Sailing on Baynes Sound

A short sail, and view of the boat steering itself on a recent afternoon. I owned this 36 footer to Brent Swain's design, a rather unique aft-cabin version with a flush deck over the aft cabin, then sold it to another fellow so that I could pursue finishing off my other boat. It was an interesting experience.

Note how the hull has been bashed up a lot, it survived intact a storm in Vancouver where it battered against a breakwater all night long, something which would have smashed a fibreglass boat. The bent railings are of no concern to the sailing of the boat, and the next owner simply had to buck off the bent sections and weld in new railings.

The mast was interesting: Steel tubing was used, as per Brent's plans, but the owner before me neglected to take Brent's advice to blast off the mill-scale. As a result, the paint came off in sheets as the paint had nothing to bite into. Although the mast looked rusted underneath, it was solid, and a quick blast then repaint will make it good as new.

I never found the steel mast any problem in sailing, it's a very stable boat that can carry a full press of sail in strong winds. The wall thickness of a steel mast can be thinner than that of aluminum, so actually it's not so heavy as one may think. Bicycles with steel frames are the same, they can be thinner walled than aluminum frames and even almost as light.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• sailing
• yacht
• sunset