A 70’s-era Mutineer 15 showed up in the driveway.
The 14-year-old - and his dad - had been wanting a new daysailer - something faster than the Bolger June Bug we learned on. We love cruising our C-22, but she’ll never be a performance boat. We talked about a Laser, but when your teenager says, “I’d rather sail with Mom and Dad…”, then it’s time to look for a doubleheader before he changes his mind!
A few weeks ago, we went to look at a 29er XX. While I was looking it over, my wife called, saying… “I’ve been reading for the last hour, and I’m scared of this boat. It seems too much for us.” We took a little time to think it over. About the same time, Tunisian Olympian Yea Guezguez died while sailing the 49er FX (the next step up in size and power). My wife was right to dissuade me from jumping straight from a C-22 and a little Laser / 420 sailing into a twin-wire skiff!
Also about the same time, we learned that said 14-year-old has long COVID. He's vaxxed, boosted, masked, etc., and never tested positive, but he has been seriously fatigued for weeks. Passed out in PE, etc. The doc eventually ran an antibody test, which said he’s had it sometime recently. At least now we know what’s going on (and he’s eligible to see the specialists at the long COVID clinic). But if he can’t walk down the hall to his locker, it’s probably not the time to practice crewing on a trapeze.
So I hit pause until this showed up. The Buccaneer isn’t anything close to the 29er family, but on the plus side:
A) It was free
B) It’s a lot safer to learn on
C) As a result of A and B, I have full family approval to spend some $$ and modify.
New sails, a trapeze, possibly a sprit and an asym. Lots of ways to play with this new toy, and occupy the long-COVID summer and the winter to follow. Maybe by next year she’ll have a new trapeze and the teenage crew will be ready to crew on it.
This might turn out to be our long-term daysailer, or it might be the stepping stone to an RS500 or 29er. Who knows?
The 14-year-old - and his dad - had been wanting a new daysailer - something faster than the Bolger June Bug we learned on. We love cruising our C-22, but she’ll never be a performance boat. We talked about a Laser, but when your teenager says, “I’d rather sail with Mom and Dad…”, then it’s time to look for a doubleheader before he changes his mind!
A few weeks ago, we went to look at a 29er XX. While I was looking it over, my wife called, saying… “I’ve been reading for the last hour, and I’m scared of this boat. It seems too much for us.” We took a little time to think it over. About the same time, Tunisian Olympian Yea Guezguez died while sailing the 49er FX (the next step up in size and power). My wife was right to dissuade me from jumping straight from a C-22 and a little Laser / 420 sailing into a twin-wire skiff!
Also about the same time, we learned that said 14-year-old has long COVID. He's vaxxed, boosted, masked, etc., and never tested positive, but he has been seriously fatigued for weeks. Passed out in PE, etc. The doc eventually ran an antibody test, which said he’s had it sometime recently. At least now we know what’s going on (and he’s eligible to see the specialists at the long COVID clinic). But if he can’t walk down the hall to his locker, it’s probably not the time to practice crewing on a trapeze.
So I hit pause until this showed up. The Buccaneer isn’t anything close to the 29er family, but on the plus side:
A) It was free
B) It’s a lot safer to learn on
C) As a result of A and B, I have full family approval to spend some $$ and modify.
New sails, a trapeze, possibly a sprit and an asym. Lots of ways to play with this new toy, and occupy the long-COVID summer and the winter to follow. Maybe by next year she’ll have a new trapeze and the teenage crew will be ready to crew on it.
This might turn out to be our long-term daysailer, or it might be the stepping stone to an RS500 or 29er. Who knows?
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