Is this a Corribee?

I got another mystery boat request, this time from Ireland. However, I am quite sure this is a Corribee, probably MK1. Anyone disagree?

Edit: added a pic of the stern.

Home made outboard well

I received these pictures of a Vivacity that had been modified with an outboard well. A big hole was cut into the bottom of the boat in the aft part of the cockpit and a new wooden structure added to keep the water out of the cockpit. A wooden plug then was added, only leaving space for the leg of an electric outboard.





Now the new owner, Ian, thinks of putting a standard petrol outboard in there instead.

Not Sailing

By George Bollenbacher

When grown men get new toys, they are comfortable for a while just playing, but sooner or later the competitive urge takes over. Not too long after getting a set of clubs, the average golfer starts asking for mulligans, worrying about his handicap, and putting for a few dollars on the eighteenth green. The same is true with sloops, as far as I can tell.

So, over this past winter I got ready to do some racing this season. I signed up with the local racing organization, and paid my fee to get my PHRF rating. I got a list of the open regattas throughout the mid-Hudson region. I recruited a crew of two experienced sailors and ordered matching shirts, so we would at least look competent, even if we finished at the back of the pack.

I also began to educate myself on the intricacies of sailboat racing. I got several videos, featuring such experts as Gary Jobson, and viewed them over and over, until their concepts were mentally ingrained, if not at my fingertips. I read books on racing. I tuned up the boat over the winter, rigging the backstay tensioner that was there but not functional and greasing the jib furler. I bought a whisker pole to improve those downwind legs. I even looked into buying a used spinnaker, but decided that would have to wait for at least a season. By the time the boat was launched in May, I was really ready to race.

Except for one thing. Twenty-five years of recreational running had left my knees more than a little the worse for wear. My orthopedist and I tried to treat them with injections, therapy, and pills for about six months, but we finally decided that my left knee had to be replaced, and the sooner the better. The date of the surgery? June 2, 2009!

The normal recovery from a total knee replacement is about 5 weeks using a cane, and about 6 months until the knee is completely recovered. My case was a little more complicated than that, since the insertion of all the prosthetics cracked my tibia, if only slightly. That meant six weeks on crutches, initially with no weight on the leg, and eventually with a partial use. It looked like the whole summer would be a washout.

Initially, all I could think about, besides getting back to work, was getting back to sailing. The mental picture of Greyhound sitting quietly at her expensive marina berth while all the other boats were gliding in and out was more than a little maddening. And, because her berth is on a floating dock, I couldn’t even visit her on crutches. All I had was her picture on my laptop to keep me going.

I was partly mollified by the fact that in the eastern US this June was one of the wettest, coolest, most inhospitable Junes on record. When I finally made it down to the marina, I encountered boatowner after boatowner complaining that they hadn’t been able to get out on the water. Even sitting under the bimini consuming prodigious amounts of adult beverages apparently got old after a while. They were reduced to working on their boats to keep from going bonkers. What a bummer!

In fact, I did manage to do some work on Greyhound myself. Using my cane to get to the boat (in violation of medical advice) I was able to remove the knot in my main downhaul, so I didn’t look like I was permanently reefed all the time, and install a ring buoy and hangar on the pushpit rail. I pumped out the keel sump, which had filled up from all the rain, and realigned my boom. I was not sailing, of course, but boat work may be the next best thing. It will make the sailing that much better when I can finally do it.

New cruise report

I've posted a new cruise report on the Alacrity blog. A shorty really, but there is video. :)
Link here.

Corribee website refit

The Corribee website is the latest addition to the trend of using blog software in order to make homepages more interactive. The site at http://corribee.org/ does now allow comments to be made and has an RSS-feed.

Red Fox 200T

T-K had an article about the Red Fox twin-keeler in one of the pdf-issues long ago. Now I recieved this first hand account from an owner, Guy Wilkes from the UK.

The Red Fox / Hunter 20 has been around in various forms for a number of years. We have had our RED FOX 200T since the end of 2004, spending 4 enjoyable years with it based on the Norfolk Broads and more recently on the River Orwell in Suffolk.

With a draft of only 0.7m (2ft 3inches), the twin keels of the Red Fox make it ideal for the inland waterway network of the Norfolk Broads, and for the creaks and coastal areas of the East of England. Who needs a depth sounder when you can see the bottom!

Down below the accommodation is open plan but surprisingly roomy for a boat of this size. There is a V-berth up front and two straight side seats giving 4 berths (realistically enough room for 2 adults / 2 children). Moving aft, there is a simple galley with a sink, cold water tap and a stove to port. The separate heads compartment with a sea toilet, sink and cold water tap is situated to starboard. To have a separate heads compartment is quite unusual on a 20’ boat.

The accommodation benefits from having no intrusive centreboard box or lifting keel. The Twin keels have allowed the designers to really use the space inside and we have found that there is more space in this little 20 footer than on many 25-26fts.

We have added a Spray-hood and full cockpit tent, which increases the “usable space” in the evening (or when it is wet) and to allow for a bit more flexibility.

The twin keels of the 200T make launching and recovery a bit more challenging than say with a conventional lift keel yacht. The single axle trailer has a separate 4 wheeled cradle for the boat, which then sits on the trailer and is winched into and out of the water (the theory being that the cradle gets wet and not the trailer). All I know is that from my experience everything seems to get wet including the person recovering the boat. However it avoids those expensive lift in / lift out charges that most of the marinas seem to charge these days.

We trail the boat behind a standard family estate car, which is fine most of the time. However we do struggle on some steeper slipways during recovery. If we used a small 4x4 it would probably be slightly better and solve this problem. However for us we manage.

Sailing the boat, she tends to (and actually needs to be) sailed fairly upright. The keels are set quite far apart with their roots quite close to the waterline. Despite having the shallow draft of 2ft 3inches she remains remarkably stable (which was one of the key requirements for the family). We do seem to sometimes slip sideways more (in certain conditions – lighter airs for example) but perhaps that might be down to the helmsman rather than the boat. The big bonus is being able to sail single handed and having all lines coming back to the cockpit.

Under power we use a 4hp Mariner Outboard which sits in a well in the cockpit. The big advantage of having a cockpit well is that we don’t have to struggle lifting the outboard over the stern. We do of course loose some cockpit space.

We have found that there are not that many boats of this size that can comfortably accommodate 2 adults and 2 children overnight (or even for a week) and that are equipped with a simple (but functional) galley; have a separate heads compartment and on top of this still have decent sailing qualities. For us the Red Fox ticks all these boxes.

The twin keels means that we can take ½ tide moorings and not worry if she sits on the bottom. In fact on our present mooring she is still afloat most of the time. As an added bonus is the ability to be towed home at the end of the season and sit on the drive for the winter months. Suddenly our hobby is much more affordable than one might initially think.

For those that are interested, Select Yachts stopped building the Hunter 20/Red Fox 200 last year when they ceased trading. However the boat is now being built by British Hunter and is now known as the British Hunter Fox 20. It is available with Twin Keels or Twin Lifting Leeboards.

Bimini-top Vivacity

I found these pictures of what I take for a Vivacity in Texas. Now, those Bimini-tops are not pretty, but one kind of understands why they may be useful. However, I wonder how one moves around with this thing up...forward to the mast for example. Or maybe one just doesn't...