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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsMy sailboat:
My first and only sailboat was a Snark.
Plastic covered styrofoam.
Lateen rig.
It was about 10' long so I called it my 3 meter yacht.
I could pick it up with one hand.
It was bright yellow, so naturally I named it the Chiquita B. for its banana-like hue.
Since I was literally teaching myself to sail with the book in one hand and the main sheet in the other, I put the name on the stern upside down.
I figured that with me at the helm the boat would be spending more time bottom up than right side up.
trof
(54,256 posts)trof
(54,256 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)but I unrecced a bit.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)It looked exactly like this one. Gaff rigged with a tanbark sail.
My little Beetle Cat originally sailed the waters around Block Island.
I didn't know how to sail when I bought the boat in Staten Island. I learned quickly and sailed in Raritan Bay most times. I spent a rather scared afternoon when I headed out under the VerrazanoNarrows Bridge and got caught in the currents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle_Cat
The Beetle Cat is named after its designer, John Beetle, who drew the lines for the pleasure boat in 1920. The 12-foot-long (3.7 m), gaff-rigged boat's design was based on the 20-to-30-foot (6.1 to 9.1 m) catboats used for shallow water fishing along Cape Cod. With interest in the Beetle Cat and the demise of the whaling industry, the family shifted production to the Beetle Cat boat.
trof
(54,256 posts)adj. Nautical Responding easily; maneuverable. Used of a vessel.
Pronounced 'yar'.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)I was young (29) and fearless.
Out of all the adventures (and they were numerous) messing around in boats was the best time of my life!
Squinch
(51,083 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(149,791 posts)Aw, that is one cute little boat, and good for you learning how to sail it by yourself. I would be terrified!
Thanks for sharing the picture.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,976 posts)kwassa
(23,340 posts)My cousin and I, at that point experts at the Sunfish, managed to sink this unsinkable boat. Not many can make that claim.
pfitz59
(10,416 posts)We had a snark, a sabot and a 26' Ericson. the snark was the funnest.
mike dub
(541 posts)Nothing like a 'dinghy', as I call the 3 & 4 meter daysailers. I learned on a Sunfish, but my father later owned a Laser, and, on the occasion when an Aussie gentleman was visiting my office, and saw a photo of the Laser on my desk, he asked: Is that your Yacht?? It was fun to hear Yacht used to describe a small sailboat! I'd often thought of Yacht as a massive diesel powered powerboat/Stinkpot. Although we now own a much larger keelboat, I still think little daysailers = some of the most care-free sailing around.
Brother Buzz
(36,498 posts)I mastered that boat as a ten-year-old and redefine white knuckle sailing when I discovered I could scream around with the gunwale actually BELOW the water. I went on to own half a dozen other boats until I discovered it was cheaper to sail on other people's boats.
I said goodbye to the old girl when my mom sold her house. I would have taken her away, but she was zen with two redwood trees and wouldn't budge; two trees I planted about the same time that boat entered my life.