DIY daggerboard options

Don't get me started on the Salton Sea Kraken, LOL... thing followed me for miles in a stern chase, but it veered away after I dumped my p!$$ bailer in its direction. That caustic p!$$ probably improved the quality of the water out there, LOL. You can see photos of Salton Expedition II on the first page of that thread I mentioned. A link to photos, anyway, but it's a spam-free link, aye? :rolleyes:
 
How about a bolt-on Trimaran conversion so a guy could take his gal and a Yeti along?

If it's a REAL Yeti, you'll need to boost the flotation, LOL... thing will probably drink all your beer while making eyes at your gal too, I've encountered those Yetis before and they can drink a freakin' truckload of beer. :confused:
 
No sorry I did not meet Mr. Bennett but my work on a few AC boats (Sail America and Prada) was a long time ago and sort of unplanned. My employer (Cray Research) gave the designers time on our crazy expensive supercomputers and I was the fluids guy there. Attached is a picture of the esteemed Skipper Conner with a colleague in the middle and me on the right, a long time ago. DC was a really nice guy, a born salesman. I am sure it was different being on his crew, but we enjoyed meeting him. The hydro design work was done largely by SAIC and Grumman engineers. Watch the old NOVA episode called 'Sail Wars' to see more of the technology used, pretty advanced for the time but it sure looks crude by today's standards. I admire anyone who takes these little corks out onto open water. Our lake here is plenty challenge enough for me. A flying friend of mine, Ron Normark, was quite the competitor on Lasers here in NC in past. He lives now near Ocala on a private airfield but still competes in Lasers. If I were 20 again (40+ years ago) I would have liked to compete. Now I enjoy more looking for ways to improve my Old Mule and get up to the dam and back in less time. An hour of sailing is like an hour of soaring or aerobatics - an internal cleansing of the cobwebs from the brain. As Conner once said, any improvement that is the equivalence of dragging one finger in the water over the duration of an AC race is worth considering. When you have 50-100 such improvements, you win.
 

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I'd sail all day, back-to-back days during island voyages... I figured if I had to go to the trouble of cartopping the boat(s), I might as well maximize my time on the water. I was big on working the tides too, and frequently consulted the tide chart to select the optimal days for sailing... riding the ebb out the bay to sail offshore, and riding the flood back once the tide turned. Some days, I'd simply patrol the beach in Coronado, run the Silver Strand and enjoy the wildlife during these voyages... all kinds of dolphins, seals & sea lions, rafts of sea birds offshore, gray whales migrating north or south, the whole nine yards. :rolleyes:

I once sailed through a HUGE raft of sea birds, the birds parted like the Red Sea ahead and closed astern after I passed, LOL. None of 'em took off, they just parted and let me sail right through the raft... must have been hundreds of birds there, I'm talking a great number, it was the largest raft of birds I've ever seen, aye? I LIVED for moments like that, surrounded by critters in the wilderness, every critter (including myself) just peacefully coexisting, ya know? Dolphin sightings have always been omens of good luck for me, when ya see dolphins there's less likelihood of sharks being around. Better to have the dolphins present than those pesky 2-ton Great Whites, LOL. :eek:

And comical pinnipeds are always cool sights for sailors, I once had a curious sea lion follow me halfway up the main channel in San Diego Bay, guy (or gal) was just cruising right off my starboard quarter the whole way. These are some of the best memories I have with regard to sailing... these moments shared with wildlife at sea or on the islands. Had a gray whale surface directly ahead of my boat one time while sailing offshore with a friend as passenger... goldurned whale scared the cr@p out of us at first, but after hastily tacking away we felt privileged to see the creature at such close range. I was originally close-hauled on the starboard tack, but the whale assumed the right of way under the obscure "Law of Gross Tonnage" (LOL). ;)
 
That includes Clark Kent, small craft sailor extraordinaire... when he puts his boat on a plane, he does it in midair, surprising the heck out of the jet crew, LOL. :rolleyes:
 
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