Nice video robcrusoe, looks like you guys are having fun on a winter day.
But what's up with your mates ?
They seem to keep snagging their rigging on MollyG's bowsprit.
Cheers !

Yes! Seems they think I'm the villain.

But it is simply a case of speed kills/tangles, along with distance deception.

My wife sums it up as "Boys will be boys"

Hi Everybody,
I want to pass along this heart warming report from Leo in Galicia Spain who says:
"The Flyer "Kotori" has been sailing very well for the last month and a half in Atlantic waters in the Rias Gallegas and is allowing us to gradually learn how to sail."
Now we all know that most of us model boat builders are "gentlemen of advanced age" (old guys) but happily not all !
Leo is a young fellow, 13 years old, who tackled the 'Flyer' build with the help of his father Pablo. This was their first model boat project and they did a fine job of it. I have corresponded with Leo several times during the build and his enthusiasm has been most refreshing.
Enjoy these photos of the Cutter "Kotori", and (my advice) hang out with youngsters !
Cheers for Leo & Pablo

Some really great action pics there, well done to them both!

Currently unable to maiden CB's JUNO due to a lockdown (only our 6th )

But, better weather ahead, in all respects , hopefully.

Well done and congrats on the maiden, l like the little bottles

Cheers

Bill

I wish to share a recent report from Peter in Warminster, Wiltshire, UK.
He has been enjoying schooner sailing together with his clubmate at the "Warminster Model Boat Club".
They built their schooners "Osprey" & "Margaret Irene" based on the 'Irene' design, reduced to 90 percent size.
Big thanks Peter for photos and story !

Another happy note from Walter in Italy who just launched the Cutter "Roberta" which he built to 'Flyer' plans.
Big thanks Walter for the report & photos.

Beautiful boats, great pictures.
Well done all!

Well, yesterday the Karen E. was put to the acid test.
Very windy!
The first adjustment was to remove the topsail, obviously, there was too much wind for it.

The wind seemed to be increasing as the day wore on, whitecaps were appearing, but most of the time it was controllable although there were times when only a jibe would bring it about.
I did learn to time the rudder, main and foresail changes a little better to facilitate a tack.

The main problem was the floating weeds getting entangled on the rudder and keel.
Made it really hard to steer or tack once those attached themselves.

Eventually, it got driven ashore (near me, fortunately), and grounded about 4 feet from shore, had to wade in and rescue it. Glad my mast was secured enough to sort of pick it up since my "putter inner" and "taker outer" tool was back on the dock and would be of no use here anyway.

While blasted up against the shore in shallow water she leaned over hard and quite a bit of water was shipped. After I got home I use a turkey baster to remove as much as was possible, left all the hatches open and put a small fan above one hatch to draw out the moisture.
Made me glad I thoroughly sealed up the inside wood with paint etc.

Never thought to remove any other topsails/foresails while sailing, not sure what the results would have been.
I'll try that experiment again after weed season has gone away with the fall winds.
No permanent damage was done other than some scrapes in the keel paint (rocky bottom in the canal).

An exciting day though!
She certainly can move along in a blow!

Looks like you were sailing at the top end of its envelope with whitecaps. Most of my boats get water in them from time to time but as the inner surfaces are well-sealed and have multiple coats of enamel I just soak up the excess and leave it at that. I only have the hatch covers in place during sailing, I find those covers are easily marred if not handled and stored correctly, something I'm about to assist with. Being in lockdown, yet again (6th time) I'm going to cut and sew up some suitable soft linen pouches for each cover. Will also make it easy to locate when that boat has not been sailed for a while.
Crossbones is champing at the bit waiting to be allowed on the water again to try Juno out under conditions as you describe. My Nina is also keen to push it.

Can you tell us how the boat was behaving when you decided the topsails had to be removed? Was it impossible to tack? Heeling over greatly and making little way? Deck all awash?
From your local weather observation (I get my online) any idea of the wind speed?

Anyway, thanks for the overview of how it all went. Photos, and video, are great but the opinion from the skipper is invaluable.

Originally Posted by robcrusoe

Looks like you were sailing at the top end of its envelope with whitecaps. Most of my boats get water in them from time to time but as the inner surfaces are well-sealed and have multiple coats of enamel I just soak up the excess and leave it at that. I only have the hatch covers in place during sailing, I find those covers are easily marred if not handled and stored correctly, something I'm about to assist with. Being in lockdown, yet again (6th time) I'm going to cut and sew up some suitable soft linen pouches for each cover. Will also make it easy to locate when that boat has not been sailed for a while.
Crossbones is champing at the bit waiting to be allowed on the water again to try Juno out under conditions as you describe. My Nina is also keen to push it.

Can you tell us how the boat was behaving when you decided the topsails had to be removed? Was it impossible to tack? Heeling over greatly and making little way? Deck all awash?
From your local weather observation (I get my online) any idea of the wind speed?

Anyway, thanks for the overview of how it all went. Photos, and video, are great but the opinion from the skipper is invaluable.

I believe you are right, that was the very limit for wind speed for that boat!
I think it was about 17 kph with gusts to 30, not sure about that because I've sailed my Soling 1M in those kinds of winds and it didn't seem that windy then.
Maybe the wind app on my cell phone was off that day.

When I launched it with the topsail on, it practically laid down flat and I could barely bring it around to the dock again.
After I removed the topsail it was way more manageable, but still, quite often a jibe was the only way to turn it.
I quickly learned not to get too close to anything I didn't want to hit, like a dock or the shoreline, as jibing takes up quite a bit of real estate sometimes.

ESPECIALLY if you are dragging about 20 lbs of weeds along!!! Not too nimble then.

I carry one of those arm extension gadgets for reaching things down behind a cupboard or something that they sell (mostly for us old geeks) so we can reach stuff.
It comes in handy for reaching under the boat and dragging the weeds off and throwing them onto the dock so they don't reattach themselves later on.
Easier than lifting the boat out of the water each time.

I checked inside while I was removing the topsail and found no water anywhere, so I don't think it actually shipped any water while sailing.
She was lying down flat briefly with that sail on and shipped no water.
I could be wrong there because I had no occasion to check below again while it was sailing the rest of the day/session, so maybe some of the water got in then.
Time will tell.

I am of the opinion that all the water got in while she was laying on her gunwales on the shoreline while the wind kept her pinned down before I decided "Oh to hell with it", and waded into the water in fully dressed to retrieve her. ( About knee deep)
Not much choice there, if I hadn't waded in, she'd still be there.

The good part I guess was that because it is a man-made canal, the shoreline bottom is lined with large pieces of crushed rock so there was no mud or squishy bottom to contend with, a good firm footing. Those same rocks played hob with the paint on the keel, but that is easily fixed.

The bad part is although the canal gets deep quite fast near the shoreline, about ten feet out, (it's about 30 feet deep in the middle according to the scuba divers who frequent the place) there is no place right along the shoreline where the water is deep enough to launch a sailboat without a dock. So while I have about 7 kilometres of the canal to sail in, I'm limited to areas where there are docks.
Early in the spring before the weeds get started is good sailing and in the fall after the weeds die off and disappear is good too.
Right now they are dying off and floating about.
Another day, another adventure!

Thanks again for a very descriptive and interesting report.

That 17 -30 seems to me to be spot on. The schooners and even a sloop with topsail (to a lesser degree) can easily handle it although tacking becomes more of a carefully executed procedure, but the Cutter is going to favour moderate 14 -20 kph conditions, I suspect.

In our main sailing venue (these days only plastics using git) they lined the shorelines with sizable small rounded aggregate to minimize wave erosion of the clay base edges. As a result, we can only launch these large crafts in one spot, and only when the lake level is high. As it relies on surrounding suburban stormwater it can get so low as to need wading. Those rocks are deadly on bulbs, but as you say, not hard to keep looking OK.

From what you've confirmed, and I've wondered about, I'm going to make another keel and use a couple of the bulb halves I already have spare but attached in a fixed but temporary manner so I can test out various bulb weights under these brisker conditions. Be easier to explain how with photos. Very interesting.

I have a thick telescopic pole that was originally used for painting up high. It extends to about 3 metres which could be used to push your boat out while partially on its side until it can float free. I do that with this pole not extended and it is almost as easy to recover the boat. That the bulb slides along the bottom, you say and does for us on a non-rocky lake bed, it works well.
Here�s an American example https://tinyurl.com/f6nxtxh7

I've observed the main sheet fraying topside.
The plan show wire loops (or in my case eye screws attached at two forward points, one at the first former and one at the 2nd where it angles back up to the copper pipe protruding from the deck.
I have noticed a lot of fraying going on with the sheet where it exits the deck. I believe that this won't last very long at this rate.
I have been toying with the idea of replacing all the (working) blocks with "real" blocks that have sheaves or pulleys inside them to cut the friction because the foresail sheets don't always work too smoothly, especially in light winds.
The only blocks that actually need sheaves are the 6 blocks that the foresail lines run through on the rail and deck, and the double blocks attached to the quarter bits.
It wouldn't hurt to have sheaves in the two blocks that hang from the main boom also.
All the rest are, as Gary said "Dummy blocks" and don't have any lines sliding back and forth through them while sailing, only while rigging, and my boat stays rigged almost all the time even when I put it in the car trunk.

In retrospect, I would advise anyone building this boat to use real blocks under the deck at least as these extreme angles with the fixed points of friction are hard on lines.
With tied-on blocks that can swivel and sheaves within, the friction would be minimalized as much as possible.
It is not going to be a fun job replacing the main sheet with the deck glued on and sealed that's for sure. Don't want to do that more than once.
While I'm at it I'm going to replace those below deck friction points with real working blocks.

Not quite sure how I am going to access these areas yet, have to figure out how to tie the new blocks to the existing screw eyes. Sort of like inserting a folded-up ship into a glass bottle and rigging it afterwards.
Going to take a lot of tweezer and needle-nose players and long shish kabob glue sticks.
And cussing!
Also, have to pick and poke away at the glued knots below deck where the main sheet is attached to the winch line, so can attach a new main sheet there, without damaging the winch line. I like a challenge!!
Maybe switch to a Dyneema 100 lb fishing line there as I suspect it will be tougher than the braided line, just for that one sheet.
Fun EH!

I have ordered some small ball bearing sheaves/pulleys online and though they may be a little large for on deck blocks, below deck they will be invisible.
We'll see how that works out.
If that doesn't work out, I'll buy two commercially made swivel blocks online from somewhere, a bit pricey but a permanent solution.
I plan to sail this beautiful boat a lot and precluding as many problems as possible.

Going sailing today in fairly windy conditions, so I'll try removing a few topsails and see how that works out. I'll report back on that later.

Seems you are going to a lot of trouble for something that is not common. Of particular concern is why you are seeing this with presumably low sea miles of the clock.
None of our local boats show any sign of fraying whatsoever, and they get a fair share of hard sailing. The only time we replace the cordage is in a change of rigging or it becomes faded (to white)
First up, Dyneema is a must. If for no other reason than it was formulated and made to take the rigours of fishing, something that is ways harder on line than a bear boat. The best brand, by far, is the Saratoga 8 ply brand. Grey is the best colour, although black looks good too.


My boats use a lot of ring eyes, in particular for redirecting the sheet from the winch line to the fairlead and, given the job it performs, does it very well.
someone said he uses a simple bowsie to attach a sheet to the winch-line. That intrigued me as it seems practical, but to date, I haven't tried it. It will require the right kind of bowsie to make it has, yet, adjustable.
If there is one thing I learned (the usual hard way) is to minimise any additional installation below deck as it is likely to become a difficult job to reposition or replace. And if you must, think about this before committing. In particular, internally fitted pulleys.
I would be interested to know what type of cord you are using and maybe a photo, up close, of the actual wear you mention.

Originally Posted by robcrusoe

Seems you are going to a lot of trouble for something that is not common. Of particular concern is wh y you ar seeing this with presumably low sea miles of the clock.
None of our local boats show any sign of fraying whatsoever, and they get a fair share of hard sailing. The only time we replace the cordage is in a change of rigging or it becomes faded (to white)
First up, Dyneema is a must. If for no other reason than it was formulated and made to take the rigours of fishing, something that is ways harder on line than a bear boat. Best brand, by far, is the Saratoga 8 ply brand. Grey is the best colour, although black looks good too.


My boats use a lot of ring eyes , in particular for redirecting sheet from the winch line to the fairlead and, given the job it performs, does it very well.
someone said he uses a simple bowsie to attach a sheet to the winchline. That intrigued me as it seems practical, but to date, I haven't tried it. It will require the right kind of bowsie to make it has, yet, adjustable.
If there is one thing I learned (the usual hard way) is to minimise any additional installation below deck as it is likely to become a difficult job to reposition or replace. And if you must, think about this before committing. In particular, internally fitted pulleys.
I would be interested to know what type of cord you are using and maybe a photo, up close, of the actual wear you mention.

Hi RC,
I am using the line recommended by Gary, #18 braided nylon line.
I will supply a picture here, so you can see the problem.

I have on hand some Spectra Extreme braid 100lb that I have used for years on all my "plastic" sailboats and it seems to stand up well.
No way to tell how many strands it is though. Spectra and Dyneema are the same product with different manufacturers' brand names I understand, A PE product. (See pics)
I suppose I could use this although it seems a bit skinny. Would the 8 strand stuff be "fatter" ?
This spectra is tough stuff, it seems to wear out parts of my boats before it itself wears out, you could probably saw wood with this stuff.
I don't seem to be able to find any Saratoga stuff online but there are many Chinese brands available.
Would they be a good bet? Hercules brand is made in the US and is priced right, I may go for that, awaiting your valuable advice.