Blue Water Class

I'm sitting in Nomad on a lake full of muddy brown water, so I guess that sparked my "blue water" musings. Deb and I are considering taking a blue water course at Emerald Coast, the same place we did the Catamaran class last year. They treated us so well and their prices are so good that it seems the right choice to take advantage of their combined "Advanced Coastal Cruising" package. We could renew our acquaintance with Lady Marian for the 5 day Gulf of Mexico Sail, (our dance partner from last year's catamaran class) but we are thinking of going to the opposite end of the spectrum. Emerald Coast has a Beneteau 381 available for this course. It is a production boat a bit more than 10 feet longer and two feet wider than Nomad, with another foot of draft. We know we could live on a 38 foot Catamaran and barely notice we have left land. (Not really, the ocean is a pretty big place. Still there is no doubt that living on a 38 foot Cat is living the good life!) I'm kind of curious how 38 feet of production monohull looks and feels after a week on board and a couple of hundred miles of water have passed by the gunnels.

Besides, I haven't sailed a Beneteau before. Why not try something new?

Thoughts on the 09 Annapolis show

The cat vs mono-hull debate is pretty much settled in favor of cats - depending (of course) on $$. I wonder at the difference between the sea kindliness of a 38' cat vs. a 50' mono but suspect that the stability of the cat, even though shorter, would win. Upwind is still a concern for me, but again, the stability of the cat and the quality of life living aboard would probably make it the preferred choice. I did see a Benetau I really kind of liked, the 43. Deb saw a Hunter she kind of liked (a bit of a surprise that). We both really like the Pacific Seacraft 40, the Caliber 40 LRC and the Gozzard 41. (Deb likes that one a bit more than I do. Interior is fantastic but somehow the exterior of the boat has lost some of its luster to my eye.) I was disappointed to be disappointed by the Dufours, even the 525 left me a bit unmoved. The Island Packet Estero was a disappointment as well. Though the interior (like the Gozzard) has a great living room space in the forward hull, for some reason it just doesn't work as well as the Gozzard's.

Of the cats the new-for-this-year Leopard 38 was a stunner. The flat front windows make its deck salon feel more spacious than the older model 40. It needs some work on the cabinet hinges. They are not mounted well and, given sea conditions where people end up putting some pressure one them, will soon fail. But that was the only complaint I had. I liked the retracting dingy davits and the cockpit seat back that swings so that one can sit facing aft. Sitting and looking out over the ocean at the end of the day, sipping a cold one with an unobstructed view from the world's best back porch...how cool would that be?

The F/P Lapari 41 was another stunner. My only concern was a boat with a 39' LWL and a 22 foot beam. That wide beam made for an interior space in the hulls that was amazing, though I wonder what the additional wetted surface will do to performance. The tub like helm station hanging down into the cockpit was a bit awkward as well. (If the boat was mine I would get Brian to paint something there to cover the "ugh" factor.) A show-goer who has chartered both the Leopards and the F/Ps several times, (though admittedly neither the brand new 38 from Leopard or the Lapari) shared his opinion that the Leopard was a far better sailing boat; which would break the tie for me. (And, truth to tell, I think the Leopard is a prettier boat. I know that shouldn't matter much, but life is too short to own an ugly boat.)

I'm also getting pretty comfortable with the idea that Deb and I could handle a 50 foot boat, cat or mono, with a little practice. Besides, if we had a boat that big I'm thinking we would have a lot of "temporary crew" around to help out.

Big Cat Doors

A lot of catamarans have these huge sliding glass doors that open the back of the bridge deck onto the aft cockpit area. It is a big selling point; in fact SeaWind folds the doors up completely into a hard top Bimini, effectively removing the wall altogether.

I'm beginning to cool to the whole idea. In the first place it means there is a large portion of inside area that cannot contain any counter space (a chronic shortfall in boats of all kinds). Such a design also means that any supplemental heating / cooling of the interior space is going to be that much more difficult, though of course open ventilation is wonderful. Mostly though, I wonder just how tough those big panes of Plexiglas would be if one was running before the wind in gusts of 40+? How much water, rain and following seas, will they keep out?

I may never be a true "blue water" sailor but my inclinations are moving toward boats that seem to be designed for less than ideal conditions. A big glass wall that opens the entire interior of the boat to whatever the ocean can gin up would not seem to fit that description. That is one of the reasons why I really like the Gunboat and Chris White designed catamarans. (Now if I could just come up with $1,000,000 and change I could buy one.)

More Sail Trim

The winds were called out to be 10-15 gusting to 25. A year ago we would have put up all the sail we had and charged down the lake, rounding up every 1/4 mile. Today, we headed out of the cove with a single reef to start. We had a very pleasant sail heeled over to 15 with occasional gusts taking us over to 25 degrees. We were making 5-6 knots and doing it a lot more comfortably than we would have with all the sail up. We're learning, slow but sure.

Sail trim

Last weekend we buried the rail on Nomad, sailing in a nice but not overwhelming wind. When the rail went under we were healed nearly 35 degrees, and a couple of things puzzle me. The first is that we were heeled over that far in winds that were not as strong as we have seen in the past. (When Jeff of Gail Force joined us later, he said that the winds had been around 17 knots, max.) The second is that Nomad held her course without rounding up.

I had moved the jib traveler aft, which allowed us to sheet the jib in much tighter than we have in the past. (The traveler track arc matches the widest part of the beam. The aft end is actually several inches closer to the center of the boat.) In fact the sail was touching the stanchion, and I think that explains the heel. It might also help explain why Nomad held her head down. In addition, when I hoisted the main I didn't get the luff pulled completely tight, allowing a bit of a sag or "bagging" of the main. Maybe, having a bit more power on the jib and a bit less on the main, added to Nomad's ability to heel without rounding up?

Another puzzle; even with all of the heel, we (according to the GPS) were not making hull speed. I would have thought we would hit hull speed first, then start heeling over more and more and the sails worked against the keel.

I'm not sure. Even with my aviation background sail trim is still a bit of a mystery. It was sure fun though.

LATER: According to some internet forums...
I have it backwards; tightening the jib and easing off on the main halyard de-powered the jib and powered up the main. Apparently pulling the jib foot tight spills air off the top of the sail. I had assumed that pulling the sails in tight extracted the maximum amount of energy out of the wind when close hauled, but it seems sheeting them in tight keeps one from overpowering the boat.

But I still haven't figured this out to my satisfaction yet.

LATER STILL: Clearly there is a lot to learn about sail trim. One thing for certain is I need to play with the outhaul more. I think I have adjusted it once since we bought the boat, and that's when I bent the main on the very first time.

Things that make you go hmmmm....

Nomad has these two huge lazarattes which we kind of like. They open the entire stern for access to equipment, storage and the engine. They even lead into the main cabin through the companionway steps. Except...

I just read a story about a boat that broached too and flopped on its side. Not a good thing but normally not a tragic thing either. But in this case the leeward lazaratte popped open, the sea flooded in, and the boat sank in 700 feet of water. Ouch.

We have been sailing with the lazarattes unlocked and easily opened, but not anymore. Before Nomad leaves the dock again we will have some kind of clip to hold them shut.

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There was a race on the lake last weekend. The wind was blowing pretty hard and a gust caught friend's boat (that was in the lead at that moment and pushing hard) which caused him to round up. Not unusual, but there was another boat to windward that was closing on him. That captain didn't hear the warning call and couldn't see the first boat behind his jib...crunch. Not a lot of damage was done, but the boats didn't come off unscathed either. In MotogGP they would call it a "racing incident" even though it took both boats out of the race. In sailing there is all kinds of debate as to who was at fault. The windward, closing boat would normally be the "give-way" boat, but the lead boat pushed to hard, lost control, and swung directly up and into a boat that was holding its course.

Anyway, it all seems like a good reason for cruisers to be cruisers and not be racers.

Tim's Boat Review Lavezzi 40

My take on the Lavezzi 40:

Day 1) I really like the way the boat looks from the outside. Space in the main salon doesn't seem to be used very well. The table is awkward to get around, the nav station faces aft / starboard, there are no drawers in the galley area, and there appears to be only one power plug in the whole salon deck. Though all of the "owner" boats we have looked at have a kind of sitting area in the owner's hull, I'm not sure how useful that space is. Sitting on the couch looking out the escape hatch is novel, but that's about it. A full height storage area / bookshelf might be a better use of the limited hull area.

Day 2) First and foremost (and apologies to Fred our instructor) we had too much sail up for 20+ knots of wind with gusts to 30. This was our first day of sailing a big Cat and being over canvased had us working pretty hard. For some reason Fred worked the main sheet without using the traveler much. On my own I would have run the traveler way to leeward and sheeted the main down tight to flatten the sail. That would have also kept the boom under better control during tacks a gybes.

Things I'm not sure I like? The one piece, continuous main sheet which has one jumping back and forth across the cockpit. The lack of a winch for the jib furlur. The gearing on the jib winches - the only way to sheet the jib in tight is to put the boat on the very edge of being in irons. Also, it appears that there is a lot of rigging to foul the sails. Both sails have been damaged by the spreaders. The port side winch with the table up and the Bimini, is really awkward to work around. It is a two speed winch as well, making it even harder to work when the jib sheet gets loaded. I'm sure setting the sails will come easier with practice, but today it was a huge amount of work for Deb and I to tack and jibe the boat without Fred's help.

Day 3 & 4) Pinned against the dock for two days by high winds, so all the experience is just with living on a boat. The port side head has a sharp metal trim strip over the top of the doorway, which is a really bad idea. The front hatches in the main cabin have no supports to hold them open. This boat's dock lines are run in such a way as to make huge amounts of noise as the hull works against the winds. I miss having a chair to sit in. There should be better handholds for going down the steps into the hulls.

Day 5) The anchor roller needs a cap rail of some type. When trying to pull the anchor up the rode can get caught up off the roller if the boat twists. (which it seems to do each time we raise the anchor.) Setting the bridle is pretty straight forward and the electric anchor winch is a must have. It appears a big cat relies on engines pretty often. Get 2 big ones if the wallet can take the hit.

Day 6) The engine RPM gauges are in a weird spot, way too low to see. Not a big deal. The Raymarine electronic chart / radar is a really good unit but this one is mounted down in the salon. A screen up on the helm would make a lot of sense to this airplane driver. I don't see any easy way to mount screens at the salon door / galley window. Bugs have not been a problem here but...

Motoring through 4 - 5 foot swells was a fun ride, but the expanse of the salon was pretty evident when trying to move around the inside of the boat. There are virtually no handholds anywhere in the salon other than the edge of the table.

Any boat with an inside nav station (not this one) needs to have a windshield wiper. In the rain these windows were nearly opaque.

And...Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation.

Last Day: Fred let Deb and I handle the boat by ourselves. The winds were light, the bay calm and blue - a pretty nice day. We made some good decisions working with the traffic and handled the sails easily in the lighter winds. I used the traveler a little more than Fred, running it out wide and easing off the main sheet to let the sail fill a little more in the wind. By the end of the day we were pretty comfortable sailing the boat and putting it on the dock was a blast. Gotta love that twin-engine set up.

Deb's Fontaine Pajot Lavezzi 40 In depth critque

As we spend 5 days and 6 nights on the Lavezzi 40 I will be taking copious notes. Please refer back to this page frequently during the 5 days and a few after that as I put down random thoughts and experiences.

1. This is more boat than we need. You always hear it - get the smallest boat you think you can stand and then go smaller and they were right. Not that I don't like the space, but the thought of actually cleaning and maintaining this boat is a little overwhelming. Just the thought of washing and waxing it once a year is enough to give one heart failure.

2. The galley is MOSTLY USELESS. Don't get me wrong, I'm a former camper and I can cook in 2sq ft of picnic table and wash a load of dishes in 2 cups of water, but as far as a liveaboard, I'll be looking for a galley I can cook in comfortably. Specific details:

The main food cupboard is behind the stove so you have to reach across hot pans
and live gas flames to access it.

There are no drawers for silverware and cooking utensils

The sinks are double round bowl sinks that you can't fit any cooking pans in, and
while they are nice and deep, they are unfortunately the same size as the dinner
plates so if you happen to get one flat in the bottom of the sink...well you get
the idea.

There is a very nice recessed drainboard for dishes with a plate rack that is
permanently bolted down so the plates don't move around but no cup for silverware
that would be very handy.

The stove is a propane stove that I really like. Slick and easy to use and cooks
very well. Update on day three - the stove gets top points from me. I think I
like it better than my stove at home.


3. The shower is very nice. Lots of hot water on this boat and a nice shower
head. There is a hatch over the shower so the head didn't steam up much with it
open. It's easy to regulate your water usage because the water collects in the
bottom of the shower stall and you have to manually hold the sump pump button for
it to drain. I find I can take a shower with about a gallon and a half of water.
Update on day three - we've been using the water pretty much as we normally would
and after 3 days we've used just under a quarter of a tank which equals about 37
gallons. Ten to twelve gallons a day for the two of us I would imagine would be
luxury and we could do it with a lot less if we needed to.

4. The bed on this boat, at least the one in the owner's stateroom, is more
acomfortable than the one in my home.