Sailing

Got out on the water for the first time this year. Sailboat madness has gripped me tightly in its clutches again. I've got the bug , and I've got it bad!

@Bermy
I'd love to read your husband's account of the boat , somehow missed that post initially.

Which boat would you like to hear about?
 
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  • #79
Second what Kyle said.

But I wasreferencing the already written account mentioned in post 52. I'd love to hear whatever insights into cruising you have to share
 
Here is a picture of our schooner the 'Christian Venturer' after we sold it and the new owner changed the stern layout shortened the deckhouse and replaced the wooden booms with aluminium. Bittersweet to see her but still a very pretty hull. Built in Bermuda by my husband in 1976 launched 1977, still going strong IMG_20180513_150619.jpg IMG_20180513_150826.jpg
Extremely good in rough seas, cut and slice, no pounding. IMG_20180513_150619.jpg IMG_20180513_150826.jpg
 
Did a quick Google search, 72 foot? Holy crap that's huge!!!!! Who did the design? Built in wood, ferro, fiberglass? How many people helped building that, especially if you guys did it all in a year! Absolutely amazing!
 
75' long bowsprit to boomkin, 57' waterline, 11'2" beam, 6' draft. Double ended staysail schooner (although she was originally rigged Chinese Junk)
7 sails, five lowers, two topsails. Five of the sails are self tending, outer jib we converted to roller furling...I took one too many salt water dunkings out on the end of the bowsprit furling in bad weather!
My husband Bobby Doe co-designed it with a friend Bill Nash so she's a one off .Many people mistake her for a Herreshoff 'Marco Polo'...inititally similar at first glance but very different.
Bobby had help from two others to lay up the hull which is Airex foam cored firbreglass. The rest of the build he did by himself, including building the wooden masts.
It took him 18 months from start to heading out on the maiden voyage. It was built in an old Admiralty shed out on Ireland Island in Bermuda.
He single handed it many times and he and I double handed it for all our major voyages.
When we did Tall Ships sail training she had a crew of 14, and everyone had their own berth.
My hubby is a unit!!!
 
Yes, it's truly impressive, thanks Ruel.
The interior fit out he christened 'orange crate provincial' 😂 basics, staind plywood featured well. We added stuff as the years went by (once I came on the scene)
The narrow hull with sharp double ends made it so she would cut and slice through head seas, and track like an arrow close hauled through to broad reach . With the sail layout, she went faster by tacking downwind than running with wind dead astern. Trying to wing out all the lowers was tricky, so easier and faster to tack. She won a race in the Baltic with that tactic.
She would self steer in 6 different sail combinations...then we got an Aries wind vane, we did 12 knots reaching with just about 4 inches of the servo rudder in the water. The water swishing past the hull would make a certain sound when she hit 9 knots and more...hiss, hiss hisssssss....ssssssssss, YEAH!!!!
 
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  • #88
Was she built for beating up wind, or was that just a happy accident? Do conditions in Bermuda require lots of sailing to weather?

Read Annie Hill's "Voyaging On A Small Income" and she seems to be quite an evangelist for junk rigs and mostly sailing with the wind. What prompted the switch to fore and aft?
 
That will keep you busy!
No accidents, many years on the ocean and two talented minds, as well as allll the history of successful boat design by many others, Herreshof, Hinkley, Frers, Fife schooners, grand banks schooners, researching why boats sank in storms etc etc The design phase happened long before I came on the scene.
 
Thank you, Bermy. You brought back some memories. Until I became employed by Chris VanPeer, owner and number one fabricator of Van Peer Boatworks in Fort Bragg, California, I never appreciated the nuances of boat design, their purpose and the many forms of their construction more. Given my time in the construction of such it was steel first, aluminum second, wood third and concrete type constructions. Today there's carbon fiber and other composites.


At Van Peers I worked building and outfitting all type of fishing vessels from skiffs, dory's to drag boats.

Since those early days in the industry I have never appreciated the design and construction of sea going vessels more.

And by the way, I also learned there's no such thing and the "perfect boat".
 
The one thing I miss moving to another country is time spent on the water...salt water.
Once you have salt water 'in your blood', it never leaves, there is a definable sense of 'something' when the scent hits your nostrils and the long, long view of a distant horizon hoves into sight.
About the only equal is the wilderness of the bush, miles and miles of nature, no infrastructure to be seen.
Mind you, to be fair, I don't miss bad weather on the ocean, not one bit!
 
The ocean's special. Dunno how I'd feel about a long voyage on a smallish boat, but I'm pretty sure I'd love it.
 
Speaking of storms and small boats, I thought this book was awesome

 
23 days double handed was my longest non stop on our boat, Gibraltar to Bermuda, forgot to mention the weight of our boat was 26 tons, full keel, that and her hull shape were the reasons she handled the seas so well.
Did a delivery from Turks and Caicos to Puerto Rico on a little 28 footer...it was awful, like bobbing along on a cork. Calling for 'huey'
I was seriously spoiled from our boat for long voyages, how well she handled the sea.
 
Here is a picture of our schooner "Christian Venturer' under full sail in Hamilton Harbour Bermuda about 1984ish. I'm pretty sure that's me on the helm, and Bob's legs peeking out from under the main staysail on the foredeck.
No Idea who took this picture, it popped up on FB a while back :) CV 1984.jpg
 
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  • #99
She's a beaut. So much sail to manage! Control lines in the cockpit or did you have to run around deck to strike and set sail?
 
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