My dad was nice enough to spruce up the trailer this spring. Looks Great! The lifting and lowering mechanism is fixed, all of the rust is gone, the wiring is in conduits, and the trailer looks new.

But the trailer wasn't the only thing to receive attention this spring....

November Daysail... In November!

I finally managed to get Janet C out on Lake Michigan.... in November! We had great weather today; sunny, mid 50s, and 10 to 18 mph winds. The waves were pretty big, over 6 feet at times, but the G32 handled them rather well. It was a remarkably dry and comfortable ride, considering we were ranging between 7 and 10 knots of boatspeed.... I had full water ballast in both hulls and was sailing with only the main and jib. Kevin Werner and my Dad were out with me today too.... I had plenty of life jackets, but was short a tin foil hat or two.. People I don't know stopping by to take pictures was kind of weird.  


Janet C will be a fast boat once her new owner figures out how to sail her :)

Link to the G-32 Catamaran Promo!

AMEN to the low grief sail boat concept! I managed to clean and buff most of the boat today, and cover it with a tarp. Now the boat looks like a UFO covered with a blue tarp.... Halloween costume perhaps? An alien craft disguised as a big blueberry? Smurfy!

A fellow Multihull - sail fast - guy stopped by to look at the boat. My dad calls him "Fast Eddie." He was nice enough to help me drop the stick on my laser 28 and give me some pointers on multi hull maintenance. I want to get Janet into tip top tippy top top shape before next years racing season.  

I ordered some G-Flex Epoxy from the Gougeon brothers today. I have a couple of things to tend to on Janet C before it gets too cold. Let's hope for a couple more warm days this fall.

Janet C in the 2009 Mac race

On the water Anarchy video link
Video of Janet C kicking tail in the 2009 Chicago the Mackinac race!

Dock talk about the G-32 before the race:
On the Dock Anarchy link

The Eagle has Landed!

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

Janet C moves to Sheboygan

Well,

Today is the day I leave town to pick up Janet C! Needless to say I'm pretty excited... I'm looking forward to the freedom this boat is designed to provide... Freedom from the slip fees, the crane schedule and crane fees, are enough to get me excited... the blinding speed is simply a bonus!

The fact that it looks like a spaceship is just icing on the cake of multihull goodness! And with Janet C, I get to have my cake and eat it too!

I also like the notion the tin foil hats I wear while racing won't look as out of place on this boat as they did on my last boat...It's nice to have that going for me