Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport | SALONA 44 CRUISING WORLD BOAT OF THE YEAR

Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport

The ones that follow the blog knows that I dont give much importance to the Cruising Boat magazine boat of the year: the categories are too many, the boats are old news in what regards the European Market the number of testers are relatively small, not all professional and did not test a huge variety of boats each here because the boats available on the American market are not many.
So why I am talking about one of those boats that are old news elected has boat of the year? First of all because I like it:-) but mainly because what they said about the boat: it seemed that it had  strongly impressed more than one and instead of one of those bland test descriptions were you understand that the boat choose could be easily another one, this one is a strong one:

"In a building breeze ideal for sea trials, the Salona 44 performed sweetly on all points of sail

In the 22 years we’ve conducted our Boat of the Year contest, we’ve tested literally hundreds of boats, sailed thousands of miles and splashed across Chesapeake Bay in just about every condition imaginable. But we’ve never had a test drive as unusual as the one conducted for the 2015 competition on the Salona 44. When the judges boarded the boat, the water was glassy, the breeze nonexistent. But a front was coming; the western sky was dark and menacing, and closing in fast. A few minutes later, a solid 25 knots of wind, with higher gusts, lashed the bay: Breeze-wise, we’d gone from zero to 30 in record time.

The Salona 44, with its tall triple-spreader rig and feathery twin wheels, handled it with aplomb. Upwind and down, the boat was stiff and fast, ultimately topping off in double-digit boat speeds that etched a smile on the faces of everyone aboard. 

On a power reach heading back to Annapolis, closing in quickly on the U.S. Naval Academy, one of the company reps asked, “Should I run the sheets?” He was ready to set the spinnaker, and no one doubted the boat could handle it. “Um, no thanks, mate,” we replied. We’d already found what we came looking for. A few days later, at the conclusion of our sea trials, the judges named the Salona 44 the year’s best Cruiser/Racer. Coincidence? Perhaps not....

But the Salona is built with a steel grid, so a lot of that weight is down low. It allows for a stiff structure with a light skin around it.. it’s vacuum infused. Moving around the boat was very nice; it had a solid motion. And it sailed beautifully.”

The judges were also impressed by the boat’s innovative transom — which swings up and out to reveal an incorporated boarding passerelle — the abundant handholds and the comfortable accommodations. Taken together, the sum of these many parts made the Salona 44 a winning design."
 http://www.cruisingworld.com/2015-cruiser-racer-nominees?src=SOC&dom=fb

One Australian Salona 44 has done several Sydney Hobart races with good results, particularly on the last one that was a particularly nasty edition.

Do you find information about Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Aluminum | ALMAS LOG CRUISING PHOTOS

Boat Plans Aluminum

For the ones that dont know ALMA is the name of my boat and as most had already find out I am still cruising and posting very rarely on this blog. If you are a cruiser maybe you will find interesting  a report that I intend to post about the Ionian (my cruising ground this year), with some nice pictures. 

But for now if you want to have a taste of it (and see some pictures) you can have a look at my facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/paulo.pernao

Fact is that the internet I have is so slow that I cannot even upload a decent photo to this post.

In about a month I will be posting again...lots of yachts to talk about and other subjects too. Till than I wish to all fair winds and great sailing.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Aluminum are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Aluminum. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Nz | BARCELONA WORLD RACE

Boat Plans Nz

It starts at 13.00, 31 December, a good way to start the year :-) a non stop circumnavigation race for duos on IMOCA racers (Open 60s). Unfortunately not many teams, only 8 and not all top teams. The good news is that Spaniards are really on the short crew/solo racing. Half of the teams are Spanish and that is a first: a duo circumnavigation race that has not a majority of French teams!!! Not yet favorites, but as Alex Pella showed on the Route du Rhum, it is a question of time.

The favorites are the usual, even if many top sailors are not racing this one. They are two: Stam/Le Cam and Alex/Ribes with an outsider on his first big circumnavigation race, Riechers, here teaming with Audigane. No favorites among the Spanish? I dont believe so...well, if Pella was on Neutragena maybe an outsider but it is Altadill that is the skipper, teaming with Muñoz. Great sailor but more of a team player than a solo/duo sailor, but maybe he proves me wrong.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Nz are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Nz. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Bolger | GREAT JPK 1080 VIDEO!!!

Boat Plans Bolger

Just some days after that post about the JPK 1080 interior Yacht.de posted a video with them test sailing the boat. The video is great but Michael Good, the test sailor, has to improve his solo sailing skills LOL. The video:

http://www.yacht.de/yacht_tv/test_technik/racer-fuer-lange-schlaege-jpk-1080/a94009.html
I Really like the boat, from the way it sails to the interior.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Bolger are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Bolger. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Plywood Boat Plans | NEW AZUREE 41

Plywood Boat Plans

The much awaited new Azuree 40, that will be a 41. What I dont like? Very little, the winches could be more close to the wheelsman and I really dont like at all that odd front cabin (maybe they change it). I love many features of this Humphreys design, that is very different from the previous Azuree 40, that was also a good but very different cruising boat.

The previous boat was a bit like a bourgeois Pogo, with more weight, less stability and a very good cruising interior; this one is nothing of that and it is on a completely different register. The previous boat had 4.22m of beam, this one only 3.90. The previous boat looked a lot lighter with 7300kg versus 8360kg on the new one BUT if we consider that the 40 had only 1762kg of ballast versus 3211 on the new one we can see that the hull is not heavier but lighter.

In fact I did not like the reserve stability and AVS of the Azuree 40 (that is a very fast boat) but I will certainly like that particular on this one since besides the huge difference in ballast the new boat has more draft as standard (2.40m versus 2.16). A huge stability and a very stiff boat for sure. In what regards length, if the overall length of this boat is bigger, the water line length is smaller on the 41 and the sail area only 3 m2 bigger on the new boat.

Probably the old 40 is slightly faster (except upwind) but this one will be a better and more seaworthy cruising boat...and fast by all accounts. The price is interesting too for a quality boat: about 190 000 euros vat excluded....but what is a great deal now is the old Azuree 40, a good boat that they are selling really cheap.

The "old" Azuree 40, a Ceccarelli design:

Do you find information about Plywood Boat Plans are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Plywood Boat Plans. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Wood Boat Plans And Kits | DOES CRUISING BOATS NEED TRAINING WHEELS

Wood Boat Plans And Kits

On the cruising forum where I post as "Polux" I have posted something about hull shapes and performance that may be interesting to this blog. The post is here (post 258):

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f47/true-blue-water-boat-extinction-a-fait-accompli-141354-18.html#post1754758
From here comes the basic question: The qualities that make a good racing solo sailboat are relevant to a cruising boat? Or putting it another way, the type of hulls and rigs used for solo racing are relevant for cruising, as a benefic global influence that can allow better cruising boats? The type of hull that allows a solo sailor to push and sail fast (many times under autopilot) a racer through ocean has advantages for an inexperienced, solo or short crew cruiser while sailing offshore on a cruising boat?

As a way to answer lets have first a look at the differences between the type of hulls used for solo racing and the type of hulls used for crew racing: Many think that the very beamy Open 60 are the fastest type of boat downwind (for the size) or on a circumnavigation but they are wrong. Certainly they are the type of boat faster sailing solo on a circumnavigation but not if a crew is used. On that case a boat like the VOR65 (with 60ft) will be faster, provided it has a full crew to handle it.

Let’s have a look at both hulls, a VOR 65 and a Open 60 (both sailboats designed for a circumnavigation on the trade winds, meaning mostly beam reach and downwind sailing):

The difference is evident, both have all beam pulled back but the Open 60 is a much more beamier boat. So why not make an Open 60 less beamier and theoretically faster? It has been made…and did not work out, they have been developing these boats for 30 years, and the actual configuration it is the one that at the moment allows for a faster boat…sailed solo. Why?

Let’s look at some videos of 11/12m racing boats, solo racing boats and crew racing boats to understand why. First a Beneteau Figaro II versus a J111. Both boats can go damn fast downwind, the J111 even faster but look at the guy on the Figaro that can leave the boat on autopilot to adjust sails or even to go ahead to set the Spinnaker. He has to leave it on autopilot on many occasions inclusive to sleep.

 

Compare with the guys on the J111, even with a short crew they need three guys to keep it out of broaching, one at the wheel, other constantly trimming the front sail and a reserve one for the mainsail or for helping if something goes wrong. The J111 is a cruiser racer, if look to truly race boats, like a Soto 40 or a Ker 40, the control has to be even more precise and a bigger crew is required:
Now compare with a same sized solo racer, a 40class boat sailed by a lonely sailor and will be on a completely different ball game. One guy is enough to drive the boat fast downwind, not as fast as a ker 40 or Soto 40, but certainly much faster than a Soto 40 or Ker 40 solo sailed. On a solo racer the boat has to be handled many times on autopilot since it is the same guy that is the trimmer, the bow man, the navigator the helmsman….and it has also to work on the winches and to sleep since most of the races on those boats are Transats or circumnavigations.
Bob Perry said once that those boats had training wheels and that he didnt need any training wheels on his boats. So the question is, do cruising boats need training wheels, meaning they can be sailed faster and safely with them …or maybe not?

J111

Luca, the guy from Comar maintenance said that he was part of the crew that test sailed the first Comet 41s (my boat) and that on the maiden sail they had sailed it at 18K. Well, I have owned my boat for two years now and I have never went faster then 14K (and even so on only one occasion) and I know that I will never sail it at 18k simply because for that the boat needs a crew. Don’t make me wrong, that is a fast boat and a relatively easy boat to sail with a huge resistance to broaching and an incredibly sensible rudder. Just with a bit of help with my wife, or even solo I can sail pretty fast on it, specially upwind but the downwind sailing speed (no spinnaker) is most cases between 9.5 and 11.5K, a bit more in  really strong winds, not anything closer to 18K. That is what the boat can do with a full crew and a spinnaker up in strong wind.

J111

My friend Eric, that is not much younger than me, said it has not taken him much time to sail his Pogo 12.50 to 13/14K and that is a speed that he reaches with some ease on the right conditions. I may be wrong but I seem to remember that he said that he had done once or twice 16/18K with his boat, with the help of the family crew, that includes not only a wife but a son also.

Me and Eric are the kind of cruisers that like to go fast, most cruisers will sail more calmly but the point is, would not this difference in easiness (that has to do with the hull of the Pogo to be derived from solo racers, while the one of the Comet is derived from IRC racers) will not suit even more less demanding sailors? I think that the answer is a clear yes and that’s why most contemporary NA use hulls influenced by solo racers in almost all main market production sailboats and in voyage boats too. The ability they have to go with more easiness, with more directional stability from a beam reach to downwind makes more efficient on autopilot that’s what most cruisers use while sailing. That type of hulls makes also for a more forgiving boat that can take more abuse without broaching.

Beneteau Figaro II

So what about upwind sailing? will more narrow boats, or IRC derived hulls, like the ones of the Salona or Dehler, Comet or J122 perform better? The difference will be not much on flat seas, just a bit better pointing ability but on  nasty seas or even on the typical med short period steep waves there will be a big difference due to wave drag.

While sailing on flat water the waterplane (and wet surface) of the boat like the Pogo will be a very narrow one, having to do more with its weight than with its beam but while passing waves all change: The wave envelopes the boat that passes through it and increases hugely the wet surface associated to wave drag that is much bigger on a solo racer beamy type of hull than on a much narrower IRC derived one. The beamy hull will suffer much more drag for each wave it crosses than the IRC type. Sure it can fly more sail due to its much bigger hull form stability but that will not even the match. The boat will have to open more the course (to gain power), probably it will go a little faster, storming through the waves (and that is less comfortable) and in the end it will be slower, or at least is what I have taken from the observation of race results even with more powerful 40class racers (on the Sydney Hobart and Med races).

Soto 40

Heavier boats with this type of hull, like the Oceanis 38, 41 or 45, Dufour 410, 500 (among others)  will have about the same comparable characteristics regarding cruisers with about the same weight and hulls influenced by IRC hulls, like the Jeanneau 409.

Is this less good performance upwind on some particular conditions a big disadvantage? Not for voyage boats that mostly will follow the trade winds, not for main market mass production boats because even if most sail on the med where these conditions can be met, most sailors just don’t go upwind on those conditions (over F4) or just motor most of the time when sailing directly upwind.

40class racer

That explains why the open solo race type of hull is the main influence on cruisers today: it just offers the best compromise for most sailors, not forgetting the big advantage that a bigger interior represents for cruising, in living space and storage.

Of course that does not mean that even in what regards cruising that would be the best compromise to all. There are many variables here and one can just prefer a narrower boat because it just likes more the way a boat sails on a seaway, because it is more nervous and fun to sail, because it values more upwind sailing or just because he finds narrower boats more beautiful. All good reasons. ;-)

Do you find information about Wood Boat Plans And Kits are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Wood Boat Plans And Kits. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Regarding the mythical 500 a month cruising budget

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

In the "lest we forget" department, some scary reading, and taking dead, discarded materials and bringing them back to life...

Writing Boat Bits, Im often reminded that different folks have very varied experiences with boats, the sailing of such things, and cruising. That said, Im surprised at just how often tunnel vision becomes part of the mix.

For instance, the $500 dollar cruising budget...

Not too long ago I found myself on the receiving end of a reader rant that went on for about a dozen emails explaining to me how the $500 cruising budget was simply impossible. To prove his point he illustrated said emails with copious notes of how much he had to pay while cruising over a three year period. As it happens he was right because there is no way he could have cruised on $500 a month.

For starters, he had a newish 52-foot boat...

He didnt like to anchor so always chose marinas whenever possible...

Admittedly, not a very handy person, so most all maintenance and repairs were done by various contractors or marine businesses...

Loved to eat out and something of a food snob or so he said...

Had grandchildren (with more on the way) that he and his wife felt the need to visit on a regular basis...

So, yeah, not exactly a candidate for a $500/1000/1500/2000/2500/3000 monthly cruising budget and, in fact, told me he could not even imagine how someone could sail or cruise on less than he spent.

Im pretty sure the key word in all of that is "imagine" because to do something you really have to be able to see it in your minds eye before you can make it a reality.

As far as Im concerned there is zero wrong with the guys cruising budget or the way he chooses to cruise. He obviously has deep enough pockets to support that sort of lifestyle so all power to him. On the other hand, do I think he has a clue about cruising budgets for folks of, shall we say, shallower pockets or people who have simpler less expensive tastes? Well, the word clueless does jump to mind.

Which brings us to the same old same question...

Can you cruise comfortably on $500 a month and the answer is, more than likely, maybe not.

But, if you can imagine it with no rose colored glasses in the mix maybe you can...

Listening to a whole lot of John (who would have been 75 this year) Lennon covers

So it goes...


Do you find information about Boat Plans Stitch And Glue are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Stitch And Glue. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Building Plans And Kits | ARC ON THE FAST LANE

Boat Building Plans And Kits

And as subtitle: the expensive and the "cheap" options LOL. The ARC is almost starting and this year we have some very interesting performance cruisers doing the passage, among them two Outremer 51 (picture above), a Neel 45 "racing", a Pogo 50, two Pogos 12.50, a Knierim 49, a Marten 49, a XP44 and a More 55.

It is going to be very interesting to follow the comparative performances of these boats (and others) and I mean the rich and the poor because their price tag is very different as well as the interior space and comfort. The cat and the trimaran offer an incomparably bigger living space with a price tag to match: 750 000 euros for the Outremer 51, and for the standard version of the Neel 45 538 000 euros. This are base prices, not including VAT and the Neel is not the racing version.

The Outremer 51 and the Neel are very different boats, a cat and a trimaran. The Outremet has dagerboards and therefore a good performance upwind, the Neel 45 has not and the upwind performance suffers, but this is a downwind passage and that is not relevant here. The price is also very different. 

The Pogo 50 has a good cruising interior, on a zen way and it is slightly more expensive than the Nell 45, at 591 000 euros but offers a better performance, specially upwind: 

Pogo-50 from Andreas Lindlahr on Vimeo.

The Knierim 49 is  not very well known, it is made by a German shipyard (Knierim) that has made till know 3 49, a beautiful and fast yacht. I could not find prices but I would not be surprised if the Knierim 49 costed as much as the Outremer 51.

The Knierim 49 is a 13 year old Judel/Vrolijk design, a great design and a boat very different from the Pogo 50, that is a boat based on solo racers while the Knierim comes from the IRC cruiser/racer tradition and needs more crew to be fully exploited.

The XP 44 is a boat that comes on the Knierim 49 same line of design development. Its the smaller till now and compared with all the others, the less expensive boat at 358 800 euros. It has a great cruising interior for this type of boat and it will suit the cruising style of a sportive sailor. In fact there is one circumnavigating.

The Marten 49 is another gorgeous expensive carbon boat, designed by Reishel&Pugh. The design, like the one of the Knierim has already more than a decade but was also a very advanced design, with a lifting keel and a great cruising interior. Both boats weight about the same (9.5T) and the design is not very different (IRC derived). Both still look very nice and it seems time has not made wrinkles on these two, that remain beautiful sailboats, and of course, damn fast ones.

And finally the poor mens fast offshore performance cruiser, the smaller Pogo 12.50, at 253 488 euros, a boat that comes from the Solo racing tradition and is designed to be exploited with a small crew or even solo, if the sailor is a really good one. Fast, specially on the trade winds, with an interior that is functional and kind of comfortable in a zen way, it is the voyage boat option for the "poor" sportive couples.

Well, the Pogo is the cheapest boat that can be bought to sail really fast on passage but that seems to be changing with the More 55 being sold for comparatively less money. The More 55 costs about half of what costs the Pogo 50 and not much more than the Pogo 12.50 (295 500 euros). Lets reserve the boat performance till  we see what really is able to do, but looking at the specifications and design, I would say it is a very fast one. The interior seems a good cruising interior, needing some improvements, but that is just the first boat.

You are all invited to follow the ARC. It starts Sunday 22. This is the tracker: http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/eventfleetviewer.aspx
And if you want to follow it more closely and with some interesting company, we are doing it on a forum, on this thread (I am Polux there):
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f2/arc-2015-a-156268-5.html


Do you find information about Boat Building Plans And Kits are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Building Plans And Kits. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Blind Plans | JPK 1080 CRUISING INTERIOR

Boat Blind Plans

I have already talked on the blog about this extraordinary boat and its very close competitor, the Sunfast 3600. The two are very fast and very close in what regards performance. The JPK 10.80 won the first leg of the Transquadra but the difference was so minimal that either boat could have won. They are also both very good at crewed regattas and again very close, but the JPK 10.80 is incomparably better in what regards a cruising interior and cruising potential.

Looking at this photo we can see that the JPK 1080 offers a nice and comfortable interior, not properly what we would expect on a racer and one that will allow for family cruising out of the racing time. A true cruiser-racer while the Sunfast 3600 has the minimal interiors of a racer. This make the JPK a more versatile boat...and those two openings that allow a forward view from the interior, besides being useful give it a very distinctive look, a cute one.... I like it a lot ;-)

Do you find information about Boat Blind Plans are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Blind Plans. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Canoe Boat Plans | FLYING ON LITTLE MONOHULL AT 40K

Canoe Boat Plans

No that has not happen yet but it is the project of Hannah white on this beauty, a kind of overgrowth Moth with 6 meters:

The boat sails beautifully (or flies) and Hannah thinks she can make 40k on a real sailbboat, (well of a kind ;-) and beat the feminine sail speed record that belongs to Zara Davis on a windsurf with 34.74K. Hannah is no beginer with three transats solo and a Mancha Channel record, she may well fly that "thing" to 40k. A dangerous stunt since falling at 40k should be quite traumatic for her and the " Speedbird" that only weights 8kg.

Do you find information about Canoe Boat Plans are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Canoe Boat Plans. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans African Queen | SOLARIS 50 I LOVE IT!!!

Boat Plans African Queen

I had already posted about the Solaris 50:

 http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/solaris-50.html and I had said only nice things about it but now I have seen the boat in Dusseldorf and I was greatly impressed. This is not only a very beautiful boat but also the kind of boat that I would have if I won the lottery.

And for the quality I ended up not finding it extravagantly expensive at 570000 euros, VAT included,  lot less then what would cost an Halberg Rassy 48 with a similar built quality.

On the link above you can check out what I had said about the boat dimensions but I will add that with a beam of 4.55m is significantly narrower then most production main market boats (Sense 50-4.86m; Hanse 505-4.75m; Sun Odyssey 509-4.69m; Bavaria cruiser 51-4.67m), has a bigger B/D ratio, a more efficient keel and a considerably bigger draft (or in option a smaller draft and an even bigger B/D ratio). This extra keel efficiency and superior B/D ratio will give not only a more powerful boat but also one with a better reserve stability.

The 14 200kg of weight are very similar to the one of the above main market cruisers even considering that this weight, contrary to the others is not an empty weight but but the one of a boat in sailing condition with half tankage. So it is not a particularly light boat but consider that contrary to the others this is a vacuum infused cored boat (Airex) using vynilester-epoxy resins with carbon reinforcements and one that can have carbon spars.

Knowing that they have 40 years of experience building boats that means that this boat is overbuilt and all that extra weight is aimed to increase boat strength. They not only use bulkheads laminated to the deck and hull as they use composite cored laminates on the two main bulkheads to  diminish dilatation problems between two different materials. The idea is to built a kind of monoblock boat increasing overall stiffness.

If someone wants to know more here there is a detailed specification:
http://www.messink.nl/pdf/Specs%20SOLARIS_50_EN_SS_0714.pdf

Many looking at this boat would say: Another pretty fragile boat designed for med sailing. Well, fragile it is not and a boat doesnt have to be ugly to be very seaworthy and strong and Solaris is a paradigma regarding that. Besides the winch position, the self tacking jib and mainsheet system (that can have a traveler or not) everything is designed taking into account solo or short crew sailing.

A word regarding handholds that were almost absent on the 50ft at Dusseldorf: They are mounted to the owner request. You can see that on the Solaris 58 that is side by side with the 50. There are handrails on the deck while the 50 has none. Those steel handrails can also be mounted on the interior ceiling also.

The sprayhood is very interesting: it can be stowed and completely covered on a space provided for that on the cabin or deployed and... surprise surprise, it is an huge one that forms a completely covered enclosure. I would like to have seen that, as well as how it fits on the storage space and how much time it takes to deploy but they did not have it at Dusseldorf.

Finally in what regards storage this boat is one of the few 50ft that offers a garage with enough space for a small dinghy and a forward sail locker/storage space with considerable dimensions. On long range cruising, while crossing oceans the dinghy can be deflated and the extra garage space can be  used for extra storage.

Do you find information about Boat Plans African Queen are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans African Queen. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..