deadfast
New Member
Hello, hello! Forum newbie here and self-taught sailor. Instead of bombarding multiple people with the same history, I assume it would be simpler to talk about it in one spot (who am I kidding? I'll ramble about sailing to anyone who'll listen and reply).
Anywhoo, me first sailboat was a trusty 76' Compac 16. Never sailed before, never owned a boat before, never even operated a power boat(bleh, Smokers). Had to battle four inches of barnacles off the hull from sitting neglected at the slip, repaint the bottom, gut the floors in the cuddy cabin and rebuild them (better than original, I might add) but the mainsail was like new and the rib was fair. Came with a pretty decent genoa too. Took her out on the indian river in florida with nary a kicker(learned to sail without one. Who needs a motor except when the wind dies on you?) and the compac taught me the ups and downs. Sailed her without incident for 3ish years until we were forced to sell her for a move. Sold it for a profit over the original cost, though. Who says owning a boat has to be a money pit? Pft. Newbs. Need more viking in yer blood.
After getting settled in at our new place, I started looking at the local lake with a longing to get in the wind again. Once its in you, you can't really get sailing back out again it seems. Eyed the ads until a local deal popped up for a Rebel 16.5. A nice step up in speed and challenge from the docile, self-righting Compac, the boat itself only needed a bit of sanding and some paint. The rudder, trailer and the running/standing rigging looked peachy...Except it was missing its boom. What goof-troop loses an 11-foot machined aluminum pole with pulleys and obvious...boat-stuff attached? Couldn't find a company that still made replacements, couldn't get Dwyer aluminum mast company to return my calls, so I scrounged up a spare boom and mast from another, much more derelict boat(no sailboat that still has hope for rehab deserves to be separated from its rigging, imo). Using those parts, I fabbed my own boom and took her sailing. Works like a champ--better than expected in fact. These little Rebels are pretty quick and she seems to prefer close-hauled over anything else, quite the opposite of the Compac. Already had to reflexively prevent a couple capsizes by dumping sail and once I additionally had to turn into the deadzone. Sometimes she also decides to jibe or tack all on her own and you just have to go with it. Named her, fittingly, 'Little Nauti'. She's a honey.
However, after barely having Nauti out for more than a few sails squeezed in at the end of this summer, I ran across an even better-priced deal on a similar boat. Practically giving it away. An Oday Daysailer 2, in need of a bit of paint and some new sheets, but jam-packed with 7 useable sails of various age including a spinnaker with its bag and pole (always wanted to try one of those...). It also had a bunch of the trimmings with it such as docking bumpers, paddle, horn, life jackets ect. Trailers not bad, either. For 200 bucks, I couldn't just let her sit in that cow field with her nice suite of expansive Dacron losing precious hours of sail-time laying under the sun where they were heaped over the boat. (Why do people do this? The death of so many boats starts with some lazy sod that won't buy a 20 dollar tarp and cover that baby up. So much extra work and loss that could easily have been prevented). Am I crazy for buying a second, quite-similar sailboat to Nauti? Maybe just alittle...but they're both old enough to be tax-exempt and I have a bunch of friends here I can teach to sail. Regatta time, mate!
Now, the current question is thus: Which ones faster? Little Nauti with her higher weight, shorter length, and larger sails or the Oday with less weight (somehow), a foot more length and less sail area? It's a debate between me and my boat buddies that we won't know for sure until I can doll up the Oday for next spring. Comments, questions and suggestions on all welcome; let's talk sailing!
Anywhoo, me first sailboat was a trusty 76' Compac 16. Never sailed before, never owned a boat before, never even operated a power boat(bleh, Smokers). Had to battle four inches of barnacles off the hull from sitting neglected at the slip, repaint the bottom, gut the floors in the cuddy cabin and rebuild them (better than original, I might add) but the mainsail was like new and the rib was fair. Came with a pretty decent genoa too. Took her out on the indian river in florida with nary a kicker(learned to sail without one. Who needs a motor except when the wind dies on you?) and the compac taught me the ups and downs. Sailed her without incident for 3ish years until we were forced to sell her for a move. Sold it for a profit over the original cost, though. Who says owning a boat has to be a money pit? Pft. Newbs. Need more viking in yer blood.
After getting settled in at our new place, I started looking at the local lake with a longing to get in the wind again. Once its in you, you can't really get sailing back out again it seems. Eyed the ads until a local deal popped up for a Rebel 16.5. A nice step up in speed and challenge from the docile, self-righting Compac, the boat itself only needed a bit of sanding and some paint. The rudder, trailer and the running/standing rigging looked peachy...Except it was missing its boom. What goof-troop loses an 11-foot machined aluminum pole with pulleys and obvious...boat-stuff attached? Couldn't find a company that still made replacements, couldn't get Dwyer aluminum mast company to return my calls, so I scrounged up a spare boom and mast from another, much more derelict boat(no sailboat that still has hope for rehab deserves to be separated from its rigging, imo). Using those parts, I fabbed my own boom and took her sailing. Works like a champ--better than expected in fact. These little Rebels are pretty quick and she seems to prefer close-hauled over anything else, quite the opposite of the Compac. Already had to reflexively prevent a couple capsizes by dumping sail and once I additionally had to turn into the deadzone. Sometimes she also decides to jibe or tack all on her own and you just have to go with it. Named her, fittingly, 'Little Nauti'. She's a honey.
However, after barely having Nauti out for more than a few sails squeezed in at the end of this summer, I ran across an even better-priced deal on a similar boat. Practically giving it away. An Oday Daysailer 2, in need of a bit of paint and some new sheets, but jam-packed with 7 useable sails of various age including a spinnaker with its bag and pole (always wanted to try one of those...). It also had a bunch of the trimmings with it such as docking bumpers, paddle, horn, life jackets ect. Trailers not bad, either. For 200 bucks, I couldn't just let her sit in that cow field with her nice suite of expansive Dacron losing precious hours of sail-time laying under the sun where they were heaped over the boat. (Why do people do this? The death of so many boats starts with some lazy sod that won't buy a 20 dollar tarp and cover that baby up. So much extra work and loss that could easily have been prevented). Am I crazy for buying a second, quite-similar sailboat to Nauti? Maybe just alittle...but they're both old enough to be tax-exempt and I have a bunch of friends here I can teach to sail. Regatta time, mate!
Now, the current question is thus: Which ones faster? Little Nauti with her higher weight, shorter length, and larger sails or the Oday with less weight (somehow), a foot more length and less sail area? It's a debate between me and my boat buddies that we won't know for sure until I can doll up the Oday for next spring. Comments, questions and suggestions on all welcome; let's talk sailing!
