Window dressing.

The Ides of March.
Sun on Sunset sets West. Surprise, surprise!
A few times when I can catch it from the office before it is to late, until tomorrow.
Sun is down, life goes on.

Boat Design of the Month. March 2016.

Regularly or not, I will introduce boats that have been very influential in my life. Having studied 55 years of yacht designs since a very young age as you can imagine, I have been all over the place and like to these days to R& D's the source and for sure coming with my own, very own interpretation and hopefully improvements that I have learnt, it seems for ever as a Professional Yacht Designer. The first one is Oceanus.
If you do not know this sailboat, you have not dug out one of the Masters; William Garden, who passed away a few years ago. A long life, a multitude of projects built in all kind of shapes and forms,
in all forms of material and with a flair attained over a life time.
Garden designed Oceanus for his own use, designed on the floor of a house he was building on his private island. The drawings developed into a  sailboat 60' long x 12' in the beam x 6'-8" draft and with a sail area of 1000 sq/ft.

Below is what I believe the first write-up about the boat inside the 1955 Yachting Magazine, with well defined intention, method and execution.

And there is a Start.

Dominique's "Office" for a week. Chef/ shore support and logistics. Team Proteus.

The RORC 600-2016.

I have to do this race!

Good reading. Chas from Tas.

 

It is snowy, it is cold. Time to read a good book about Charles Blundell; the ultimate B.N. Not politically correct and funny as hell. I laughed a lot devouring the sea salted narrative. 

There is even one page or two about one of my own designs and a few pictures including on the back cover.

2015 Belle Ile, Refit (Adele)

33' Steel M.B.C.C (Modern British Channel Cutter); built in Switzerland, owned by a German and based in the Canaries.

I know, a steel boat is not the first choice for many owners; but when you want something solid, strong and in this case with character, this small boat is hard to ignore. The above video depicts a recent refit after 20 years. First with the exterior then moving into the interior.

Junk Rig to ELIA.

What is it? 

- JR stands for junk rig. Elia is my tentative to adopt a modern approach to this most ancient system of sails.

- But first a little side story.

- This is about my experience or lack of it with the rig. A friend of mine owns a Junk, yes a real one. Born in Hong Kong, I do not know how she ended up here. A 3 masted vessel with a typical Chinese Junk set up. The first mast right on the bow and inclined forward followed by the 2 other spars. Invited aboard, the two of us went out for an afternoon sail. The breeze was light and soon we stopped the engine to be on our way. It was not long before we had to tack in order to avoid running into Fort Adams. This is when the owner told me that we have to start the engine, otherwise the boat will not come over. Surprised I said, "Why not?" Simply, she won't come about with this light breeze was his answer. I asked him to let me try. So, we did and the tack was achieved in a smooth way with no problem. The end of the story is that for the rest of the time we could not change course without having to start the engine. Beginner's luck! yes, but leaving me with a poor impression for the whole lot.

Hot Rum Series 2015

     San Diego Yacht Club.
The Hot Rum series consists of 3 races in November and December.   

140 boats entered the racing.

Good results for the Tanton 73'

Sail number 22208. Name Velos. Owner Kjeld Hestehave . Class 1. Rating 1.049.

Race 1. Fleet 2/ Overall 20. Race 2. Fleet 4/ Overall 9. Race 3. Fleet 6/ Overall 44. Place 13 Overall.