Can anyone guess, what this is about? From the title? I expect old salts can. Here's a hint. It is a majestic and classic sailboat. Well, maybe not as classic as
Roar Ege, but hey... Classy. Sails like a dream, looks like a dream, and this particular one is famous for having a certain kind of motive in the spinnaker. It looks like this:
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| Clay Ellison at the tiller; Dacron sails... |
Yes, I have photos of the spinnaker, but first: Guess! I was really at Tradewinds to check the winds and currents for the Fizz Cup course, but something extraordinary caught my attention. Well, extraordinary and familiar. It is allways fun to see a faithfull replica of a
real boat, but if it is a boat or class you've felt as u sailed it, it is even more special.
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| Heading north, old style sails |
I immediately called the builder and asked for a demo, and naturally - he was happy to pop by and show off the wonderful boat. As you can see, it comes with loads and loads of pretty details. Big and small. Zoom in and have a look at the shrouds and the halyards. Just lovely. The sails come in two flavours. Dacron sails as depicted on photo one, and old style sails, which we went with for most of the afternoon. Beautiful. Now, lets see that spin.
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| Get it now? |
Not yet. Here's the hull and the sailno. If you consider yourself an old salt, this is your last chance to guess. While you think about it, I can tell you that Clay Ellison, the builder and owner, isn't related to
Larry "All Candy Diet" Ellison. Just in case you wondered... and so without further ado, here she is... "fully dressed":
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| Let's see that spin... |
Huh! It is a beautiful replica of the real thing. It doesn't get much better. Absolutely Fantastic boats, and they race them still. Right off my home coast. Look at that mast, and tell me how your stomach feels about climbing up there. No? I'd never wanna go there.
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| Just me enjoying the ride. |
Still not guessed it? Long, sleek, extremely classy 12m R-boat designed and built by William Fife III around 1936. These are the last hints, so if you haven't got it right by now, you're a landlubber. Scroll down to learn it is of course
the Vanity, which you can see
here.
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| Back at Tradewinds... |
So, here we are after a fantastic sail in the waters south of Tradewinds YC. From a sailors perspective there are tiny adjustments to be made, but we are in the perfectionist category here. As a cruiser it is absolutely fabulous, and I suppose it will turn heads and also pick up girls anywhere you sail. I know it picked me up. Thanx for a wonderful afternoon sail, Clay.
PS: If you're a sucker for classics, u might like the
J-class too.
Now that's a good looking boat - and having followed that link see she's a fast one too.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering whether the crew found that rather distinctive spinnaker distracting but maybe as they saw it a lot during training it distracted other crews more! Sort of their secret weapon.
I think they cheated with the angles to make it look like she's overtaking that trimaran, but yes... built to race, and built to distract ;-)
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