Scimitar 21ft Saro one design

[K9787]

I lifted Sunshine out today to give her a scrub. She lives all year on the river so needs a clean from time to time. Anyway, it let me take a few photos of the keel and rudder pintle. You may be able to work out where the modifications were made, with the rudder a good 30cm further aft and the added piece at the front of the keel.
The hull was treated with copperbot, but I don't know when. Certainly looks like it's ready to get some love and attention

 

[K9787]

Thanks for the very helpful photos. The shape of the rudder is quite different from that illustrated in the "free to view" part of the Laurent Giles archive which shows the maximum chord at a greater depth. It obviously works.

 

[David Balkwill]

Won the racing part of the Rendez-vous de l'Erdre festival of Jazz and Belle Plaisance this week-end. Only 70 boats this year, and few of those were seriously racing, but it does show that the hull shape works well, and the gaff rig with the topsail up high catches wind that other boats can't get at. The only boats in front of me at the finish were a Fireball and a Flibustier dinghy, and only by 3 seconds. Their ratings are much faster than mine, so it was a clear cut thing.

 

[K9787]

Does anyone have a scale drawing of the sheer plan( aka profile) which shows the loaded waterline? There were only faint traces of the waterline when I bought Shashka and my guess at where the boot-top should be was wrong so I would like to get it right next season.

 

[David Balkwill]

Any good ?

 

[K9787]

Excellent thank you.

 

[Matt J]

Hello to all Scimitar people,

I own Sunshine, serial number 7, hull number 5, sail number 4. Don't ask me to explain why, but this is not the only Scimitar with different numbers. Sunshine is unusual since she was converted to gaff rig with a bowsprit in the early eighties by Chris Libby. He cut away the coaming and replaced the moulded part with wood, moved the mast step forward and also extended the front of the keel and moved the rudder further back. So she's quite a bit different from the standard boats. She's lived on St Michael's Mount, the Dart, Holland, the Norfolk Broads, and now on the river Erdre just north of Nantes in France. I sail her a lot, and have been getting very good results in classic boat regattas. As Chris said, she's a witch.

I have put together a spreadsheet of all the Scimitars I've found trace of. I've added 25 and 53 Tryphena, but without any details, so please let me have any photos, drawings or other bits of their history. I'm not trying to take over the class history, since others may have already done this, it just felt like a useful basis.

If anyone is near here any time, do get in touch and come for a sail. If you want to bring your boat as well, I can offer bed and board, and the use of the club's crane to get you afloat.

Very happy to have found this new thread with people who are interested.

David

Hi David,

We (Brenin Adventures; my outdoor centre) have 2 Saro Scimitars. Currently undergoing a complete strip down and refit.
The one we are currently working on is Serial Number 6. Not sure on the other one as it is current wrapped up in tarps.

We sail at Llyn Clywedog in mid Wales and the Club there also has 1 Scimitar (So 3 at the lake).
We've been thinking of trying to put together an event at some point in the future for a weekend of class racing..... would be interesting to find out who would be interested.

Our 2 scimitar refits are been documented on our facebook page, so anybody can take a look. www.facebook.com/breninadventures

Matt

 

[David Balkwill]

Matt,
Sounds like a great program for your centre and I agree that the Scimitars will be a good support for teaching without being too frightening for beginners or people with restricted mobility.
How are you off for sails ? I have a few jibs which I can send you. Let me know and I'll take some pictures and give you some dimensions.
As for the idea of a get together, I'd love to be involved. Bit of a long and uncertain trip with Covid problems, so it's too early to be positive, but in principle I'll come with Sunshine.
I have contact details for some of the boats I have identified so I will pass on the idea and we'll see who's interested.
I have been talking with the CVDRA people about coming over next year for one of their events with an old Moth. It would be good for my travelling arrangements if the two events could be on two consecutive weekends so I could come with both boats at the same time. But first things first, you've got some work to do, and our governments need to sort out whether we can travel or not.
So let's keep in touch and keep thinking.
Regards.
David

 

[yfi]

 

[David Balkwill]

Lovely, I'll update my file on numbers and names wit that list. Whee did you find it ?

 

[yfi]

Hello I was an instructor at Holyhead and Gibraltar for Scimitar sailing. Later '79 I owned ,raced and sank 101 Fiamilla.
Rob

 

[David Balkwill]

Wow, that must have been adifficult time for you. What happened ? I've heard about the masthead spinnaker causing problems in a blow. Sunshine certainly wants to get into rythmic rolling downwind above say 20 knots, but I've always though that was because you can't stop the gaff blowing forwards and twisting the top of the main too much in the gusts. I sheet in hard when it starts to feel worrying and she settles down quite happily. Tells me that it's time to take in a reef !

 

[David Balkwill]

OK with this much wind

But needs a bit more care on windier days like this one

 

[yfi]

 

[yfi]

Menai Strait Regatta Programmes are the source of information the previous one is '89.
The kite was up it was windy . We had control took a roll to leeward.The kite sheet was eased a riding turn on the snubbing winch ... main boom against kite sheet ...we were gone in a flash. Club rescue boat hauled us out caught the bus home.Boat is still there somewhere sails up in 80 ft.

 

[David Balkwill]

Sunshine had bouyancy bags fore and aft when I bought her. They would have added 150kg of bouyancy. I took them out since if we ever did what you did it wouldn't have made any difference. I've rigged a "dangly pole" automatic jib stick since I'm usualy sailing solo. I can easily set the jib on the other side to balance the main downwind which helps keep everything reasonably calm. Jibing with running backstays does sharpen your concentration.

 

[yfi]

Sunshine had bouyancy bags fore and aft when I bought her. They would have added 150kg of bouyancy. I took them out since if we ever did what you did it wouldn't have made any difference. I've rigged a "dangly pole" automatic jib stick since I'm usualy sailing solo. I can easily set the jib on the other side to balance the main downwind which helps keep everything reasonably calm. Jibing with running backstays does sharpen your concentration.View attachment 102289

You have lots of purchase on the runners.

 

[David Balkwill]

3:1, they have a job to do. They keep the luff of the jib tight upwind and support the whole rig downwind. Gybing is a bit like you do it on a Starboat, taking up the slack on the old leeward runner as you bring the boom across so you can release the new leeward runner as soon as the boom is past the centre line. They have that clever double mainsheet system so they don't have miles of sheet to play with at the same time, but I don't, so there's lots of string to play with.

 

[yfi]

Number 1 Scimitar was "Slave Girl"

 

[David Balkwill]

OK, thanks for that. I wonder who the first customer was, and was it his boat that got the drop test ?