Annual General Meeting
Summer Meet
Editorial
Chairman's Notes
Letters
Boat News
For Sale
Editor - Rony and Elise Buqué
The 1980 Annual General Meeting took place in the Chelsea College Centre for Science Education, hosted as last year by Harry Faulkner, and we would like to thank him and his valiant Secretary, Pat Greenwood, for their excellent hospitality. It was again an extremely successful meet, starting with a wine and cheese buffet, and culminating in a long and interesting discussion about fixing pins for Iroquois centreboards, the possibility of a summer meet, and members’ cruises during the past season.
The statutory matters took very little time - it was unanimously voted that the present Chairman, Harry Faulkner, and the present Secretary/Treasurer/Editors Rony and Elise Buque, should be re-elected for a further year, so here we are!
It was also the universal opinion that the owners of ALL Sailcraft cruising catamarans are automatically eligible for membership of the Iroquois Owners’ Association, so if you know of anyone owning a Comanche, Apache, etc, please tip them the wink, and ask them to write in and become members! It is not intended to change the name of the Association, so "Iroquois Owners’ Association” it remains.
As Harry mentions further on in his Chairman’s Notes, the venue of next January’s AGM was debated, and we will be asking whether we can hold it at the Cruising Association’s exceptionally pleasant premises at St. Katharine’s Dock, by Tower Bridge - it may mean a bit more of a trek from the Boat Show at Earl’s Court, but the underground journey is fairly simple, and several members have already indicated their approval of such a change of venue. We will let you know how we have fared later in the year.
It remains for us to wish you all a very pleasant season’s sailing - and please write and tell us about it! Those of you who have not yet sent in a subscription will find a small slip inserted with this issue of the Newsletter; may we ask you please to complete the Subscription Reply Slip at the end of this edition, and return it to us together with your cheque? Thank you.
Newtown Creek, Isle of Wight
Saturday 12th July 1980
In response to requests made at the AGM, a summer meet has been arranged at Newtown Creek for the evening of Saturday 12th July 1980.
El Buque V will arrive there as early as possible from Chichester and act as host boat, from 1800 hours onwards.
High water Portsmouth is 12:26 hours Saturday, so members from Chichester and the Solent should not find too much difficulty in making the rendezvous.
The shallower water marked on the chart below is the most suitable for catamarans, and we expect to foregather there, followed by a picnic supper on the beach (lets hope the weather is fine). Members should bring their food and a bottle with them.
To help gauge numbers, please complete and return the summer meet form at the end of this newsletter.
At the recent Annual General Meeting, all Comanche owners and, subsequently, all owners of any variety of Sailcraft cruising multihulls were admitted to membership of the Iroquois Owners Association, the name of the Association remaining unchanged.
The bulk of membership being Iroquois owners, perhaps it is not out of place to record some reasons for changing to a Comanche. The first we heard of it was when Reg thrust a piece of paper into our hands and said “design a boat and win an enormous prize”. Being fairly well up in this field and having taken at least two boats apart and reassembled the interiors into what we considered a more appropriate living area, this seemed right up our street.
However, after much cudgelling of brains, we arrived at the conclusion that a guy called McAlpine-Downie had got there first, and we could not improve on the basic Iroquois layout for the new hull shape. We therefore lost interest, particularly when we heard the price of the new boat. No way could 2 feet extra in length and 4 inches extra beam increase the price of the boat by a factor of two. We were reconciled to continued nailbiting and allowing a succession of other people to show us how an Iroquois can be turned over. (They never managed it).
In the autumn of 1978, as is our wont being recipients of free tickets, we visited the Southampton Boat Show. This exercise is generally to renew acquaintances and to make a nuisance of ourselves among the boats, being definitely gawpers and not buyers.
We visited Sailcraft’s stand, and gaped - literally a monster Iroquois reared out of the water, towering above us (which doesn’t take much doing). We walked all around it and the possibilities were immediate. Why hadn’t the piece of paper we had been given shown that Reg was building two boats in a fiendishly clever way, one on top of the other’ - in fact a three-dimensional twin-hulled craft?
We approached the stern of the craft, and where on the Iroquois we would casually swing on board stepping straight up from the pontoon, here we were faced with a wall of GRP. Fortunately Sailcraft had erected a flight of steps and we were able to ascend to deck level.
Here was the first major difference. The cockpit now went right to the stern of the boat, immediately making it two feet longer than the Iroquois. On entering the saloon the other major bugbear in the Iroquois had been ironed out, namely the seating under the forward windows. It was now possible to sit in comfort in this position, and no less than eight people could sit reasonably comfortably round the enormous table.
In the hulls the stern berths had gained a few inches in width, just enough for us, but I am sure most people would have liked another three inches - but you can’t have everything. Due to the double-decker effect, these cabins had gained in volume by an appreciable amount and appeared positively huge in comparison, with additional locker space, some of which we have not yet had to use, and very handy open shelves.
The forward berths are now an absolute delight, being large enough to be entitled to the term cabin, with full standing headroom over a reasonable area, increased volume, and curtaining making them completely self-contained.
One thing we disliked intensely. This was the rather gloomy interior caused by the dark brown windows. We still hate these in the winter when it appears that a storm is brewing every time you go below. However, in the summer sunshine things get better, and opening cabin lights have been added to the forward berths, the galley and the heads (needless to say in clear glazing) which help considerably.
The galley is a delight, with plenty of deep shelves. We always thought in the Iroquois that they were not deep enough to hold anything, and had to give up the whole of the forward berth on the galley side for kitchen stowage. We now have more than enough, without really using the space under the galley floor. Yes, no longer do we have a 3 inch bilge, but caverns 18 inches deep which can swallow great quantities of goodies and keep the weight just in the right place. We also have great lockers under the forward and the stern berths, providing enormous stowage potential.
This, then, is the Comanche, well worth pulling out all the stops to possess, and incredibly different to the Iroquois although hardly any bigger in area. “Look at the quality, look at the volume” - try to ignore the price, it may go away. (Incidentally, she sails beautifully too!).
Rony Buqué
As Rony and Elise have described, we had another very successful annual meeting last January, numbers being maintained after the regular year by year growth for almost a decade now.
For the second successive year Chelsea College provided a venue - very convenient for those combining the event with a visit to the Boat Show at Earls Court. Against this, however must be set the fact that the premises are not geared to functions of this kind, and it may be that in future years we should try to find somewhere with rather more of a marine ambience.
In talking to members, opinions were expressed both ways, some favouring Chelsea as a venue, others suggesting alternative places. Views and suggestions from members will, as always, be welcomed. To turn to more general sailing matters, the issue of limiting liability against marine insurance claims suddenly seems to have surfaced in the yachting press during the past six months or so. Why it should just have emerged as an issue I am not really sure, since it apparently arises from the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894.
Certainly I’d never come across it until last season, when I became personally involved - as a victim. It appears that the owner of a boat can apply to limit his liability against third party claims to something like £40 per registered ton of his boat. While this may add up to a lot of money when based on the tonnage of a merchant ship, the total payout can be fairly small when the boat doing the damage is a four or five ton Westerly.
Late last season a small boat of this kind, which has a mooring near mine at Christchurch, dragged its mooring in a gale, hit the starboard stern of my boat once or twice in passing, doing minor damage only, before setting about a trimaran on the next mooring behind in real earnest, demolishing the bow of its starboard float. At first the owner of the runaway monohull admitted liability (he didn’t seem to have much option) but then his insurers told me they intended to limit liability. This was new to me, but it appeared to mean that then needn’t pay out more than about £200 third party damages, to apportion between myself and the trimaran owner (whose claim, I’d heard, was something like £1,500).
It would be interesting to know whether other members have run up against this law, whether it is invoked often and I just happened not to have heard of it before, and whether any attempt have been made to change it for small boats - by organisations like the RYA for instance?
As a matter of interest, the owner of the boat in question is now claiming that he wasn’t liable anyway - the person liable, he says, was the person he’d paid to inspect his mooring prior to the accident. The mooring in fact remained intact - the boat dragged it bodily. Hardly surprising when the only thing holding it down was a slab of concrete.
A final bit of news is that, after many years of pleasure sailing Taquamenaw, my MkI Iroquois, I’m now starting to fit out a new Mk.II. When I started to fit out Taquamenaw my three sons (who also helped) were at junior school. Two of them are now near graduating in engineering, so maybe we shall build this one quicker, and even better. Meanwhile, in 1980, when time permits, I shall still be sailing Taquamenaw. I’ll keep you posted on progress. All good ideas welcomed - send them to Rony and Elise for the Newsletter, then we can all share them.
Harry Faulkner
Letter from Mr C I R Greer
Since the Iroquois Owners’ Meeting which my wife and I attended in 1975, we have continued to enjoy our Iroquois Nisa which is No 131. That is to say, up until a few weeks ago (November 1979) when we sold her to Mr Dennis Campbell of Midland, Ontario, while we bought Mr. Jim Playfair’s Comanche. (Welcome to the club! Ed). I would imagine that you will have heard that Jim has sold his Iroquois “Errant” to a member of the Midland Sailing Club where he has been sailing her.
Our Iroquois “Nisa”, minus her name, was taken to the same club so that, along with Mr Jim Muir’s boat there are three Iroquois in Midland now.
Our new Comanche will be “Nisa”, as every boat which I have had (including monohulls) has been so named. I hope that I shall still be able to continue to stay a member of the Association and receive the Newsletter. Our Comanche is No 16. We just made the deal with Jim Playfair and Dennis Campbell in the middle of September, so this made the whole thing pretty rushed for this season.
We had to get the Comanche from Midland to Peterborough before the Trent Severn Waterway closed for the season on October 10th. Midland is the south end of Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, while we sail out of Port Hope which is on the north shore of Lake Ontario. By way of the Great Lakes and the Welland Canal the trip is 740 miles, while by the Trent Severn is 250 miles.
We brought the Comanche to Peterborough, a distance of 150 miles, and have taken her out of the water for the winter. Next Spring we will take her on down to Lake Ontario and Port Hope.
I was glad to read in the Autumn issue of 1978 of the modifications to be done to the lee board openings as a result of the loss of Snoopy. I had these done last Spring before Nisa went into the water. As a matter of interest there were no signs of distress around the openings but I went ahead and did the modifications anyway.
Having sailed our Iroquois for nine seasons, I have no hesitation in recommending the class to anyone who is thinking of owning a catamaran of this size. She proved to be a fast, comfortable and seaworthy boat for our family of five. (We have three sons, 17, 14 and 9). I don’t think we ever missed a meal aboard no matter how rough the seas were and, incidentally, Lake Ontario can give a pretty good imitation of the sea at times. This was in large part due to the stable platform the catamaran provided, but is also due in some part to the strong stomach and culinary ability of my wife Noreen.
Nisa was known around our club (Port Hope Yacht Club) as a fast passage maker and so enabled us to cover a fair number of ports each summer, mostly on the weekends. We would average about 1,500 miles per season, which is not a great deal by world girdling standards, but is not too bad for a fellow who has to work for a living during the week. I am always intrigued by the ideas that I have read in the Newsletter by which some owners have solved the various problems that crop up from time to time, so perhaps I might mention a couple of things that have helped us sail our Iroquois better.
For the first number of years that we had the boat I was not too happy with the way she went to windward. At the Multihull International Symposium in Toronto in 1976 (I think it was) I talked to Rudy Choy and he suggested two things; firstly keep both lee boards down when hard on the wind and, secondly, get the clew of the genoa more inboard that the coaming track will allow. These two things I did and found the results remarkable.
To get the clew sheeted more inboard I installed stainless steel eyes in the vertical surface of the bulkhead which forms the after wall of the cockpit and attached a snatch block to lead the sheet.
Another thing that I did was to install two stainless steel gasoline tanks on the after bulkhead, one on each side of the motor bracket. Each tank is rectangular and each holds 7½ imperial gallons. As the 15 hp Evinrude gave six statute mile to the gallon, this gave us a cruising distance of 90 statute miles between gas stops, if there was no wind. The center of gravity of these tanks was forward of that of individual 5 gallon tanks which we had previously carried in the port stern locker, albeit only by a matter of inches.
In conclusion, may I again say that we were very happy with our Iroquois and hope that the enjoyment that we have had with her will be even surpassed with the Comanche. It is interesting to note that the home of the Iroquois nation is right here on and around the Great Lakes, while the Comanche are Plains Indians who originally at least were not watermen!
Mr C I R Greer,
1456 Firwood Crescent,
Peterborough,
Ontario,
Canada,
K9K 1J1
Letter from Bo Henricsson, "DAHINDA", No 136
I have a little contribution about a kind of cutter rig on my Iroquois. In order to have a lower and more effective sail plan when sailing in heavy weather and seas especially close hauled, you will probably find an advantage by putting the storm jib (or something similar) on the inner forestay. Just mount an extra halyard here and the two required sheeting points on the cabin roof. Some difficulties may appear if you have the plastic chafe guard on the inner forestay as the standard equipment. The sail hanks will probably not fit, and will not slide on the plastic covered wire. So take away the hose from the wire, or connect the sail hanks with a line, which makes them work together.
So what is it all about? Well, let’s imagine you sail in a force of about 6/7. You have a reefed main and No.1 jib. You may soon find that the No.1 jib is too much in the gusts and therefore change to No.2 jib. At this time you can try to hoist the inner foresail. At least for my part I have felt a very balanced boat in these conditions and, besides, which is important, she points considerably higher than under the normal sail plan with No. 2 jib only. In fact you will sail faster too and you actually have roughly the same sail area as when the No.1 jib was up, which turned out to be too much! So to keep the speed and at the same time sail more safely we have just moved the canvas further aft and closer to the deck.
The idea has of course been used before, but I think it is especially suitable for sensitive catamarans. However, as long as the genoas can be used, they are the most effective. I may mention that I am all the time talking about the open sea, not sheltered waters.
Bo Henricsson,
Brattasvagen,
438 00 Landvetter,
Sweden
Letter from Paul and Therese Cheney, “Aloha Nui”, No 105
Dear Rony and Elise,
Belated congratulations, and thanks, on your volunteering and accepting the Iroquois Owners’ Association posts you now hold. Good luck with the Newsletter, your school, and your EL BUQUE V!
Many thanks too to the extended efforts of Harry Faulkner and Reg Crampton in their past and present services.
As a concerned and interested Iroquois owner and member, I feel a tremendous amount of information and interesting reading lies in the previously published Association’s Newsletters. If not already in existence, could a library of all issues be established not only as a record, but to provide master copies from which duplicate Newsletters could be run on request ... possibly combining issues into yearly or multiple yearly copies. Such a service would seem invaluable to a new owner or member, or one contemplating repair or modification previous members may have written about.
Another project of interest I feel would be an updated listing of Iroquois (and other cruising Sailcraft?) owners/members such as published in June 1974. Possibly this could include some member craft photographs to increase its interest and add that touch of beauty their lines instill.
Paul and Therese Cheney,
15907 Redington Drive,
Redington Beach,
Florida 33708,
USA
Editorial Note: Reprints of previous issues are dependent on time available at Elise’s Firm’s reprographic department - very little, unfortunately. Would members please send requests for back issues, and we will try and send them off as quickly as possible; we know there is a demand for copies. Editorial time available does not at present allow for a list of members to be compiled - sorry!!
Letter from Janet and Doug Mackay
(After which Janet was heard to say, as she thankfully fell into her bunk, “I know a change is as good as a rest - but I would like a rest for a change!”)
A.....C.....R.....O.....S.....S..... AND BACK!
Kawa is moored at Hollowshore where Oare and Faversham Creeks join just inside the Isle of Sheppey on the North Kent Coast.
Janet and I are devoted East Coasters. We prefer the peace and quiet of the Essex and Suffolk anchorages (and pubs) to the watering places of the South Coast and the overrated delights of continental marinas. Happily too, where we go, English is spoken adequately and our money causes no problems, nor are we liable for customs duties on return.
But, before we can relax and enjoy our main cruising ground, we must cross the Estuary (and later face coming back). Now, to the experienced cross channel seafarer, this is small beer; but the tides are strong, and despite all the dockers’ attempts to stop them, ships still move up and down the London river. We face each crossing with care and are always relieved to reach the other side safely.
In late July 1979, we started our holiday cruise on a Wednesday, well stocked with food, water, drinks and petrol (or so I thought). At that time we could carry 7 gallons of petrol and often that would last us half a season. For this crossing, I had 5 gallons. We left about 10.00 a.m. just before high tide, sailing off our mooring - always a good beginning. Two miles and one hour later, the wind was lighter than the tide, so down went our trusty 1964 Johnson 18 and we motored. We can do about 5kt under motor at about 1 gal/hour. 2 hours later, at the Red Sand Towers, we only had three hours of petrol left, with 30+ miles to go and no wind. This was not the place to stop and drift, so we motored on to reach the West Swin with 1½ gallons of petrol left. The ebb was now in full flow so we drifted slowly - so slowly - up the Swin! A Snow Goose cat came calling - he had diesel engines but offered us ½ gallon of petrol from his tender’s outboard. We didn’t accept, he was a stranger to the Estuary and was making his first passage to West Mersea. At that time we didn’t have a Genoa, so we envied him his huge ghosting Genoa until as he motored away we saw it filling and holding him back ........ We drifted on ......... I feel it only fair to add that I was receiving some unreasonably pungent remarks from Janet at this point. The joys of sailing, I believe, were referred to!!! We reached the Whittaker about low water and put the motor on to go through the Swin Spitway into the Wallet ....... Then we drifted ...... again.
As darkness fell, we were slowly but surely drifting into the Colne, but Brightlingsea was still 10 miles away and we now had only ¾ gallon of petrol.
Shortly after sundown, near the Colne Bar Buoy, and still in the main channel, we saw a small coaster coming down the Wallet towards us. At first it was heading to cross our stern, then our bows, and again a little later, our stern. So, we sparingly but quickly motored out of the channel until it was about a cable off our starboard side. Then off motor and drift, with phrases like “sunk without trace”, “how will you explain to those who love me”, “where is my life jacket”, “funny how motors always hesitate at such moments” sounding from the galley.
During the next two hours, we watched three more coasters go by in the channel, until, at about 11.30 p.m., we were no more than a mile off Mersea and a safe anchorage. Then, for the final time, we put the motor on - having changed plugs because last time when we were moving out of the coaster’s way, the motor had hesitated twice - giving us a small jolt of concern? Now, new plugs had cured all troubles and fifteen minutes later we were safe among the moorings off the Mersea Shore, and, having left the wreck safely to port, had dropped our anchor in 2½ fathoms and were drinking a stiff whiskey each.
40 miles in 14 hours - that must be a record.
The following morning I rowed across to Brightlingsea, scrounged an old 5 gallon oil drum and filled it and our “Tommy Foulkes 2 gallon wonder” with 2 star petrol and rowed back. We now carry 12 gallons of petrol when we cross the Estuary.
************************
Two weeks later, after an enjoyable cruise, full of mixed weather but warm, having got as far as “The Rocks” on the Deben, we were beating up the channel in the Crouch to Shore Ends. As the ebb gathered speed and the channel narrowed, it became clear that to reach Narrow Cuts off the Roach, we’d need the motor. So, down it went and we started making ground. By 18.00, with the tide almost gone, we were snugly anchored just inside Narrow Cuts and enjoying a sundowner on a sunny and warm evening.
During the night, we had our first taste of what was to come. It blew a full 8 from the SW and the rain thundered on the deckhead. By 10.00 a.m. however, the sun was shining again and the wind had gone right off.
It was Thursday August 9th and the Fastnet race was due to start at the weekend. Unaware of all that, we motored down to the Havengore Bridge which we reached at noon. High tide was scheduled for 14.00 but the bridgekeeper said that he could only let us through at 12.30 due to some technical hitch in the firing. The weather looked OK and although the 06.30 forecast had mentioned an 8 due soon - we’d had that at the time; so we went through, slalomed through the safe water marks and were soon well away across the Maplins. Now, clear of the land, a strong gust reminded us of what could happen and the blackest cloud we've ever seen was passing over the Isle of Sheppey 12 miles ahead. So I changed down to the No. 2 jib and took 2 rolls in the main. The wind piped up and as we left the Maplins for the deep water channels, the seas suddenly increased in size. Not threatening, but definitely serious - no longer playful. That black cloud had a lot of wind under it and we caught its edge on a broad reach to Ham Gat. We crossed from Havengore to the Swale in a shade under two hours under reduced sail - our fastest crossing ever.
So far so good. We came through the Gat before half tide, still on a broad reach and although the wind was steadily increasing, the seas in the lee of Sheppey had gone down as quickly as they came up at Maplin Edge. Now we turned to starboard to head for Oare Creek and home. The wind was WSW, the course SW.
We made a couple of long boards to the Kentish shore before it hit &.. a full 9 squall with rain so hard we could not look to windward. “A couple of chickens” you say. Yes, you’re right, but this was a hard and vicious squall, not at all like our normal East Coast winds. What is more, as the channel narrowed, with the falling tide, I knew that I had too much sail up and did not have time on a tack to change the jib, even if Janet would have let me go forward to try. In retrospect, of course, I could have let the jib fly, which would have slowed us down enough to allow the change down to storm jib. But at the time it didn’t occur to me, so when the squalls strengthened, I luffed up, feathering the jib and continuing to make good progress to windward. It was hairy but exhilarating. My bifocals came into their own. I don’t normally need them for sailing and I never wear them when it’s raining, as the rain blurs my vision. But this wind kept them clear and they enabled me to keep a careful watch on the jib and telltales and I was really glad of them. Our fight with that wind lasted for 1½ hours and then at the mouth of the creek we once again put the motor on and inch by inch our Johnson pushed us against an ebb spring tide and what was now a full 8 in the nose, up the creek and onto our mooring. Four hours from the bridge to the mooring - a complete contrast to the crossing at the start. But both have given us more confidence for our next East Coast “potter”.
Janet and Doug Mackay,
Athlone,
81 Bayham Road,
Sevenoaks,
Kent
Letter from Russi Dordi, PLUCCA, Iroq. 305
I am delighted to be able to tell you that my Iroquois shell now sits happily in our front garden. She arrived on 31st August, as 11.30 p.m., complete with the statutory police escort, outside our local pub which was still full of the usual Friday night crowd!
Parking Plucca outside the Rose & Crown was a last minute plan as Peter Davies, who transported (Whippatts Yacht Transport) from Brightlingsea, quite rightly refused to back her in at that time of night. I might add, incidentally, that Mr. Davies did a magnificent job, virtually single-handed, of unloading her, and generally managing to deal with all the details entailed in transportation (via Dartford Tunnel!).
Although the enclosed photograph does not give much idea of the actual colours, they are: Teak hull, light stone deck and superstructure.
I have made a start on some of the deck fittings, doing things which give me a wide safety margin in case of errors, and thankfully, so far, all seems to be going well! The only casualty so far has been my rather expensive Bosch drill, which I think I've burnt out. This, though, has been a blessing in disguise, because since then I've had to use my hand drill which is so much easier and certainly less nerve wracking.
I would like to thank Harry Faulkner for all his initial help and encouragement, and in this context also mention Doug. Mackay (Kawa) and David Shankland (Razzmatazz) who have been most patient re most of my obvious queries. Needless to say, Bob Osborn of Sailcraft has done much to convince me that Ive made the right choice in choosing an Iroquois!
Russi Dordi,
Munday Cottage,
Munday Bois,
Pluckley,
Kent,
TN27 0ST
Letter from John J. Owens, Jr., (Ex Iroq. 34)
On starting an old Johnson (manual)
I used to have a Trotter sailboat with a long shaft 10 hp 1959 Johnson outboard motor that was kept at Littlehampton, England. I found by accident that it would start on the first pull by placing the motor in gear and using full throttle. Otherwise I may have encountered difficulty at times in starting.
When I bought an Iroquois Mk.l, I had a 1965 18 hp long shaft Johnson outboard (manual) that would always start on the first or second pull when the motor was placed in gear and using full throttle. Unfortunately I lost the motor overboard in Bedford Basin, Bedford, Nova Scotia when the wooden outboard well broke, and I was unable to recover it from the thick mud.
All these motors were secondhand and some were abused by their owners, especially a 25 hp 1971 Johnson long shaft. I ended up paying more for repair work for this motor than if I had bought a new one. I finally had this motor converted so that it would start in gear, and apparently the new owner in Ottawa, Ontario (Guy Juneau - Ed.) has had no trouble starting it.
My 1973 9.9 hp Johnson will always start in neutral on the first or second pull provided I change the plugs at the beginning of the sailing season in late April. I always used a special propellor for the Iroquois Mkl, as it is necessary for a large boat that goes at slow speeds.
John J Owens Jr.,
35 Wildwood Boulevard,
Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia,
Canada,
B2W 2L7
Letter from Paul Booker, Eurotica, Comanche 15
It would be a good idea if Comanche owners could become part of the Iroquois Owners Association - we have a lot in common. (Welcome to the Club! Ed.) As for my old Iroquois, she has gone to Brancaster, Norfolk, and will soon be showing up the local competition. Incidentally, the Iroquois is without doubt the most attractive Cat in production, and I will miss her. Having had three exciting seasons sailing my Iroquois No.264 Norwegian Blue I weakened, and was foolish enough to look around at other Cats in the market.
The Catalac, Catfisher and Quest were the first to be viewed and sailed - all had good points. However, I was interested in a Cat having the attributes of comfort, good workmanship, excellent sailing ability, safety, and a sensible layout of deck fitting and rigging. So I finally looked into the Sail Craft basket. The Comanche had all of these points ithad only one bad point - the price! But quality does not come cheap these days.
Paul Booker,
Euro-Litho,
Power House
Rowse Close,
Stratford,
London
E15 2HX
Brian Passmore, one of our oldest and best-known members in the Solent area, has sold Catapult (Iroq. 53) to Roderick Haling (present address unknown). He is sorry he will not be in circulation any more; he wanted to give Catapult to his son, but he said he wanted a monohulli! Catapult was therefore sold, and a monohull purchased. We will all be sorry not to see Brian around any more, but wish him all the best at The Dog and Duck, West Wittering!
NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS It is inevitable that owners eventually sell their Iroquois (hopefully to purchase a Comanche?!). It is sad to lose track of the Iroquois, and we would be very pleased to send a copy of the Newsletter to the new owner. When selling, please let us know the new owners name and address, and we will do the rest - dont you think that is a good idea?
ONE BOAT WHICH WILL NEVER HAVE A NEW OWNER: Iroq. No.7 SALOTE : Dr. J. R. F. Buchanan wrote cancelling his subscription for the sad reason that Salote became a total loss after being set alight by some of the local (Glasgow) vandals. He is not planning to replace her - I am sure we all extend our sympathy for his loss
FOOTNOTE: Sailcraft regret that they are not yet able to supply details of the centreboard fixing pins, as promised by Bob Osborne at the AGM. Keep looking in future issues!
CENTRAL WINCH PEDESTAL FOR IROQUOIS: When last contacted, Mr. J. J. Macklin of 56 Bridge Street, Christchurch, Dorset, has one which he continues to trip over in the garage. If any interested Iroquois owner would like it, please call in and take it away! Theres an offer!!!