Flicka 'round the world' trip planned

[Frank]

Here is a great link ..great story..read her thoughts   ht+p://www.solo-sailor.c0m/SailingLinks.htm

Edit: CapnK - Site now dead. Link to the site @ Wayback Machine has no data as of 12/09.

I have gone up through Page 8 of this thread editing posts wherein links to the site were included. I left the link text in, just broke the syntax so they won't work/be clickable.

[maxiSwede]

On one side of that web-page seh is talking Flicka, on another a brand new Nor Sea 27'.
She also has a posting in the log book posted May 7 this year, she is really fast

Nice site anyway  :D

[Frank]

I caught that too...seems she had a norsea 27 ordered but switched and bought the Flicka. It is the last one made..near 'perfect' condition, but they were asking $75000 for it !!! WOW !! I guess it was still WAY less than a new 27fter and a 'deal' is in the eyes of the beholder.

[AdriftAtSea]

Their exceptionally high production costs and selling prices is the main reason that they no longer make the Flicka as a production boat.  The market for pocket bluewater cruisers is rather limited.

[maxiSwede]

I caught that too...seems she had a norsea 27 ordered but switched and bought the Flicka. It is the last one made..near 'perfect' condition, but they were asking $75000 for it !!! WOW !! I guess it was still WAY less than a new 27fter and a 'deal' is in the eyes of the beholder.

Oooops!  Now that´s something. In Sweden you could by similar boats - but built in the sixties-seventies and in need of a refurbish - for € 2000 and upwards, definitely a 'renovated' example for under €10000 (about 14000 USD) 

Anyone interested in a joint-venture BoatSell business cross the Atlantic?   ;D

BTW, No one biuilds anything like that here anymore. The market demand is for 'RV* type boats... Bavaria and you know those high topsides... etc. etc.  :P 8)

[FLIGHT]

Gentlemen:

I see several posts about my daughter, Heather, and her upcoming around-the-world voyage in her Flicka 20.

First, as the the price, she paid $11,000 less than the asking price, and I rpomise you, as a deep water sailor of more than a half century - she got an amazing bargain!  The elderly physician and his wife who bought this boat new at the factory, the last one made #434, always kept the boat at their yacht club in Newport Beach - along with their other much larger sailing yacht.  The Flicka was just sort of a toy with them, and for the full 9 years they owned it, they kept it at that yacht club, under a full boat cover.  And now listen to this:  Once a week, they had a professional come down and detail the boat, from stem to stern.  Everything.  Polish all the bronze; renew the varnish before it needed it, etc., etc.  And once a month they had a SCUBA diver come by and clean off the bottom.  The boat was almost never used.  They would come down to the yacht club in the evenings, remove the cover, watch their little TV aboard, cover the boat back up, and go home at bed time.

The sink had never been used.  The stove had never been used.  The upholstery looks and smells like it is a week old.

The boat is utterly flawless in every minute detail.

The riggers who came down to the dock to get the boat ready for trucking here to Florida did not believe it was a used boat at all!

Bruce Bingham, the desinger of the Flicka came here to my home and helped Heather work on the boat on two occasion.  Ask Bruce.  He'll tell you this is the finest and newest Flicka on Earth.

Plus, as you can see from Heather's web site (I guess I'm not allowed to put her URL in here?) we have spent six months really preparing the wee vessel for the sea.  Every detail.  Just for example, we have even arranged Heather's sea anchor assembly in such a fashion that she can deploy her sea anchor in ten seconds!  That is ready for sea!

If I had one single minute reservation about Heather or her boat, I would not allow her to go off on this voyage.  But I have none.  She has the boat and the soul it takes!

Thank you very much for all your kind words to her!

Dr. Gene Neill
Mayo, Florida

[AdriftAtSea]

Gene-

Glad to see you took up my invitation. :)  Welcome to Sailfar.net.  This website advocates the idea of sailing far in small sailboats... we don't believe that a 40' sailboat isn't necessary to make serious passages.

[CharlieJ]

Hey- OF COURSE you can post her website here.. Some of us have apparently "missed the boat" on her I for one would love to read it.

I can remember when the Flicka FIRST came out, as a design winner in Rudder Magazine, as a ferrocement design ;D ;D

I dreamed of one way back then. They later even had a set of forms you could cut out and assemble, with gauze and plaster I believe, to make a "ferro" model of her.

[CapnK]

Grog to ya', Dr. Gene - and Welcome Aboard!

By all means, post her site address - no problem at all.

If she has the time/the inclination to join us for a bit prior to shoving off, of course she's welcome too. :)

And I don't think you'll hear *any* argument here about her boat being too small, etc etc... ;)

[macdiver]

T he link to your daughters website was posted back in october under the external links thread.  I checked out the website then.

I wish her success and luck and look forward to following her progress.

[FLIGHT]

Okay, thanks for telling me I'm allowed to post Heather's web site.

You really need to check it out - she's getting thousands of hits, so at least a lot of folks enjoy it.

And if you read it carefully, the real Heather begins to become obvious to you - you can see and feel her honesty, dedication and ability.  She's not just one more air-headed dreamer or record seeker.  This is a young lady who built up a very profitable real estate brokerage all by herself; her daughter is graduating college with a double major in Russian language and history; her son is soon going to graduate from the United States Naval Academy; she was appointed by governor Bush, the former governor of Florida to his Advisory Board; the United States Naval Academy appointed her as a Blue and Gold Officer for the Academy; she's a leader in the Rotary.  And, at 43 she simply wants to spend the rest of her life "dancing with the Dolphins", as she puts it.

Go read her site at www.solo-sailor.com

And you'll see me in there working on her boat...

Reef early!
Gene

[CharlieJ]

lol Sounds like quite a young lady.


And of course you AREN'T a really proud papa huh??

;D ;D

[CapnK]

Gene -

I am having fun reading through the last few months of prep work on the boat. It sure looks like y'all have done "Flight..." up very well!

One thing I noticed, on the Oct-Nov page, with regard to the fuel vent hose invention, pictured below.



It looks like you've used white zip-ties to attach the hose to the bowsprit, and that caught my eye. The white ties do not have any UV protection included in what they are made of (nylon, IIRC), and will last only a year or two before becoming extremely brittle and breaking very easily.

I have heard that the black colored ties *DO* have a UV resistance, and other experience has shown that they at last quite a bit longer out in the sun than the white ones. Seems counterintuitive, that. :)

Anyway, if they are still in use, I thought that you or Heather might want to replace those before she leaves, if you haven't done so already.

[CharlieJ]

Agree- we have (had) white zip ties on the bow pulpit holding the bow light wires to the pulpit. They've been there for about 18 months and Laura brushed against them the other day and wiped five of them right off. So brittle they just crumbled. I'm switching to black wire ties there, but for that fuel vent there might be something even better.

Lately I've been using a tool called a "Clamptite" which makes clamps from wire, in place on the fitting, using stainless safety wire. I'm gradually replacing the clamps on my fuel line fittings, since we seem to have a horrible time finding REAL stainless hose clamps, with REAL stainless screws.

The only thing I would caution you about using this tool, is to be careful to not get the clamp TOO tight- you can easily deform the underlying hose fitting with it.

Here's a link to the web site. My friend Chuck from Duckworks gave me mine- I love it ;D

http://www.clamptitetools.com/

[FLIGHT]

Yes, you're right of course, the white Nylon wire ties need to go.  When I attached them, I actually only meant for them to be temporarly fasteners, but we simply haven't gotten around to replacing them.

But we will - I promise.

And thank you for the reminder.

Heather's out in the Gulf of Mexico right this moment, on her way home from her 165 mile shakedown cruise.  She sailed down to Crystal River, to get all the antifouling paint sand/water blasted off.  Then she got three new coats of Interlux Interprotect 2000E and four coats of red Interlux Ultra-Kote antifouling paint.

Her #434 Flicka, by the way, and I don't know about the earlier Flickas, was laid up with Vinylester resin, rather than the poor Polyester.  And the factory did give her boat one coat of Interprotect 2000E.  So, after nine years in the water, he had not a single sign of any osmosis nor blisters.  What a relief!

Thanks again!

Gene

[FLIGHT]

Hi guys -

I just did some research, and learned there is a cable tie called TEFZEL, which is the only cable tie allowed to be used inside nuclear power plants here in the states.  It is totally UV resistant, and has some amazing temperature resistance of something like 390degrees F or some such thing! 

TEFZEL only comes in a light blue color, but it's not bad at all.

And, since I have white cable ties all over the electronic equipment on the stern of Heather's boat, I just ordered an entire bundle of 13" TEFZEL ties, 1/3 inch wide, from this place:  http://www.electerm.com/tys1.html.  The bundle was $67, but this is important enough to justify this cost.  Heather's C.A.R.D. antenna is tied with white cable ties, her sat phone antenna is tied with white cable ties, her AIR-X wind turbine has a number of white cable ties, etc., etc.

By the way, I just this minute got a sat phone call from Heather, out in the Gulf on her shakedown cruise, heading home now.  The winds are very light, and she's having to beat into them, but her Monitor - which she has affectionately named Mortimer - is doing all the steering for her, while she concentrates on photographing all the Dolphins.

No, I'm not just a proud papa.  I'm a very jealous papa!

Thanks for the tip about the UV white cable ties; I was unaware of this problem.

Reef early!
Gene

[AdriftAtSea]

The Tefzel cable ties seem to be the ticket for that problem... a bit pricey...but well worth it IMHO.

[Lost Lake]

Gene,

I hope you are well. I read the entire website Heather put together and it is fascinating. She has such courage!! I look forward to reading of her travels, and wish you both a blessed Christmas.

JD

[FLIGHT]

Thank you very much, JD, and I hope you also had a blessed Christmas, as our whole family did here at the Neill house.  Unfortunately, Lieutenant Christa Neill Almonte, Heather's baby daughter, who is Operations Officer on the USS Lake Erie, couldn't make it for Christmas AND the embarkation.  So she skipped Christmas, and will be here to see Heather off.  In fact, she'll be sleeping on Heather's boat, FLIGHT OF YEARS, the night before Heather leaves.  And I'll be in the Marina Motel.

CAN YOU IMAGINE ELECTRICITY BUZZING AROUND THIS FAMILY THESE LAST FEW DAYS BEFORE HEATHER DISAPPEARS OVER THE HORIZON????  Something between terror and ecstasy perhaps?

I'm already giving Heather weather forecasts at least once each day now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL YOU GUYS!

Gene

[Lost Lake]

The electricity is affecting us all!! Half way between terror and ecstasy, stupidity and pure genius. We are all living vicariously through Heather.

Part of my joy is the size of her boat. I sail a Compac 19 which is also a 20 foot boat. I have so many people tell me I can't make it to the Bahamas or across the Great Lakes, and as yet I have not conquered either area. My sailing experience is limited to a 13' sloop on small lakes and one year in my CP.

As Heather goes, so go I!  ;D