A new tack
I do like to tease northern hemisphere small boat sailors that it never gets cold Downunder, but it does. For what seems like weeks we've been inundated with rain and bashed by strong winds. Most days this week the temperature has not risen above the high teens (Celsius), while the winds have more than doubled that (in kph).
But while Tilman has been idle, I haven't. I've been busting myself with my largest sailboat, a Hunter 19 aka Europa 19 or for many UK sailors "the Squib with a lid". For some time designer Oliver Lee had an open boat design called the Squib which was avidly raced and cruised in the UK and beyond. In response to a public need, he designed a deck for the same fin keel hull and called it the Hunter. It became known as the Europa 19 in the 1980s, I think.
My boat is Australian built with the difference being that she is a drop keel design. This technically allows to be popped in and out of the water as one might desire. But as I discovered soon after buying her, she's a real pig to launch and retrieve due to her weight and shoal draft. So for the last few years she's been idling away in my drive.
Now, as a newly minted single dad in need of adventure and having no spare cash, I've decided to modify her to better suit my current and future needs. My main aim is to bring her up to bluewater spec' - more of that will be blogged about later because I'm growing tired of putting my dreams out there and not being able to see them through. Then I feel even more crappy then I otherwise would. So I intend to only blog what I've done.
A big part of the conversion from trailer sailer to bluewater craft is to transform the rig from Bermudan to Chinese sail. I haven't actually done that yet, but am in the process of working through the McLeod/Hasler bible and designing her new layout. A big part of the rig conversion will be to pinpoint the location of the new mast base and strengthen the hull and deck. The process, which is unbelievably convoluted and gives me stress headaches every two hours, won't be described here in detail. But apart from the brain-strain I find the process quite challenging and potentially highly rewarding... till next time.
But while Tilman has been idle, I haven't. I've been busting myself with my largest sailboat, a Hunter 19 aka Europa 19 or for many UK sailors "the Squib with a lid". For some time designer Oliver Lee had an open boat design called the Squib which was avidly raced and cruised in the UK and beyond. In response to a public need, he designed a deck for the same fin keel hull and called it the Hunter. It became known as the Europa 19 in the 1980s, I think.
My boat is Australian built with the difference being that she is a drop keel design. This technically allows to be popped in and out of the water as one might desire. But as I discovered soon after buying her, she's a real pig to launch and retrieve due to her weight and shoal draft. So for the last few years she's been idling away in my drive.
Now, as a newly minted single dad in need of adventure and having no spare cash, I've decided to modify her to better suit my current and future needs. My main aim is to bring her up to bluewater spec' - more of that will be blogged about later because I'm growing tired of putting my dreams out there and not being able to see them through. Then I feel even more crappy then I otherwise would. So I intend to only blog what I've done.
A big part of the conversion from trailer sailer to bluewater craft is to transform the rig from Bermudan to Chinese sail. I haven't actually done that yet, but am in the process of working through the McLeod/Hasler bible and designing her new layout. A big part of the rig conversion will be to pinpoint the location of the new mast base and strengthen the hull and deck. The process, which is unbelievably convoluted and gives me stress headaches every two hours, won't be described here in detail. But apart from the brain-strain I find the process quite challenging and potentially highly rewarding... till next time.
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