leaving the Great White North ...

... to experience the "summer" in the Great White South. You may come with us by clicking here.

Hi5 will stay at home, our vicious guard dog Teenie will be on duty!

Something new: Walk around the boat on the trailer.

on raising the mast

This seems to be a matter of great concern to most f-boat sailors - and it should be. However, the risk of any accident or failure during this operation is greatly reduced by simply doing it twice at the same time. One needs to rig two independent sets of lines and blocks and use two winches to lift the mast. I have done this together with a friend as well as alone. Operating two self-tailing winches allows for this operation to be done without blood, sweat, or tears. Have a look at the sequence of events here. We are using inexpensive blocks (no snap-shackles, though) and genoa and spinnaker sheets.

There is no need for analysis of forces in the lines or on the blocks. It has been tried and tested many times. The magic word for success and safety is: redundancy.

waiting to pounce ...

Venanda Marina on Texada Island: resting after a long days sail, now a cool drink, and then up the hill to the terrific pub with marvelous food. Venanda is one of the few marinas on the way up to Desolation Sound. The warfinger and his wife are real originals, you don't want to miss meeting them. We always enjoyed the short trip from Dave Prichards Marina at Pender Habour to the northern Texada. This stretch is often rather windy, however, we were lucky again, as you can see.

the extent to which sailors will go ...

A heart-to-heart conversation with multihull evangelist John Green, of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, revealed that you can't always trust a sailor, particularly when it comes to the drive to win.
With just two in-shore course boats having rounded and therefore eligible to win, John Green pulled out all the stops in his bid to beat his multihull rival, Hi5. As the 17:30 time approached when the race would be called, John went so far as dropping his sails (yes, his sails) and installing the sail covers, in the hopes that the Hi5 skipper would fall for this ploy and turn on his engine before the deadline. But, a sailor himself and obviously savvy to the tricks, Sigi Stiemer was having none of it, and ended up winning the Rosedale Rock Race, with Sauterelle finishing in second place. Phew! We'd hate to see such underhanded attempts to win rewarded!
Source: John Green F9A "Sauterelle"

milestones ...

• launch Aug. 2005
• winter 2005/6: making furniture
• first extended cruise 2006
• winter 2006/7: more weight added to boat
• second extended cruise 2007
• nothing done over winter 2007/8
• spring 2008: waiting for weather to get better
• Swiftsure 2008 Rosedale Rock: 1st Place
• Around Bowen Island 2008: 1st Place Multihull
  

more pictures at: www.sigi.ca ; see our friends' F-33 "Grey Hound" ; all F-33s are here.

namegiving ceremony ...

celebrating sailing must be done with friends