Hi Group! I have enjoyed the recent comments, principally by Steve DeMont, about what a great little boat the Vega is. I couldn't agree more. Let me tell you about our "Vega story."
Briefly, we bought a basket case boat; all apart, but sound. After a long refit, we launched mid-summer at Superior, WI on Lake Superior. We spent the summer shaking the boat down and sailed in a wide variety of conditions. My wife is a nervous, new sailor, but is learning fast; she has a lot of confidence in the boat. (Although Saturday she begged me to take the helm while we were aground on a hard mud bottom because she was sure the keel was about to crack off. Is that a known weakness? I doubt it.)
The Great Lakes can produce a nasty chop; we have sailed in about 25 knots of wind and 4-6' seas and the boat took great care of us. The motion in that situation was fairly extreme (I was bounced right off the cockpit seat) but I wouldn't say it was especially uncomfortable. As long as we didn't carry too much sail, the boat was very managable in the rough.
With regard to single handing, we have our boat set up with that in mind: all halyards and (2) reef lines led aft to the two cabintop winches. None of our four winches are self tailing, which would be a nice feature, but I don't really feel like we need them.
Let me say a few words about our reefing system. We use a single line system (one for each of two reefs presently installed.) The reef line starts at the aft end of the boom at a cheek block on a 1" T track, travels under the boom, thru the leech reef grommet, down to the cheek block-on-a-track, along the boom to another fixed cheek block, up thru the luff reef grommet, down to turning blocks at the mast base and cabin top, and finally to a line stopper in front of the cabin top winch. To reef it is a simple matter to ease the mainsheet some, ease the halyard (a predetermined mark is a good idea), haul in on the reef line, and then retension the main halyard. If the reef line and main halyard are arranged at adjacent line stoppers in front of the starboard cabin top winch, this operation can be completed in 15-30 seconds; no kidding. Boy is that a big advantage when trying to handle the boat in stronger winds. I feel this is a secret weapon of great power. Most sailing hardware supply catalogs show diagrams of this system. Let me know if you need more details.
Another observation: GET THE SURVEY BEFORE YOU BUY THE BOAT! I had my boat surveyed this spring and was as nervous as an expectant father while it was going on. (The surveyor, an old friend of mine, banned me from the boat during the survey; rightly so.) The survey came back with a good result, as well as many very practical suggestions for improvements that I have followed thru on.
With regard to value, our boat is more or less a new boat as far as equipment (sails, melchanicals, rigging, tankage, etc. The hull is in great condition and the deck is rather banged up. I repainted it and added Treadmaster M non-skid on the deck (great!) The survey came in at $12-15K, exclusive of our trailer. Replacement value is $80K. Make sure you use an accredited surveyor, such as NAMS.
Here's what I don't like about the Vega: not enough headroom, no oven, tight head compartment, no dedicated nav table, small size limits passage in the cabin and on deck activities.
Here is what I do like about the Vega: very easy to handle, tons of storage space (we have about 3 pickup loads on board now, and we still have empty lockers,) shallow draft, strong hull, tiller steering, pleasing interior, long starboard bunk, low investment, "cachet name (people pucker their lips and suck in when is say that I have a Vega.)
That's all from me for now!
Regards,
Dale Hedtke
Procrastinator #38
