Janet C

Soon, I will be the proud new owner of Janet C, a catamaran designed and built by two of the most famous sailor/boatbuilder brothers in the world! The Gougeon 32 in my opinion, has to be one of the most clever and innovative designs ever conceived. Why you ask? Well, to truly know the answer to that question I think you have to love sailing, and own a sailboat for a few years first.

I owned and occasionally raced a Laser 28. I love that boat! She is fast, responsive, safe, and has a very large cabin for her size... and speed, did I mention speed?. But the required slip fees and crane fees and the small army of friends needed to set up and tear down the boat every spring and fall made the boat a bit stressful for me to own. I was always worrying about how I was going to get her in and out of the water... and where I could keep her...

The beauty of the G32 is I can launch her like I would launch an 18' fishing boat... and I wouldn't need a big truck to haul her around! I could use the car I already have :) And, the boat is designed to be set up quickly... In less than 10 minutes the boat can go from the trailer to sailing! A far cry from the hour or so it takes to set up a Laser 28 mast and run all of the lines. And the money saved on slip and crane fees means the boat will basically pay for itself over the period I plan to own the boat.. And all that money I will save, will go toward upgrading the G-32 for racing! Meade has already replaced some original parts with lighter carbon fiber replacements; the tiller for example, is carbon fiber and amazingly light. I'm going to go through the boat and lighten it up as much as I can... with carbon fiber :)

Making carbon parts should keep me out of trouble this winter