Water Ballast

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 Story of Onkabye and Gimcrack.

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…

Planing vs Displacement Sailing

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…

Transpac Racing and Common Sense

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…

Maclean Memorial Races

March 29 – 30, 2014 The regatta will be a two day event Moorage on March 29 will be at the Longbranch Marina, Filucy Bay. There we will join the Cruisers for an after race potluck and get together. See the Cruise News. The race is open to all SSSS Members. Race fees not required.…

Raceability

While not true with a power boat, raceability – to use a Cardwell term – is a determinant of resale value in sailboats. MacGregor Yachts established itself as a race boat company with the MacGregor 65. The MacGregor 65 Joss, in 1985 established a record that went unbroken 22 years – one of the oldest records…

Skookum Inlet Race

March 1, 2014 Osa was the RC Boat. Releaf was mark boat.     A CLASS Start Time: 10:00 Distance: 23.4 nm Correctd Finish Finish Course Points Sail No. Yacht Name Yacht Type Rating Time Time Time —— ——– ————– ————– —— ——– ——– ——— 0.75 69315 NIRVANA MERI 28 120 16:29:00 15:42:12 6:29:00 2.00 18633 I5 SANZ…