Back in April I did a really cool video shoot with John Burnham, and Lenny Rudow. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale then drove to Palm Beach and met up with the SeaKeeper sales and install teams. Now if you do not know what SeaKeeper is, well neither did I until we met with the engineers at Palm Beach Boat Show in March. As for the videos we shot they are still not up on SeaKeeper site or boats.com. I think they are waiting for Boat Show season. Here is a quick overview of the SeaKeeper: SeaKeeper installs big gyros on…

I mentioned in an April 22 blog I purchased a new CarbonArt windsurfing board. The new board arrived from New Zealand. The packing was simple and very well executed. Well here it is, and I still have not sailed it. The wind for windsurfing has been better suited to my CarbonArt SL121 (stands for Slalom 121 liters volume) When I ordered the CarbonArt from James in New Zealand I also went for a new skeg on the SL121 and the same skeg but smaller for the new FR116 (Free Ride 116 liters). Might not seem like a lot of volume…

Heat of summer is here and I love it. Water temp is up, windsurfing and SUP are great, and I am close to my next boat purchase. On top of that John and Joyce on their Olson 30 came by for a visit. Hard not to be off sailing with John this summer but we have plenty of fun on the water lined up. The rest of the rebuild pictures for the Quest 30 are up. I left out some of the small details and just kept the major jobs. She was 90% finished when I sold her and a…

After selling Samba hull #1 for business reasons I was able to look for another boat a year later. While looking I came across another Quest 30. Do I really want a third Quest 30? The boats are pretty fun to sail and have a gift rating by 20 sec a mile, but are not built very well. But the price was right, and I bit the bullet and dove in headfirst and went for it. This is the last Quest I will own. First summer I added the NKE gyro pilot with basic instruments and just went sailing. Yup,…

It is always fun when I pull out the picture archives and look back through the years of adventures.  The year was 1980 and I was working at Westbrook Harbor Marina with the owners son Brian Riley.  We lived there making work and play the same thing. Laser sailing, 505 sailing, boatyard work and rebuilds.  Next to us was Colvin Yachts. I had worked for Gene Colvin in the 1970’s teaching sailing.  Gene was selling the hot new Capri 25 and had one sold locally.  I took it for a sail, and before I left the channel with main and…

I found this video while checking my archives.  It was taken the day/night I sailed Samba my Quest 30 in the 2009 Solo/Twin race singlehanded.  Great race, and I encourage everyone in the Southern New England area to give it a try, either single or double handed.  Enjoy the great group of people and boats while you sail on a really fun overnight course. As you will see in the video I was not told about the course change and sailed the course that was posted when I went to the skippers meeting.  Both my fault and RC poor communications…

The happiest a boat owner will be is the day they buy a boat, and the day they sell a boat. Sorry but I have to disagree with that statement. All the love and care I put into boats and the special times I spend sailing/racing them singlehanded, they are more like my kids. Well, what I think having kids would be like, we do not have kids, Carol has me instead. Of course I am very happy with a boat when I buy it. Absolutely love the owning/sailing experiences, even the tough workweeks when doing a major repairs or…

  The old lady is leaving for the West Coast Yup I sold Kincora. “What”, you must be saying. Well let me give you the three reasons and a little background first. First let me say the Express 27 set up the way I have Kincora set up is the best sailing singlehanded boat I have owned. Not the fastest I have owned, but the best sailing in conditions from 0-35 kts true. That is based on the 3500 miles I put on her. She sails with ease in all conditions, Carl Schumacher nailed it on the 27. They are…