A Tour of Boats

This may not be of interest to some, but to other sailors, it might be. We wanted to get out of the boat today and went walkabout.

S/V Star hails from Nice, France. That's a LONG way from here! She has an odd, very long rudder sporting a little fin at the end. Her hard chines (where the curves break) tell us that she's metal. Also note the twin keels, a very common feature of boats we've seen here.

A good example of the trend toward twin keels, and these are winged to boot. Remember when the US lost the America's Cup? The secret weapon was the winged keel that proved "down force" without demanding more weight in the keel. This boat also has twin rudders, so when she's screaming along, all heeled over, she's got a keel and rudder directly downward. Also note the very odd location of the saildrive. It's between the keels! I've never seen anything like it. The propeller is also very tapered, a very efficient shape. Presumably the location of the saildrive provides some protection. A saildrive is similar to an outboard foot protruding from the bottom. They are very efficient but do require a large hole in the hull.

No stays, and a single mast WAY forward. Zup? It didn't sail here!

Bora Bora, arguable the most beautiful island in the world, show itself 6 nm away.

The marina next door actually fabricates fiberglass boats! We had no idea until we took a walk on Sunday afternoon. This is a female mold with laid-up fiberglass curing in it. When the 'glass is cured, they'll simply "pop" the hull out, paint and complete it and they'll be done. In the previous posting, I showed a photo of a small white boat in a typical lift. That was a completed version of this boat.

A view down the tunnel below a large derelict catamaran.

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