With the recent buying and selling posts it came to mind to ask what skiffs or yachts we have owned over the years.........either yourself or in shared ownership - say 2-3 shared owners.
To kick it off my efforts since the early 70s have been............
Cherub, Javelin, Black Soo, Marauder 24, Hood 20, Compass 750, Santana 22, Cavalier 30, Santana 22, Farr 727, Compass 750.
So there are 2 repeats there for various reasons as life goes through the trials and tribulations.............the Hood 20 (hard chine ply) was the only one I didn't improve on ..............all the others I gave a full 1/2 life refurbishment including cabin pop-top on the Black Soo, cut down 2nd hand Etchells mast onto the 2nd Santana (bought as a hull as salvage) making a fractional rig with big mainsail and j24 jib overcoming the lee helm issues of the original design.
So difficult to nominate the best but the Farr 727 was such a great single handed day sailer and club racer it has to get the gong.................the mid-week single handed sails from Sydney's west harbour to Manly and back in breezes from soueast to noreast were sublime.
Look fwd to responses.
Built a Moth in 1969. Then sailed 2 OK Dinghies. Status 19, Endeavour 24. Two more OK dinghies. NS14. Solo. Flying 11, Two Finns, Flying Dutchman, M&W 26 quarter tonner, Currawong 30, Corsair. Sometimes owned several at the same time. Bought the Flying 11, NS14 to sail with the kids! Corsair for the grandkids.
3 Sabots, 4 x 12 foot skiffs (built 3 of them), Bluebird, Cherub, Mutiny 28 and now a Cavalier 28. Started sailing when 5 yo on the Parramatta River.
Sailed the Sabots at Abbotsford 12 Foot Flying Squadron, 12 foot skiffs at Abbotsford and The Squadron Sydney Harbour. Cherub and Mutiny on Jervis Bay and now back on Sydney Harbour/Parramatta River with the Cav.
Javelin, Spencer Adrian 24, Peterson 42, Windrush Wildfire23, VDS 34, S&S 34 and best of all now a Lotus 9.2.
Olympic 40 then Windrush 12 followed closely by a Nacra 5.4 (most fun I've had sailing) and now S&S 39. That last one saved my head from a big downhill spiral and kept me busy with the restoration that's still going. Very enjoyable.
Cherub, Fireball, Redwitch , Deben 4 tonner. Fireball went like the clappers and had beautiful manners, Redwitch was slow and couldn't point, Deben is old and slow but proceedes in style. Rebuilt the cherub for my son. It was ancient but taught him to sail a little race car. He won the Tornado worlds a couple of years ago. (He kicked me out of his boat yonks ago.too old and slow LOL!). Rebuilt the Deben and saved her from a slow death. Taught me gaff sailing and is the boat I always wanted. Can't get better than that.
Heron, Cherub, 18ft Skiff, Supersonic 27, Chieftain 38, NS14, 29er, Bavaria 34, Formula Fifteen Skiff (see link to class Facebook page which you don't need to be a member of Facebook to view) www.facebook.com/Australian15footers/
My father built the three Herons I sailed as a sub teen. Youngest skipper in the Nationals in '67. They kept telling me I had to go and get the skipper to sign on for each race.
Cherubs were a great class to be in during the 70's. I built my second one from scratch and rebuilt two others.
My 18ft skiffs were sailed with the Double Bay fleet, but were old and cheap, so never ear the front.
Sailing a 29er as a middle aged adult was fun, but they had their limitations when my son's sporting ambitions went in a different direction and I had to sail in a fast flowing river (where they didn't have the power to go out and play in the tide until the wind was over 12 knots - running the shallows with the gennaker goosewinged and board up in among the NS14's was the pits).
For a cruising yacht still using it's original decade old cruising sails, the Bavaria was a remarkably slippery boat, often able to run down and beat similar style boats up to 10 ft longer.
But by far and away my favorite has been the twin wire Formula Fifteen skiffs. I've learnt more about how to sail well in the decade I've sailed them then I'd learnt the 40 years that proceeded that. I'm in my mid sixties, and still loving it. Partly because they're a small class with absolutely top notch sailors, so there's a constant chance of learning and testing yourself against the best.
Well done all, a great array of boats there, sailing is the winner.
Now to just get back out on the water racing..........within 2-3 weeks surely?
Leaving out the dinghies and Etchells over the years you get:
Holland 25, Dubois 31, Van de Stadt 43, Sydney 38.
Got to say right now the favourite is the Sydney 38.
Easy to handle, fast and rewards good sailing.
Great sail today!
Two up, no 4 and trysail and a few rums!
I'm a boataholic - The correct number of boats is +1.
The yachts I currently own* & owned...also I like projects
(1972 start)Pelican, bullet, cherub, Farr 727, Hobie 14 (26 year gap no yachts)- From 2016 onwards - Farr 727*, Etchell (4 - still 1*) M27, Masrm 720, Soling, Cole 26, S80 (2)- rebuilding 1*), Whiting 26*(rebuild), Magic 25*
The Farr 727 is my favorite all round yacht - the two I've owned were sisterships(with a 36year gap in ownership) - Although I like really like sailing the Magic 25 and the Etchells
I limit the size of yacht by trailable length.
