A whole bunch of strategies for lightweighting a plywood stitch and glue canoe. In this case a Storer Boat Plans Eureka Canoe. Standard build is around 44lbs. Ten lbs were saved to bring the weight down to 34 or 15k
Planing and downwind speed is a practiced skill. But the 8ft OzRacer and the 12ft OzGoose have strikingly different behavour. Goose planes easily in light wind. OzRacer needs a lot more wind and jumps up and down in speed.
Sailing too fast upwind in a non trapeze dinghy means you lose a lot of pointing angle. So what is the correct compromise between high and slow and low and fast. Explanation involves the increase of drag around hullspeed.
A good centreboard or leeboard is as important as a good sail. We use a simple templates for quick and accurate shaping. Making without the templates … several were feeling that they couldn’t make them to a greater accuracy than 1/16th of an inch.
How introductory boats that were intended to be cheap have become crazy expensive. And forced sailing to contract. Hundreds of sailing clubs have disappeared in Australia alone. Sailing is now semi professional and elitist again.
Racing shows that what you know is what you know. It doesn’t matter if the boat is less than perfect. So where is it best to put in the effort to improve results. Boat setup, knowing how to adjust for different wind conditions, practicing skills until they become automatic, sailing as much as possible … and teaching others.
A guide for choosing cheaper alternative rigs. Balance Lug, Standing Lug, Sprit, Lateen and more. These rigs typically save a lot of money over conventional sailplans and set up right offer much the same performance. They respond to the same principles. Are boomless sails OK?
Three times in my life I have gone sailing in small boats without a lifejacket. Two times the boat sank. One time I capsized and found that swimming and trying to get back on the boat is very difficult in FRESH water. Also a hint about how to get kids to wear their lifejackets … wear YOURS!
If you want to go sailing what is the best way to get a sailing dinghy? Maybe build but most will buy a sail boat secondhand. How do you pick a good used sailing boat? We show you how.
IMPACT! How hard is your boat going to hit something. For most of us it won’t be very hard at all. So it is better to save weight. For expeditioners they may require a lot more from their boats. What are the strategies one can think about?
Racing Cancelled. Videos of some high wind and high speed thrills with the simple and cheap to build Oz Goose sail boats. They might look like a box but they they are quick.
The Oz Goose is multipurpose. It can hit speeds of 13 knots, is an excellent trainer and teaching boat with three adults aboard or a family sailer with two adults and a bunch of kids. It is lighter than a Laser Dinghy and a fraction of the cost
Opinions about capsize and recovery are worthless. “Safe Boats” do no exist unless the crew practices capsize. We cover the design points.
Sailing lessons 1 1/2 hours south of Manila on beautiful, natural Taal Lake. Boats, SUP boards and instruction, food, accommodation and Volcano and Eco Knowledge tours.
The OzRacers are steadily growing in numbers in Hungary. This increases the chance of meetups like this occasionon Lake Valence. Two very experienced sailors participate and enjoy the boats.
A boat for an electric trolling motor will go very fast with 2hp. I suggest that smaller power might be good for a cargo canoe, motor canoe. Not to mention the gas saved!
A camping get together for Goat Island Skiffs, other storerboats and friends and fans and other boats. Three or Four days camping by the water with friendly people. Interesting in building a Goat or actually building one … all are very welcome.
Video – Ian Henehan worked out this 12ft Goose Version and launched it into 20 knot winds. You can check the video to see that this is probably correct. It certainly is, despite the poor camera angle which changes a few times the boat is fairly smoking along
How to reef a Balance Lugsail. A neat trick of using shock cord (bungee) for the intermediate ties makes it much faster to tie in a reef as well as remove the reef after. it also minimises the risk of damaging the sail if something major breaks elsewhere.
Peter’s Blog about building two quick canoes. Includes a couple of camping/touring photoessays. The Quick canoe is very quick to build.