| Traditional and modern hulls and keels |
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In France the discussion about short versus long keel has been over for a long time. Actually it never really existed. The French started sailing as an everyman's sport rather late, after Tabarly, Moitessier and and the advent of mass GRP production. Unhindered by traditions coming out of specific materials and other considerations they went straight away to the really important questions:
When I was in England they came across the channel in 6 or 7 meter Aluminum boats, no engines, sailing right into the marinas in spite of fierce tidal currents, wind and rain.. They were noisy, fun, always one crew per meter overall plus one spare, wet sleeping bags all over the rigging and empty wine bottles on the pontoon. The British watched them in awe, envied the cheap wine and disappeared in their doghouses to start the diesel for the heating. I felt very British then. The ideal boat for me was something like a cross of a Spray, A Colin Archer with a generous sprinkling of Eventide, Westerly, Folkeboat and a German Leopard Tank. Later, when I delivered the Josua KOTIK to Madeira I actually had the opportunity to sail a boat like that, round chine double ender Steel, Marconi Ketch and tons and tons and tons of everything. The boat was quite fast with the wind on the beam in a breeze, and very stable. Downwind it was terrible, rolling like a noodle in a german Eintopf, the mizzen either trying to broach her or covering the more effective sails forward. The owners wife was 1 meter 56 and could not lift the mooring lines. They had sold everything, bought the boat and decided to live aboard with kids and dog, without any prior experience. I guess they got lucky, because the kids liked it, the dog accepted the fact that he had to piss against the mizzen when at sea, and the first trip to Madeira went well enough that they were not definitely disgusted. Last I heard of them was that they made it on their own across to Canada. But they sure would have been happier with a more modern construction - but is that what they would say themselves today?. Still - I just loved the boat, enjoyed the trip and felt very safe all the time, so why not? Years later I had the opportunity to sail on what was then the ultimate of French unbritishness: Isabelle Autissier took me for an afternoon out on the 60' Golden Globe thing she had inherited from Van Den Heede and was going to race around the world. The boat was low like a surfboard, very light, practically no accommodation, but sailing was a dream. Give me a boat like that and I would happily live on the seas forever, with nothing but long exciting surfs and a stupid grin on my face. BTW, Isabelle Autissier was also an amateur builder once. Next to one of the hulls I built in La Rochelle's Ville en Bois, she was building a 10 m steel hull with her friend. They finished at about the same time and crossed the Atlantic. After they separated, Isabelle came back to France and started racing single handed, first on the 6.50 mini-transat, later on some of most extreme 60 footers. She has done several round the world races, and although always very well placed, often leading ad mid-race, she had to be lifted of broken, upturned hulls, abandon for rudder or rig failure etc and never really managed to fished in positions that she could have expected. Still, she is one great lady in sailing ;-) What I found is that I will get the sort of behavior and movement I like best with wide modern hulls, high prismatic coefficient, moderate fin/skeg configurations and moderate displacement, something like 7.5 tons for an 11 m hull. Too heavy and all gear gets heavier and more expensive (Don't forget that you will pay your boat mostly by WEIGHT!). Too light and the movements get a bit rattled. For this, steel fits very nicely. But again, find your own thing. Try it out. Try what you seem to like and then try the opposite. Don't take decisions on other peoples preconceived ideas. |
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