Roger ,, A Cape Horn! A fellow Bristol owner has just completed an
Atlantic crossing ::

This is his boat .. and he has the Cape Horn. I got an email from John
just after he arrived in Martinique. He said the Cape Horn steered the boat
all the way. The following is his email message.

"Just got into Martinique from single-handing from the Canary Islands. The
Cape Horn did most of the steering for three thousand miles. I recommend
it."


===================
'Kestrel' is a 1976 32-foot Bristol sloop, continuously improved over 28
years by owners, always with serious blue water work in mind.

After a shakedown cruise from Chesapeake Bay to Bermuda and back in 2001,
Kestrel was prepared for more ambitious plans. In the late Spring of 2005,
she set sail for Ireland, which was the first leg of a 2 - year Atlantic
circle. Since that trans-Atlantic passage, Kestrel toured Scotland (the
lower Hebrides in June and July of 2006), then, after a brief return to
Ireland, sailed to Spain (La Coruna). She then hopped down the Atlantic
coast of Portugal, winding up in Lagos, where she left continental Europe to
jump out to the Atlantic Islands, beginning with Porto Santo in the Madeira
Group. In December, John single-handed Kestrel from the Canary Islands to
Martinique, where wife Kathy came aboard. Kestrel is currently (winter,
2006-07) cruising the Antilles.


Bristol 32 Specifications (1976)

a.. LWL - 22' 0"
b.. LOA - 32' 1"
c.. Beam 9' 5"
d.. Draft (keel) 4' 7.5"
e.. Ballast 3900#
f.. Displacement 10,800#
g.. Sail Area (sloop) 464 sq. ft.
h.. P=33.05' P2=38.5' B=13.48' J=12.58'
=================================

I'd say that an Atlantic crossing in a 32' boat shows how well the Cape Horn
works.

I am leaning toward the Voyager vane. It isn't as much vane as the Cape
Horn but I think it will work with my tiller a bit better. The Voyager is
only $2500. I think that is a little less than the Cape Horn..

Will need to wait on the vane self steering though. Lots of projects to do.

====================

I may be able to help you out on the cruising spinnaker front. Send me your
measurements. Luff, Leach, Foot.. etc.

I have been looking around all fall and winter for sails. I have a line on
a few.

I will go through my sail contacts this week and see what I have. There are
plenty for sale, finding them is the hard part.

Bacon Assoc, in MD has lots of cruising spinnakers but they are all in the
$700 ++ range. I spoke to the owner one day. He said that they take
something like a 40% commission on sails. So.. an $800 sail? That means
the owner of the sail is getting around $480.

I have been looking on Ebay. Not much yet. The spring is still a month
away for equipment sales.

Anyhow,, I will check my inbox. And if I see something I will send it
along.

===


"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I'm kind of short on sails for our E 32 but even shorter on space to put
them. The working jib takes up most of the hanging locker so nothing can
hang. The 130 roller Genoa probably won't fit in there so it isn't going
to be a six berth boat when I want to put the working jib on. After seeing
how well the boat goes with the smaller jib, I'm probably going to want to
use it a lot.

We have just the two jibs and the main. Two reefs in the main alone
should handle a good deal of wind and the working jib can be rolled in a
pinch although it doesn't have foam in the leading edge. I'm having leech
doublings put on it so I can leave it up and rolled in the sun more often.

The big Genoa is best as a downwind sail. I wish I'd gotten my hands on
that cruising spinnaker before you did. If I can get one, I might just
leave the Genoa home. One thing that's been keeping me from thinking
about downwind kites is the difficulty of setting them shorthanded in a
quick turning boat. I'm sending in a deposit on a Cape Horn steering gear
tomorrow so that's going to change the equasion a lot. If something goes
wrong getting a spinnaker up and down, my crew will be able to leave the
wheel and help me deal with it.

Let me know if you see another cruising spinnaker for a 32 foot boat under
$500.

--
Roger Long