Introductions / How did you find sailFar.net?

[Jim_ME]

Keeping a boat down South somewhere is also a goal of mine. Seems like it would be a good way to have a Snowbird lifestyle. I tend to think that I'd prefer having a modest-sized boat (and maybe trailer) already down there, and to be able to spend what time is available down there, instead of having to sail/motor (or even trailer) it down and back. At first it seemed like the boat would be sitting for much of the year, but then remembered that up here the season is quite short and my boats are also out of the water 8 months of the year anyway.

Good luck with your refit and plans.

-Jim 

[Sue W]

Hi there,

We saw sailfar.net in Good Ol' Boat magazine.

Don and I are Canadian ex-Brits who have been sailing since our teens. Since we met 20 years ago we have sailed in the Caribbean and Florida on our own boat (a Colvin Gazelle - a 42-foot steel junk-rigged schooner) and chartering. We are now both retired computer professionals.

Our latest boat is a recently-acquired Bayfield 32 (Canadian boat). She was built in 1976, and requires a lot of work to get her into shape for long-term cruising. Our plans are totally dependent on how we do this summer in repairs/refitting, hopefully to sail out of winter (we live in Ontario) in the next year or so.

Things are warming up around here (the water is no longer hard) and we're going to start by naming the boat. Suggestions are welcome.

Sue & Don.

[s/v Faith]

Hi there,

We saw sailfar.net in Good Ol' Boat magazine.

Don and I are Canadian ex-Brits who have been sailing since our teens. Since we met 20 years ago we have sailed in the Caribbean and Florida on our own boat (a Colvin Gazelle - a 42-foot steel junk-rigged schooner) and chartering. We are now both retired computer professionals.

Our latest boat is a recently-acquired Bayfield 32 (Canadian boat). She was built in 1976, and requires a lot of work to get her into shape for long-term cruising. Our plans are totally dependent on how we do this summer in repairs/refitting, hopefully to sail out of winter (we live in Ontario) in the next year or so.

Things are warming up around here (the water is no longer hard) and we're going to start by naming the boat. Suggestions are welcome.

Sue & Don.

Welcome Sue and Don!

  You two are officially the first to find us through the add, I think your bayfied will fit in nicely here. :)

I look forward to hearing more about her, and reading of your plans and adventures!

Fair Winds!

[Jim_ME]

Sue & Don, Let me join Craig in welcoming you.

Although the Bayfield 32 may still be a little large for a true sail-farer, since you have traded down from the 42-footer, the trend is in the right direction.  ;)

The only name possibility that comes to mind...since your plans are to become one of the snowbirds is...

S/V Honk Honk, Eh

(for a Canada Goose...) :)

[Jim_ME]

I should confess to being a fan of Tom Colvin's designs, and the Gazelle 42 since seeing it in The Proper Yacht by Arthur Beiser.

The Gazelle design is interesting in the way it avoids many of the limitations of more conventional boats its size--for instance with its long full keel with a modest 3'-10" draft, schooner rig which divides the sailplan up into smaller sails, and the easy-to-handle lug sail (junk) rig.

It was interesting to read about Colvin's philosophy of simplicity--including no motor and "no electricity at all, with candle and kerosene lamps for illumination".

[badjujumedic]

Hi

I just purchased a Vanguard and was referred to the site by Kurt.  Looks like there is a lot of good info here!

John

[s/v Faith]

Welcome aboard John.

  Glad you found us, and congrats on the Vanguard.  Which one is she>?  (what is [was?] her name?)

Pictures are always good.  ;)

  Look forward to hearing more from you.

[badjujumedic]

The Boats name is Pelago and I believe Frohlich before that. Im not sure how to upload the pics here. hull #177

[s/v Faith]

The Boats name is Pelago and I believe Frohlich before that. Im not sure how to upload the pics here. hull #177

Wow!  Too funny.  Let's see, she is a light tan (actually the name of the color is butter nut) and she has a
watermaker (PUR 80 IIRC)... let's see what else I can recall about here (if it is the same boat)....

Tell me if I am right, and I will tell you what else I know.  (nothing bad)

[CapnK]

That's her. :)

[nemier]

Hello,
Thank you for the opportunity to join the site.
It seems directly aimed at what I'm after  <information on small, simple, sailboats>
My name is Andy Nemier and I sail the PNW, home port North Vancouver.
Previous sailbaots were a Newport 28 flushdeck, and a Catalina 36.
I'm currently looking for a 30' singlehander for distance sailing, keeping it as simple as possible.  I read all the Pardey books a few years ago and my world has not been the same since.  Keeping it simple and devoiding the boat of most of the modern tecnological 'stuff' pleases me.
Looking forward listening & learning.  Cheers.   :)

[Captain Smollett]

Welcome aboard, Andy.  The Pardey's sure do make it all look easy, don't they?   ;)

Feel free to post some pictures from your beautiful neck of the woods!

If you are looking for 30 footers, you might like to know that quite a few Alberg 30's have been posted recently on the Alberg 30 mailing list.  You can check out alberg30.org for more info.

[Jim_ME]

Welcome Andy, too. Good luck with your boat search. In an earlier post I tried to kid about a 32-foot boat as still being too big to be a true sailfar boat, I sometimes think that ultimately all of us will end up with 26-footers--either an Alberg Ariel or Rhodes Meridian.

If I were to disclose fully, I would admit to bidding on an Alberg 30 project boat myself a few years back. It had parted its mooring pennant and beached in a storm and sustained rudder damage, keel scrapes, and some hull/deck join (toerail) damage. I did go look at the boat in Portland (the other one in Maine). I was struck by what a fine boat it seemed like--and how similar in form and feel it was to my Typhoon 19 (in the same way that CJ recently described the Vanguard 32 as a big version of his boat).

I have been slowing working my way through the Pardey books too, as I find used hard covers of their series. I, too admired their simple approach to boating and life.   

[Oldrig]

Welcome, Sue & Don,

Those Gozzard-designed Bayfields are nice boats; I almost bought a 25, but ended up with a Cape Dory 25D.

Sorry, I don't have any good ideas for a boat name, but I'm sure you'll get plenty of suggestions from this board.

Fair winds,

--Joe

[SEMIJim]

Hello Everybody,

New to sailFar as of today.  My name is Jim.  The Admiral and I sail a Pearson P30.  We've owned her since mid-summer, 2007.  So far we've club raced and day sailed on Lake St. Clair, which is a large-ish, but shallow, lake located between two Great Lakes: Huron to the north and Erie to the south.  We have plans to cruise the Great Lakes some day.

Longest trip we've had on Abracadabra so far was when we bought her, and brought her up from the North Cape Yacht Club down in the southwest "corner" of Lake Erie.  So we haven't really sailed very far on her yet :).  We've got a lot of work to do on her before we'll be ready to cruise, which I imagine I'll get to, here, in good time.

We just splashed for the 2011 season last Friday, late in the afternoon.  Got her stick up Saturday and got her around to her slip.  Looking forward to getting the rigging tuned Saturday and getting some sailing in this U.S. Memorial Day weekend :).

As for The Admiral's and my levels of expertise: She used to sail a 7m wood "dinghy," for lack of a better term, that she and her older brother owned.  Years and years ago I crewed on a Pearson P28.  Now we've got the four seasons of experience on Abracadabra.  I know a bit about sailing, in general, a bit about racing (we've actually placed several times ;)), a bit about mechanical issues (aux. power [gasoline], rigging and rig tuning), and a lot about many things electrical, esp. VHF radios.

Discovered sailFar via Google, when I was searching for comments about a certain recent boat equipment brouhaha, and thought the site looked interesting and... well, welcoming and comfortable, I guess.

I guess that's about it for now, except for "Thanks for having me aboard" :)

Jim

[s/v Faith]

Welcome aboard Jim!

  Glad you found us, IIRC we have a couple (few?) P-30 Sailors here.

There were 2 P-30's in the yacht club in NC... what great boats.  Sounds like you are
of the same opinion.  ;D

[SEMIJim]

Welcome aboard Jim!

Thanks! :)

  Glad you found us, IIRC we have a couple (few?) P-30 Sailors here.

Yeah, we're all over the place.

There were 2 P-30's in the yacht club in NC... what great boats.  Sounds like you are
of the same opinion.  ;D

Indeed I am :D

Funny story, there.  When The Admiral and I were looking at boats, she was adamant: "No Pearsons!"  "Why?" I asked.  She thought they were ugly.  I didn't get it.  She'd shot down an earlier boat because she felt it sailed like a bathtub.  (No, I'll not offend anybody by saying what that was.)  But Pearsons... ugly?  Then we found Abracadabra, which she reluctantly agreed to go look at.

Love at first sight.

Turned out that her attitude was based entirely upon this one Pearson we'd seen, early on, that wasn't one of their more aesthetically pleasing designs (a 26' boat they'd put the cabin of a 30' boat upon, IIRC), and it was a rather obnoxious shade of green, to boot!

Jim

[phil416]

Hello Everyone;
     I found this site in Good Old Boat magazine. A picture of my boat can be found in the mail bouy section of the current issue of that magazine.  Upon retirement I took up sailing as a means to satisfy a lifelong wanderlust.  Several vessel refits and false start preceded my departure on a North Atlantic circle tour June 1, 2008.  The voyage completed June 1, 2010 in Solomons Maryland.  My purpose here is to share my experiences with other would be voyagers who want tips and encouragement. I especialy want to reach those like myself who are not lifelong sailors.
     My vessel is a 1962 Pearson Triton #416 "Deep Blue" that I purchased for $400 in Solomons Md.  3 summers of hard work and  an additional investment of $4,700 restored this Carl Alberg masterpiece to a seaworthy condition.  If an interest is shown I will be posting here my adventures and the modifications.    This entire project has been the learning experience of a lifetime.
     First was to learn sailboats and all the interelated systems.  This of course is an ongoing process that continues as long as we continue to breathe.  More importantly was meeting the wonderful people and places along the way.  The Atlantic Islands astounded me with their beauty and friendly locals.  In Portugal I found a rich history and a culture little know here in America.  All in all the people and places were the highlight of the adventure.  Thanks to all for this site Phil

[CharlieJ]

Welcome aboard. Tehani and crew will be in Solomons within the next few months. We'll look you up.

On the home page is a section of boat names, which lead you to threads covering the cruises made and underway. If you start a thread on your travels I'm sure Kurt would include it there. I feel certain almost all of us would enjoy reading it.

[DavidCrosby]

Several vessel refits and false start preceded my departure on a North Atlantic circle tour June 1, 2008.  The voyage completed June 1, 2010 in Solomons Maryland.  My purpose here is to share my experiences with other would be voyagers who want tips and encouragement. I especialy want to reach those like myself who are not lifelong sailors.
     My vessel is a 1962 Pearson Triton #416 "Deep Blue" that I purchased for $400 in Solomons Md.  3 summers of hard work and  an additional investment of $4,700 restored this Carl Alberg masterpiece to a seaworthy condition.  If an interest is shown I will be posting here my adventures and the modifications.    This entire project has been the learning experience of a lifetime.
 

Phil,

Were you in the Azores during late June 2009 (specifically Horta)? I had talked to a person with a Triton and he had said Solomons, Md is the place to get good fixer upper, blue water worthy boats cheap. Either way, I would be interested in hearing more of your story. Do you have a blog or website?

Attached is a photo of our crew after leaving our mark on the sea wall at Horta. I am the guy in blue.