Cruising Anarchy
by Rick - March 18, 2008 03:49 PM
I'm having the time of my life! I've always admired Robert Perry and now I have the opportunity to work with him.
A revolutionary (evolutionary?) event is taking place on the Sailing Anarchy website. Arguably one of the best sailing sites on the net...as long as you've got the cojones for it! I've been a member since '05, though until recently I haven't been around much. I just happened by one day and saw the work Bob and several of the regulars were doing on a concept for a 'performance cruiser' (Bob is credited with that phrase). The difference with this boat is that early on it was mandated to have a more traditional look than the current crop of clorox bottles, but not so classic as to be a Herreshoff replica.
I started playing around with the lines Bob developed and put together a 3D model of this boat to help people realize it. Besides Bob, there are several other guys experienced in the industry who have been participating in this including builders and suppliers. It's all very exciting. Bob has coined us the WLYDO (World's Largest Yacht Design Office). It is a virtual 'office' that is world wide with guys in the U.S, Canada, Australia, and Europe. Contrary to what is typical at Sailing Anarchy, this group is gaining a reputation as a bunch of civil, low key pansies! It's been great and I can't help feeling like I've been a very small part of Sailboat History.
To see more, head over to Sailing Anarchy and read the writeup Bob has put on the front page.
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What have I been up to?
by Rick - January 7, 2008 10:45 PM
For the very few of you who come across my site once in a while you will notice not much has happened.
This summer I started getting sidetracked by a new hobby: Porsche. I picked up a 1988 944 Turbo (951) and I've been significantly obsessed by it. Now that winter is here, like Soñadora, it too is in hibernation. Though occassionally I do get it out on decent days. Add to that all the family activities and it really seems that sailing is just a distant memory. It's kind of sad, really.Comments (0) | Trackback (0)
Merry Christms!
by Rick - December 23, 2007 02:13 PM
Happy Holiday Season to you and yours from the crew of Soñadora.
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Winding down
by Rick - September 12, 2007 08:22 AM
The leaves are changing and I'm supposed to be in awe of how pretty it is. All it means to me is the end of the sailing season 
. Of course, one thing it means is that I will have time to tend to the website. Seems to happen this way every year: Work on website for 4-5 months, work on sailboat for 4-5 months.
If anyone has been following, you've probably noted that not much has gone on with the site since spring. The Boat Lettering stuff is sort of in a state of limbo and I have not updated the Baba site in some time. That will all change once the boat is out of the water and I'm back to using the weekends for this stuff.
We still have a few weekends of sailing (up to 5 if the weather holds). Soñadora comes out on the 19th. One of those weekends will be mast-down weekend. We have been taking the mast down and puting it up ourselves since bringing the boat to Minnesota. It is a bit of a pain, but the rewards far outweigh the pain. It saves us a little money, though that's not the point. Mostly, it gives me a chance to feel like I'm taking care of our Fourth Child and gives me a chance to get a close look at what's going on with the stick. I usually have a couple of buddies helping and the round of beers afterwards is a nice way to wrap it up. Mostly though, it's a chance to experience a side of boat maintenance that a lot of sail boaters don't have. I've read stories of people who are overly intimidated by this activity. I've been doing it enough now that I'm perfectly comfortable with it.
This year I'm going to bring along a camera and take some pictures/video of the process so stay tuned!
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What a day of sailing!
by Rick - July 8, 2007 05:17 PM
Temps were in the mid 90s, but the stiff breeze provided a little relieve. Winds were 15-20 SSW which is ideal on Lake Pepin. Brian and Suzy, my crew for the day, showed up around 11 a.m. and we were off. Winds were a bit light at first but after a half hour or so they picked up and blasted us down the lake.
Before leaving the dock, I took extra care to make sure everything was stowed well. With the forecast winds, I new there was potential for this to be a boisterous sail. With no kids on board (Minna and the girls are in Finland), I was preparing to push the old girl and see how she would take it.
It was just plain awesome!
Suzy has a sister who is the captain of Adirondak in NYC. She has spent several summers there as crew and was somewhat familiar with sailing. Both her and Brian made great crew and we all had a blast with Soñadora burying her gun'ls in the water and flying along with a bone in her teeth. We heeled consistently over 20 degrees and at times made it well past 30. I've never driven her that hard before and she took it all in stride. I'm not a proponent of heeling like that on a typical sail. We could have done without the yankee, but it sure was great seeing how she handled all her sails up on a beam reach like that.
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First Sail
by Rick - May 31, 2007 08:33 AM
Last year, Memorial weekend was crap for weather. This year made up for it big time! The hardest part was the 2 hours of packing up Saturday morning. Add to that the pre-teen resistance to anything that requires work and it was a bit of a challenge just getting out the door.
At the boat, we spent most of the day cleaning up. I use the term 'we' lightly here as it was actually Minna who did most of the cleaning up. I spent about an hour wiring up the mast correctly for the first time in 6 years. Celia kept up with her busy self and entertained us all. The winds were crazy and we didn't regret missing a day of sailing. It blew well over 15 with regular gusts over 20. It would have been too much for our warm-up sail. It blew all night and rocked us in the slip while halyards banged all around us (I'm not a fan of that sound).
Sunday was great! The winds had calmed down a bit and stayed in the 15 knot range with a few puffs near 20. The knot meter lied to us with the occassional display of 8kts (theoretically impossible). The wind was WNW which means flat water on Lake Pepin. We sailed main and staysail down the lake, hoisting the yankee for the return trip. More than once we heeled to 30 degrees. The girls were on the downwind side, dragging their feet through the still ice-cold water and squealing. The Kyllanens were with us making for good company to add to the mix.
A major wind shift south came on Monday. When the wind is from the south, that makes for some serious chop on the 30 foot deep lake. Winds were near 20kts The forcast was for rain, but it missed us. We went out for an hour and bounced around a bit with some 4 footers crashing over the bow. It would have been fun if not for the anxiety over the little ones' comfort (though they seemed to be having a ball).
This weekend was definitely a winner!
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The Crew
by Rick - March 11, 2007 02:35 PM
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