This past weekend, Camille and I went sailing in a mountain lake. It was a completely different experience for her. She's too small to sail the boat still (on top of how difficult it is for the two of us to co-exist in an 8' boat) but got a bit of tiller time in.
What she really loved was sitting on the low side and putting her feet in the water. This was a favorite activity of mine as a kid but I sailed in Biscayne Bay not San Francisco Bay. You see, those two bodies of water are slightly different temperatures. Scott's Flat Lake, on the other hand, is warm in the summer.
Clover sails very nicely but I discovered something shocking when I went to grab Starbeam to bring home. Clover weighs 20-30 pounds more! Clover is fiberglass and Starbeam is wood, but the difference is in construction: they both have a plywood foredeck, but Starbeam's is thinner. The framing for the foredeck on Starbeam has holes drilled to eliminate weight. It makes a huge difference. When I was on the water with Clover, I thought it was Camille's weight that was the difference but now I know that Starbeam is just plain faster.
I switched out boats, leaving Clover in the mountains and bringing Starbeam home to have some work done. I'll have more stories about this weekend when I get the pictures and video downloaded. Plus, maybe a gripe or two about skiboats.
7 comments:
what!! say it isn't so. A gripe about skiboats. Those kind , considerate, bringers of mirth, merryment, goodwill and LARGE wakes.
I'm shocked!
Biscayne Bay? I thought that you grew up in the Bay Area. Didn't you ride your skateboard down Scott as a kid or was that someone else?
Speaking of Scott, where is his lake?
Grew up in San Francisco, summered in Florida to enjoy the 100 degree heat and humidity. My Dad (florida) was the sailor, Mom (SF) wasn't.
and speaking of wood and epoxy, I just epoxied the seams of starbeam. She'll hit the water before the month is out.
Scott's Flat Lake??? Donde esta?
I picked up a small section of a friend's 110 deck section from a boat of his that unfortunately sank and was destroyed a few years back, and I was quite surprised at the weight, despite the seemingly light construction. In the Frosties going to 3mm ply vs 6 mm for decks makes an enormous difference. Using Luan instead of Okume makes yet another. Going all carbon though...
I just read the class rules...for the first 853 pages it appeared that you could do whatever you want as long as you hit the minimum weight. But then, right there on page 854, hull: wood or fiberglass. foiled yet again for a high-tech bathtub dinghy.
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