spindrift 14 sailboat

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• Spindrift 14M

Additional requirements included ease of handling for a couple, accommodations for six people, and living spaces for casual family weekends. Shallow draft and excellent maneuverability were also priorities. These needs were met with Spindrift, a 14 meter (45 foot) diesel/water jet drive cat. With the addition of a HYSUCAT hydrofoil between the hulls, remarkable speeds and fuel efficiency are achieved. The foil also improves comfort underway by providing a large measure of motion damping – significantly reducing pitching. From his home base in the Chesapeake the owner has enjoyed multple cruises up and down the US east coast in speed and comfort.  Maximum speed is 36 knots.

• Spindrift Photos

Current / Recent Projects

• Atlantic 47 Mastfoil
• Discovery 21
• Atlantic 57
• MastFoil 41
• Atlantic 70F
• Atlantic 72

Precision: Small, Fast, and Fun

Small, fast, and fun.

Cruisers | Daysailors | Crossover | Frequently Asked Questions

We have designed our share of large yachts, but our enthusiasm for small boats remains undiminished. Small-boat sailors derive every bit as much satisfaction from their modest craft as jet-setters do from their big ones, and we approach our smaller designs as no less significant, only less big. We take great pride in applying the same standards to all our work.

We are also proud of our long term association with Precision Boatworks, www.precisionboatworks.com which began in 1984 with the Precision 18 and continued until they ceased new boat production 35 years later. Precision shared our commitment to, and pride in, doing small boats well. Their tooling was exquisite, and it produced attractive, stylish, high quality molded parts throughout their model line, from the Precision 15 to the Precision 23. They built to an equally high standard, with materials that are chosen and used carefully, and with quality rigging and hardware that is appropriate for the intended use. Their boats were carefully built to their designed weights, and they are rugged, reliable, and long lasting. Stylish looks, lively performance, and fun sailing are all top priorities for both designer and builder on all Precision sailboats.

The essential ‘Precision DNA’ that is central to the performance, style, modest draft and easy trailering of each Precision model is common to them all, but there are differences that give them their individual appeal.

The Precision cruisers all feature a keel/centerboard underbody that combines modest draft when with the board is up, with excellent windward performance when the board is down. The ballast is secured deep in the fixed keel cavity to maximize stability. The board itself is only heavy enough to drop on its own, so that it can be raised and lowered with one hand, and so that stability is not reduced significantly when it is up.

Precision 18

The Precision 18 was designed to be the smallest boat that could be practically cruised, and still be easily trailered by a relatively small car. She has a remarkably loyal following, and is still in active production after nearly 30 years.

Precision 21

Not too big, not too small, and for some, just right. Designed to fit right between the Precision 18 and Precision 23, the Precision 21 was intended to appeal to sailors requiring neither the minimum cost of a mini-, nor the extra space of a maxi-trailerable. I recently encountered a Marblehead family of four going out for an evening sail, and they could hardly have been happier or more complementary about their boat. They said that their Precision 21 suits them perfectly.

Precision 23

Targeted to be the biggest cruiser that could be practically trailored behind a family car, the Precision 23 is an enduring benchmark for her size and type. She has successfully completed some surprisingly long passages, and has earned an impressive number of rewarding wins in club level racing.

Precision 27-28

The P-27 became the P-28 with the addition of a swim step in an extended transom.  These were only boats in the Precision line that featured an inboard diesel auxiliary and optional wheel steering.  This step up in specification proved to be a challenge for their dealer network at the time, so not a lot were produced, but the boats are comfortable and sailed well, and are quite popular with their owners.

The Precisions daysailors have especially large cockpits, and no cuddy cabins. They are both built in two versions, one as a crew ballasted pure centerboarder for ready trailering, and another that is a bit heavier with a fixed lead keel for added stability.

Precision 15 and Precision 15K

The Precision 15 was intended as an entry level family boat, with pricing and practicality to suit. Precision 15’s are easy to rig, easy to handle, and rewarding to sail. They achieve a nice balance between rewarding performance and reliable seakeeping, which they combine with ample stability. In addition to facilitating family fun, Precision 15’s are in wide use as trainers in community sailing programs.

Precision 185 and Precision 185K

The Precision 185 expands on the broad appeal of her smaller sister by adding an extra dose of acceleration and speed to her performance profile. She was recognized by Sailing World magazine as a Boat of the Year for her “combination of good sailing characteristics, substantial construction, and reasonable cost.” Her swim platform at the transom contributes to the fun by getting swimmers back aboard more easily and allowing youngsters to trail their toes in water. This ‘back porch’ can also contribute to safety by facilitating boarding from a dinghy, and recovering from an accidental ‘man overboard’ incident more easily and quickly. For some sailors, the Precision 185K keel version may be better suited for deeper, less sheltered waters.

Transit 380

The T_380 design ( www.transit380.com ) is intended to suit young sailors who are making the transition from the single-handed Optimist pram to high performance double-handed dinghies. Most kids ‘size out’ of the Opti at about 115 pounds, and between the ages of 11 to 14. After years of sailing alone in prams, many are also looking forward to sailing together with friends. Many do not yet have the sailing skills and experience required to handle a Club 420, however, and expecting them to do so is a bit like handing a new driver the keys to a Porsche. For decades, the Blue Jay and Widgeon (among others) have filled this gap, but time and technology have long since passed these boats by. The Transit_380 brings modern materials and carefully ‘kid centered’ design detailing to a contemporary version of this transitional mid boat.

Precision 165

Precision 165 combines the low trailer weight and reasonable cost of a daysailor with the ‘get out of the weather’ cuddy cabin and on-board toilet facilities of a small cruiser. She is offered with a fixed lead keel only, and performs very nicely with just a 21 inch deep draft. The term ‘crossover’ may be overused these days, but it does describe the appeal of the Precision 165 especially well.

The C-26 ( www.colgate26.com ) was built under contract by Precision Boatworks , and marketed by Steve Colgate. The boat was originally designed as a trainer for Steve’s well known Offshore Sailing School, and is very much a collaboration between Steve and Doris (basic concept and specifications), Jim Taylor (design detailing), and Precision (tooling and construction). The C-26 was so well received that she was soon marketed directly to the public, and she was recognized by Sailing World magazine as a Boat of the Year . SW judge Bill Lee wrote, “Not only did I find the Colgate 26 to be a good trainer but also I found myself applauding her for being an excellent sailboat in her own right. (She) appears (ruggedly built) relative to most modern sport boats and I found … excellent glasswork and construction quality with good attention to detail…She represents tremendous value on today’s market.” The C-26 was chosen by the US Coast Guard, US Navy, and Maine Maritime Academies for both instruction and intercollegiate competition, and she is in active production (now by Waterline Systems) with nearly 400 boats built to date.

FAQ’s ABOUT SIMILAR TAYLOR DESIGNS

Before our association with Precision Boatworks, we designed several other small cruisers that were produced by various builders, none of which currently provide support or parts to current owners. We are often asked about them, and offer the following background:

Spectrum 22

Chronologically the first of these small trailerable designs, she was commissioned by Spectrum Yacht Corp, which had a modestly successful production run. (See Spindrift 22, below)

Starwind 19

Wellcraft commissioned the Starwind 19 in the early ’80’s, and did a nice job building a lot of them (400?) before they realized that they could make much more money per square foot of factory space building powerboats. They built good quality boats to our Starwind 19 and Starwind 27 designs, before they went back to all power. The Starwind 223 was not our design.

Spindrift/Starwind

Rebel Industries bought the molds for the Starwind 19 and Spectrum 22, and built a handful of boats, not always wisely or well. They marketed the Starwind 19 variously as the Starwind 19, Starwind 190, and Spindrift 19, but left the boat essentially unchanged from the orginal Wellcraft version. They retooled the Spectrum 22 without our permission or input, as the Spindrift 22.

Small Boats Annual 2014

Spindrift 12

A performance yacht tender

The Spindrift series of dinghies from B&B Yacht Designs promises a range of capable yacht tenders that offer plenty of sailing excitement. Here we see a 12’ model built by Meredithe Stuart-Smith of Castine, Maine.

H ere we have one member of a family of boats—four in all—doing business under the name of Spindrift and designed by Graham Byrnes of Vandemere, North Carolina. The very first Spindrift was a 10-footer, and was meant purely as a tender to a larger yacht. As Byrnes tells the story on his website, “Not long after the first few were built, we were invited to take part in a race for yacht tenders with a maximum length of 10′. There were dinghies of every description: Trinkas, Connies, Dyers all were represented, as well as some less-well-known brands—and a few custom boats.”

Spindrift trounced the fleet—so much so that there was a mass exodus of dinghies from the local yacht club, and a flurry of Spindrift construction. The word spread to other parts of the country, and more models followed. Today, the lengths are 9′, 10′, 11′, and 12′, and you can choose nesting versions for all but the 12-footer. “Nesting” refers to the boat’s ability to be separated into two pieces—a bow and stern section—with the bow portion turned around and nestled into the stern sections. The result is a tidy package that can be carried on the deck of a small yacht. The rig options include a cat for the 9′, 10′, and 11′ models, and sloop or cat for the 11′ and 12′ ones. To date, Byrnes has sold 1,025 sets of plans.

“A Spindrift,” writes Byrnes, “is a very good investment if you have a junior sailor in your family. Unlike many dinghies used as trainers (such as the Optimist), you do not ‘outgrow’ a Spindrift. While the boat is very suitable for children and inexperienced adults, in the hands of a good competitive sailor it offers the challenge of top-end racing.” Byrnes also intended for the boat to carry a small outboard, which he says it does very well.

The forgiving nature of the boat and its top-end potential are what drew Meredithe Stuart-Smith to Spindrift. A resident of Castine, Maine, Stuart-Smith had taken a sailing course at WoodenBoat School several years ago, and now she wanted a boat in which to hone her new sailing skills. What boat, she wondered, would be adequate for the local conditions, and under 12′ so she could store it on land at the local yacht club? She called Graham Byrnes’s shop and spoke with his wife, Carla, who mentioned the Spindrift—which, as it happened, was to be the subject of an upcoming class at WoodenBoat School.

Stuart-Smith was intrigued, but a little concerned about her limited capacity with woodworking tools, and she shared this concern with Carla.

“Honey,” Stuart-Smith recalls Carla responding, “there are women who could not get out of their Maiden form bras who could build one of these.”

“So,” says Stuart-Smith. “I came, I built, and I sailed.”

The 12′ Spindrift’s spars and blades all stow tidily in the boat for easy trailering.

T he construction is stitch-and-glue—a process that has as much in common with sewing as it does with traditional boatbuilding. In sewing, the curved edges of flat sheets of fabric are stitched together to yield a sometimes-complex three-dimensional shape. In stitch-and-glue boatbuilding, flat sheets of plywood are cut to precisely curving shapes, and the edges of them “sewn” together to yield a hull. The sewing is commonly done with copper wire or cable ties, and the seams are then “taped” together with fiberglass set in epoxy. There are nuances in this gluing-together job, such as the filleting of seams to eliminate hard inside corners and allow the ’glass to properly bridge the joint, but the process is rather simple and the rewards quick. Hulls are often stitched together in a day—though require much more work to make them solid and strong.

Stuart-Smith finished her hull in the WoodenBoat School class. After that, the demands of business and family life took over, and she sent the boat to Salt Pond Rowing, a shop operated by WoodenBoat School shop assistant Joe Thompson, who finished it—complete with a distinctive and flawless gunsmoke-blue paint scheme. “I’m sad I didn’t finish the boat,” says Stuart-Smith. “But I knew I couldn’t get it done.”

The 12′ Spindrift’s two-piece, unstayed aluminum mast is quick and easy to step, and the wooden boom attaches at the gooseneck with a simple slip-on fitting. Rigging takes a matter of minutes.

S tuart-Smith named the boat ANGEL, and four years after its launching, I joined her for a couple of sails from the backshore beach in Castine. This gravelly strand faces west into upper Penobscot Bay, and we arrived at high tide one August evening in a fresh westerly. Setup was easy. The aluminum mast separates into two sections, which stow neatly and entirely in the boat. The top mast section has a wooden plug inserted in its top. These two sections are easily joined together, and the lightweight spar dropped through the partners and into the step. There is no standing rigging.

The rig is a Bermudan cat, and the sail’s luff is sleeved, like a Laser’s. But unlike that ubiquitous Bruce Kirby–designed board boat—at least the ones I knew growing up—this luff sleeve has a zipper running its length, allowing the sail to be hoisted up the stepped mast, rather than threaded onto the mast on the ground, and the whole thing raised together. That made a big difference in ease of rigging in the breeze that was blowing that evening, for raising that sail Iwo Jima style would have required some manhandling. The zippered luff also allows for quick reefing and shaking-out from the helm position—which is not possible with a standard sleeve luff.

The clew is left to fly while the boat is launched and the boom attached to the gooseneck. Then the rudder is secured, the boat is pointed into the wind, and the outhaul made off. The engine, so to speak, is now idling.

I thought that getting off the beach in the onshore breeze would be a bit awkward—a reflection on me, and not the boat. In the past, I have found daggerboards can be ungainly in this situation. When beam-reaching into a beach, it’s good to have a little bit of blade exposed underwater for as long as possible. And I like to have the board propped in the trunk, ready to press into deep water, when departing in an offshore breeze. But in some of the boats of my youth, the height of that loaded board could impede the progress of the boom across the boat’s centerline, creating an interesting situation—one not unlike the time my ’75 Ford Grenada’s accelerator pedal got stuck under the floor mat as I was cruising down the Nahant causeway in Massachusetts in my high-school years…but I digress. My point is that Byrnes’s careful fitting of the board to clear the boom gave me confidence in the setup. This is a carefully engineered rig— mindful of both the beginner and advanced sailor.

Spindrift has a rare combination of traits: Exciting sailing, good rowing, and ample volume to serve as a yacht tender. The designer claims that she handles an outboard motor well, too, though this wasn’t tested for this review.

I got away from the beach, deployed the centerboard, sheeted in, and whoosh: Stuart-Smith had told me that the local kids likened the feeling of her boat to a Laser’s—which I hadn’t sailed for decades. This brought it all back. The boat accelerated quickly, and I settled into the tack and tidied up the mainsheet. Then I tried a few turns. The boat was quick to tack, and sure-footed in jibes.

Stuart-Smith had told me earlier that every one of her sailing outings is like Groundhog Day, referring to the Bill Murray movie in which the protagonist awakes every day to the same circumstances, his life never advancing. She typically sails the boat with a more experienced hand along, and on one solo outing did have the distinct and enlightening pleasure of capsizing. She reports that it was easy to right, and came up only partially filled with water. Much of the interior volume is taken up by the flotation tank seats, so there was minimal bailing. Stuart-Smith has pushed through insecurities about a solo outing, saying that she’s “always doing things that terrify me.” She was bound and determined to take a few passes along the beach that night. And she did. As is often the case in learning, she’d internalized more of the previous year’s lessons than she’d thought. She’d developed instinct. This was proven out in one particular incident when, after the boat was caught in the wind while departing the beach, the sails filled as ANGEL sat still. That’s often the sitting-duck position for a capsize, as all of the sudden wind energy is pressing the boat over, and little or none of it is bleeding off in forward motion. Stuart-Smith leapt to the high side, settled the boat down, and darted off. The rest of the evening was textbook sailing, and putting the boat up took only ten minutes. We lowered the sail, hauled the boat up the beach on its aluminum trailer, popped out the mast, and secured the blades and spars in the bilge. With the hull strapped down, Stuart-Smith and ANGEL headed for the barn.

B&B Yacht Designs, 196 Elm St., Vandemere NC; www.bandbyachtdesigns.com.

The Spindrift dinghy from B&B Yacht Designs is available in four lengths: 9’, 10’, 11’, and 12’. Here we see the 12-footer, the boat tested for this article, with the optional sloop rig.

Particulars: LOA 12’0″ Beam 4’6″ Sail area (sloop rig) 85 sq ft (cat rig) 70 sq ft Weight 95-120 lbs

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Comments (2)

Let’s shorten the mast by 2′,extend the boom by the same amount. With the original sail plan you still must duck under the boom.Why not make the boom longer? The sail plan lower?

A tall, thin sail, a high-aspect ratio, is more efficient. I had a plastic window sewn in.

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Published on April 8th, 2014 | by Editor

Spindrift: World’s largest racing trimaran

Published on April 8th, 2014 by Editor -->

After three months of ambitious boatbuilding, the 40-meter trimaran Spindrift 2 was re-launched this month in Lorient, France. As the largest racing trimaran in the world, it has been optimised for the demanding program that is planned for 2014.

The Spindrift Racing team, led by Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard, will be on standby in the United States from the start of June, waiting in Newport for a good window to tackle two prominent crewed records the boat had previously set (as Banque Populaire V) by Pascal Bidegorry in August 2009.

Spindrift 2 will seek to better the 2880nm Transatlantic Record (New York City to Lizard Point) of 3d 15h 25 min 48s (32.94 knots) and the 24 hour distance record of 908 miles (37.84 knots).

To appreciate this maxi trimaran, acclaimed sailing writer G. Bruce Knecht joined the team prior to the refit. Here is his report…

Sunrise was still an hour away when I arrived in the port of Lorient. At first, it was difficult to see much of anything. Three 131-foot-long hulls and a towering mast were jet black, as were the uniforms of the crewmen, who moved about with the help of head-mounted flashlights.

“Welcome to the world’s largest racing trimaran,” Bertarelli said as I stepped aboard.

Named for the spray of water launched by the hulls as they charge through the sea at speeds that were, until recently inconceivable for a large sail-powered vessel, Spindrift 2, is as fast as the catamarans that began racing for the America’s Cup the same week I was in Lorient. And it has far greater endurance: In 2012, its previous owner and former namesake, French financial institution Banque Populaire, sailed the boat around the world in an astonishing 45 days, breaking another record set by Franck Cammas, who did it in 48 days in 2010.

Bertarelli–whose fortune came from Serono, the Italian pharmaceutical giant founded by her grandfather–caused a stir when she purchased the boat in January 2013, in part because a female owner and co-skipper would be rarity in the male-dominated world of yacht racing. And there was her familial connection to the sport: Her billionaire brother Ernesto founded and led the Swiss team that won the America’s Cup in 2003 and 2007.

“I ended up getting really excited about competitive sailing,” she told me of her brother’s influence,” and being a spectator wasn’t enough.”

The story also has a romantic dimension. Bertarelli’s co-skipper would be her partner, French yachtsman Yann Guichard. Their relationship began a few years earlier when Bertarelli hired Guichard to serve as coach for a catamaran she raced with an all-female crew on Lake Geneva.

“Yann and I wanted to have a common project,” Bertarelli said in explaining her decision to buy Spindrift 2. “It would take a year and a half to design something like this one and another year and a half to build it. This boat was launched in 2008 and it’s still very competitive. If we can find ways to improve its performance, we believe we have a window of four to five years to break some records.”

The goal for the day was to perfect various techniques and enhance the crew’s cohesiveness. First, though, they had to get the boat away from the dock. With its 75-foot width, Spindrift 2 is an awkward best, something like a sumo wrestler in a teashop, which is why we had to assemble so early. The forecast called for heavy wind later in the day, which would not be a problem except for the need to exit a narrow waterway beforehand.

As a trio of tenders–each powered by an engine with at least 150 horsepower–worked like little tugboats to guide Spindrift 2 away from the dock, Guichard was standing at one of the two large steering wheels. They are positioned at opposite sides of the boat so that the helmsman can always steer from the windward hull, the one that lifts out of the water when the breeze is good.

Once we cleared the harbor, when the wind speed was 12 knots, Guichard asked the 14-person crew to raise the 4,800-square-foot mainsail and a smaller headsail. As the sails filled, the port hull levitated from the water and we accelerated rapidly. We were soon moving at twice the speed of the wind. If that’s a concept that’s difficult to grasp, another fact of super-fast sailing was all too apparent: You do not want to fall off the boat. “After two minutes in the water, it would be impossible to see the person in the water,” Bertarelli told me. “After five, that person wouldn’t be able to see the boat.”

As we sailed away from the coast, we were moving so quickly that seagulls could not begin to keep pace, and before long, we had lost sight of land. When we were 28 miles off the coast, Guichard turned the helm over to me.

I have loved sailing ever since my grandfather launched me in a dinghy in Edgartown Harbor when I was nine years old. Since then, I have sailed relatively small–and slow–boats whenever I got the chance. I have some experience on larger boats. My first book, The Proving Ground, was about the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race, the tragic competition in which several boats sank and six sailors died. When I was researching the book, I sailed on Brindabella, the 75-footer that played a central role in the story, during short races in Sydney Harbor. In 2005, I was aboard the large single-hull sailboat Mari-Cha IV when it broke the 100-year-old transatlantic race record. But most of my sailing is on a 28-foot sloop, which rarely leaves the protected waters of Long Island Sound. Going fast means seven knots.

The basic task of steering Spindrift 2–maintaining a course that took us generally where we wanted to go while taking maximum advantage of the wine–was fundamentally no different than on my boat, but the extraordinary speed meant that I had to rely on a digital readout of the wind’s direction rather than how it felt as it crossed my face. Spindrift 2’s speed was intoxicating–though it inevitably led to a desire for even more. I could not resist making frequent checks of another digital indicator, the one showing our speed. I was able to keep it close to 30 knots, and at one point I got it up to 35.4–or 41 miles per hour–which turned out, to my great surprise, to be our top speed of the day.

The speed produced a cacophony of sound. The shrouds were not just whistling but also were causing sections of the boat’s carbon-fiber structure to vibrate. The deck on which I was standing made an audible thumbing noise every few seconds, which I also felt through the soles of my shoes. A particularly arresting sound came from the rudder mounted on the back of the hull nearest to me. When I was doing my job well, this hull and the entire length of the rudder flew above the water. When I slipped up, the hull dropped down a bit and the rudder pierced the surface of the water to produce a loud hiss that sounded like that of an angry cat. It was a sound I enjoyed–more dramatically than the speed indicator, it gave proof to our remarkable pace–but it also seemed a bit like chastisement, or perhaps a warning.

There is no getting around the fact that Spindrift 2’s speed carries risks. Things could go wrong, in seconds. Structural elements could break. Was that thumping at my feet an indication of trouble? And then there is the ultimate fear: The boat could capsize.

Last June, Guichard was racing another boat owned by Bertarelli, a MOD70 trimaran, off the coast of Ireland when a sudden gust caused it to overturn. The mast crumbled and a member of the crew, Guichard’s brother Jacques, suffered a broken pelvis.

We had a close call as we sped off the coast of France. It came after the wind gusted from 18 knots to 33, which caused the windward hull to rise much too far out of the water. The crewman who should have released the headsail was slow in doing so, so the boat tipped further and further until the mast was 21 degrees beyond vertical. By then, Guichard, who was at the wheel, was unable to steer. Turning the wheel had no effect. Spindrift 2 was out of control. Guichard has a reputation for never losing his cool, but he was clearly worried as he shouted instructions and pulled at the wheel in a futile attempt to turn toward the source of the wind.

Eventually, when the headsail was eased, the hulls fell back toward the water, averting catastrophe. Nobody talked about the incident until later, when we were back at the dock and Guichard spoke about the day’s lessons learned, but it was a haunting moment.

It was impossible not to think about how the dangers would compound with even stronger gusts and at night during an ocean crossing. As we headed back to shore, I asked Bertarelli, who has three children with her former husband, plus a multibillion-dollar fortune, why she chose to risk it all rather than spending her time on a luxurious yacht or at her home in Gstaad, the gilded Swiss mountain village where she owns the elegant Grand Hotel Park. Her answer, predictably, was all about speed.

“On this boat, you can actually feel the acceleration–there’s a kind of kick–and that’s something you just don’t get on a traditional monohull sailboat,” she said. “When you’re on a multihull, you actually have the sense of flight.”

Republished from Rhapsody , the United Airlines inflight magazine

Editor’s note: Following Bruce’s excursion with the team, Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard led the maxi trimaran Spindrift 2 to beat the 3885-mile Discovery Route record, setting a new time of 6 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 21 seconds at an average speed of 24.5 knots. The route extends from Cadiz, Spain to San Salvador in the Bahamas, but must pass through the Canary Islands. Full report .

Tags: Bruce Knecht , Dona Bertarelli , records , Spindrift 2 , Yann Guichard

Related Posts

VIDEO: Going where you shouldn’t go →

Record setting day on a monohull →

Curb the enthusiasm for records →

Storms spoil solo circumnavigation →

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new at this - 17' Spindrift Day Sailor 1 question

• Thread starter bnnauti
• Start date Sep 18, 2013
• Oday Owner Forums
• Day Sailers

Would appreciate any help with this - have an old manual that is not quite clear to me and Sailing for Dummies doesn't cover the type boat particulars. First, my son and I stepped the mast with front and side stays, but I couldn't tell if a back stay is required. Second, hoisted the main and figured out the boom vang rigging, but could not tell if travelers are to be rigged? Thirdly, the jib sheet only had a clip at the top and bottom for the front stay and seemed to have pockets for stays but had none inserted. Shouldn't there be clips all along the luff edge of the jib. And should there be stays inserted. The jib sheet is a Mikibbin and seems fairly new.  

Sunbird22358

First, I think you mean JIB, not jib sheet, JIB is the sail, jib sheet is the line(s) used to control the jib. Yes, there should be snaps (AKA hanks) along the luff (leading edge) of the jib, it sounds like your jib was set up for use on a jib-furler (rolls jib up like a window shade to furl.) You can add hanks, they are available from places like Sail-Rite.com or many marine stores, or a local sailmaker could add them for you. The DS jib does not usally have battens (what you call "stays") so this might not actually be a DS jib, it may fit...and can be used if so. I am surprised that a jib set up for roller-furling would have batten pockets though...... battens would prevent roller-furling.....strange! The Spindrift DS I does not have a traveler as standard equipment, one may have been added, but it was not original. I'll include a few pics of a Spindrift DS I for help. The boat with the red jib must have a replacement jib, since that one looks too small. I also posted a pic of my boat's jib to show the hanks (clips).  

Attachments

Thank you for the reply. I have begun to believe this is correct; the jib was just sold with the boat. It seems to fit and I've had snaps put in now and will purchase some hanks. And thanks for the great images. If I could request some more help. I'm not sure how to attach the back edge of the main to the boom end. There is a small pulley wheel inside the end of the boom and a long slot on the side of the boom just before the mid boom block. Is the line routed inside the boom to be brought out of the long slot and threaded through the mid-block before going down to the floor block and cleat set-up?  

There should be a cleat on the side of the boom to tie off the line (outhaul) that pulls the foot of the sail out along the boom, The mainsheet will be separate from that. I'm not sure if the Spindrift DS I Manual that I have (in PDF form) is the same that you already have, but I'll attach it anyway. It seems that Spindrift used 2 different ways to rig the mainsheet (different years?) so, I will attach a couple of pictures on that. The pic of the mid-boom mainsheet is actually an O'DAY DS II ,but the general idea should be similar.  

• ds1man-spindrift.pdf 1 MB Views: 400

Thank you for making the boom (main sheet rigging so clear). I was confused thinking the outhaul had to be tensioned and held for quick release. I do not have the end boom block for a traveler arrangement. Would that be a more desireable rig? Also, should I attach a line to the top of the mast to hold the boom when the main sail is droped. A top haul I think it's called? And should I purchase the small boom vang hardware for this boat?  

A few answers: The line from the mast to hold up the boom is called a "topping lift." They can be nice. It's nice to douse the main, and NOT have the boom fall into the bottom of the boat. On the other hand, depending on the geometry of the rig and the amount of roach in the main (curvature in the sail behind an imaginary line from top of sail to aft corner "clew" of sail) the topping lift can catch on battens, and rub and wear the sail. On my small daysailer, the PO had installed a Boomkicker, which holds up the boom. Then I unshackle the main halyards and lead it to a D ring on the aft end of the boom for a more secure hold on the boom, because with downward pressure (as when grabbing the boom to maintain balance) the Boomkicker alone will pop off the boom. It is best to make your topping lift adjustable. This way, you can slack the line while sailing, and also use it to lift the boom on light wind days to set the amount of twist at the top of the main, for more advanced trimming options. Although you do not need a traveller or a vang, these are nice to have. In my opinion, the vang is the most important. The vang is primarily important on broad reaches and runs, to prevent the boom blowing up with wind, putting too much curve in the main. The vang can also be used in conjunction with the main sheet, to approximate the level of control a traveller can exert in shaping the twist of the main (so called "vang sheeting.") Back to your outhaul, the outhaul does need to be adjustable, but not in a "quick release" kind of way. You will decrease outhaul tension to increase the draft in the lower 40% of the sail, for more power in lighter winds, but pull on more outhaul to flatten for less power and more speed in higher winds. Some people use a standard horn cleat for the outhaul. Others have been able to rig a small cam cleat. I happen to have a plastic clam cleat on mine, and some 3/16" Dyneema cored line for my outhaul, which has managed to strip the plastic clam cleat. Mine will be replaced by an aluminum. There's nothing like sailing in stronger winds, hiking to keep the boat level, only to have the sail continually blow out to unacceptable amounts of draft... Hope this helps, Brian  

I would suggest Royce's Sailing Illustrated for learning boat rigging. There are many ways to rig a boat, and there are many reasons to rig different ways. Cruisers rig differently than daysailors, and racers rig differently still. Once you look at options and decide your path, you can buy standard blocks, cleats, and fairleads and lines to create any rig you like. Right now, you, like almost everyone else who gets a boat at first, are trying to understand / recreate the Previous Owner's (PO) rig. It may not have been the standard rig, ie. battened, furling jib (!???). My experience with having owned many small sailboats is to set it up so that it is safe and easily sailable at first. Sail it for a season, and make changes to the rigging as you go. After a season, you will probably have it set up the way you like. My advice, spend the time to make it easy and convenient to set up and sail, and you will sail it more. Year after year, I find that when my boat is near the water and fully or almost fully rigged, I will sail several times per week. When that happens, I am happy and proud to have the boat, and the boat is happy and proud to have me! Several very important places to concentrate: mast step, stays/shrouds, centerboard/daggerboard, and rudder. Get these wrong, and your day can go very bad, very fast! So check out Royce's for all the standard control systems, and see how they are rigged. Thanks, Andrew  

agprice22 said: I would suggest Royce's Sailing Illustrated for learning boat rigging. There are many ways to rig a boat, and there are many reasons to rig different ways. Cruisers rig differently than daysailors, and racers rig differently still. Once you look at options and decide your path, you can buy standard blocks, cleats, and fairleads and lines to create any rig you like. Right now, you, like almost everyone else who gets a boat at first, are trying to understand / recreate the Previous Owner's (PO) rig. It may not have been the standard rig, ie. battened, furling jib (!???). My experience with having owned many small sailboats is to set it up so that it is safe and easily sailable at first. Sail it for a season, and make changes to the rigging as you go. After a season, you will probably have it set up the way you like. My advice, spend the time to make it easy and convenient to set up and sail, and you will sail it more. Year after year, I find that when my boat is near the water and fully or almost fully rigged, I will sail several times per week. When that happens, I am happy and proud to have the boat, and the boat is happy and proud to have me! Several very important places to concentrate: mast step, stays/shrouds, centerboard/daggerboard, and rudder. Get these wrong, and your day can go very bad, very fast! So check out Royce's for all the standard control systems, and see how they are rigged. Thanks, Andrew Click to expand

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Spindrift 19

The spindrift 19 is a 18.75ft fractional sloop designed by jim taylor and built in fiberglass since 1982..

The Spindrift 19 is a light sailboat which is a high performer. It is very stable / stiff and has a low righting capability if capsized. It is best suited as a day-boat.

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• Sailboat Guide

Spindrift 19

Spindrift 19 is a 18 ′ 9 ″ / 5.7 m monohull sailboat designed by Jim Taylor and built by Spindrift One Designs/Rebel Industries (USA) starting in 1982.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Originally the STARWIND 19/STARWIND 190 but no longer built by Wellcraft Marine. (Dates have been hard to determine.) Spindrift One Designs, at the time was listed as a division of Rebel Industries.

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