cruising down east

[Marshhawk]

hi. trying to post this again. to check out pics of my cruise down east maine go to: s_v_lefty.tripod.com

[K.C. Walker]

Okay, you're living a fantasy life that was totally fun to check out. Thanks for posting!

You get totally beautiful pictures. I never thought of cruising my DS up your way. My wife's stepdad lived in Buck's Harbor for a number of years and they did a lot of sailing. What a beautiful area.

You've got me thinking.

KC

[Peterw11]

What a great site!

I'm glad you posted the address and I'm very glad I clicked on it.

It kept me up 'til close to 2AM reading of your exploits. On a work night.

I, too, am familiar with the area, although we spent quite a few summers south of your location.

We were on Georgetown Island, just off Rte 1 at the Bath Bridge. I've never sailed the area, but it sure looks tempting. I don't know if I'm that adventuresome anymore.

Seeing that you're now a Catalina 22 owner, I'm sure you've hit Chip Ford's site. He's taken his 22 up and down the New England coastline a number of times and his trip diaries are quite complete and enormously interesting.

In fact, reading his site is what got me back into sailing. I was looking at Catalina 22's until I settled on the DS, as it seemed to better fit my plan for an easily trailerable, quickly set up and taken down type of vessel.

[Marshhawk]

the trip was like a little personal triumph for me, since my cruising has been seriously cut back the last 7 years. mostly though it is a huge triumph for the boat as a cruiser, at least for me. i am so in love with this boat now. i really feel that i could do anything i used to do in keel boats, in this boat. if you look at how they use wayfarers, the daysailer could do all that. i am now convinced this is the way i want to sail, and this is the boat i want to sail in. plus i lost 10 lbs, which i needed to do. the catalina i am using for a shed for now, maybe a family camper later. have to rent a truck, i blew mine up towing it home. the ds tows fine with my wifes subaru. this daysailer is a lot more boat than people think it is.

[K.C. Walker]

I too stayed up a couple of hours later than I had intended. I love the way you've put your log together with photos. For a sailor it's a very fun read.

If you ever get a chance to write about your installation of the bunk, how it has worked out and pictures, I know I would be fascinated and I would expect others would, as well. Actually, the camping set up including the boom tent would be a very interesting log entry.

For that matter, as you finish up your rowing seat, that would be a fascinating log entry, as well. I've heard of someone to put a sliding seat on top of the centerboard trunk. I don't know how that worked out, though.

And then there's that "cooking aboard". I'm thinking, "how is he doing that".

Your thoughts on naming the boat Marsh Hawk I thoroughly enjoyed.

Congratulations on your accomplishment! Yes, I'm sure a lot of us could stand to lose 10 pounds.

Again, a fun read and thanks!

KC

[seandwyer]

Hi,

As others have noted - I really enjoyed reading everything on your site. Very enjoyable! There seems to be a commonality of interest with respect to sailing and guitar playing - me being another one of "those" people.

So - I guess I'm a little confused as to which boat you are presently using the most: Marsh Hawk or Yankee?

One of the last things you said was that the DS is a lot more boat than people think it is. Could you tell me what you mean by that and considering the other larger boats you've sailed, how you came to choose a DS over all the other options in the same size range etc.

Thanks again for your post - truly very enjoyable!

[Peterw11]

I play as well.

Actually, I'm a better sailor than a guitar player, and I'm not much to write home about as a sailor.

Now, if any of you guys also own a Miata, then that'd be really freaky.

[K.C. Walker]

Well, I don't own a Miata, but I've always thought they looked like fun. My last real sports car was a Volvo 1800E and that's been a while.

Maybe it's the portability of guitars and daysailers?

[Peterw11]

A nice side benefit to Marshhawk's great little site was this link he had listed. It's another site which has a ton of first person stories about sailing.

One of the truly interesting things I found while reading Marshhawk's trip diaries was how "salty" the guy is. Just get on the boat and sail, doesn't matter where, or the size of the boat, or the weather conditions. Truly a man with sailing in his blood.

Would that we all be so dedicated, and so brave.

Anyway, this site will take you to dozens of similar tales. A great site to hit when the weather or the season keeps the rest of us off the water.
The few I've read are hugely entertaining. Of course, I've already bookmarked it.

The site is http://cruisenews.net/db/voyagelogs.php

Although the boats in the stories vary in size, I looked, specifically for stories written by small boat sailors, something I could more easily identify with.

I recommend the accounts written by the West Wight Potter skippers, a few of whom have done transoceanic voyages.

How about Mexico to Hawaii in a 14 footer? Singlehanded.

Those guys are nuts.

[seandwyer]

It may just be portability at that! After all, Miata's look rather portable, don't they? I hate to say it, but if I had the money I'd have bought one last month! And in fact, I've even considered one as my next car - but I don't think it would be the best at towing the DS!

PeterW11 - I read a few of those stories from the West Wight Potter section - the guy that got stuck out in Lake MI was a real thriller eh? Stories like that fascinate me, frighten me and entice me simultaneously. To be honest, I'm afraid of the water - but the fear is somehow one of the very things that attracts me as well - So I think I understand what it is these guys are after - albeit I'm not quite ready to join he club!

[Marshhawk]

the logs i like best are the wayfarers. i forget if the link is on the u.s. or international site. those people know how to use a 16 foot open boat. for pics i like openboat.co.nz i think the ds is capable of great things. uffa fox was a great proponent of the "vigorous life" like teddy rosevelt. a man who would sail a canoe across the english channel would design a boat with the idea that it would be used in this way. that is what i mean, "more boat than people think." its twice the boat a wayfarer is (by weight anyway) and just look what they do.

[seandwyer]

But what of construction? Does anyone have any idea how a DS1 compares structurally to a wayfarer, especially in terms of rigidity and hull integrity? I've often wondered why so many adventurers are attracted to the Wayfarer but not nearly as much to any other boat of similar size - not to mention that I keep looking on the web for adventurers inclined to venture into the unknown in the cockpit of a DS - but I don't seem to be coming up with much. What is is about the Wayfarer? Is it nothing more than someone like Frank Dye having a little notoriety so every other person with similar inclinations uses the same boat - wanting to follow in the footsteps - wanting to join the club? I'd think if you were a true adventurer, the last thing you would want to do is follow anyone's foot steps!

I'm very interested in finding out how the two boats compare.

[Marshhawk]

i think its marketing. i came to the same question with the catalina 22: why has nobody done anything? i asked the guy at small craft advisor magazine, and he said people that wanted notoriety would go smaller because theres nothing you can do with a 22 foot boat that will impress anyone. i think its because they were both sold as a safe middle class day boats, and thats who bought them. the british have an altogether different idea about what a middle class guy does on his holiday. he rules the waves. as for strength, i dont know but the ds and the wf are the same size and the ds is twice as heavy. i have never heard of weak hulls being a ds problem. my impression after sailing mine is the opposite: its a brick house. might build a cruising rig though...

[seandwyer]

One difference I have noticed in hull construction is that the WF is sort of hard chined which may account for a slight amount of increased stability over the smooth hull of the DS. I've heard that a hard chined hull is more stable, and slower than one that is not, but I've never experienced the difference. It seems like it would be minuscule at best - anyone have experience that can chime in on chines in s similarly sized boat to the DS?

[jeadstx]

I find this discussion on long range cruising with a Daysailer very interesting. I have a DS2 (rather than a DS1) and would like to sail the Texas 200 in the 2010 event. It is a 200 mile (5 day) camping/cruising sail along the Texas intracoastal waterway from Port Mansfield to Magnolia Beach on Matagorda Bay. If someone is looking for "an adventure" for thier Daysailer, the Tx200 may be something to consider. Personally I'd like to see other Daysailers out there.

John