com

The Val trimaran is what I want to keep. So the sloop needs to go.

The best boat deal is the Columbia Sloop as you can live aboard right away.
The Hobie 33 is a great boat if youre down here and are looking for a boat to race in.
My 31 sloop would be a great nice project for someone in the states to finish and then sail back to the Bahamas and leave over there on a mooring to use as a second home. I have so little in her that for me she is a fun day sailor for friends to use when we are back home.
If interested in the above boats MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET A TITLE otherwise it will be hard to sail about the islands. If you dont have many skills then these boats might not be for you. I have only just photographed the first two boats and have not surveyed. 
These boats are not for free but could be pretty close.


" Trust Me" Iam trying to give you my best boat broker look here.

Have fun dreaming.
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Winter Sailing

Friday, March 4, 2016


Beaufort 6. The first red flag goes up the pole on the waterfront. Long waves begin to form. White foam crests are scattered across the bay.


Martin waits patiently aboard Clover. The winds are obviously increasing, so wed better get going. As we motor out of the boat basin, theres not another boat in sight.


Some airborne spray drifts over the foredeck. Neoprene gloves lay dripping in the cockpit after having been blown off the dock into the water. Cold hands and face indicate better than any calendar that winter has set in. This blustery day heralds the first Sunday sail for us this month. Our friend Claire catches us passing in front of the ferry dock.


Soon, cold hands are forgotten in the joy of the day. Spindrift blurs the definition between sky and water. Clover scuds along at a happy six knots. Theres no where to go, were already there.


The sea heaps up. Some foam from breaking waves blows into streaks along the buried rail.
Beaufort 7 indicates a near gale. We take cover back inside the breakwater, congratulating ourselves on a morning sail well done. Looking forward already to next Sundays congregation.


When a sailor sees a sky like this, its recommended to take cover. Why does it give me such a thrill? (The man must be out of his mind.)


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Americas Cup Value to Sailing

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

I have recently been quite active on the LinkedIn forums about Americas Cup. It is not in my nature to participate in forums because I have found that it is all too easy to get drawn in and become embroiled, fending off attacks by Internet trolls whose great ambition in life is to be destructive to others. LinkedIn is a more closed community and less apt to show this nastiness and aggression. If I feel strongly enough about an issue then I will have my say and keep up with the rest of the discussion.

Just such a discussion came out of my last blog entry, about Race 13 exceeding the time limit. You can read that entry by scrolling down the page or go to the blog archive on the left of this blog. The response was that races should not have time limits and should just continue until there is a winner. It referenced baseball as a comparison. Discussion then progressed to the format that is being used for this current edition of Americas Cup, AC34. Some of my posts have been well received and it was suggested that one post in particular should be read by a wider audience.

I responded to the following question. I dont want to name the poster, I dont have his permission.

"So I am going to go back to my question on the cup. Forty minutes time limit for an Americas Cup race? I would like to see the last race ground out for say 2 hours of excitement vs. just 40 minutes. Are we an ADHD society that if it goes longer that 40 minutes we loose our audiance (sic). I dont care. Its the Americas Cup. It should be raced with sweat and tears to the end. It should go as long as a football game or basketball game(including time outs and media breaks). Shouldnt it?"

Here is my response.

"We all have our own ideas on what should be and what shouldnt be. Whos to say which is right? I agree that 40 minutes does seem too short a time limit but I understand the aim of the organisers to popularise sailing competition with the non-sailors and the parameters within which they were working.

Sailing is its own sport and it is evolving rapidly with technology. Do you really want to watch these two boats sailing back and forth upwind and downwind for 3 hours or more each race and potentially for 17 days (19 days including the 2-race penalty) in a row? That will drive the TV viewers back to whatever they were watching before AC34 came along.

I grow thoroughly bored watching football and baseball. They are stop-start games and they hold the attention of the audience for very short periods of action. The players get to rest for much of the duration and only work in short bursts. They can go on all night if needed, without burning themselves out. The crews on these boats are working hard the whole time, every race.

I think that it will work to compare AC racing with cricket. Test cricket takes 5 days of play, broken into 4 sessions each day. With no limits aside from the 5-day time limit, it often ends with no winner. It bores most people to tears. Then one-day international cricket was introduced, featuring 50 overs (300 balls) bowled by each team against the other batsmen. Suddenly cricket became interesting to a much wider audience. Now they play international 20-over games and the games are very exciting to watch, with massive viewership.

Rugby was always an exciting running game but it has also gone the same route of short, very fast and exciting games with the Rugby Sevens. This is what is needed to hold the attention of the modern world, where there is always something else trying to grab attention. Why should sailing not be right there in the fray also grabbing attention with short, fast and very exciting races.

Sailing is a sport of ageing players and needs new and young blood to survive. This event is likely to attract new people to sailing in one form or another. We can watch yacht racing as we knew it 20 years ago until it goes the way of the dinosaurs or we can embrace the new world and regenerate sailboat racing as a viable sport.

There is still a place for 5-day test cricket, for a much smaller audience than the other forms. Likewise, there is also still a place for the longer duration sailing races. I will be skippering a 38ft sailboat across the South Atlantic in January. We will be racing flat-out for 3 weeks from Africa to South America. There will be exciting times for me and my crew far away from the eyes of any TV audience. I enjoy that racing immensely, as a participant but I dont expect our slow progress across the ocean chart to keep anyone rivetted to the edge of their seat the way that AC34 is doing to us right now.

I think that with AC34 they have hit a winning formula and I am enjoying every short minute of it.
"


Thank you for taking the time to read my viewpoint. It is often a bit off the beaten track but I think that it is valid.
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Sailing with Andrews Navigator Wren

Friday, February 26, 2016

Sailing Ellie alongside my friend Andrews beautiful Navigator Wren at the Port Townsend Pocket Yacht Palooza Crooza around Marrowstone Island, Washington was a real treat.
 

Andrew did a magnificent job building Wren. Her beautifully varnished seat tops and laminated tiller are especially beautiful.  I love her colors, and envy the batten arrangement in her mainsail, which allows the main to be dropped without removing the battens, unlike mine.  Comparing boats was a learning experience for us both, as we pondered  each others ideas.  There are more photos of Wren here.

The Palooza and followup cruise were both fantastic.  We had every kind of weather, which made the trip quite interesting.  It was great meeting John Welsford again, albeit briefly, as John was quite busy tending to his Scamp Camp.

For more photos of the Pocket Yacht Palooza and Cruise, click this link.

Cant wait to do this again next year!
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Design 2731 Manhattan Sailing Club Dinghy Dock

Friday, February 19, 2016


If you recall, back in 2001-2002 we designed the floating clubhouse for the Manhattan Sailing Club, the Honorable William Wall, design #2686. Thats her way out in the distance next to Ellis Island in the image below.


The dinghy dock was to be moored in the shallow flats behind and southwest of the Statue of Liberty. The barge was designed to accommodate 7 Lasers, 6 Sunfishes and 12 Optimists for the schools dinghy program. The boats would be stored on carpeted ramps. The floating facilitys design also included toilet rooms and an observation deck. In the end the school purchased an existing barge due to cost constraints.

You can learn more about the floating clubhouse and the dinghy sailing program by visiting Manhattan Sailing Clubs website by clicking here. Simply follow the links to "Clubhouse" and "Junior Sailing."


Principal Dimensions
LOA 90-0"
Beam 30-0"
Draft 2-0" (light ship)
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