Low Tide

Yacht Designer Tad Roberts' Web Log

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DORISTON BC

Echo and Orivo, trollers built on the beach at Doriston, a tiny village on the Sunshine Coast, by my grandmother’s fourth husband, Gunnar Gjerdin, and his brother Martin. It’s a poor picture but the only one I have. Echo is the tiny white boat, about 25′ long, and I would guess built sometime around the[.....]

What is a “Bristol Channel Cutter”?

Marketing doublespeak…….We’ll build a fat little boat and call it a “Bristol Channel Cutter”, that’ll bring in the rubes……And it did and still does. The Hess designs are in reality pretty much the exact opposite of the original Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter’s, in that they are wide with lot’s of form stability and minimal outside[.....]

A DECEMBER TOW

December Tow. I think of it as a tow, but it wasn’t all towing, we got the old MD2B to run for a few hours and even sailed a bit. It’s not far, Cadboro Bay to Silva Bay, about 45 miles as the crow flies. But it was December in BC, the tow was a[.....]

Small Boat Stability

Before we start looking at specific stability issues and possible regulatory problems, it’s important to get the basics understood. Above is a basic diagram showing three stability cases. The “Stable Condition” where G is below M and there is a positive GZ. Gravity is pushing down through G, the Buoyancy force is pushing up through[.....]

R2AK Weather update – pre race

More weather….as of Sunday May 31st, with about 4 days till the start in Port Townsend. The strong westerlies have broken down over the outside coast and in Hecate Strait. Winds are light over most of the coast right now, from the Grib file below you can see the strongest wind (Bright yellow spot) (according[.....]

Vito Dumas and Lehg II

It’s almost 70 years since Vito Dumas sailed around the world alone in his 31’6″ Manuel Campos designed Lehg II. In 272 days at sea he sailed approximately 20,400 miles Buenos Aires to Buenos Aires through the roaring 40’s with stops at Cape Town, Wellington NZ, and Valparaiso, Chile. First Singlehander to survive rounding the[.....]

Drawing the Boottop

An excellent example of a wide boottop done by William Garden on his Vega design. Drawing the Boottop The boottop line is screwed up more often than not…….very few get it right…. There is no simple formula…..this is art…..the boottop should be curved top and bottom (not a straight line in profile). The lower edge[.....]

TimberCoast Troller 22

TimberCoast 22 is the newest member of the BARTENDER family

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