Sloop again

med2463 · Jan 15, 2011

Bill1565 said:
Well, It's almost done. Took the staysail , boom, sheet off today, Chain plate and pad eye tomorrow, mast climber coming monday to remove stay and running backs. Cabintop winch, turning block and cleat to follow. Boat sailed fine as sloop when we bought it, but I wanted to try cutter rig, that it came with.

Admiral didn't like it, dog didn't like it, and I didn't like tacking the boat with the stay in the way. By noon Monday we will be able to hold a party on the foredeck, dog will have a half acre to poop in, admiral will not have anything to trip over whe she goes forward with boathook, and I will be able to race occasionally.

Now I know why he was so agreeable to remove that ugly staysail, racing again. o.k., I'm on board with that.

RTB · Jan 15, 2011

Bill, did you consider one of these? http://www.landlpardey.com/staysail-release-levers.html

My 36 is a sloop of course, but I have come to realize the beauty of a cutter rig. I crewed on the Harvest Moon Regatta back in October. We were on a Pacific Seacraft 37 cutter rig. The decksweeper we had would hang up on the staysail stay, so we released the lever and secured it to a stanchion.

We ran into some weather on the way to Port Aransas, and once it got up to around 30 knots, we dropped the genoa, and finished the last 4 hours under a full main and the staysail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sKl0szVmdI&feature=player_embedded

I also sailed from Florida to Cartagena, Colombia this past spring. We were on a 46' cat and much of our sailing was done under a double reefed main and staysail.

I guess it just depends on where, and how you sail your boat? My next one will definitely be cutter-rigged.

Ralph

med2463 · Jan 15, 2011

Staysail

RTB said:
Bill, did you consider one of these? http://www.landlpardey.com/staysail-release-levers.html

My 36 is a sloop of course, but I have come to realize the beauty of a cutter rig. I crewed on the Harvest Moon Regatta back in October. We were on a Pacific Seacraft 37 cutter rig. The decksweeper we had would hang up on the staysail stay, so we released the lever and secured it to a stanchion.

We ran into some weather on the way to Port Aransas, and once it got up to around 30 knots, we dropped the genoa, and finished the last 4 hours under a full main and the staysail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sKl0szVmdI&feature=player_embedded

I also sailed from Florida to Cartagena, Colombia this past spring. We were on a 46' cat and much of our sailing was done under a double reefed main and staysail.

I guess it just depends on where, and how you sail your boat? My next one will definitely be cutter-rigged.

Ralph

Watched the video on youtube. If we were 20-30 years younger, that would look like fun. We actually did some of that on Lake Michigan in our 30's. But, at our age, we don't need to be sailing like that, we are trying to make boating last as long as possible, in spite of our 70 year old ailments. You gotta make adjustments. So, it not only depends on where you are, how you sail your boat, but your AGE.

RTB · Jan 15, 2011

Thanks for the offer, but my to-do list is way too long already. LOL, I understand the age thing. I'm pushing 60 myself. The bruises on my butt were ugly from that race. I took a nasty fall in the cabin, well pretty much all the crew had bruises. I'm not into racing, but was a good trip for some experience. And the rum was good at the banquet!

Ralph

Blaise · Jan 16, 2011

Never sorry to see another 37 converted to a sloop. Don't buy the age propaganda. You are never to old to race. I am 59 with two artificial knees. I agree that bruises take longer to heal, but they do heal. I do think that you need rail over the dorades unless you want to put them into orbit when you tack.

Sloop again

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