the horse's mouth

Spring Cleaning.

The Banshee is still hibernating. She is tucked in and catching some shut eye
before I wake her in a few weeks. The Alden is peaking at me asking me to take
her out for a spin. But the Knysna has an attitude problem, she is saying,
"Dude clean me up so we go out and play in the surf."
You're lucky old gal that Bonnie poked me into doing some Spring cleaning.



She looks pretty good, but what's up with the ivy?



The foot pedals work, hurray!
Do you like the pvc tape? Can you guess what it's for?



A little corrosion around the rudder controls.
Houston, it looks like we can go for a splash next weekend.



The sticks are a whole different tamale.
I'm going to have to re-glass them. What a pain!

Tags: paddle, kayaking, boat repair, surfing, surfski surf boards

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Weekend Wahines.

The next generation of wahine surfers down in SoCal.
Look dog, long boards!

Tags: surfing, wahines

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Corona Extra.

I love Corona!

Tags: wahines, vahines

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Surf Wax.

I know, it looks ugly. Just try surfing without it.
Slip sliding away.

FotoHorse

Tags: surfing

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Fish On Fridays.

That's a nice fish!
What fish?

Tags: fishing, wahines, fishing babes

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It Ain't All Rock And Roll.

Sometimes the sea can be a very scary place.



A very, very scary place.



Before you undertake a voyage to adventure, make sure you are well trained,
have some real sailing experience, and know how to survive if things go
wrong. Believe me things can go wrong. Thank God I have my Navy training.



Don't assume that the guy sitting in his flight suit on the ready alert is
going to come and rescue you. You might be out of range.



For God's sake, learn how to read the weather!
For home work, I made my sailing students keep a notebook chronicling
the daily weather. It had to have the forecast from the newspaper with
their own observations.

Tags: sailing, ocean sailing, heavy weather, heavy seas

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Awesome!

That would be sailing in New Zealand. I'm getting the itch to go there. I was fortunate
to visit the land of sheep when I was a teenager. It truly is a beautiful place.

Speaking of beautiful, the above photo is of a Navigator from  David Perillo's
fantastic web site Openboat.co.nz. In my opinion, David has the best sailing
lifestyle video ever made. He and his cousin are seen waking up on the beach,
eating breakfast, then off for a great day of sailing and fishing. Can life get any
better?

I started thinking about open boats today after visiting a new blog from
a fellow Ulua enthusiast and future builder, David Nabors. He has a
Norseboat 17.5, what a sweet boat. I betcha it has room for a cup holder.

Links: Never Sea Land | Open Boat | John Welsford's Navigator | Ulua

Tags: sailing, new zealand, beach sailing

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Fun At Sea.

I always forget how much landlubbers don't know about the sea.
It's not a Carnival Cruise!

Tags: sailing, heavy seas

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Surfing Photo Of The Day.

You can do all sorts of things on a long board.

Tags: surfing

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Edward, How About A Cross 18 Trimaran?

The Cross 18 is a home built trimaran that can be sailed single handed or with
Grand Ma and the keiki. There is even room for a cup holder.

The construction used here is mahogany plywood. Thicknesses of crossectional frames,
decks and below the chine of the main hull are 1/4". All other skin thicknesses are 1/8".
West System® epoxy for adhesives and coatings are used throughout. Four ounce
fiberglass cloth is used for added strength.

Specifications

Length Overall
18' 0"

Draft Board Down
3' 6"

Length at Waterline
17' 1"

Draft Board UP
1' 3"

Beam Overall
12' 0"

Sail Area
200 sq. ft.

Beam Folded
6' 6"

Boat Weight
400 lbs.

Hello Joe,
   

Great blog!  I would like to extend an invitation to you to sail on my CROSS 18.
I know you are based in the bay area and I am in Southern Cal.  Still, if you are
ever in the area I would be glad to have you aboard.  Even if you select
Chris Whites design as your favorite. ;-)

Jeff Turner
CROSS Multihull Designs

       

A dialogue follows:

   

Joe: Thanks for the kind words. I would love to go out on your CROSS 18 if
I get down to SoCal. Can the 18 take SF Bay or would she be overwhelmed?

Jeff: I am not familiar with typical conditions there so I am not sure how to answer this.
I sail all the time in the outer harbor and open ocean in Long Beach and Los Angeles.
There are times when I would like to be able to reef the main but am not set up for it.
Photos I have seen from Latitude 38 suggest that some days would be great, some a
real challenge and others better spent watching the big guys sail.  The bay area seems to
spawn a heartier sailor than what exists down here.

The CROSS 18 is a very fun, responsive and forgiving.  My favorite days are solo in the
Catalina channel.  Deep blue water and the boat charging over the swells, sitting aft on the
windward float you can see the whole boat.  The personality and wildness of the boat really
begins to show.  I hope you can come down and sail on her some time.  The Chris White
design looks like a great boat as well.  It is a bit bigger too.

   

Joe: Do you have photos of the 18 under sail out in the channel? How about a video?
I'm biting on the lure you threw in the water. How fast can she go? How does
she handle in rough seas? Being wet doesn't bother me unless I forget to
wear my wetsuit. What's the set up time? Someone on SA said the Discovery
20 takes 3 hours to set up, of course he was trying to convince me to build
a Tremelino instead.





Jeff: This is all I have for sailing shots and they are all in the bay.  The boom has been
repositioned since these were taken.  I will see if I can get some video for you. As for set-up.
Including stepping the mast, the process takes just under an hour.  I currently store the boat at the
Alamitos Bay Yacht club with the mast already stepped.  Set-up time solo is about 30 minutes.
As for weather handling goes, she is a strong hull and slices through chop very well.



Set up of the Cross 18.



The Cross 18 under sail.

Thanks Jeff!

Tags: boatbuilding, cross 18 trimaran, multi-hull sailing, trimarans, sailing

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Weekend Wahine.

I love the beach and surfer girls.

Tags: wahines, beach, surfing, surfing babes

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What Happnes When You Have A Big Sailboat And No Wind?

You get tow from a giant zodiac.
Ah the fond memories of towing my students back and forth across
Richardson Bay in search of wind.

¿Dónde está el viento?
(From The Independent) One day of racing does not make an America's Cup, and
there was barely enough puff to make the postponement flag flutter for the fifth time
in six days yesterday. However confident the organisers were about the race track
when they chose this Mediterranean city over Lisbon, Marseilles and Naples, the
record so far has been little short of dismal, with just one day's racing in the first week
of the Louis Vuitton challenger series....more.

Tags: americas cup, sailing

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"Friends Don't Let Friends Sail Multihulls"

Edward, A Horse Is A Horse, Of Course, Of Course,..How About A Unicorn?
Sorry Steph, saying no to multi-hulls is verboten here at "The Horse's Mouth."

Why a Unicorn?
It can be built at home.
No crew problems - "Hey Phil, do you want to go sailing today? No thanks Joe
my wife and I are going up to Wine Country."
Easy to rig and launch single-handed
18ft waterline means good handling in sea conditions
Trailer fully assembled
Very light weight, hulls and cross beams 60kg minimum,
all up sailing weight 108kg minimum
Can be sailed for fun two up
Strict class rules but significant but flexibility in the design of rig and variation in
hull shape and materials

The Specs:
Single handed National 'A' class cat (A Cat baby, A Cat!)
Trapeze and una rig
PY of 775, ISAF 1.09
Length 5.49m (18ft)
Beam 2.29m (7ft 6in)
Sail Area 13sqm
Mast Height 7.93m (26ft)
Superb boat in light winds with high performance up to F6 due to the
flexibility of the rig settings
Daggerboards for high efficiency and superb pointing
Flexible mast with loose footed main. Adjustments to outhaul, downhaul,
kicker and lower shrouds.
With a full cut sail this gives terrific scope for control of sail shape
Trapeze for the ultimate sailing challenge
Una rig for simplicity of sail handling (13 sqm sail area to A class specification)

Edward, a wire does not make a boat complicated. Check out the Wiley Wabbits
that sail out of Berkeley.

Tags: boat building, beach cats, a cats, catamaran sailing, unicorn catamaran, sailing

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Fish On Fridays.

Hey, where's the wahine?

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

In the morning, laughing happy fish heads
In the evening, floating in the soup

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

Ask a fish head anything you want to
They won't answer, they cant talk

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

I took a fish head out to see a movie,
Didn't have to pay to get it in

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

They can't play baseball, they don't wear sweaters
They're not good dancers, they don't play drums

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

Rolly Polly fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccino in
Italian restaurants with Oriental women.
Yeeaahh

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

Yum!

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yumm!

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up
Yummmm!

Yeeaahh

Thank you Dr. Demento.

Tags: dr. demento, fishing, crab, fish, fish heads

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Wave Of The Day.

Newport, California.
Via SA.

Tags: surfing, waves

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Hi Joe, Streaker? Phantom? You've Got To Be Kidding Me? What About A Contender?

Hi Joe:

I'm writing in response to the query about recommendations for a singlehanded boat.
My answer: why hike when you can put yourself out on the wire?
Edward's Dad-In-Law needs a Contender! It saves your back and knees a
load of grief, and with the trapeze, weight is not as much of an issue as it is with
the Finn. There are still several active Contender sailors who are near their 60s.

The early Canadian fleet featured a bunch of homebuilt Contenders that are
still sailing, so it would be a great winter project. There's also a pretty good
used boat market. The class has also moved to carbon rigs (so there's no
chance of becoming a dinosaur fleet), and there are solid fleets all over
Europe, Australia, and we're bringing it back in North America.
The 2008 Worlds will be in Kingston, Ontario.

Some links:

http://ica.contenderworld.de/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5341076536249820244&q=contender+denmark

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8132468469133809309&q=contender+denmark

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7343625481025308679&q=contender+denmark

And the mother of all great racing videos:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=garda+contender.mpg

I've also attached a picture of one of the earliest Canadian homebuilt contenders
(looks nice doesn't it?), and a more modern action shot from the US Contender
class site. The skipper is Gil Wooley (getting to 70 but still kicking butt).

Cheers,

Stephanie "Tetley" Mah
KC47



It's very uncanny, but the woman in the above photo looks like my cousin
who lives in the Channel Islands.

Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, you are an agent provocateur. Shame on you for
stirring the pot!.........Not really, this is fun, in fact it could be endless. Whose next?
Any multi-hulls out there for Edwards older gentleman?

Check out this thread on SA.

Tags: dinghy sailing, boat building, boats you can build, sailing, contender dinghy

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S P A C E G H O S T!

Nick wants you to know that the Phantom is not your Grand Dad's Mirror.
Hi Joe, A look at the modern Phantom! Regards, Nick
PS Please post a better pic of the Phantom!

I'll give it to Nick, that's a pretty cool boat. I wonder how it would do on the bay?
A big thank you to Nick for the photos. Cheers mate!

Tags: dinghy sailing, sailing, phantom dinghy

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If I Can Just Hold My Breath.

I might make it to Friday.

Tags: fish, marine life

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Kites On The Bay.

Dry brushed, daubed, and god knows what other rinse cycles I put this poor
photo through. SF Bay today. F5 to F6 conditions this afternoon at Crissy Field

Don't worry Nick, I'm going to post the photos you sent me of the "modern"
Phantoms.

Puffy, nice helmet.

Tags: kite boarding, kite sailing, kite surfing

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Are We Having Fun Yet?

Check it out Dog. What's up with the helmet?
Hey Puffy, you want to talk about wind, we've got wind!
That would be without a storm, just an average day on the bay.

FotoHorse

Tags: windsurfing

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