Note from Switzerland about my Spindrift page

[Garry]

I received this note from a fellow in Switzerland about my webpage at http://www.pbase.com/sailrosita/expedition_dinghy

I felt highly complimented and thought someone here might find it interesting. I suggested that he build it without the center compartment first and add it later if he felt he needed the flotation.

Dear Garry,

In 2005, I found your sites describing your progress with a Spindrift 11N. Here in Switzerland, where we do have no blue water, but lakes with a very crowded (and expensive) waterfront. I was taken with the design, because I would need no trailer and could assemble the two parts in shallow water or on the beach. Your modifications are taking the small boat into the small daysailer category: watertight storage, more buoyancy

[Steve Day]

What a cool note! This boatbuilding thing is truly international and it is great to cross those political borders so easily.

Where are you going in Florida?

Steve

[Garry]

I'll be working at the nuclear plant in Crystal River, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Its on the west coast just before the coastline starts curving to the west.

I'll be doing basically the same job as here but at better pay with lower cost of living. It is ALWAYS chilly here right on the central coast of CA. We like the warm water of Florida.

We will be close to where Rosita is now but I have someone interested who is coming down to see her in a few weeks. If anyone is interested in seeing the boat I have for sale: www.pbase.com/sailrosita/rosita

I am NOT looking forward to a week of driving a Budget Truck across I-10 in mid-summer with gas at $3.00 a gallon!

Garry

[Steve Day]

No, I expect you are not looking forward to driving the truck across the country.

You will be going past the house about 2.5 miles from where we live when you "land" on the east shore of Mobile Bay. We could meet you guys for a meal or overnight, if it works out on your way through. My cell phone is 251-421-1847. We can meet with you if you give us a couple of hours notice.

I never worked at Crystal River, but I've known a bunch of folks who worked there during the construction of the units. I was working at St. Lucie, Martin and Manatee Plants for FPL at that time and a lot of the craft folks worked at Crystal River.

That is a nice area and a good location to look for somewhere to build the Princess 28. Glad to see you are getting back to the east part of the country.

Steve

[JeffM]

Garry, I took advantage of your link to have a look at your Spindrift--nifty innovations! I did a double-take when I saw your amidship storage, and had to go back to see how you had connected your halves. Very cool. I'm thinking maybe Spindrift 10N or 11N for my next build. I wonder if you could have made those lockers and still bolted the halves the original way? I suppose you'd have to open the hatches and get your hands in there and do it partly by touch.

[Garry]

Jeff,

If I were building the boat again, I might not build in the center compartments since they do add weight. I have not needed the storage but they do add some reserve flotation. The stern and forward compartments are sizable and should provide plenty of flotation if swamped. The middle compatments could be added later if desired.

If you did build the compartments with the bolted connections it would work easily. The top two connections would be outside the compartments. The ones near the bottom would be readily accessible by opening the hatches.

[Garry]

Steve,

It would be great to meet up along the way! It will be hard to plan ahead so I appreciate the understanding about the short notice. If we can make it work, though, we should be able to give you more notice than a couple of hours.

I hope its OK to just leave it open for now and see if it works out. I've got your number.

Thanks a lot, Garry

[Tim]

I was in Geneva this week for work and took some shots of Lac Leman or Lake Geneva. Its a huge, very blue, lake with mountain backdrops. The area of the lake near Geneva was full of sailboats. Even as I traveled by train around the lake you would see a sail boat or two every time a view of the lake opened up. Too bad I didn't have time to get out on a boat; it looks like a good time to be sailing in Geneva.