Time to wake up! This happens all the time I’ve seen people discussing liferafts and such, but for me this big issue here is keels. The four crew on Cheeki died because the boat’s keel fell off, probably very suddenly, and this is not, as some have suggested, an unusual occurrence. It is frighteningly common. Modern fin…
Joshua Slocum Joshua Slocum was from Nova Scotia, Canada. He owned several ships as well as commanding many others. After loosing one of his ships, the Aquidneck, on a sandbank in Brazil, he and his family sailed the Liberdade, a canoe of about 35 foot, from the site of the grounding to Washington DC USA,…
It was pretty galling to watch the water-ballasted boats taking the conditions very much in their stride – and with significantly more comfort for their crews. The Cascails fleet exhibited a good representation of current offshore design, and it was interesting to see how they fared. Sitting on the weather rail of a Corel 45…
I’m occasionally asked if I miss the larger, deep draft sailboat. The answer is always no. That type of craft now seems to me like a helpless one-legged seabird soaring above the surface of the sea, never able to safely land or seek shelter. Ron Hoddinott Small Craft Advisor March/April 2006 issue, pg 26 …
Twin keels become more effective with increased angle of heel, while a single keel becomes less effective. “No other nation has put so much faith in bilge (or twin) keels as the British. Other countries have flirted with them, but we became so enamored with the concept that they were the first choice for anything…
The 34th America’s Cup reintroduced catamarans. In 1988 a catamaran raced a mono hull with the result being a fiasco, the mono hull not being at all competitive. But multi hulled was not the only reintroduced innovation in the 34th. Centerboards increase a vessel’s draft and that old innovation was also used. The American built…
According to Sailing Today, September 2000 page 83, Van de Stadt’s Dehler 25 sloop bested MacGregor Yachts by a year or so in the use of water ballast. The German Dehler 25s were produced from 1984 to 1991 and water ballast was reported in the US to be used for trailering reasons and cost savings. With the Van…
The following information is conveyed from the History of American Sailing Ships, a book published in 1935. This is a rather common book on the west coast of the US, in spite of its age, for folks who are studying sailboat design. The story of Onkabye and Gimcrack is found in Chapter 7 of the…
There are four modes of sailing. Displacement mode, forced mode, planing, and the 4th mode. Obviously many ocean sailboats do not plane and hence there is no reason to learn sail planing techniques on those boats. In fact it is just the opposite. There are good reasons to learn how to prevent planing on displacement…
The Dorade, a 52 foot 83 year-old yawl designed by Olin Stephens again won the TransPac race in 2013. She and the Santa Cruise 70 are two of only 4 vessels to be first to finish, first in class and first overall in the Transpac, a race to Hawaii that has been run regularly since…