Ok, I’ve been lagging on the updates here and I realize that time is behaving mysteriously as it’s already February and that means it’s almost March, 1 month before the boats go back in the lake here in Toronto.

Need to update sailing resume with end of 2021 stuff including the Voiles d’Aotumne and some solo adventures. I’ll get to that after this.

Boat Search

Arg – Still finding it a bit hard to believe that there are absolutely no options for a relatively new (post 2000) French style 28-32 foot racing boat set up and stable for shorthanded/solo sailing.

Options:

Ship Zen’it over here. Pros – I love that boat and know it’s condition. Cons – not quite the perfect boat for OS specific training or load. Also very pricing to bring her over.

French Boats:

• JPK (1010, 960)
• Archambault A31
• Pogo
• Figaro 2 – probably the best option for price and purpose. Water ballasts, create your own adventure inside. No head or anything comfortable.

All great boats, within budget, still need to invest in transport over to the east coast and to Lake Ontario via some route.

Local/NA Boats:

• J105 – revisiting this with possible co-ownership
• Olson 20 (but too unstable)
• Express 27 (hard to find, old and so far, most not set up for shorthanded/solo)
• Laser28 – new to the list (hard to find, old but nice price) – tipsy
• First 27 – toying with ambassador type program with Beneteau dealer, not sure if it’s a great fit and the boat is still expensive at half the price for 27 foot boat.
• J99 – Would be ok with 4 people but then – Why not get the 10.80 in San Fransisco (see below)? https://sailinganarchy.com/advert/jpk-1080-36-ft-2016/
• Far out random chance to buy one of the Figaro 2’s owned by the leadership at COSC. It’s a long shot but fits my vibe to get as many new people into OS sailing as possible. Or sailing in generally actually.

Part 2 on the way – Celestial Navigation…