New job - new ride

[Jackdaw]

OK, call it an 'additional' ride.

With the primary Vakaros target market being sporty boats, it seemed weird to me that I didn't OWN one. Sure I sail on then all the time, but I now needed to own one. At least that's what I told myself long enough to find this. An Ultimate 20; 21 feet of plane-in-9-knots fun. BlueJ will still be the 'party boat', but beast is going to be race central. Both on the water at WYC, that will be interesting. Best parts of the U20, crew of 3, and the boat weights in at a super-light 1260 lbs (SA/D ratio of like 36!), so easy to tow and light loads all the way around. And tow we will. Back and forth between WYC in Minneapolis for summers, and LCYC in San Antonio for winters. And regattas everywhere in between. One Design where we can, a menace to the PHRF fleet everywhere else.

Will be named 'BlackJack', a fun name, and a play on the boats LOA.

 

[HMT2]

Good on you sir! Enjoy!

 

[jon hansen]

nice ride!

 

[Will Gilmore]

She looks fast just sitting on her trailer. More fun can not be had. You'll do well with her, I think.

Congratulations.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[thinwater]

There you go!

 

[Parsons]

Oh My - that looks fast (he says, clutching pearls). Where are the cupholders and lounging chairs?
Congrats on the new boat.

 

[Jackdaw]

There you go!

I knew YOU would like it! ;-)

 

[Ben4195]

Looking forward to race videos!

 

[jon hansen]

well now you will be banging around with the youngsters. they are pushy, cocky, prolly don't own their boat. prolly poor as well. you can have better gear, the freshest sails, the perfect bottom. have fun Clay

 

[Jackdaw]

Oh My - that looks fast (he says, clutching pearls). Where are the cupholders and lounging chairs?
Congrats on the new boat.

No such thing here! Totally expected, but much more so than BlueJ this boat is sensitive to weight. You can see the difference when the boat starts to plane (a big deal) when the crew weight is at the OD max of 630 or a light two-up of 325.

So we will be weight fanatics on BlackJack. Right now trying to decide between the 2.0 HP Honda that came with it (very light for gas at 30lbs wet & with gas), or a 25lb torqueedo.


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[Jackdaw]

well now you will be banging around with the youngsters. they are pushy, cocky, prolly don't own their boat. prolly poor as well. you can have better gear, the freshest sails, the perfect bottom. have fun Clay

LOL most of that true. The average U20 is a bit older; the kiddos hang out on VX1s and Vipers.

 

[Jackdaw]

Looking forward to race videos!

That will be fun. And we'll be using them in company vids. Here is a U20 video made by my buddy Mike at Bayfield race Week, I think two years ago. We have a sportboat class, so BRW will be back on the calendar for me for sure.

 

[PaulK]

Looking good, but the white sprit needs to be fixed, don't you think?

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[Jackdaw]

Looking good, but the white sprit needs to be fixed, don't you think?

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It IS carbon fiber, because it is deck mounted the class wanted them coated to protect them and chose white. Thing is very very light. Wrapping it would be a bit ghetto and then all the protests at OD regattas where people thought I stripped it to save 3 ounces..... ;^)

 

[thinwater]

...So we will be weight fanatics on BlackJack. Right now trying to decide between the 2.0 HP Honda that came with it (very light for gas at 30lbs wet & with gas), or a 25lb torqueedo.

• No head, just WAG bags
• Dyneema life lines
• Blocks made from vapor
• No beer, pizza, or seconds
• Tool kit becomes a knife and 8 inches of duct tape

And on and on....

The motor choice, to me, hinges on whether you might ever have to motor back after a distance race. I'm using a 4hp on my F-24, and it's enough in the calm but won't push into much more than 12 knots with any speed (stops dead at about 25-30). I have more windage, so 2hp sounds right for that race boat. (I'd use 8-9.9 if I were cruising much, but the 4hp is light and reliable).

 

[Jackdaw]

• No head, just WAG bags
• Dyneema life lines
• Blocks made from vapor
• No beer, pizza, or seconds
• Tool kit becomes a knife and 8 inches of duct tape

And on and on....

The motor choice, to me, hinges on whether you might ever have to motor back after a distance race. I'm using a 4hp on my F-24, and it's enough in the calm but won't push into much more than 12 knots with any speed (stops dead at about 25-30). I have more windage, so 2hp sounds right for that race boat. (I'd use 8-9.9 if I were cruising much, but the 4hp is light and reliable).

I don’t know what you’re talking about regarding ‘no beer’, but everything else is spot on. Actually will allow two per crew, which makes it perfect little six pack!

If all else works out I’m definitely leaning toward electric. I actually own 60% of the whole deal if we go with the big $900 battery, 75% if we go with the small $550 one!

From years of Bluejay, I have unlimited karma points built up for towing boats back from windless races. So I’m not worried about that!

 

[LeeandRick]

Wow. Reminds me of the old days ( late 80's- early 90's) when I imported a few boats from Australia, namely B-14 by J Bethwaite. Ran into an old Hobie 16 racing advisory Jeff Canepa, in of all places Corpus Christi, while demo the B-14 at a big event. He and another guy named John somebody had the prototype U-20 or modified Hotfoot 20 (can't remember which) to test interest. We drove each others boats several times that weekend and exchanged a lot of ideas.

Unfortunately I've only got to race one in a weekend regatta in Aspen CO (2010) when the skipper, a friend for years, got sick and his crew were afraid to drive in the 15kt breeze. Due to excellent crew work we finished 2nd out of 8 U-20's for the weekend. If I hadn't got cocky and took a lark we would have finished 1st. Even at 67 I still want to get a U-20. There is just no racing within 500 miles.

Who built your boat? I heard Schock had the molds for awhile.

I'll have to let you know when I'm visiting son in San Antonio and see if you need crew. I know you are going to enjoy the boat, planing into the downwind mark wondering what all the slow boats are going to do.

 

[thinwater]

I've used a T1003 on a dinghy, it was OK, buy my experience is very limited. I'd want to learn more about how to monitor battery capacity.

More that most multis, the F-24 is actually a planing boat off the wind, with a very flat center hull. At about 8 knots she comes out of the hole and just goes, until you chicken out. You actually try to stay off the outriggers down wind and balance on the center hull. Very different from cats.

 

[Jackdaw]

Wow. Reminds me of the old days ( late 80's- early 90's) when I imported a few boats from Australia, namely B-14 by J Bethwaite. Ran into an old Hobie 16 racing advisory Jeff Canepa, in of all places Corpus Christi, while demo the B-14 at a big event. He and another guy named John somebody had the prototype U-20 or modified Hotfoot 20 (can't remember which) to test interest. We drove each others boats several times that weekend and exchanged a lot of ideas.

Unfortunately I've only got to race one in a weekend regatta in Aspen CO (2010) when the skipper, a friend for years, got sick and his crew were afraid to drive in the 15kt breeze. Due to excellent crew work we finished 2nd out of 8 U-20's for the weekend. If I hadn't got cocky and took a lark we would have finished 1st. Even at 67 I still want to get a U-20. There is just no racing within 500 miles.

Who built your boat? I heard Schock had the molds for awhile.

I'll have to let you know when I'm visiting son in San Antonio and see if you need crew. I know you are going to enjoy the boat, planing into the downwind mark wondering what all the slow boats are going to do.

What a most EXCELLENT story!

Yes Jeff was the instigator, and wanted to build the Hotfoot with an asym rig. Several people where looking into this in the 90s, including modding the Pocket Rocket into the Rocket 22 (amazing boat BTW) Best thing that happened to the U20 was Jim Antrin was brought in to do the actual design work, and he basically went from scratch, adding a foot to 21 , some beam, flattening the bottom and adding some height. Still clocks in at 1280 pounds!

My is one of the originals, built by Ron Moore out in Santa Cruz. Great builder!

Ever down texas way? Please do let me know. Always a ride, and a place to hang out! Plus this makes three on Canyon Lake. And the FarEast 28r I usually sail on is itching for a PHRF fight!

 

[Jackdaw]

Well I’m back in Minnesota now, but after some serious boat work we got in a couple of sails on the boat. day one was light; 5 to 8 knts of breeze and pretty much perfect for the first time out. A couple of puffs to 12, and we match to eke 9 knots out the boat. Not bad.

What’s very interesting is that the hull speed of the boat is 6 kn, but it actually starts to plane at five - depending on the heel angle. The flatter the boat the sooner it planes.

Day two is a bit sportier. It started out at 12, but quickly built into the mid teens. we jib reached around before heading in and pulled the boat out. We had several runs in the mid 12kt range - jib reaching. Good times!

In that second video I am not a happy camper. On a puff the tiller extender broke off its base, and the tiller flew loose. We rounded up in a big hairball of noise and flapping sails. We recovered fine, but I had to drive inside the cockpit actually holding the tiller. Something I never do and really do not like. You can see it on my face!