Editorial
Chairman's Notes
Advertisements
First Meet
East Coast Rally Report
New Members 1982
Letters
Chairman - Harry Faulkner
Editors - Rony & Elise Buque
Thank you for your membership subscriptions received during the year, and please fill in and send your 1983 subscription form (see back of Newsletter) together with your cheques, postal orders, etc. We are still managing to keep our heads above water, thanks to your continued support. We are also pleased to report that several new members have joined, mostly due to Ted and Susie Loder’s efforts at the beginning of the year and reported upon in the Spring Newsletter. Florida seems to be the place if you want to meet other Iroquois Owners! Details of our new members later on in the Newsletter... Also inside are reports of the two Summer Meets - our thanks to the contributors - and next year, why not go along instead of just reading about it?
The 1982 season has been mixed, hasn’t it? But at least there were more pleasant periods than last year. We enjoyed two lotus eating 9-day trips in little wind but much sunshine, only around the Solent and Poole, but it was great fun and very relaxing, which can’t do anyone any harm! Our fortnight to the Channel Islands saw us arriving in Braye Harbour, Alderney, in a NE 7, with the foghorn going 4 times a minute (I almost wrote "braying", sorry!) waves 3-4ft high in the anchorage, and a 24-hour long thunderstorm. Still, we managed to get some sleep on board, and did not have to book in at the hotel, as did some of the monohull owners!
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND SUPPER: This has been booked once more at the Cruising Association Library, and we have been able to hold the price to £5 per person. This year we have reverted to the first Friday in the New Year, i.e. Friday 7th January 1983. This is also the first Friday of the Earls Court Boat Show, and there will be more time to recover over the Saturday, if necessary (or visit the Boat Show of course).
This year we have been fortunate that Dr Jean Segalen has volunteered to come over from France with his slides of a long cruise along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts on board his Iroquois (No.272) "EROS". Dr Segalen is the author of the "Guide Pratique: Espagne Portugal" published by "éditions du Pen Duick" and has kindly presented the Association with a copy. If anyone can read French and is planning to go to the Mediterranean/Iberian coasts, the copy which he has kindly donated to the Association can be borrowed.
PLEASE FILL IN YOUR BOOKING FORM, AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT THE AGM!
A bit of a non-season 1982, as far as I was concerned, a variety of events and commitments conspiring to cut my sailing down to the least since "Taquamenaw" was launched for the 1971 season. I was even prevented, for the first time, from attending the annual South Coast get-together in early July, having to travel up to Cumbria on the Saturday to prepare for a residential course I was involved with which started on the Sunday. What made it worse was the fact that the conference centre overlooked Bassenthwaite Lake, its surface dotted with white dinghy sails. I don’t even know what kind of weather blessed those who could make it to the South Coast meeting until I read a report in the Newsletter.
Later on in July, on one of the rare sailing occasions, a sail back to Christchurch from Cherbourg produced just about the most varied and unusual wind patterns we have yet experienced. We came out past the East Fort beating into a force 4/5, which gradually strengthened, making us first reef in about 5 ft. of mainsail, then change from the No.1 to the No.2 jib. By this time spray was blowing horizontally off the tops of pretty large waves and from water flowing across the foredeck. This lasted about an hour and a half, then the wind started to abate. Back up through the sail changes, one by one, until after another hour we had the genoa up, and then soon after were totally becalmed.
We’d just about decided to start the motor when a hint of a breeze came from the south-west, quickly developing into a good force 3 and we were skimming along - at least for twenty minutes or so - then flat calm, then a breeze from the north west, calm again, sudden patches of very hot air, like a Turkish bath, then cold air, then no wind at all.
Decided to motor, but after an hour or so the motor seized - a bearing gone. All the rest of that day we struggled with short periods of breeze from all points of the compass, interspersed with long periods of calm, all the time getting too far east. Finally, late that night, our luck changed; a light but steady breeze from the north east allowed us to set Christchurch, and get there just on slack water at high tide and with the wind behind the beam. An incredible bit of luck, as anyone who has ever contemplated sailing through the "Run" into Christchurch with no motor will tell you. No tide to fight, and a free wind all the way to the mooring, and dawn just breaking so we could see our way in.
Returning to "Owners’ Association" matters, although I’ve had no reports from members, I hope the arrangements we made at the last AGM for the collection, safekeeping and dissemination of technical information for owners, following the demise of Sail Craft, has been working well. No doubt those who so kindly took on the job at the last AGM will have their comments and suggestions to make as a result of their first year’s experience. Any further suggestions from members will of course be discussed so if you have any, and can’t get along, please let me, or Rony and Elise, have them beforehand.
Finally, on behalf of all the members as well as myself, very many thanks to Rony and Elise, and to our "Technical Secretaries", Ken Pack, David Asdell and Ted and Susie Loder, for their efforts on all our behalves.
Hope to see you at the AGM in January, and good sailing in 1983.
HARRY FAULKNER
Centreboards and rudder blades made to order
Stainless Steel Pivot Pins, trampolines and fittings supplied
Rigging, fitting out, glassfibre repairs
First Class Workmanship and Fully Experienced : Will Travel
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Tel: Brightlingsea (0206 30) 2854
Mainsail by Team Sails : Spinnaker by Banks (Red, Yellow and Blue) : Condition nearly new : Price £150 each. Apply EDITORS.
The Iroquois Meet at the beginning of July, for me, coincided with Wimbledon - (my two leisure interests are sailing and tennis) - and what a memorable long weekend it turned out to be. I was lucky enough to get a semi-finals ticket for the Centre Court on the Friday before the meet and saw some superb tennis from Billy-Jean and Chris Lloyd, McEnroe and Connors as well as spotting the Princess of Wales, Edward Heath and Lord Carrington amongst the spectators. Later on that night I met up again on the River Hamble with my husband Derek and our friends Jerry and Vivien Withers, who were ‘with us’ for the weekend on our Iroquois ‘Claudia’.
We left for Newtown Creek at 8 am on Saturday morning and called at Port Hamble, our watering hole; and who should be leaving the marina there but Edward Heath in his yacht! Two consecutive days in vastly different areas is an enormous coincidence. We had a very pleasant sail to Newtown Creek and were first to anchor near the entrance at noon. Next to arrive at the Iroquois ball were Rony and Elise in "El Buque" and tied alongside us. During the afternoon six other Iroquois and one other Comanche joined the raft to make nine in all. What an imposing sight!
It was all new to us. We had not met many Iroquois owners in our year of ownership and it was a revelation to meet them and to have the opportunity to nosey-poke on board their boats. And how they differed inside! No two were alike; just like people really. I enjoyed seeing and comparing the spartans and the sybarites, noting how ‘Claudia’ could be improved!
I enjoyed "Happy Hour" on board El Buque where Elise had done a superb spread to complement Rony’s potent potion. There must have been about thirty of us on board at one time but we still stayed afloat! We were pleased to meet another family, the Colliers in "Cherokee" (No.77) who travel almost as far as we do from the North to the south coast to sail. We met "Comanche Krystal" owners Pauline and Roy Butler whose trip through the French canals we had read about in the Iroquois newsheet; and David Smith and friends on "Chiquita" whom we had met a few weeks previously. "Katiki", "Melody of Wight" and "Ganisa" - it was almost too much to take in at one go.
Anyway, around 7.30 pm as the sun was sinking in the west and the sky was assuming a ruddy glow we all grabbed our parcels of food and drink, climbed into our tenders and retired to the beach for our picnic. Another feast was in store as we shared each others goodies and gazed on the antics of a barbeque party, our flotilla of tenders drawn up on the beach like a school of stranded whales, and the setting sun. As its last rays disappeared and the cool night airs descended we all went for a long walk along the beach merrily chatting before returning to our rafted craft for our nightcap beverages and bed.
All too soon the meet was over, and early dawn saw the departure of most back to Poole. We had to wait for the afternoon tide, so joined forces with the remaining boats for a communal lunch on El Buque before saying goodbye. The working jib was hoisted and with a following wind and tide we did a steady nine knots back to the Hamble, enabling Jerry to type his final degree thesis on the navigation table - it was due in on the following day.
Thank you Elise and Rony for organising it and making it so enjoyable, and thank-you to all those we met. It was so engrossing I even forgot to find out who won the Wimbledon titles until we were well on our way home to Formby Merseyside. I look forward to the next meet with great anticipation.
Di Morris,
‘CLAUDIA’, Iroquois No.79
After coming through the Havengore Bridge on time we found to no great suprise that we had a head wind, force 5-6. We always seem to have headwinds when we try to get somewhere, and the eye of the wind was Sheerness, our goal, with ½ hour of favourable tide left we managed to reach the south shore of the Thames and the shallows before the tide really got going against us.
After beating our way to the mouth of the Medway we found this is where the tide was really gushing out and we had to fight hard to get as far as the Swale. From there we had to motor sail in the shallows up to the mouth of Stansgate Creek where we were then able to sail on a reach. All this goes to explain why we were late on station after hoping to get there at 12 noon, it was now 14.00 hours. After imagining lots of Iroquois sailing aimlessly about muttering ‘where is our host’, and worse, we found one lonely Iroquois right up the far end of the creek and I think he was just as relieved to see us as we were to see him, having by now imagined that everybody had gone somewhere else.
This turned out to be Russ and Barbara Dordi in their chocolate brown Iroquois ‘BARU’ No.305 which Russ has spent the last three years fitting out. After being invited to lunch onboard ‘BARU’ at the insistence of Barbara, Frankie and I had the opportunity of admiring the interior of ‘BARU’; after finishing an Iroquois ourselves back in 1973 (SCARPER, No. 180) and finishing our Comanche (BUSTER, No.22) we could appreciate all the hard work and loving care that went into her. I thought she was finished to a high standard with an open plan layout which makes the boat a lot roomier and even two doors into the loo. Russ has just got the linings to do and she will be complete.
Later we were joined by Paul and Jean Smedley in their Mk. l Iroquois ‘ALLEDA’ No.22. It’s a delight to see the Mk.l’s being regularly used and ALLEDA is a beautiful example of an old boat in tiptop condition. Paul and Jean must spend many hours on maintenance but it is worth it, incidentally when Paul got his sail up next day I noted that ‘ALLEDA’ is No.22 the same as our Comanche.
Well that made up the gathering, one of each. I was sorry that Doug and Janet McKay could not make it in ‘KAWA’, but I believe he had to go away on business but I know he would have been there if he could. The evening went quite well with 17 onboard ‘BUSTER’, as 6 of my own Club boats had come along to sample the Havengore Route to the Thames. All were wined and dined and the evening ended with everyone in high spirits, mostly your host.
We woke up next morning to a cloudless sky and the sun beating down which put everybody in a great mood and keen to get underway as we all had deadlines to meet. ‘BARU’ to make her mooring on the tide at Faversham and the rest of us to make the Havengore Bridge at or before high water and as there was no wind we all took to the iron horse to beat the now fast flowing flood. After bidding farewell to ‘BARU’ the remaining 8 boats motored across to the shallows off Southend and turned east for the Havengore having been joined by ‘ALLEDA’ who had a weeks holiday and decided to join us on the short cut through the bridge, everybody made it without incident and all agreed that it was a very enjoyable weekend.
So I would like to end by thanking ‘BARU’ and ‘ALLEDA’ for showing up and making the Meet a success. It would have been nice to have seen a few more boats, but I’m afraid there will be one less next year as yours truly and wife have decided to opt out of the rat race and take ‘BUSTER’ down to the Med and live onboard for a few years and enjoy the sun, so we will send a few lines to the newsletter and let you know how we get on.
So thanks to Rony and Elise for the newsletter and will let them know our forwarding address before we go so we will get our newsletter and keep in touch.
All the best,
Fred and Frankie Boyd,
BUSTER, Comanche #22
Mike and Nancy French, "LE CHAT", Iroquois No. 58, Florida
Jim and Betty Dean, "WAR DANCER", Iroquois No.179, Spain
Paul & Jeannette Berry, "BERRY PATCH", Florida Keys
Ir F H Fentener van Vlissingen, "TWEEBEEN", Apache No.15,
Holland
From Doug Mackay
I was shocked to read of the capsize of Crow Dog in the spring issue of the IOA newsletter. To refer to any manoeuvre with the potential to drown crew as a ‘flip’ seems to me to be so casual as to verge on the irresponsible, particularly as not all the readers of the newsletter are skilled seaman. Capsizes are lethal, should be taken very seriously, and result from poor seamanship. It is bad seamanship to put 6 people at risk carrying full working sail in F8/9 conditions, particularly in a river valley, where heavy gusts can be frequently expected.
As some owners may not have a copy of the excellent little booklet that Reg White, Rod McAlpine-Downie and Mike Ellison put together on sailing the Iroquois, I have had my copy typed by my faithful and hard-working secretary, so that it can be reproduced - hopefully in an upcoming newsletter.
One point that is made in the account of the above capsize is that in a sudden heavy gust they should have borne away. Reg was clear on this point at an IOA AGM a couple of years back. If your boat is hard on the wind, luff up to take the weight off the sails quickly. If broad reaching bear away. Skippers must decide for themselves but my personal experience confirms Reg’s advice.
There are some other points in the write-up by the Loders that deserve comment.
There are several other points I’d like to bring to the attention of other owners.
Reliable Plywood Company Limited
Progress Works
Warburton Street
LONDON E8
To get a board into its slot you cannot put a heavy layer of GRP on it but you can and should clad the first 3" of the leading edge and the tip with at least 2 layers of medium CSM. Boards should be withdrawn at least every 2 years, checked, repaired, anti-fouled and revarnished above the anti-foul line. Anti-fouling should be done annually when the craft is on blocks out of the water, by lowering the boards on their gear and covering the visible surface only.
The recommended strengthening of the ends of the leeboard slots is a sensible precaution. It only took me one tide to disc down the area, apply 6 pieces of CSM and woven rovings to each end as specified and reopen the slot once the GRP had gone off. Total cost about £10.00 and result more confidence in ability of boat to take punishment.
We used to sail as most multihull books recommend with only the windward leeboard down, to reduce the tripping moment. But Fred Boyd who used to sail an Iroquois and did so fast and well, told me he always sails with both boards half down to reduce work for crew and strain on the hulls. We have done that for 3 seasons now and strongly recommend it.
Good sailing to you and all Sail Craft owners, and many thanks for keeping the Newsletter going.
Sincerely,
Doug Mackay
‘KAWA’, Number 153
These articles have been written to bring to the attention of owners some of the more unique problems which present themselves in the efficient and safe handling of catamaran cruisers. It was perhaps a lack of awareness of these problems, coupled with an unfortunate chain of events, which resulted in the capsizing of an Iroquois Class catamaran towards the end of last summer.
The opening paragraph and notes on inversion are by the designer, Rod Macalpine-Downie, who is one of the most successful catamaran designers in the world. The advice from the builders is by Reg White, Managing Director of Sail Craft Limited, builder, helmsman, and crew of four winning ‘C’ Class catamarans in the International Challenge, and Yachtsman of the Year for 1966. Preparing for sea and notes on handling are by Michael Ellison, Master Mariner, who sailed Iroquois in the Round Britain Race in 1966, winning the Genesta Handicap prize by 1½ days. Also in 1966 he helped to sail a 30 foot catamaran across the Atlantic.
I hope these articles will help owners to make the best use of their yachts, and prevent any future avoidable misadventures. They are not meant to be read as a set of rules, but rather as suggestions by three qualified and experienced men.
The Iroquois is a quart in an admitted pint pot. There are, it seems to me, two principal threshold sizes for such a boat: at about 30 feet, when you can get full sitting headroom across the bridgedeck with full standing headroom in the hulls, and at about 45 feet, when you can get full standing headroom throughout. The Iroquois is our choice of the former. She aims at moderation, between the outright racer and the unashamed houseboat. She is reasonably spacious, but limitations on load and headroom are the price of some pretensions to performance.
Boat owners, like the rest, want to have their cake and eat it. They often wish to fill their cats corner to corner: lots of lovely sundeck, marvellous accommodation, two nice Perkins diesels (no fire hazard) and enough crew to make a healthy football team - American, with reserves. Unfortunately, unless they curb their appetites they tend to end up with a kind of nautical dyspepsia, sogging slowly through the sea like a latter day Kon Tiki with the bridgedeck heaving over the waves like the skipper’s stomach.
Owners talking themselves into weight often take refuge in being unworried about the ‘extra half knot’. Don’t be had. Performance is only half the story. The whole handling, feel and seagoing ability of the boat is at stake, and worst of all the freedom of the bridgedeck from serious pounding. The lighter the owner can bring himself to sail, the more boat he will find he has to do so with.
What we are talking about is of course only a possibility. But since the possibility is of death by drowning, it bears taking seriously. Boat Insurance is splendid, but Life Insurance is a misnomer - they don’t pay you a thing, and for myself I would rather support a wife than a widow anyway.
The risk is probably not great. But the point is that it is also unnecessary. Below the ‘Act of God’ level, trouble is largely our own fault. We cannot, of course, legislate against a full-grown hurricane or the 28 foot standing breakers of Hawaii’s Makaha beach. If you find yourself sailing in these things, enjoy them first time round. There is not likely to be a second. But for normal sailing, take sensible precautions.
Cat against keel boat, we barter a higher risk of capsize for freedom from sinking. Not too bad a bargain, on the whole. As to capsize, we can do just three things: we can avoid it, we can prevent it from becoming total, and we can provide means to right the boat after it occurs.
Avoidance is a matter of ordinary sailing sense, but a catamaran demands a higher degree of vigilance than a keel boat. A lookout for squalls, sheets that can be quickly released, shortening sail in reasonable time and a sharp knife readily available (e.g. a stainless steel one in a sheath screwed to the side of the cockpit) should be enough.
If capsize we must, only mast buoyancy of some sort seems to offer real protection against total inversion. In early days we tried spreader-end buoyancy on the Iroquois. This had the potential of rendering her self-righting by arresting capsize before top dead centre, but we dropped it after trials because of the difficulty of coping with inertial loads in a seaway. The cost and complexity of doing so, together with the duplication of floats (each needed to be nearly as large as the single masthead unit) also seemed pretty unpalatable.
Since then a single fixed masthead float has been available in a disc shape offering slightly more stability in the capsized boat than upright. Unfortunately it has not been widely used. It is undoubtedly inelegant, but in one case where it was fitted the boat suffered no harm and was easily righted by a passer-by in a motor launch who needed only to lift the float and give it a modest shove. In my opinion flotation of some kind is absolutely essential, and should, despite its shortcomings, have been used on every boat without exception. It is daft to risk your boat and your life for appearance sake.
The second common objection to such a fixed float - that it has high windage - is nonsense. A disc of this sort offers extremely low resistance to wind from any quarter. Indeed its effect on head losses in the mainsail may well improve performance rather than the opposite.
Now it looks as if we are to get the self-inflating masthead buoyancy originally promised us by the manufacturers in time for last Summer’s Round Britain Race. This uses a light buoyancy bag neatly stowed at the masthead, with a small compressed air bottle with automatic wet release and manual override at deck level. Details are not yet final, but it stands to be of reasonable cost, unobtrusive and little over five pounds weight in all. As to its reliability, it is of the same family as apparatus used in air sea rescue work, and in the wheel hubcap flotation of some helicopters, and well made. With manual override the risk of it not inflating when required should be negligible. A little care and common sense are needed in the design and installation to guard against the risk of chafing or tearing, but this should not be beyond the wit of man. Speed of inflation depends on the type of wet release we end up using, and on whether the bottle is at decklevel or with the bag at the masthead - preferable except for the weight. If they are together should be total within five seconds.
Adequate masthead flotation would rob the capsize problem of its sting. Floating on her masthead such a boat requires little effort to right her. In a seaway the wave motion alone might well suffice. With outside assistance it is simple. When we have the chance to test the finished gear we will know more about it, and hope to produce a simple, cheap righting lever permanently stowed under the bridgedeck, possibly with a waterballast bag inflated when required by the bilge pump.
One way or another, the Golden Age seems just round the corner. Warned against capsize, armed against inversion, we can brave the dreaded Solent (miles from Makaha, and not too bad for hurricanes either) without a worry in the world beyond delamination and cirrhosis of the liver.
From David Shankland
Thank you again for sending yet another Newsletter and I would also like to express my thanks to all the Members who have written to the Association with such interesting stories, good ideas and thought provoking theories. Perhaps I am like many Members, and I apologise, as I usually receive the letter with glee and read it eagerly. I am then full of good intentions to write in and add this or say that but the days go by.......... However I still intend to write a few items as soon as possible.
I have recently installed a diesel engine in my Iroquois and although Iam trying to improve the performance I am otherwise delighted with the improvement that I have with my boat. My thanks are also offered to Art Marinissen for his experiences. Should any Members he interested I have been considering supplying the basic parts, including the engine, in a ‘kit’ form, through my Company. I would imagine that the price would be about £2,200, but between now and next year it could be dearer.
I have for sale a Yamaha 28E Electric start outboard, with long shaft, complete with two Morse cables suitable for use on an Iroquois, and two fuel tanks. The engine always started first time and consumed about a gallon an hour but more in slurpy conditions. A good engine and well cared for but not as good as the inboard diesel. Price £350 or near offer.
With best wishes to everyone,
Yours sincerely
David Shankland,
RAZMATAZZ, #160
From Paul & Therese Cheney
We enjoy an excellent bi-monthly multihull magazine here called MULTIHULLS. It is published by Multihulls Magazine, 421 Hancock Street, N. Quincy, Massachusetts 02171. $15 one year, $25 two years; foreign countries $ 18.50 one year surface mail, $38.50 one year air mail. Each issue runs about 100 pages, with minimal advertising. It is mainly directed towards cruising multihulls. If unfamiliar with the publication, you and IOA members might wish to contact them regarding a sample issue. While they show rep representatives in France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, and Norway (plus other non-European countries), they show no representative for England….. but do indicate single copies are available from Camper & Nicholsons, 16 Regency Street, Westminster, London SW1P 4DD.
Despite the early numerous Iroquois racing wins in England, it seems I have looked in vain for recent Iroquois racing wins, and indeed, even entries. To see if there may be some truth to the rumor that the Iroquois is too old, too heavy, and/or too under canvassed I entered our ALOHA NUI in the recent Round Egmont Key Multihull Race sponsored by North American Sails, and organized by the new Florida Offshore Multihull Association (FOMA). I was told Mike French would be there too with his Mk 1, LE CHAT (ex LUSIADA) sail no. 58. At least we could have a match race between the two Iroquois. Two courses were laid around the island - 17.5 nm for cruising boats, and 30.1 nm for minimal accommodation racing multi-hulls with Stiletto 27 and MacGregor 36 classes. The cruising division started 10 minutes after the racing fleet. With 21 cruising entries, and 25 racing entries it sounded good..... this was reduced to an official 10 cruising starters and 16 racing starters. We had winds to about 25 knots which may have hindered the arrival of some entries, several non-starters were seen around the Island….. LE CHAT did not start. Four boats in each division did not finish, a Cross 28 lost her upper mast when her 5/16" dia. forestay pulled thru 4 Nicro Press fittings. Following a fair start and poor 1st leg, we went on to lead the cruising division the rest of the way around the island placing 1st on both elapsed time and handicap in a 3 hr 8¾ min elapsed time. Next across the line was a 35’ Hartly tri..... 20 minutes later, followed by a Brown 31 (with almost our identical rating) 34 min. later, 2 Cross 33’s and a DuPont 28 all finished about 43 minutes after us. It felt good knowing we still have a competitive design! On the second leg the racing division leaders flew thru the cruising division..., the Stiletto 30 was timed at an average 22.3 MPH for the 7.6 mile reaching leg, and the CSK stripped down SunDowner 36 averaged 17 MPH for the leg…… a Dick Newick Val 31 on the same leg averaged 11.7 MPH while we watched her flying her windward ama, her main hull was both planing and trying to fly! Charles Chioti of Multihulls Magazine covered the race and indicated a photo report would be in the next available issue.
For Florida / southeastern US Iroquois owners, FOMA is attempting to establish an active, local / regional series of activities to acquaint multihull owners with their neighbors. Labor Day weekend they have a Davis Island (Tampa Bay) to Sarasota race scheduled, some 50 miles or so. Their address is: FOMA, 4915 22nd Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33710.
Recently we had our bottom painted, and at that time I had our skegs removed and the holes glassed in. I believe the reasons for the skegs are mainly so she’ll dry out level on the European flats (or elsewhere), and for ease when sailing downwind. I have always had a problem keeping the skegs clean of growths, with large areas of barnacles and sea squirts growing on them. Their main purpose I believe is to allow the Iroquois to sit level at European ports and rivers when the tide runs out, and to provide added control when sailing downwind. Since I usually have our Aloha Nui hauled for painting her bottom, and make every effort to get her off as quickly as possible whenever we do run aground, the only loss may be in downwind steering..., in which case I can drop a bit of centerboard, or perhaps run a bit off the wind. In compensation, she definitely tacks better, is more manoeuverable, sails better backwards, and.... should have less drag! I have an Epsco Seacourse EM-I self steering device and thought without the skegs it might have to work harder, but perhaps it will work less since helm corrections are more responsive now. Her turning radius and rate are very much improved, particularly when one board is down.... I’ll keep you posted on how it works out..........
Speaking of centerboards, following the last windward leg of the race we brought our board up with a sheet caught between the board and trunk. Concentrating on the race, we brought the board up as far as we could to reduce drag. Following the race 3 of us could not budge the board to go down. Later with two 2 x 4’s and a small automobile hydraulic jack between the pulpit stanchion and centerboard I was able to drop the board very easily alone.
A new Florida/southeastern US cruising multihull group - Florida Offshore Multihull Association (FOMA) - is attempting to establish an active local/regional series of activities to acquaint owners with their neighbors. They ran the above Round Egmont Key Multihull Race, and are having a get together weekend off one of the keys just north of Tampa Bay this weekend, and are trying to get several local raftups for various 4th of July fireworks displays. Labor Day they are again having a distance race from Davis Island at the neck of Tampa Bay (tentatively) to Sarasota Bay, some 50 miles or so. Membership is $20/family/year and charter membership is being extended to September…. at this time we have some 90 members. Their address is: FOMA, 4915 22nd Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33710. If you have any questions on local members or the possibility of local activities here or there, you might like to discuss membership with Doug Fricke 813-233-0961 (St. Petersburg). July 17th at one of our local colleges we’re having a double showing of Phil Weld’s movie "America Challenge" featuring Moxie’s singlehanded Transatlantic Race, which is supposed to be an excellent film. It will be free to members with a nominal charge to non-members. If you and Gail would like to come up a day or so early (so you won’t be too exhausted from the travelling to enjoy the film!) you’re welcome to stay aboard our Iroquois behind our home.... I’m sure we’ll find something to talk about. With luck perhaps we can get all our local Iroquois owners together for the show (on Wednesday evening), and get together for a sail-in the following weekend/or weekend before. It’s hard to believe we have four Iroquois within a 70 mile radius of us, and possibly a fifth momentarily (a young couple are selecting from several available Iroquois).
Paul & Therese Cheney
Aloha Nui, #105
From Mike French - one of our new Members
Dear Fellow Multihullers - This is our first - she was originally "LUSIADA" - owned by Warren Moden of Ft. Meyers Beach, Florida, then by J. St. Thomas of Vero Beach, Florida, then by Ross Webb of Ft. Meyers, who renamed her "DON GATO". She was then sold to a sailmaker in Marathon, Florida who sold her to the Chappells of Bin Pine Key, Florida. We bought her in late February of this year and have refurbished her and rechristened her "LE CHAT".
We’re still learning to sail her. All our previous boats were monohulls, including our last "JUGGLER", a 47’ Durbeck ketch which Nancy and I sailed to Europe and Africa via Bermuda, the Azores, etc. We love LE CHAT and would appreciate any tips on rigging or management you might care to forward.
From Russi and Barbara Dordi
Well, BARU (change of name from PLUCCA, which drew blank looks) was launched last summer on the 28th July. She touched water for the first time just before 1300 hrs. as she was gently craned in off Whitstable harbour by Tony Brown of Cresent Shipping. Sorry no photographs, as all the excellent ones Barbara took are colour prints.
The day, as you may recall, was perfect sunshine, blue skies, and just enough cloud to make things look interesting. Earlier in the day I’d had a mouth-drying half hour or so as BARU was towed, mast raised, from one end of Whitstable harbour to craning in point. I regret there was no bubbly ceremoniously smashed (how do you decide which bow, port or st’bd?) although Barbara did say that she had something for the boat. The something never emerged, I wonder whatever happened to it? Anyway, I was thankful to have only practicalities to think about. At one moment we were lazing about the harbour wall, outwardly relaxed, waiting for several things to happen i.e., arrival of crane, slings, spreaders and Paul Smedley, als o an Iroquois owner who kindly agreed to keep an eye on things.
Then, the crane was suddenly rounding on us, spreaders couldn’t be found, AND no Paul. In what seemed like only minutes, Baru was gently lifting off the trailer and was airborne! Quick check round to see the slings sans the spreaders weren’t fouling anything, and a friend who was on board gave Tony the thumbs up. We lurched slowly out over the water, my insides were doing backward somersaults, and then, that first touchdown on water and she floated - without any ominous gurgling noises.
As I looked up with relief at the small knot of friends, I saw finally, Paul Smedley waving reassuringly. The "plan" was to dry out by the wall and complete the commissioning before sailing to our berth at Hollowshore, Faversham. I called up to Paul and said I "didn’t like the look of the wall from where I was", so he asked how long it would take to get Baru ready to motor. "Not long". "Right, get her going, go out to that white plastic bottle and anchor. I’ll join you later."
Gawd, would my new Johnson start? What if the damn rudders fell off or something, after all, I’d made and fitted them and there were an awful lot of unsuspecting boats moored out there.
I replied with a confident "OK". As I set to work connecting the tiller bar fuel line etc. my insides started their gymnastics, again! I asked Paul (my friend on board) to go up forward and shackle on the anchor. Soon we were ready for the first pull of the starter cord. I think I half hoped it wouldn’t start, but at my second half-hearted pull the engine raced into life with a cloud of blue smoke which Barbara has frozen in a lovely photograph.
On our way out to the plastic bottle I tried to get some idea of how she answered to the helm and found everything was fine. As we neared the spot Paul went forward ready to let go the anchor. I completed a gentle turn to stem the ebbing tide, eased the throttle to change into neutral and gave the signal to let go.
I heard the splash and waited........... "she’s not holding!". I knew I shouldn’t have stuck my neck out on new fangled inventions….. I had Bruce bower and kedge anchors. So much for Jim Andrews and his tests! "Veer some more rope"…… "No, still no good." We tried twice more while everyone got a little more anxious. I then asked what seemed to me a pointless question "Have you got the right chain on.....?" "What chain......?"
It was my fault as I’d let the chain slip down to the bottom of the anchor locker with both coils of warp hiding it. I motored around in a figure of eight while Paul put matters right, and the folk on shore wondered what the hell we were up to! With six meters of chain on the kedge our problems were over and we were safely anchored "by the white plastic bottle".
Barbara and Paul were rowed out to us and later on that evening we set off for Hollowshore and had a marvellous sail there. Baru sailed beautifully and the occasion was graced with a glass of wine and ‘sandwiches’ which Barbara served up on broken bread as we had no bread knife on board!
This season we hope to continue to learn to sail the Iroquois and get her to point up a bit better than she did on occasion. (slack forestay?)
We did most of our sailing around the Swale and ventured out once to go to Dunkirk but we had to turn back to Ramsgate by Mid Falls due to bad weather. I think it is what they call a negative experience; although it did give us tremendous confidence in Baru. My RNLI journal informs me that during that period of time the Whitstable Atlantic 21 was called out on three occasions during one day.
We have also had a glorious week ‘up the East coast’ which included the experience of locking in at Heybridge Basin and entering the lock with the outboard in reverse all the time. Anyone remember the weekend of the 3rd and 4th October? Our club Hollowshore Cruising Club had their autumn rally, and we came back on the Sunday with Baru ‘going off the clock’ every so often. Incidentally, our Commodore and Rear-Commodore are both Iroquois owners - Kawa and Alleda.
Ah well, Baru is high and dry for winter and we have started the patching and mending. Barbara and I have regained the bit of weight we lost during last summer’s cruising and we’re all set for this season.
On a purely practical level, what this last season has taught us is:
I’d be most grateful if anyone has any bright ideas for stowing Bruce anchors while underway so one is always ready to let go in an emergency. If you keep it on the stem-roller it keeps taking little nips out of the knife-edged stem.
Since flag codes do not include ‘L’ for learners, please give a wide berth to poor brown Baru!
Happy sailing,
Barbara and Russi Dordi,
Baru, #305