It must be just a few weeks from spring because I have been obsessing about sailing. In this case, fast sailing. My buddy David R. and I share a love for extreme sailboats. He’s having a couple of Paper Jet 14 kits put together this winter at a local boat yard; that’s a single-handed trapeze dinghy styled on the Australian skiff concept. If I were to sail one of these I would need to start yoga classes now and wear goalie pads. David found the boat in a recent edition of WoodenBoat magazine — which typically drools over 100 year old antique boats and not little rocket ships. Oh to be 14 again.
Then I found this hydrofoil. I once delivered a 60′ plywood ocean-going catamaran from Cape Cod to Florida in November and it was the most frightening experience in my young life. This “boat” is flying at 47 knots (1 kn = 1.15 mph, ergo this boat is going 54 mph). People die doing this stuff. Where’s Kevin Costner with his gills when you need him?
Finally, it is still winter. Before I die I want to ride in an iceboat. But not one that sinks.
I’m feeling the same. You reminded me of when we sailed a 44′ Frers through the eye of Huricane Bob in 1991, when I was 16. I was the first mate on a celestial navigation training/delivery from St. Thomas to Newport, RI. I haven’t scanned the old pix to place online yet, but I did recently scan the ships log, if you want to call it that: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxkalehoff/sets/72157594362139063/
Here’s the storm:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bob
And here’s the guy who I sailed it with: http://www.yayablues.com/
Good thing it was a Frers. That must have been a vomit comet.
The ocean going cat – it didn’t belong to Parker Leonard by any chance? He designed one that was at Chester Crosby’s one summer. It had cabins in each hull. One for him and one for his wife who insisted on smoking (he didn’t).
No, it was a repo by a nursing home owner in Newton who didn’t know how to sail. It was built in the early 60s and had been used inter-island in Hawaii. Nastiest thing afloat.
David:
You must try iceboating. I am not sure it’s in the same category as sailing because it is fast, way fast, and noisy. You will cover ground that takes hours in a sailboat in minutes and learn to think very fast. But it is a rush. If you want to really go for the burn, head out to Wisconsin and hook up with the Harken brothers of Buddy Melges for some racing on the lakes there.
The French have cornered the market on sailing insanely fast on tri’s
will we see the next AC’s sailed on these beasts?
round the buoys is just fine with me thank you very much