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my next dream boat...
On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:05:39 -0700, Mark Borgerson
wrote: Until you get into the classes like the America's Cup yachts, with their tilting keels, doesn't a fixed keel improve windward performance? The problem arises when you sail in an area with a lot of shallow water. The swing keel is a compromise but it will give you better performance than a shallow fixed keel. |
my next dream boat...
Here is a sad story!
Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/bu...s.html?_r=1&hp They often sandpaper over the names and file off the registry numbers, doing their best to render the boats, and themselves, untraceable. Then they casually ditch the vessels in the middle of busy harbors, beach them at low tide on the banks of creeks or occasionally scuttle them outright. The bad economy is creating a flotilla of forsaken boats. While there is no national census of abandoned boats, officials in coastal states are worried the problem will only grow worse as unemployment and financial stress continue to rise. Several states are even drafting laws against derelicts and say they are aggressively starting to pursue delinquent owners. “Our waters have become dumping grounds,” said Maj. Paul R. Ouellette of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It’s got to the point where something has to be done.” Derelict boats are environmental and navigational hazards, leaking toxins and posing obstacles for other craft, especially at night. Thieves plunder them for scrap metal. In a storm, these runabouts and sailboats, cruisers and houseboats can break free or break up, causing havoc. Some of those disposing of their boats are in the same bind as overstretched homeowners: they face steep payments on an asset that is diminishing in value and decide not to continue. They either default on the debt or take bolder measures. Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal. The owners cannot sell them, because the secondhand market is overwhelmed. They cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month mooring and maintaining them. And they do not have the thousands of dollars required to properly dispose of them. When Brian A. Lewis of Seattle tried to sell his boat, Jubilee, no one would pay his asking price of $28,500. Mr. Lewis told police investigators that maintaining the boat caused “extreme anxiety,” which led him to him drill a two-inch hole in Jubilee’s hull last March. The boat sank in Puget Sound, and Mr. Lewis informed his insurance company it was an accident. His scheme came undone when the state, seeking to prevent environmental damage, raised Jubilee. Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty last week to insurance fraud. While there are no reliable national statistics on boating fraud, Todd Schwede, an insurance investigator in San Diego, said the number of suspicious cases he was handling had roughly tripled in the last year, to around 70. In many cases, he said, the boater is following this logic: “I am overinsured on this boat. If I make it go away so no one will find it, the insurance company will give me enough to cover the debt and I’ll make something on the deal as well.” Lt. David Dipre, who coordinates Florida’s derelict vessel program, said the handful of owners he had managed to track down were guilty more of negligence than fraud. “They say, ‘I had a dream of sailing around the world, I just never got around to it.’ Then they have some bad times and they leave it to someone else to clean up the mess,” Lieutenant Dipre said. Florida officials say they are moving more aggressively to track down owners and are also starting to unclog the local inlets, harbors, swamps and rivers. The state appropriated funds to remove 118 derelicts this summer, up from only a handful last year. In South Carolina, four government investigators started canvassing the state’s waterways in January. They quickly identified 150 likely derelicts. “There are a lot more than we thought there would be,” said Lt. Robert McCullough of the state Department of Natural Resources. “There were a few boats that have always been there, and now all of a sudden they’ve added up and added up.” In January, it became illegal in South Carolina to abandon a boat on a public waterway. Violators can be fined $5,000 and jailed for 30 days. “We never needed a law before,” said Gary Santos, a Mount Pleasant councilman. Not that having one is necessarily proving much of a deterrent. Mr. Santos took a spin on a friend’s motorboat the other day and saw a newly abandoned catamaran within seconds of leaving the dock. It had been run aground at an awkward angle, a weathered “for sale” sign testament to the owner’s inability to get rid of it. Local watermen said the boat had abruptly appeared one day in February, and had not been touched in weeks. “Boats are luxuries,” Mr. Santos said. “This isn’t a good moment for luxuries.” South Carolina’s unemployment rate in February was 11 percent, the second-highest in the nation after Michigan. The online classified ad service Craigslist in Charleston, S.C., features dozens of boats for sale every day. “Wife’s employer is downsizing and we are forced to do the same,” read one post. Mr. Santos, 50, grew up in this well-to-do community on the northern side of Charleston harbor. In his youth, he never saw an abandoned boat. As recently as a decade ago, they were no more than an occasional nuisance. Now they are proliferating. Crab Bank, a protected bird rookery in the harbor within sight of Fort Sumter, is home to a dozen derelicts — two sunken, two beached, the other eight still afloat. They range from houseboats to a two-masted sailboat. State officers have placed placards on each, warning that the vessels have been identified as abandoned. Thanks to a local ordinance sponsored by Mr. Santos, the Mount Pleasant police are also tagging the vessels. After 45 days, they will be removed and junked. California is taking a more benign approach, with plans in the legislature for a boater bailout of sorts. Under a law proposed by state Representative Ted Lieu, owners of marginally seaworthy vessels would be encouraged to surrender them to the state. If they abandoned the boat anyway, the bill would double the fine to $1,000. The legislature passed the bill last year, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned it and many others unsigned during the state’s long struggle to settle on a budget. The measure has been reintroduced this year, and unanimously passed the assembly’s transportation committee last week and could become law as early as this summer. Kevin Ketchum, general manager of California Yacht Marina, which operates six marinas in the state, predicted that the law “is going to be phenomenally popular. It will help honorable people who want to do the right thing but can’t afford it.” The cost of the disposals would be paid by existing fees on boat owners. Representative Lieu said that “in a perfect world” the fear of punishment would be enough to get people to stop abandoning their boats. “But to actually enforce that would take way more governmental resources than we have,” he said. |
my next dream boat...
"mmc" wrote in message
g.com... is a Freedom 33 Cat Ketch. I like the semi-traditional look, the uniqueness (is this a word?) of the cat ketch rig in a (more) modern yachts and, from following the Yahoo owners group, the dedication displayed by the owners for these boats. I like the 36 too but not real fond of the big bump out in the cockpit created by the aft cabin. We (the family and I) enjoy a large(r) cockpit and this arrangement wouldn't work for us. I'd like a shoal draft/swing keel but like the openess of the cabin with the fixed keel (swing keel version has the trunk bisecting the salon), but can't have everything so probably settle for the fixed keel. I've seen other more recent cat ketches but most look like most other modern boats that just happen to have this rig, almost as an after thought while the Freedoms maintain some of the "chunkyness" of the old cat boats. Not looking for screaming speed or to wow the dock walkers, but more the comfort, design, ease of use and style of these boats. Just trying to start a boat/cruising related discussion. What do you guys think? Not sure if you're interested, but I saw this on a newsletter I get. FOR SALE Freedom 35 'Solo' (12/2008) Built by Tillotson & Pearson, USA, 1983. Major refit 1999/2000. Carbon Fibre freestanding masts with fully battened ketch rig. Ideal Bluewater cruiser with the advantage of a doghouse for UK type weather. New sails, new engine 2006. Ashore Plymouth UK. £44,000. Full details, photos at www.petrockstowe.co.uk/solo -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
my next dream boat...
"Don White" wrote in message ... "mmc" wrote in message g.com... is a Freedom 33 Cat Ketch. I like the semi-traditional look, the uniqueness (is this a word?) of the cat ketch rig in a (more) modern yachts and, from following the Yahoo owners group, the dedication displayed by the owners for these boats. I like the 36 too but not real fond of the big bump out in the cockpit created by the aft cabin. We (the family and I) enjoy a large(r) cockpit and this arrangement wouldn't work for us. I'd like a shoal draft/swing keel but like the openess of the cabin with the fixed keel (swing keel version has the trunk bisecting the salon), but can't have everything so probably settle for the fixed keel. I've seen other more recent cat ketches but most look like most other modern boats that just happen to have this rig, almost as an after thought while the Freedoms maintain some of the "chunkyness" of the old cat boats. Not looking for screaming speed or to wow the dock walkers, but more the comfort, design, ease of use and style of these boats. Just trying to start a boat/cruising related discussion. What do you guys think? The advantage of the swing keel in a smaller sailboat, besides sailing in shallow waters, is the ability to easily launch/retrieve & tow. With a 36 boat, I'd be more concerned about stability in heavy seas... so I'd stick with a fixed keel. I'd be sailing the boat in the skinny waters of the Indian River Lagoon and the Keys. Occasional trip to the Bahamas which would be planned around the weather so a shallower (3'6" w/board up) draft would be better for me. I rather be gunkholing! The 33 has an 11'6 beam and 7 ton displacement so I wouldn't be treating it like a trailer sailor ;-) |
my next dream boat...
"Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:05:39 -0700, Mark Borgerson wrote: Until you get into the classes like the America's Cup yachts, with their tilting keels, doesn't a fixed keel improve windward performance? The problem arises when you sail in an area with a lot of shallow water. The swing keel is a compromise but it will give you better performance than a shallow fixed keel. Agreed. Shallow water is the reason for my preference of a swing keel. I'm just off the Indian River Lagoon, where (as I'm sure you know), except for a few spots in our area, sailing is pretty much restricted to the ICW channel for boats with more than 4' draft. These open areas are mostly deep enough but I've done my share of sandbar hopping on a friends 27 Hunter with 4'2" draft. There's the ocean too, but we're about 5 boat hours from the inlet which doesn't allow for "just hop on the boat" outings. |
my next dream boat...
"cavelamb" wrote in message m... Here is a sad story! Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/bu...s.html?_r=1&hp Add the pressures of home owners groups to outlaw anchorages to the expense of dock space and we're going to see a much bigger problem in FL that we have now. |
my next dream boat...
"Capt. JG" wrote in message easolutions... "mmc" wrote in message g.com... is a Freedom 33 Cat Ketch. I like the semi-traditional look, the uniqueness (is this a word?) of the cat ketch rig in a (more) modern yachts and, from following the Yahoo owners group, the dedication displayed by the owners for these boats. I like the 36 too but not real fond of the big bump out in the cockpit created by the aft cabin. We (the family and I) enjoy a large(r) cockpit and this arrangement wouldn't work for us. I'd like a shoal draft/swing keel but like the openess of the cabin with the fixed keel (swing keel version has the trunk bisecting the salon), but can't have everything so probably settle for the fixed keel. I've seen other more recent cat ketches but most look like most other modern boats that just happen to have this rig, almost as an after thought while the Freedoms maintain some of the "chunkyness" of the old cat boats. Not looking for screaming speed or to wow the dock walkers, but more the comfort, design, ease of use and style of these boats. Just trying to start a boat/cruising related discussion. What do you guys think? Not sure if you're interested, but I saw this on a newsletter I get. FOR SALE Freedom 35 'Solo' (12/2008) Built by Tillotson & Pearson, USA, 1983. Major refit 1999/2000. Carbon Fibre freestanding masts with fully battened ketch rig. Ideal Bluewater cruiser with the advantage of a doghouse for UK type weather. New sails, new engine 2006. Ashore Plymouth UK. £44,000. Full details, photos at www.petrockstowe.co.uk/solo -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com What the heck, while I'm dreaming of buying one, might as well as dream about sailing it back from the UK! Maybe smuggle some good beer back too....... |
my next dream boat...
"Larry" wrote in message ... "mmc" wrote in news:49d230de$0$4893 : What do you guys think? http://www.caraibe-yachts.com/en/sec...t=Amel+54+2007 Isn't it amazing what 3/4 of a million Euros can buy? Holy cow Batman! If I had that kind of scratch, I'd buy the Freedom 33 and hide the other $700k+ under my mattress! The lump probably wouldn't do for my back an favors. |
my next dream boat...
"Larry" wrote in message ... "mmc" wrote in news:49d230de$0$4893 : What do you guys think? Isn't it fun to dream? I sail on an old Sharki 41 out of Charleston. I've had the pleasure of sailing on the Amel 54 they make now. http://www.amel.fr/ put your mouse on "La Gamme" and click Amel 54, the only one they make, now. Click the Video, sit back and enjoy...... It IS fun to dream......(c;] You can go to France and watch them make yours......(sigh) We met a couple from the RAF Yacht Club that had a Amel. What a beautiful boat. |
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