buck

No nothing, its a (they're) strong boats. The fisherman said even the larger displacement boats where being pushed around a lot by the wind which was 60-70 mph. The night before I had woken with winds on the side of the house, and I thought of how the boat would fair then. Its always the danger of leaving it anchored, although I must add I went for about 10 sails in that time.

We've been having some very strong winds since Jo's John left and yesterday at 3 o'clock one flipped my weekender (I'd say I hadn't secured the mainsail very well and it blew it over) The hatches which hadn't been secured (in that summer sort of casual way)came off and drifted away in the tide, poring water into it . A friendly fisherman friend gave me a ring at work and I was able to retrieve it on its side. Its anchored out about 30 metres from the shore, so it required another involuntary swim. However I got it to shallow water and commennced bailing, which took a while. But finally it was Ok, minus hatches. So its a beachcoaming operation to see if they turn up. After that I took it up and put it in the shed. I seem to be testing everything to its limits. Still the boat was none the worse for its dunking. I think the windows and gunnels leak a bit. Some thing to work on I guess.

We're a bit of an Irish City ourselves and your irony wasn't lost on me (perhaps we need an Irony emoticon) But we're hoping John might drop by again with your wild child, She would fit in neatly with my boys and I'm sure they'd have lots of fun. Once john starts filling up his weekends, 6weeks doesn't seem long at all. Now I remeber seeing pictures of the Chesespeake messabout. Whos site were they on. I recently read James Micheners book and got fascinated again. (I plugged John for lots of information. I am particulary fond of wetlands.

Yeah, I reckon, with just a bit of luck, we'll be there and they're playing really well at the moment. Heres to NZ -Aussie final!

Johannah I must protest! Surely you must be talking about someone else, not that endearing man who we have just spent a marvellous 48 hours with. If America ever needed and envoy or diplomat surely John Weisel is your man. We had a great time, Saw Albatroses, sealions and penguins went sailing (Yes John is the first person to sail a Weekender on both sides of the world! We have photos to prove it!) and today we went on a Bush walk at Bull Creek. So thanks Jo, for sending John and increasing this Weekender brotherhood. Its truly international. We learn't alot about the States and I'm more determined than ever to get to a Chesapeake messabout!

Thats a very nice boat, you must be very proud!

I had a great wee sail with Malcolm Sinclair from Australia last week (who came and sailed my Weekender) and today Johannah's John is coming to stay. It was great to catch up with Malcolm who is in contact with most of the Aussie builders and had some very interesting tales to tell. John will probaly be the first person to sail a Weekender in 2 hemispheres! Weekenders are fast becoming an international class!

Its so sensible takes the power out of the sails and puts the boat head on to the wave. Thats the beauty of weatherhelm, it makes you do it. So don't Team NZ know that? Bye bye Americas Cup, its been nice having you. Paul J you are right, we should have had a defender series, I concide defeat. Really breaking a mast, if was'nt so heart breaking it would be funny. I hope Russell and Brad enjoy their new country.

We'll be far too busy sailing and wildlife spotting to be building boats. Looking forward to his visit, a few hours away now.

I've been looking fondly at the Vacationer plans a bit lately, thinking what a lovely boat it would be, the Weekender is very good and I'm really enjoying it, I'm glad I built it, but a Vacationer would be a pretty nice boat, and I have got a mast sitting there. I wonder how long I'll be able to put it off...

We are savouring the moment

You're probaly right Paul, Right now we're experiencing a coastal property boom, were every bit of coastal land gets snapped up and has houses put on it. Even way down here in the cooler south. Even the property between my shed and the beach has sold and will have some large monstrousity built there. I just hope it does'nt change the place too much. Alot of the buying is fuelled from overseas. We're a 'safe' place to live with old fashioned values in many ways. As for the America's cup, lots of Kiwis will always be involved, but I think we'll struggle to even mount a challenge for it again.

Paul how dare you expose all our inner insecurities for all to see! We're all wondering what will happen now? Will we head back to primoidal soup never to be heard off again? This could be serious stuff for New Zealand. We might not get back into the American media for another 20 years after this. Still at least we don't suffer from 'Coast envy' like the Swiss!

We're going to keep putting it off, till the Swiss get bored and pack up and go home and we get to keep the cup. Well I think thats the plan!

Lovely job, they look great, I just used the bolt at the bottom (as in the photo) and bolted them straight on to the chain plates, alternatively use a small shackle (this turns them the right way). I had no trouble with mine and I think they are even more practical than a turnbuckle. Its one of those things that work really well.

Paul right now we'd even take Dennis (or is that Sir Dennis) Conner! All 4 million of us are waiting fro this race to start. I do hope we'll be able to peg one back today. Apparantly its very shifty conditions today. Starts at 3pm NZ time.

Definitly not fine Paul, at least as far as we're concerned but things are'nt looking good at 3 nil. I don't know, "Patrotism might be the last postion to which a scoundral might cling" (as Bob Dylan once said) but really having this precious cup taken off us by another New Zealander is very hard pill to swallow. I think not having a defender series was a serious mistake, but I don't beleive the money was there, I think 4 million people could only afford one shot. I think the Swiss should be made to have it on Lake Geneva myself, add to the ludicrous situation!

I managed to get 'Sailboats you can build' for about $9US (nice copy too) off course by the time it got to New Zealand it was $35NZ but worth evry cent. Its a fabulous book not just building ,but sailing and the whole Stevenson Philosphy. We also have the Amphora and Buffy Porson in our libary, (I'm putting together an Anphora as a Tender to the Weekender) I saw one copy on the internet for $70!!!!!!

That sounds facinating, any way you could post it without breaking copyright? I'd love to see it. Surely someone, somewhere must have some Caliban plans?

3 down! Woe is me! Things are going from bad to worse, how can Russell coutts live with himself, A so called New Zealander taking the cup off New Zealand? A bitter pill indeed. Mind you I'm always available to go and sail the thing myself, but so far I haven't had the call up. Funny that. I'm just praying its not 5 nil!

I put my Tiller through the Lazerette with no apparant problems , I get a swing 45 degrees each side of centre (anymore acts as a brake anyway) The tiller is in much the same position as on the wheel rudder though I would beef up the wood above the tiller if I did it again. You can see the Lazette slot on the photo. http://www.messing-about.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=20&papass=&sort=1&size=medium&thecat= It was nicely positioned and easy to use. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

I am languishing in the success of my weekender, which was launched 12 days ago on our summer holiday ( vacation) at Marahau, Nelson, New Zealand. The boat was a great success beyond my best expectations. WE launched on an afternoon tide with little or no wind. Unfortunately by the time we got it in the water the wind had risen to 15-20 knots with accompanying seas. The damn thing took off, was a pig to tack and was fairly uncontrollable. I managed to get the jib up and the boat round to the inlet at Marahau and into calmer waters. An eventful first sail. Over the next couple of days in similar conditions I was able to sort it out a bit. I’ve been sailing many years so I’m no novice sailer but it took a few days to get used to Weekender sailing. First thing I did was learn to tack. With the long keel she’s hard to get round to windward. Now I’ve set the jib with a loose foot and have a line either side back to the cockpit. The trick to tacking I found is to never let go of the jib, this way as the boat goes round the jib is first to catch the wind on the opposite tack (being at 15-20 degrees to the boat) and pushes you round to the new tack. After this tacking became a breeze and things began to sought themselves out. I soon learnt to set the peak halyard to give a good sail shape, and my doubts about the Weekender being over canvassed (it is of course) soon disappeared. In 15-20knots she’s quite a handful to singlehand, but it would be a hard boat to capsize. I had the leerail under a few times. As far as pounding, well what pounding? I couldn’t work out what people complained about. I had it often in 2’ seas with water flicking the tops of the bow and sure it does pound a bit but nothing more than what you’d expect from a 16’ yacht. I had previously thought it might only be flat water boat. No one really shows pictures in heavy sea conditions (in which it’s hard to take photos anyway) but I was very impressed with the general seaworthiness of the boat. Often I found myself 2 miles or so from land and in seas with waves breaking higher than the boat, but each time this little ship would rise over them leaving the cockpit dry. In fact it made surprising light work of everything. My longest trip was a voyage 9 miles down the coast to Motueka in 2’ seas reaching in 10-15 knots. Beating hard into the wind is not the Weekenders forte (as with many yachts) It’ll do it but it slows right up. Put her a little off the wind (say 60 degrees) and it picks up speed and creams along. People commented on how fast she was. The secret of fast cruising was to plan voyages where windward capability wasn’t that important, rather than spend all day beating to some far off destination. I’m sure it would do it but it’s not that enjoyable. Better to be speeding along in full cry across the wind that spending every effort trying to cram windward ability out of her. And so it went, all the time I grew more confident in the boat’s abilities and it impressed me more and more. Sometimes with forums its easy to read too much into negative comments, take for instance the recent discussion on the Weekenders seaworthiness on the Wooden boat forum. My Weekender bore no comparison with the ill-conceived barge they were talking about (it occurred to me some distance off shore as the boat was blistering along they were talking about a very different boat to this one I now skippered) All that talk of weatherhelm! Did they have the jib up or the rudder down? I certainly didn’t notice weatherhelm worth complaining about. So the truth is the Weekender is a fast and seaworthy little cruiser well capable for inshore coastal cruising. In the last 10 days I have enjoyed it immensely, being very taken with its abundant charms. So were a lot of other people! including some very credible yachties, a boatbuilder friend informed me he’d heard some very favourable comments about my tarpsails, I think many people were impressed by their simplicity and effectiveness. One night I had it anchored off the renowned AbleTasman National Park as the moon rose over the Islands. Well that sent the tourist cameras clicking! I think for the short time it had been in the water it must be one of the most photographed boats around! The boat does look excellent (from 20feet away!) It’s as rough as guts up close I’m no craftsman and never will be. Never the less it is strong! New Zealander’s pride themselves on a ‘No 8 wire mentality’ That in the days before we opened ourselves to the world, we were a relatively closed society, We could never get parts for anything, we had to make do or make it or fix it ourselves (often with No8 wire) So even today theres a real love of simple, clever engineering and I think my Weekender hit a soft spot here. The plastic pipe jib fasteners & mast hoops, the deadeyes and tarp sails all show that you don’t have to have a lot of money to have a lovely boat. Actually Peter Stevenson spent his early life in New Zealand and I like to think some of our ‘No 8 wire mentality’ rubbed off on him. The Weekender and its brothers are inspired pieces of simple engineering take that keel I think Peter always had a notion he could get away without a centreboard (the Stevensons modestly claim otherwise) but why else did he design it like that? So I’ve done it, the holiday is over and the boat turned out a fabulous success and I’m left feeling very satisfied. I spent about $1200 NZ which is a little over $600 US. Thank you all of you for all the help. This and the other board are fine ports for small sailers and I’ve taken much good advice and encouragement from both. Thanks one and all. - Buck PS Photos should soon be in gallery!