Calling all sailors!

[PaulJ]

I'm sure lots of people have more than just the one hobby, are there any others on the Forum who have to divide their spare time between modelling and Boating in one of it's many guises? It's all very well all those bikers out there having their own space but what about us sailors?

Ron has kindly agreed to create a space for sailing...... Let's see how many takers there are.

I'll kick off by saying that I live right by the River Orwell in Suffolk and most of my sailing for the last five years or so has been on this river and a few miles up and down the coast between the River Ore and down to Brightlingsea...... All fairly local but hoping to go further next year.

Paul

[Spike S]

Hi Paul
Good call. I've been sailing dinghies since I was 7yrs old on a gravel pit near Oxford. With that plus building model aircraft and RC systems some 58 years ago (good old Terrrytone etc.) it was logical to end up with a full career in the Fleet Air Arm. Since retiring, I have been a Trustee and Instructor (sail and power) for two Sailability groups down here in the New Forest. Electronics skills now increasingly used to develop solid-state boat servo systems to enable severely physically-handicapped individuals to get on the water.
http://sailability-forum.uk/equipment/s ... r-drivers/
In 2007, I was a member of the support crew for Geoff Holt - the first paraplegic to sail solo around UK. You will find me on page 13 of his book "Walking on Water".
I still sail my RC Marblehead yacht occasionally.
Long distance dinghy sailing ? I suppose you could count the Round the Island Race (That's Singapore, not the Isle of Wight)
BTW: I get seasick on anything larger than a dinghy or smaller than an Aircraft Carrier !!

[GeeW]

OK I will 'fes' up as well.
Currently own and sail a 22' boat, and have more or less been continuous owner/builder of quite a few sailing objects.
Next boat project will be to build a cruising sailing canoe probably an AngusRowboats Sailing Rowcruiser.

Gordon

[PaulJ]

Hi Spike,

'Sounds like we have had fairly parallel careers. I too have been playing with both boats and models from an early age but then went on to a career in Civil Aviation. Now, I just don't know how I ever found time to go to work and since retirement I have tried to do both models and boats and find I am always doing one at the expense of the other!

I applaud your involvement with Sailability..... We have a disabled sailing establishment just up the river from where I live (http://www.woolverstoneproject.org.uk/) but so far I haven't got involved, partly because of other commitments but also because I don't have any "qualifications" as such. These days everything is so regulated but I have just always sailed and I have no idea if what I do is the "RYA approved way"......

I looked at your sailabilty forum link. I'm afraid I am not as electronically literate as most on this forum but I am not entirely sure what you are trying to do........ Are you trying to enable them to steer, trim sails..... or what? How severely handicapped are we talking about?

[PaulJ]

Hi Gordon,

What kind of boat is your 22 footer and where do you sail it? I had never heard of the "Angus Rowboats Sailing Rowcruiser" so I googled for it....... Wow! All I can say is that you must be a lot younger and fitter than I am, or I suspect most of the people on Mode Zero! It looks like a fantastic peice of kit but I'm not sure I would want to go cruising in it!

I too have built a few "floating objects" (a couple of them didn't have sails), including my current boat. She has been laid up for a few years while I sailed something else but now I am trying to get her back in the water. I also recently bought a dinghy so I can do some "Swallows and Amazons" with a young granddaughter..... You need to catch em young!

[Spike S]

Hi Spike,
...
....... Are you trying to enable them to steer, trim sails..... or what? How severely handicapped are we talking about?

All of the above! "achieving" not "trying"
http://ryasailability.tv/videos/sailors/keith-harris/
See PM

[GeeW]

PaulJ
My boat is a Hunter Liberty 22, about as big as it is practical to trail home for the winter, which offers a fixed heads and full crouching headroom! Well my partner can stand up but she vertically challenged
Many of my previous boats have either been sailing canoes or dinghy cruisers with a lid. West Wight Potter, Prout Voyager 14, Shipmate Senior. I enjoy minimalist sailing.
Normally sail the UK South Coast/Solent and the Norfolk Broads.
I fancy taking a RowCruiser up to the west coast of Scotland for a couple of weeks

[PaulJ]

Gordon,

I don't think I've ever seen a Hunter Liberty 22, it looks like a great boat for coastal cruising..... What kind of keel does it have and what is the draft? I see it has unstayed masts, is that what they call a "Freedom Rig"?

Paul

[GeeW]

Libby 22 has a lift keel, and a pair of shallow bilge keels so it will sit level on the ground without the hull touching. Draft is 0.5 m keel up and 1.2 m keel down. Masts are very light and are easy to raise lower on my own
It is just an unstayed rig rather than a freedom rig.
The other version which has a single stick and gunter rig is known as a Minstrel. Both models use the same hull and deck mouldings despite a minor name change to 23.

[Tobe]

Feel like a traitor here but this is my "summer toy" and the joy of my boys riding the waves with boards or skies. I use to sail 470, Moth and Tornado but can't do it any more sadly