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Sailing, evolved and very nearly perfected..

I have a sailboat.. it has been in our family for decades and in that time it has been a work in progress and it has progressed....... I am both experienced and skilled in how to sail, well and quickly. I used to race at a very high level, I still sail like I did when I raced, the right sails up, sails always well set and trimmed. Skilled sailors often compliment me on my sail trim.. I am also pretty good at optimizing the boat and its systems, making everything work well and making the boat modern and relevant despite it being nearly fifty years old. It has been constantly maintained and regularly upgraded... Old boat a lot of new systems and technology and loads of features... We USE our boat regularly and frequently.. I keep critical spare parts to a level that most boat owners never get to.. a spare engine, mast, sails, electronics, pumps and kits, refrigeration, power management, most key systems have back ups in inventory to prevent down time.. I like day sailing - I do not like cruising as I have found that cruising generally involves a lot of motoring and I prefer to sail rather than motor on a sailboat.. I am also a member of a good club and it is just more convenient and comfortable to come back to our dock before dinner and prepare a meal on board... I have a shore locker with extra freezer and refrigeration in it.. as our refrigerated storage space on board is limited. When we go out into the lake - we head way out into the lake and strangely very few boats head out as far as we do.. A days' sailing will typically clock 20-30 nautical miles round trip.. I prepare meals on board, I clean up after meals. The galley has a full function oven, an induction cook top, a dishwasher, tempered glass dishes, the cups and mugs are stainless, refrigeration, running water.. for power we have solar panels and an inverter... also an external regulator on the engine alternator that is very effective at charging the battery..

Even with family and others on the boat I typically sail it by myself - it is set up to do so easily... the deck layout is highly efficient, I have an auto pilot with wireless remote, the VHF radio has a remote station, I have an electric winch handle which I only use to hoist the main sail.. Our boat is stiff and quick, faster than boats ten feet longer in general.. it is a classic performance design... There are all sorts of comforts, heating, air conditioning, electric marine head, running water, LED lighting everywhere including all lockers and mechanical spaces... solid hardwood cabin sole, thick wool carpets... We prefer proper bedding on our bunks, with throw pillows... great sails and lots of them... anything that has not functioned well has been refined to work superlatively.. the boat is pretty close to perfection... it has custom features I invented... a mast head wide angle camera for collision avoidance... it feeds a flat screen TV that is seen from the helm while sailing - it covers all blind spots.. It truly is a great boat.. how good is it? My measure is that of the close to 400 boats at our club, I would not trade EVEN with one of them.

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Carazaa · F
My Dad had a vagabond 47, and I had a Catalina 22, so fun!
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
@Carazaa Where did you sail? Our boat is in Lake Ontario which helps with longevity and maintenance as it is fresh water... I am just getting the boat ready to haul it now.. and hope to launch it in March again.. I am not much of a fan of winter...
Carazaa · F
@pdqsailor1 We've sailed in Bohuslän, Sweden, in San Diego, California, and in San Francisco Bay. I'll show you a picture of Bohuslän.
Carazaa · F
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
@Carazaa Gorgeous... what a lovely slice of heaven..
Carazaa · F
@pdqsailor1 I think so too. I am sad that I am not living there. But I will go next summer. People in Scandinavia are really into boats, and all my family and friends there have boats. The water is warm to swim in because of the gulf stream.
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
@Carazaa I was trying to guess where in the world this might be.. it resembled a bit of Nova Scotia / eastern Canada were there are fishing villages.. with pretty homes like the one in your photograph and rocky shorelines.. It really is a beautiful spot.
Carazaa · F
@pdqsailor1 Its Bohus-Malmon my home island
Carazaa · F
@pdqsailor1
That's my grandmas house before she passed away on the other side
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
@Carazaa She lived in heaven on earth before graduating.. those fishing skiffs that honest rustic look is enchantingly perfect - practical people using what they have to make life good...
Carazaa · F
@pdqsailor1 Yes, and it used to be cheap 🙁
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
@Carazaa Let me presume that the real estate in rustic rural Scandinavia is extremely costly now? To replace our 48 year old boat with a new one of comparable quality would be about ten times what this boat cost us.. I am having my spare mast re-rigged and one repair done.. I asked what the all in price would be today to purchase that mast and boom rigged new... more than my Dad paid for the boat.. Everything I look at be it property or a car or a boat is on the order of ten times as much as it was forty to fifty years ago... The price inflation / the decrease in purchasing power of it - is insane only very few people make ten times what they used to on an after tax basis.. Yes it is depressing - I agree with you...
Carazaa · F
@pdqsailor1 Yes the ocean property is very expensive now.

Boats have lots of upkeep but its worth it if you love to sail. You probably doc it on land in the winter? My cousin has a steel boat and I think they leave it in the ocean in the winter.