New Listing: 2008 Beneteau 46

Referrals are a broker's best friend, and I was very flattered to secure an excellent listing for this 2008 Beneteau 46 through a referral from an existing client.

I'm very familiar with the boat and sail past it all the time, so it was great to finally get onboard and see the interior. Unlike many of the larger Beneteaus, this boat has a traditional mainsail with an electric halyard winch and a "StackPack" for the main - exactly what I described as the ideal set-up in one of my first posts here. Not only does this offer a significant performance boost over in-mast furling, but the StackPack also eliminates the need for sail ties and cumbersome flaking - the main just drops right into the bag. Very civilized, and no anxiety about a furler that could jam at the worst possible moment!

Check out the full listing here.

J/95 Update

Rod Johnstone's J/95 is arriving at our docks this Sunday, and we've been busy lining up sea trials for the week. I'm eager to sail the boat myself and will of course make a full report here. She recently took first place in the Off-Soundings Spring Series with a PHRF rating of 109, so we're excited to take her out for some Thursday night beercan racing.

Pricing on the J/95 varies with some of the bigger options like a carbon rig, the asym package and interior amenities. The ultimate "sailaway" price is very marketable, based on the versatility and performance the J/95 offers.




Principal Dimensions:

LOA 31.20
LWL 28.40
Beam 10.00
Draft (board up/down) 3.0'/5.5'
Displacement 6,000 lb
Ballast (Fixed Lead Keel) 2,250 lb
Cast Bronze Centerboard 200 lb
100% Sail Area 450
STL 15.34
Dspl/L 117
SA/Dspl 22
Bridge Clearance 44.8
Aux Diesel Engine 14 hp

Newport in Photos

I rolled into Newport on Wednesday evening just in front of a classic summer squall. Here are some pictures from Newport Shipyard and the Hinckley facility in Portsmouth. Click on any picture for the larger version.

Incoming! Crews were scrambling to put on extra dock lines as this storm cell approached. The cranes in the foreground are on the deck of a private expedition-style motor vessel.
Roger Sturgeon's STP-65 Rosebud, drying out after Block Island Race Week.
I wish there was a better sense of scale here; the radar/satellite dome on the first spreader is about three feet across, if that helps.
Big.
Fast.


Pretty.

Busy Post-4th Week

Three surveys/sea trials lined-up for this week, including a Hinckley Picnic Boat in Newport on Thursday. Day trips to Newport are getting a little old (8+ hours in the car, round trip) so this time I'm going to spend the night and hopefully go for a ride on Adirondack II.

Let's see - Newport in July (without the weekend crowd), cocktails on an 80' schooner, sea trials in a Hinckley... Tough gig, right?

23 Seconds

On Saturday I competed in the Stratford Shoals race, sailing double-handed with Todd on his J/92 Thin Man. It's a 45 mile race, with a long delivery at either end to get the boat to the starting area from City Island. I'd been feeling under the weather all week so I was definitely not at full strength when we met at the boat Saturday morning.

Fortunately the adrenaline kicked in, and we knew we had a great boat and all the tools to win the race. After a close study of current models and wind conditions, we made the choice to head to the Long Island side of the Sound. It looked like about 60% of the fleet agreed with us, and the rest headed for Connecticut. We ran down the Sound in 6 to 9 kts of breeze with the jumbo kite up, holding our ground well against the larger boats that started 5 minutes behind us. But as we converged on Stratford Shoals, the Connecticut guys had come out way ahead.

Once we rounded the mark, it was a rhumbline close-hauled/close-reach course to the finish. We kept the boat going as fast as we could, finishing after 10 pm and hoping for the best. Results were posted on Sunday, and we took 2nd place in the double-handed division, only 23 seconds behind an Olson 30! Great news, all things considered, but it's tough to lose by such a slim margin. Thanks to thinmansailing.net for the chartplotter screenshot - click the link for a Todd's race report.

I was back in Brooklyn by 0200 on Sunday, then off to Norwalk at 0830 for a Sabre showing, followed by a daysail with a client and his family on their Mason 44. What a weekend!

The Right People in the Right Boat

While we seem to be in the middle of monsoon season here, I was able to spend a very career-affirming and sunny day sailing with clients on Friday. I was up at 0530 to drive out to Long Island - in this case WAY out. The first stop was Orient Harbor on the North Fork, where my clients were just getting to know their brand-new Alerion Express 28. The goal was to go for a sail and make sure they're getting the most out of the boat, and also troubleshoot a few minor post-commissioning issues (a wayward lazyjack, among others).

It was calm and foggy when I arrived, but by the time we dropped the mooring we had sunny skies and a perfect 7-12 kt breeze. It was obvious that the boat has been a great addition to the family; everyone was smiling, and with 7 of us aboard - 3 adults and 4 kids - we never felt cramped. It was fantastic to know that I had put the right people in the right boat. After an hour or so of sailing around Orient Harbor (an ideal venue for the AE28) and going over the fine points of sail trim, we practiced picking up the mooring under sail and then headed in.

My next stop was Sag Harbor - two short ferry rides and a culture shift away. This time I was meeting a happy new J/105 owner and his 9 year old son. Again, after a month or so with the boat the client was SO enthusiastic about it. Clearly all his expectations were met and he was having a great time. The breeze was getting lighter but we worked our way upwind along the east side of North Haven. The one thing he hadn't done on the boat yet was fly the spinnaker, so we popped that up (with just the three of us!) and scooted back downwind in about 7 kts of breeze. After a near-perfect douse we went back to the mooring and I reluctantly drove back to Brooklyn.

It was a great day, and seeing how happy my clients were with their new boats was extremely satisfying. Sorry there are no pictures - I was having too much fun.