Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show the Scamp Mini cruising Dinghy

I was frankly surprised to see this small dinghy cruiser at the Sailboat Show. This 12 (3.6 m) mini-dinghy cruiser designed by John Welsford has become the darling of home-builders looking for a small outside, but big inside, simple rig, able-sailing project. This community of boat builders, an alternative universe in the sailing world, revolve around the DIY wood designs of Phil Bolger, Jim Michalak, Ian Oughtred, John Welsford, Francois Vivier and others, And this alternative universe seldom intrudes on the plastic commercial world which predominates at the large boat shows. But, in 2015, there she was, a plastic Scamp, built by Gig Harbor Boatworks north of Seattle Washington.

There is no doubt this is a clever design. It has a transom bow that tapers rapidly toward the waterline, the actual sections at the bow waterline are V-ish. There is an offset centerboard under the starboard seat. This makes for an unobstructed floor, perfect to lay out a sleeping bag. The Scamp is high sided though the designer has given her a pleasant sheer to make this a jaunty looking dinghy. There is 70 kg of water ballast to dampen down what could be a very lively motion in wind and waves.

The summer of 2014, I was sitting on the back lawn at my friend Bill Ms house, just off South River, when I spotted a small sailing dinghy making her way smartly against a building sea breeze. To settle our speculation about what kind of boat we were watching, Bill promptly went to get his binoculars. Through the binoculars I could tell it was a Scamp (a very distinctive profile with her balanced lug rig) and the skipper was doing a fine job getting her upwind. He poked his nose just into the Chesapeake Bay and then turned downwind to rock and roll back into South River. As a spectator, I was mightily impressed at the Scamps sailing performance (initially being somewhat of a skeptic when the Scamp first came out). One quibble was the Scamp looked somewhat tender going offwind, rolling back and forth - not atypical for a cat-rigged boat, or maybe the skipper had dumped the water ballast for a quicker ride back home.

Two photos of the Gig Harbor Boatworks Scamp from the Annapolis Sailboat Show. Plenty of room in this 12-footer! If I remember correctly the rep said they were building about 30 a year. Base price is $13,000 USD.

The cabin is just a cuddy cabin, enough to shelter from the weather. Plenty of storage under the seats and up forward.

Wooden Scamps being built from CNC kits. This photo gives a good idea of how the kit pieces fit together. You can see in the lower Scamp the centerboard trunk incorporated into the starboard seat tank.

A Gig Harbor Boats promotional video.




Also, over on my blog list is this duo building a 17 Devlin designed daysailor-cruiser.

Read More..

Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show The Portland Pudgy dinghy

I spent an interesting fifteen minutes over at the Portland Pudgy stand. The Portland Pudgy is a another variation on the dinghy tender; this one in rotomolded plastic, with an emphasis on dual use as a life-boat if disaster struck. After looking the Portland Pudgy over, one comes away with the impression of a different take on the cruising dinghy; well designed, not too expensive, commodious despite the short length, and buoyant enough to work out as a life boat if needed.

All of my time spent at the stand was in talking with Pam, the wife of the designer, David Hulbert. We mostly discussed the travails of running a Mom and Pop boat production business, particularly how little things can gum production up. The sub-contractor that made the specialty designed inspection ports for the Portland Pudgy went bankrupt, unbeknownst to the Pudgy production team. When they went over to subcontractors shop, they found it shuttered up with the specialty tooling for the inspection ports locked inside. Once they got it all sorted with a new subcontractor there was a three month hiatus on getting Pudgys out the door. I detected an undertone in her story of maybe this was too much, too all consuming, particularly for a couple in their senior years. But the Portland Pudgy does offer something unique in the boating world and there appears to be a steady market going forward.

The FAQ page on the Portland Pudgy as a straight up dinghy.

The FAQ page on the Portland Pudgy sailing rig.

Read More..

505 Dinghy and Annapolis 2017

I wandered over to my old sailing club, Severn Sailing Association, on Sunday and ran into Ali Meller, just in from Laser frostbiting. Ali is a long time 505 racer and I was interested in finding out how preparations are going for Annapolis to host the 505 Worlds in September, 2017. The 505 fleet at SSA is relatively small, ten boats or so, and to take on such a high-profile regatta as the 505 Worlds must be a daunting task for such a small group. To pull this one off, the 505 fleet has gone out to the Annapolis sailing community. Two yacht clubs are sharing the responsibility in running the event, SSA and Eastport Yacht Club and the RC is being recruited from the best of Annapolis. Given the strength of the dollar Ali expects the Worlds fleet to be around one-hundred, which, for North America, is huge numbers for a two man high performance dinghy.

Below is a great 505 promotional video shot by Chris Love, who does all of the Intercollegiate sailing reporting in the U.S. Although the 505 aficionados interviewed in this video downplay the intensity of the class, make no mistake; to race at the top level in the 505 is just below the commitment of an Olympic campaign. A true fanatics performance class.




International 505 Promotional Video from Chris Love on Vimeo.

Two photos of the 505 from the Earwigoagin archives; these taken at a SSAs Tuesday night series a couple of years ago.

Photo John Zseleczky

Photo John Zseleczky

For those who have dug back in Earwigoagin, you may have come across the fact that the blogmeister raced Internatonal 14s back in the 1970s and early 1980s. The International 14 of those years was very similar to the 505, single trapeze, big symmetrical kite. The modern International 14 has developed into a skiff but I occasionally wonder what the International 14 would look like today if it stuck with the rig of the 1980s - probably very similar to the current 505. A photo of the Canadian Harvey brothers ripping it, I think in 1980 (just had to sneak this in).

Photo Ellie Martin

Read More..

Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show The Melges 14

Melges Performance Sailboats introduced their Melges 14 singlehander at this years Annapolis Sailboat Show. The 14 is one of the new generation hiking singlehanders; a racier, speedier alternative to the Laser and, at the Annapolis show, the Melges 14 was on display only six meters apart from one of the first entrants in this market segment, the RS Aero.

Visually the Melges 14 looks bigger than the RS Aero and the tale of the tape shows that it is bigger than the RS Aero. The Melges 14 is longer at 4 meters and wider at 1.57 meters. Given the American penchant for going bigger in everything, this may not be a bad marketing move for U.S. sales. The long, flat cockpit floor looks quite spacious compared to the narrow RS Aero cockpit and the tiny cockpit of the Laser. (If, in buying a faster singlehander with carbon rig and mylar sails, one of your odd requirements is also a design where you can daysail with your kids stuffed here and there - the Melges 14 is the one for you.)

A wider beam allows more hiking power so it is not surprising that in comparing sail areas between the Melges 14 and the RS Aero, the Melges 14 again comes out bigger. The Melges 14 big rig is 9.1 meters vs the RS Aero 8.9 meters and, in the mid-range rig, the Melges 14 is 7.8 vs the RS Aero 7.4. Usually more horsepower may give better light wind performance but I havent yet seen any side by side performance comparisons published.

The ultra-lightweight RS Aero hull comes in at whopping 25 kg less than the Melges 14 which, at 54 kg. is lighter than the Laser by about 5 kg. One of the benefits of the smaller hull of the RS Aero is less surface area which translates into a lighter hull. The Melges salesman countered as he made the pitch for the heavier Melges 14 hull. "How light can you go before sacrificing durabiltiy?"

The RS Aero came out early in this market (not quite two years ago), is being marketed agressively and the factory in England is pumping a goodly number out every month. In contrast, the Melges 14 appears a little late. I asked the Melges salesman about this and being a good salesman, he remained nonplussed. Admitting there is "quite a bit of competition" in the new singlehanders, he pointed out that Melges has already built 40 of the 14s and they expected that the existing customer base of Melges products (from the 20, 24, 32, the myriad Melges scows) would initially provide a steady stream of buyers for the 14.

There you have it. The Melges 14 is a bigger, heavier (though lighter than the Laser), more powerful (with a very roomy cockpit!) entry in the hiking singlehander marketplace. I have no idea how it compares on the water with the RS Aero or the D Zero (which has yet to put in an appearance in North America  - Correction, there are three in North America - see bottom of post.). Price for a Melges 14? It seems to be moving target but somewhere around 9K U.S.

Also check out the Tillerman blog post on the Melges 14.

The Melges 14 has a mylar sail on a carbon mast and boom. (This is different from the RS Aero which has remained with the tried and true dacron sailcloth.). The Melges 14 also is round-bilged but one thing you cant do very easily at a boat show is turn the dinghy over and inspect the hull - so I cant comment on the hull shape.

This photo taken from a more bow-on angle definitely shows the very distinctive straight gunwhale line (seen also on the RS Aero - this provides flare at the gunhwale and more hiking power) starting just forward of the daggerboard case.

The wide flat cockpit and more beam means there are two hiking straps instead of the usual center one. The Melges 14 uses the typical Laser split mainsheet rig with a transom bridle. I forgot to ask the salesman how you controlled athwartship boom placement as there doesnt seem to be any control lines for the aft bridle, just a stopper ball on each side. Boom vang control is at the mast, the other cleats are for the cunningham and outhaul.

The mainsheet turning block uses a a nifty hose to hold it upright (versus those metal springs). The Melges 14 has a small raised shelf just forward of the daggerboard trunk, ending some 100-200 mm aft of the mast - probably a tricky engineering tweak to provide structural support to both the front of the daggerboard trunk and the mast. (I can see an aftermarket storage turtle being designed to fit this shelf - perfect for water bottles, spray jackets, sandwiches.) The cockpit also has the comfy non-skid foam that the SUP crowd invented.

---

My other Melges 14 posts:

• Melges 14 - Vaporware?
• Melges Performance Sailing Replies.
• Other big guy singlehanders.

---

Over at the Sailing Anarchy thread on the Melges 14, user Woodman is of the opinion the Melges 14 is similar to the English Supernova singlehander, which is considered a big-guy singlehander.

Also on the Sailing Anarchy thread, user Jeffers corrects me when I say there are no D-Zeros in North America. There are three D-Zeros now in North America.

Read More..

Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show The Small Cats

Foils, foils and more foils. Foils were the centerpiece of attention for two very interesting small catamarans on display at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show.

The Nacra 15 junior catamaran was the first cat that I stumbled upon as I wandered the show, sitting next to the Melges 14. It had all the bells and whistles of the modern cat, double trapeze, square-top rig, assymetric spinnaker with tube launcher though what stood out were some nifty foils usually not seen on a production catamaran. The problem with the high aspect, tall rigs of the modern cats is that, when married to a short hull, they pitchpole spectacularly. To work around this problem the designers of the Nacra 15 have fitted curved daggerboards and anti-diving winglets on the rudder. The curved daggerboard provides upward lift when fully down. This unweights the leeward hull and keeps the bow out. The anti-diving winglets on the rudder take over when the pitch angle starts to go negative, applying force to hold the stern down. Despite just a couple of production prototypes sailing in the fall of 2015 the Nacra 15 impressed ISAF enough to be named their official junior catamaran in December, 2015.

If I was marketing director over at Nacra I wouldnt keep this platform only for junior sailing. What about offering a second, smaller rig with only a single trapeze and making a detuned Nacra 15 class targeted for couples?

More about the Nacra 15 here.

In this photo is one of the curved daggerboards. Also the entire deck between the beams is covered in SUP anti-slip foam.

The small rudder winglets.

Promotional video of the Nacra 15 at speed.

---

The second catamaran to catch the eye was the spectacular, all carbon, foiling 5.4 meter/17.7 feet Whisper from England. The platform weighs just 78 kg. The moldings and fine detail work was exquisite. The foils are typical to what is used on the International Moth, T-foils up forward, controlled by a wand, and a T-foil on the rudder. I didnt hang around long enough to get an explanation on how it is all adjusted but I did have a short conversation with Robb White, the builder. He said the foils were designed for early lift-off (more area), and not ultimate speed.

Only $30,000 USD if you have a burning desire to be the fastest one on the river (and if you have the time and crew to learn how to sail her).

More info on Whisper by clicking here.

Yachting Worlds Matthew Sheehan put out this video on his sail test of the Whisper foiling cat. At the end of the video, Matthew, like many in the media, feel that foiling will take over the sport. I, on the other hand, feel foiling will always remain an enthusiasts niche - not one for the general sailing population.

Read More..

LHermione Visits Annapolis

It will be good to wrap up 2015 on Earwigoagin with a much delayed post about the French tall-ship, LHermione, the ship that brought Lafayette to America to fight in the American Revolution. The recently completed replica of LHermione visited Annapolis this past June and, as with anything nautical, vast crowds descended on City Dock to take a tour. I was one of the throng and even though I got there early enough, it took me close to an hour of snaking back and forth before I could climb the gang plank to board her.

LHermione was a middling warship for that era but, up close, she remains today an impressive working monument of the late 18th century. I cant help to imagine what it would have been like to row around a busy anchorage of the 1780s, surrounded by dozens and dozens of tall ships; merchantmen , privateers, warships, and coastal traders. To me, that would be just as stunning a visage as any large cathedral.

Bonnie of Frogma reported on LHermiones visit to New York City (unlike me, she wrote it about it when it happened). Her report can be found here.

The official website.

Some of my photos:

The line on the home-stretch, within minutes of finally going on board. There was a fellow singing sea-shanties to keep those in line entertained.

Humanity packed on deck.

Given my small boat bent, I was interested in this pair of nesting launches. The mast indicated that at least one had a sailing rig.

The figure-head.

There were plenty of Revolutionary re-enactors milling about including these three in the French army uniform.

I hadnt realized until reading the local newspaper coverage of LHermiones visit that Annapolis has a memorial to the French soldiers and sailors who had died fighting in the American Revolution. It was tucked in the corner of St. Johns college, in a copse of pine trees overlooking College Creek, just behind the boat house. After touring the LHermione, I took the fifteen minute stroll in the hot June sun, up Pinkney Street, over to Prince George Street, past the Paca House and across the campus, to visit the memorial. The flowers were from a commemoration service that had taken place the previous day, but on this day, I was the only one there.

Read More..

Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show The Americas Cup

Oracle Team USA has been working steadily to bring the Americas Cup to the attention of the masses. One part of that strategy is to publicly display the actual cup around the U.S. And there it was, tucked into a corner of the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat show, next to the old Fawcett building. As trophies go, impressive enough, very tall and ornate.

After snapping a photo, I got a kick out of talking to one of the security contingent. He was dressed in a suit, sporting an ear bud, looking identical to the Secret Service, except for the white gloves. He was based out of San Francisco and when the Americas Cup went out on the road, so did he. As security gigs go, this one didnt sound half bad.

The security guys were amazingly tolerant about letting people close enough for group photos but physically touching the cup was a big no-no.

The car behind the Americas Cup was one of the fancy Tesla E-cars, Tesla being one of the sponsors of the Americas Cup tour. I took a look and, compared to our known fossil fuel vehicles , the Tesla was somewhat topsy-turvy. The powertrain and batteries were well hidden, out of sight, the front hood opening up to another storage compartment. One got the impression that the Tesla ran on some magical ether it collected from the air.

Read More..