Darryl J Barrett Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 You do get to a certain stage in life (old) when that is no longer a valid reason! You just go and buy it because you like and want one. Use it while you can, that is if your future life expectancy is less that your past, then why bother about the problems of selling it just enjoy and let the next of kin sort out the resail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 I like your thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 Sail Melbourne Olympic Class Regatta, Sandringham, renown for its fresh wind and big steep waves, we have experienced winds in excess of 25 knots and waves upto 3mtrs from top to bottom. This year on the last day, whilst racing was scheduled, the Tornado Class sailors all approached the race commitee and declared their intentions not to race due to the strong winds even though the top 3 positions were undecided. This took alot of balls for those cometitors who were all keen to win. After 5 days of these conditions, enough was enough. We all enjoyed our experience and will do it again. It was a real challenge surfing down these waves in this wind with the kite up. Also last year on day one of Sail Sydney we were geeted with fresh conditions once again. The wind was in the high 20s and gusting over 30 in the first race. Macca set the kite at the first mark only to cartwheel and damage his borrowed boat. David Hart and others elected not to race with the kite and we were the only mad dogs to fly it. In the second race it freshen to average 36 knots with gusts off 42 recorded. Once again we flew the kite and ran VERY deep with crew on the wire. Should have seen the faces of the mono sailors swimming as we weaved our way between their turtled boats. Eventually conditions got the better of us and during a gybe, put it in the drink resulting in damage that forced us out of the days racing. Even though race 3 was scheduled, no Tornado fronted for the race. The race commitee never canceled the race and declared a 3rd race for all even though many boats in all classes retired. I suspect they were taking their wind readings in the river where some of the smaller classes were racing and not from the Airport on the Bay. When approached about the serverity of the conditions, they claimed it was not over 25 knots. Airport recording for that day and time - 36 knots average, max gust 42 knots!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berny Posted May 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 Originally posted by Darryl J Barrett: You do get to a certain stage in life (old) when that is no longer a valid reason! You just go and buy it because you like and want one. Use it while you can, that is if your future life expectancy is less that your past, then why bother about the problems of selling it just enjoy and let the next of kin sort out the resale. I have to tell you that I've had the best time sailing the 430. I really liked sailing my other boats but the 430 is such a lovely boat to sail and even though there's not been a lot of serious competition I still enjoy smokin' the other 14's and the odd 16 on occasion. I've had some excellent dices with some of the sloops including Gary's foam Windy and the odd Mozzie. Gees there's almost two boats on the water and Chris Cairns has offered to sail one of them at Forster in Oct. so it could be the start of something. On the other hand, a 430 could be a decent investment. You'd get a shirtload of fun to start with, be a part of the new beginning of 14ft cat racing and if we do it right the boats will possibly not loose a heap, and anyway, you'd blow more than 10g's on a new car and not blink an eye. Emmessee, why not wait till Forster. Bring your Mari and we'll try to get a good fleet of 14's happening as a start to F14 and the four round GP. It's a great place to sail and it'd be a bloody hoot with plenty of divisions and trophies up for grabs and if we can put a dozen or more boats on the water I'd get some concessions from the organisers to make sure we are looked after properly. What do you say? In the meanwhile we can get some 14's to Tuggerah in July to kick it off. It'd be a good start and we could see what happens from there. Bern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl J Barrett Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 It's good to see your enthusiasm coming back Berny, no point in looking on the dark side, plenty of time for that after the last big sleep, While we're here why not enjoy as much as we can? (unless your a politician and then I hope they all rot in H--L) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mal gray Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Berny, It very much depends at what level you are sailing when deciding to start or return to the beach. Ability also is the other determining factor.As I said, a club race is not worth busting a gut over, but a big regatta, states, nationals or worlds is a good enough reason for me to have a go. When I sail with my daughter, I pull the pin early but if I am with an experienced crew, i will push to the limit. I never learnt to sail in strong wind by sitting on the beach. When I began sailing, all boats were heavy and underpowered. We didn't think about going for a sail until there were whitecaps. One of my boats needed 15kts to fly a hull. The introduction of more powerful designs combined with that dreadedfear of litigation threatens to erode Australia's reputation for producing strong wind sailors because we all head for home when the wind gets to 20kts. The Europeans are used to sailing in strong winds and do it without fuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl J Barrett Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 I've heard that when you sail with your daughter Mal, it's the time that there are "real" sailing brains on board (not to mention that the boat looks a whole lot more attractive) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 I have sailed Forster many times (never on a maricat), but I think that I have other plans this October Long weekend (well my fiancee has other plans for me). As for June, I am not sure, but will make an effort if I have no other committments. Long weekends are hard for me with my daughter and the need to visit the farm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Bern, Why do you not get a manufacturer here to have a look at your boat along with some of the seasoned sailors to tweek it a little and look at ways of building it at a cost that will attract sailors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berny Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Originally posted by Emmessee: Bern, Why do you not get a manufacturer here to have a look at your boat along with some of the seasoned sailors to tweek it a little and look at ways of building it at a cost that will attract sailors. I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by 'tweek' Matt. The only way it could be made less expensive, if I understand you correctly, would be to make it heavier using a standard polyester/glass lay-up. It would then end up weighing about the same as a Maricat which would just about defeat the purpose of the exercise IMHO and it wouldn't be a whole lot cheaper anyway, maybe a $1/2000, which would mean it'd sell for about 8.5/9k, still a decent gob of dough compared with a SECOND HAND Mari. I already build the aluminium beams, mast and boom, and do the rigging myself (I'm an engineer) so there's no savings there. The price I wanted in '99, to make any sort of decent profit to help offset my $100,000+ investment was $11,000. Now three years on I'd be prepared to build a couple for around 10k, just to get the thing going but that would be stretching my already humble existence as much as I would want to. Frankly I've given up once trying to provide a decent 14ft boat and quality 14ft racing for the cat fraternity and it's only this year that I've actually started sailing again after a two season lay off during which time the boat sat in my driveway under a tarp with the all the moulds and if it had all disappeared overnight it wouldn't have bothered me in the least such was the frustration I experienced trying to market it back then. I'm not sure I even want to go through the hassles of putting it back into production again considering the drama of the first effort. I know I'll have major problems with people trying to convince them to buy it and then to get a good quality boat on the water relying on suppliers will no doubt be painful. I went through the experience once and when it all died in the a$$ it hurt and I'm not keen to do it all again particularly if people aren't interested and by the feel of things here, it seems not a lot has changed. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's simply a fact of life and I'm fully prepared to continue to sail the one I have just for the fun of it and let that be the end of it right there, no problem, that's life. Bern [This message has been edited by berny (edited 16 May 2004).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inland_Sailor Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Berny Further to your 430, were you aware that AHPC,the Tiapan bulders were also down the track in developing a 4.3 version of the tiapan? It to seems to have slipped off the radar screen. Do you know if your 430 cat was of a like to the 4.3 tia? Have you/ were you in contact with AHPC in developing your cat? Is a "marriage of convenience" possible!!!!?? Maybe we could see the 430 happen. [im still really interested in the concept] I.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl J Barrett Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 AHPC's 4.3 was a one off, they used a layup from their other moulds, and sold the only one to a woman, I was at Bendigo a few weeks ago and they had no plans for a 4.3 at that time. The main influence with the 4.3 was the almost complete lack of commercial interest shown in it it the time, But if they could see a market there, I'm sure that they could easily be convinced to release a new 4.3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest noddy Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Can we end this convensation as my finger is getting tired to scroll down. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berny Posted May 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Yes as Darryl said it never got past the prototype stage and really, like the glider built by Bill Nicole/Ian Marcovitch around the same time it was quite a small 14ftr more suited to very young entry level sailors. Bill and Ian built a few Gliders and I think they still own them all . Bern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berny Posted May 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 FWIW I've just been speaking to Pete Skews and he assures me he'd be very interested in building hulls for me if required. He built the first two boats from my moulds and does a pretty decent job. Bern [This message has been edited by berny (edited 16 May 2004).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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