[C38] Stiletto 27s are rock stars where the wind is light

Wed Jun 8 11:32:39 EDT 2011

Don The last day i sailed the 27 I was solo behind the Cleveland break wall
wind out of the north but flat water I was flying a hull and doing over 25
knots when I stopped looking to busy keeping the boat upright. What a rush!
The only boat more hairy then the 27 in big air was the 23 a pure death
machine would love to have one here on the Chesapeake. You couldn't build a
Nomex boat today nobody could afford it.
Bill

On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 11:12 AM, Don Strong <drstrong at ucdavis.edu> wrote:

>  Hey Bill there are two of us! For old times sake I check out the S27
> websites every once in a while. I have kept a few mementos, such as those
> funky jib sheet blocks that we replaced with tiny winches for the big
> gennaker adapted from an Irwin 30. It worked sooo well in the angels' breath
> that passes for wind on the Gulf. When the winds blow, sailing an S27 is
> stark terror.
>     We towed it from Florida to California. We did just one day in the
> Stiletto27 with "normal" winds on San Francisco Bay and two young kids,
> GAWD!  The look in my wife's eye "never again, if we happen to live." Ten
> years later, kids fledged,  we splurged on Discreet Charm. Now that is the
> boat for San Francisco Bay! The Stilletto 27 is rotting at Clear Lake, last
> time I checked. Such a waste that the new owners did not appreciate what
> they had in the S27.
> Don
>
> On 6/8/11 7:55 AM, William Knowles wrote:
>
> Don We had a Stiletto 27 too. What a fun boat, used to love sneaking up and
> sailing by power boaters. We sailed her on Erie and was pretty rough
> sometimes very hard on the body. I miss being able to grab a dock line and
> stop the boat on a dime. Tried it docking the 38 the first time docking and
> almost pulled me over the side.
> Cheers
> Bill Flying Goose
>
> On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 10:44 AM, Don Strong <drstrong at ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>
>>  We lived in Tallahassee for 20 years and sailed the length of Florida as
>> far as the Dry Tortugas. First we had a Catalina 27 and were repeatedly
>> aground. It was light and we always got free, with some work. Then we
>> "downgraded" to a Stiletto 27, what a boat for the Gulf Coast! Many great
>> stories of anchoring for the night in shallow water, tide goes out, high and
>> dry at 5 am. Cooking breakfast while watching the tide come in, then walking
>> the boat back to the channel in 4" of water. Drop the rudders, and off we
>> went! The Stiletto 27 was a bit dicey in the Florida Straights with 10'
>> swells and 30 knots of wind. But it ws great for anchoring in fresh water
>> creeks where the bottom growth was gentle. The big gators on the mud at low
>> tide always smiled at us. Young and foolish, we were.
>> Don
>>
>> On 6/8/11 7:30 AM, Chuck Finn wrote:
>>
>> Marci,
>> You are correct that 6' 9" is a bit troublesome in the Caribbean and even
>> in the Great lakes.  I too have considered a shoal keel and actually did all
>> the homework to shorten my keel (see the discusssion thread from 2-3 years
>> ago).   Obviously, I did not make the change, but here is my thinking.
>> First is performance and this of course is a preference.  With all do
>> respect to our C38 shoal keel folks, the long keel really does make a
>> difference.  I get around on other boats and like on mine, the skippers like
>> to see someone else steer.  And the fact is that our deep keel allows for
>> performance to wind that other boats simply do not have!  Six feet seems to
>> be the magic number, with significant performance differences.  My
>> calculations supported by the folks at Mars Metals (the folks who make the
>> short keel modification) is in order to go to 5' 6", I would have to add
>> five hundred pounds as a torpedo.  I would lose about 3-5 degrees of
>> performance close hauled.  Even more problematic for me is the reduction in
>> the "transversal metacenter" calculation that makes boats with shoal keels
>> far more tender over the first 10 degrees of heel, which is one of the
>> reasons our boats accelerate so well.
>> Second was the question of what is shoal enough?  4.5' seems to be a good
>> number and perhaps a good compromise.  But, why not a centerboard or a Cat?
>> I have sailed both in the Caribbean, and honestly don't know which one I
>> would prefer.  Seems like what I really need is two boats!  But the fact is
>> that no matter what draft you have... you still have to be always
>> considering your depth!  The S&S C38 does things that no other Catalina does
>> and while I always want everything....  this is as close to who I am as I
>> have found!
>>
>> Chuck Finn
>> Mighty Quinn #114
>> Great Lakes
>>
>> On 6/8/2011 9:17 AM, Don Strong wrote:
>>
>> That deep keel gets all caught up in bull kelp when you arrive at the farm
>> house on Santa Rosa Island at 2 am in driving rain. We really didn't have to
>> anchor. Don
>>
>> On 6/8/11 12:20 AM, Joseph Launie wrote:
>>
>> Steve,
>>     In Southern California we have a different problem with depth,
>> anchoring in deep water.  In Pelican Cove on Santa Cruz Island for example,
>> if you get there early ( in the summer that is Thursday) you can anchor
>> inside in only 25 feet. Get there on saturday and you will anchor in the
>> center in 45 to 60 feet.   Years ago when we used to race to Catalina on
>> saturday and arrive at Two Harbors in the late afternoon, I have anchored in
>> 100 feet of water. Don't get too much scope. Joe Launie/Macavity
>>
>> On 6/7/2011 9:03 PM, Steve Smolinske wrote:
>>
>> NW does have some issues with depth, but they are not soft bottoms, they are usually rocks.  The San Juan Islands publish a chart "The twelve most hit reefs"
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org on behalf of david at dlrfilms.com
>> Sent: Tue 6/7/2011 8:38 AM
>> To: Catalina 38 Listserve
>> Subject: Re: [C38] Deep keel - 6'9"
>>
>>
>>
>> INTEMPERANCE has the deep keel. We bought boat in Georgia I think the deep
>> keel is part of what was keeping the boat from selling and helped us get a
>> good deal on her.
>>
>> I grew up on the West Coast. To my west coast way of thinking, if you've
>> got a bottom reading, you're in the surfzone and losing your boat. Sailing
>> INTEMPERANCE down the GA/FLA ICW was *extremely* stressful for me. A
>> couple of things have helped me learn to relax:
>>
>> 1) A miss is as good a mile. It takes time to get used to this. But the
>> water is 8' deep, it might as well be 1000. Sailing over the Little Bahama
>> Bank, watching the keel knock over conch shells was a head trip!
>>
>> 2) If you have a dinghy our boats are really easy to get unstuck. Tie a
>> halyard off to the dinghy, gun the engine, boat tips, off you go.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  I'm guessing that those of you on the west coast don't have any issues
>> with
>> shallows. On the east coast however, it seems like my eyes are glued to
>> the
>> charts (instead of the water) too much of the time. While I love the way
>> Checksy handles, her 6'9" draft makes it hard to relax! What percentage of
>> the C38s were produced this way?  How many of you have the deep keel, and
>> do
>> you like them?
>>
>> Marci J. Brown
>> Check's In The Mail
>>
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>>
>> --
>> Donald R. Strong
>> Professor
>> Dept. of Evolution and Ecology
>> University of California, Davis 95616
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> --
>> Donald R. Strong
>> Professor
>> Dept. of Evolution and Ecology
>> University of California, Davis 95616
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> W H Knowles
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> Donald R. Strong
> Professor
> Dept. of Evolution and Ecology
> University of California, Davis 95616
>
>
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-- 
W H Knowles
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