...and bigger boats were heaving to or turning back

[david42]

My search for the idea boat (ie: one that I can afford) has unearthed the fact that, if you dig deep enough in the owners associations website/brokers waffle for any boat that you may dream of owning you will eventually come across the phrase....'it was blowing a gale with mountainous seas and while much larger boats were heaving to or turning back the (whatever) kept going easily and quickly delivered the crew safely, comfortably and happily to Cherbourg.'

I now believe that any class of boat must therefore be far superior to any other class of boat(?) at least for getting into Cherbourg. Either that or the sort of people who write these things are masochists and/or liars.



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[Evadne]

Re: ...and bigger boats were heaving to or turning

You observe correctly. When asked "which is the best boat" the correct answer is "my boat". If it wasn't then I'd sell her and buy a better one.
I have also observed that sea states and wind strengths get larger as they recede in time, so after 10+ years of sailing everyone can recall at least one time when they beat into a F7-9 for 6 hours or more to get into port, even though it was a reach in a F5-6 at the time. Real sailors don't use anemometers!


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[david42]

Re: ...and bigger boats were heaving to or turning

So I guess there's no point in asking you for an objective view on Elizabethans then Dave?

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[david42]

Re: ...and bigger boats were heaving to or turning

So all boats are the best boat in the eyes of their owners. This confirms my growing opinion that I won't find my ideal boat in the pages of a magazine review, rather I will find it when I step onboard and the boat feels like the best boat I've ever been on.

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[steve_cronin]

Re:Real sailors don\'t use anemometers!

Yes they do!

To impress the visitors on board or to re-inforce a charter skipper's aura amongst his scratch crew. I can't see any other use for them. Mine (Raytheon 6000) often gets the true & apparent mixed up and sometimes won't register true at all. Then the Beaufort display is out of step with the knots scale. It is almost impossible to sail close to the wind with the thing. I have endured without a Windex up un til last month but now, properly equipped, I sail with rediscovered confidence andf a return to oneness with the control of the vessel.

Wouldn't have installed one. It came with the boat and is the first one I've ever had in over 30 years and four previous boats.

Steev Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[goupil]

Re: ...and bigger boats were heaving to or turning

I'll not be a help if you are looking for an Elisabethan. but if you intend to buy French or some thing we have on our market I will be happy to help.
You must have already an idea of the type of cruiser you want ?
You may have a look at "Mille Sabords" the biggest european second hand boat show in Le Crouesty (South Brittany) 30 Oct / 02 Nov.
I don't have any boat for sale on myself. My post signature is there for trying to help in such case (I'm more dedicated to customer service than business).

<hr width=100% size=1>Brittany Yacht brokerage & assistance : PM

 

[Mirelle]

A Modest Proposal (boats up to 36ft, only)

My boat and I have been together now for a number of years, during which time we have not only hove-to, but also turned back. Indeed, we may claim to have become proficient at both these skills.

She is 37 feet long.

In exchange for a suitable honorarium, sufficient to maintain her in the style to which she is accustomed, the Mirelle is prepared to accompany any boat on test, and, at a given signal, to heave to, and/or turn back, thereby lending verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.

Being a gaff cutter, we do the heaving-to bit particularly well, and as the years advance we have even developed a third skill, viz, not starting in the first place until we get a better forecast, but this may be insufficiently photogenic.

Offers, in a plain brown envelope, please, to 14, Methersgate Reach, River Deben...

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Mirelle on 10/10/2003 17:48 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[david42]

Re: A Modest Proposal (boats up to 36ft, only)

So if I'm ever out on a test sail and I spot a nearby gaff cutter heaving to/turning back while my trusted vendor-skipper rolls up his sleeves and tucks into the forthcoming weather with great confidence in the boat he is trying to seduce me with I shall know that I've been had. Likewise if we pass said gaff cutter still on her moorings while the skipper nods wisely and mutters, 'wouldn't go out in that mate, haven't you seen the forecast?'

But - I will have a good story, and the weather will be much worse than it really was by the time I get round to telling it.

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[Mirelle]

Looking the part

I should add that the boat looks the very picture of seaworthiness, can fly either red or blue ensigns, as specified by the customer, that her owner is prepared to grow a grey beard and wear a blue guernsey, and/or a reefer jacket and Club tie, for the purpose of crinkling his eyes up, staring to windward and nodding and muttering wisely, in a selection of appropriate regional accents, all at no additional charge.


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[Ohdrat]

Re: Elizabethans

They really do have a devouted following .. who tend to be the sort of people that enjoy a 7 hr beat into a force 9!

They have an excellent pedigree .. the folkboat commonly acknowledged to be one of the best if not the best small boat if you want a sail boat that sails well and can handle the weather and have an "easy" motion in difficult seas.. Of course the draw back of the folkboat pedigree is that you have limited room below and a long keel.. no creek crawling for us!.. not that there are any creeks in the Highlands anyway!

The Elizabethans built by Bergquist are supposed to be the best

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[david42]

Re: Elizabethans

There was me reading your post and thinking, bet he's got a folkboat, and I was so nearly right!

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[Ohdrat]

Re: Elizabethans

Ahhh but the same pedigree...

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[david42]

Re: Looking the part

I too have an old blue guernsey and was planning to wear it on test sails with matching oiled woolie hat and crinkled eyes in order to ooze a certain, 'you can't pull the wool over my eyes,' charm, although the wool usually falls over my eyes on it's own accord owing to the side-effects of extended crinkling. I must admit to problems with regional accents, mine all end up somewhere south of Delhi, do you have any tips?

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[david42]

Re: Elizabethans

and it's a fine pedigree chum

sorry, couldn't resist it.

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[Ohdrat]

Re: Looking the part

Hey and I have matching his and her Sowesters and Oilskins.. circa 1950.. no I'm not that old .. I "inherited" them from my parents/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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[Violetta]

Are you sure it will come out grey?

I believe beards can be very surprising things. I remember as a small child my father decided to grow a beard and it was bright red - a little surprising in a man with ordinary dark brown hair and not a hint of rust.

I'm not sure Grecian for Men sells a product that works the other way around......

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[Mirelle]

Try Greenwich?

I think the National Maritime Museum might be interested in those!

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[Mirelle]

This can be arranged

In my early 20's I had, rather regularly, to interview grizzled old seadogs, often Greek, whose ships had come some kind of a cropper. Feeling that I looked too young to carry conviction in the part, I grew a beard, which I shaved off when someone said it might be concealing a weak chin!

The requiste greyness can, if necessary, be arranged with a tin of Blakes' Primer and a rag!

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[Ohdrat]

Re: Try Greenwich?

no way.. I'm into retro chic!

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[Mirelle]

Young Fogeys....

Hmm, Contessa 26 - yes, I can see that!



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