C&V sailboats (and bikes)
 

I am, perhaps, not alone in living near a large body of water and I have been recently bitten by the yearnings of a great folly...wanting a sailboat. Most sailboats in my fun money price range just happen to be in my favourite C&V decades of the 1970s and 1980s. Of course there is the continual time and money commitment associated with the low cost of entry. Maybe in a few years when the kids are a bit older.

It seems to be the perfect pairing to the C&V bike hobby. Much like our bikes, purchase prices are generally low, time consumed is very high, and money for parts, maintenance and upgrades never quite seems enough, and what seems like a simple job never is. It also seems to have in common that short term projects will span years and nothing is ever really finished.

So...show me your sailboat or your bikes around sailboats.

https://i.imgur.com/N9hEFcz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/drpdKHd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lJI9dqi.jpg

Seaport town,

http://www.cyclofiend.com/working/im...-1IMGP0010.jpg
Past years they made a transit stop, between winter and summer home ports in Mexico-tropics or Seattle-Alaska ..

http://www.cyclofiend.com/working/20...clark1110.html


https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.ceKdtV...r=1.64&pid=1.7




...

Paging rootboy and puchfinnland . . .

I think an old wooden boat is an order of magnitude more of a time sink more than an old steel bike. I spent the summer of '75 on an old wooden boat.

Wooden boats are the play realm of the rich in time and money. I'm thinking more like a fibreglass hull.

I recently puttered around Wright's Lake (near Tahoe) in an inflatable kayak, but I brushed up against more than a few Sunfish sailboats. I'm not in any danger of acquiring a new hobby, but they looked pretty fun.

Ads borrowed from the interwebs:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0555fc3c63.jpg

https://sunfishclass.org/images/uplo...arn_2_sail.jpg

My Dad and I raced Sunfish, and the narrower cockpit-less Sailfish for many years on our neighborhood lake SW of Denver. Serious fun, nowhere near the money pit of larger boats.

Bike content: As training for our eventual mini tour over Berthoud Pass and Trail Ridge Road across the Continental Divide and back, my roommate and I would ride from the 15-ish miles our apartment in downtown Denver to that lake most weekends to participate in the boat racing.

Purchased and refurbished an older, 1969 Sunfish sailboat this summer. Found a complete boat for $200 that needed some new parts but it has been a fun project, much like finding a Reynolds 531 frame needing some time and effort. Just sailed the boat for the first time last week and she sails like a charm. Looking forward to years of sailing pleasure when it is too windy to ride a bike!

Small boats are so fun! Lots more exciting than keelboats imo, although I think it would be awesome to crew on a tall ship for a bit. Do those sunfish have a jib or are they single-sail?

Get a Laser.

It's not a sailboat, but it's classic, I guess. I built this wooden rowboat a few years ago with my wife and daughter, and it's been a lot of fun. I spend a few hours per year touching up the paint, and like anything that isn't made of plastic, it gets a lot of compliments. It also gets us out on the water, which is the whole point, right?

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...16fddaeed.jpeg

Here I am transporting our bikes to a campsite off of Vancouver Island in B.C.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ac788f304.jpeg

Some folks put little sails on these. Yikes.

“If God had meant for us to have fiberglass boats, he would have planted fiberglass trees.” L.F. Herreshoff

I love fiberglass boats but fun to say...

I had the great good fortune to spend my youthful summers on a lake with first an old rowboat that my dad converted to a little sailboat (daggerboards fitted with plumbing parts), then an El Toro ("Congratulations on your your purchase of an El Toro racing yacht" read the assembly instructions, which, even at age 10 I recognized to be a big facetious goof of marketing-speak), our Geary 18 (which my dad made out of marine grade plywood in our garage), multiple Hobie Cats (two of which we still have) and various lake neighbors who had Geary 18s and an assortment of Lasers, Sunfish, Sabots, Mintos, Coronado 15s and Flying Dutchmen. There was even a San Juan 21 in there for awhile. Several sailboards, too.

Consequently, grabbing the tiller of a small sailboat - any small sailboat - feels like slipping into an old pair of shoes to me. But I'm actually happier in a kayak or canoe, where you need to physically work for your forward progress, just like on a bike :)

I don't aspire to ever own a wooden boat, unless I get to build it myself.

Single sail, lateen rig. Note reference to Sunfish in the caption for the illustration.

Careful, they're addictive! I've restored three, the earliest is a 1978 in red/white. Get a bunch, grab your friends and beers and play "Lord Nelson", which is a seaborne version of dodge ball.

Scott

It's been a dozen or so years since I was last on a boat. Owned a 22-footer for puttering about the bay, about 30yrs ago. Learned on small "Sunfish" type and other 10-14ft sailboats.

Something more my speed, these days -- for just 3-5 "bills" ... a Cherubini 48' Schooner:

https://images.yachtworld.com/resize...6_1_XLARGE.jpg


That'll just about do.

A few years back with Neal Lerner nlerner Essex, MA, our Raleigh Pro tour. mmmmm, fried clams.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...693224f48.jpeg

My wife and I lived on a sailboat at Channel Islands harbor in the mid seventies through the eighties. We moved to dry land in 1990. In the early years they had schooner races every year and we would sail out to Anacapa Island and watch the schooners round the east end. From there it was a broad reach to the harbor so most of the schooners would set a gollywobler for the ride home. What a beautiful sight to watch those 50-65 foot sleds set the sail and take off. My 35 foot Ericson with a tri-radial spinnaker couldn't come close to catching one of those on a broad reach. Now, going to weather on a light day was a different story! Many years on the ocean sailing our Ericson with bikes chained to the shrouds as our transportation(no car). When we went to the islands we would take the bikes to my shop and hitch a ride back to the boat. In those days, we had communal cars that the dock rats (us) shared. Good memories of a much simpler time.

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D720/ry%3D480/

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-sailfish.html

Do it! What could possibly go wrong?

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f5bb19502.jpeg

My over budget Clunker and Class Time’s Bow
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...76d727d15.jpeg
My Within Budget Clunker and Class Time’s Stern
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bb6737cb13.png
My DIY Poly Standing Lug and Birds Mouth Spars
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...87089702cb.png
Low Tech (low budget) Rigging

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b0c82cf93.jpeg
Someone’s project at rear right.

Did sailing all around the Channel Islands, back when. Before everything got crowded and, um, different. Parked at Forney Cove (on the western end of Santa Cruz) once for a couple of days, feasting on Abalone and halibut. Made it out to Santa Rosa, then spent the night riding out a gale. Looked out across at San Miguel but decided against it. Kept off-shore of Anacapa, watching all of the wildlife. Overnighted at Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Loved the lifestyle, but never did do the "bluewater / live-aboard" thing.

Lovely spot of the world, out there.

What was your boat back in the '70s, by the way? Clearly large enough for two to live 10+ years and survive it relatively intact.


It's interesting to watch the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, and the RORC Caribbean 600, among others. Those Cherubini 48s have logged races at better than 12kt average, and won their class. Would love to have one built, though they're well north of $2M these days. Can be found on the pre-owned market in the $300-500K range, now and then. Always seems to be at least one of them for sale. So far as I know, nine have been made over the years. Not many, but they seem to take a lickin' and keep on tickin', so to speak. Not exactly priced like a Sunfish, or Lido 14, or Hobie Cat, to be sure.

"My other bike is a J Class sailboat." (I wish)

We lived on an Ericson 35 tall rig(double spreader). It was a race boat when we bought it but I added a water tank and refrigeration after a few years for comfort. We were not into racing , just cruising the islands . I have been those places you mentioned and stayed at others , sometimes for days and sometimes a couple of weeks . We would sail into Santa Barbara to get provisions and anchor off Stearn's Wharf for the night only to return to Pelican Bay the next day. Many happy times as well as time we were scared out of our wits. The wind can come up really bad and you have to find refuge, you get to know the islands real well. I am an open water certified diver so sea food was abundant and I always had a couple of tanks on board. It was a minimalist existence in the true sense. The name of our boat was Legacy and she lived up to her name. The memories and what we have seen, few have ever seen, good and not so good. We survived in spite of being human and I know in my heart we could have gone to the depths at any time, that ocean is so powerful!

you could build one https://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/...uiser-kit.html


or look at options like a paddleboard you can sail (windsurf to be precise)

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c8b2cf33dc.jpg