We have been learning how to edit videos.
So here are some shots of Peter Hyndman’s GIS “Gruff” at speed with me at the helm.
They were taken last year at Mooloolaba, Queensland.
The wind was a little strong for one person, but it did allow for good speed on a reach.
If I had been cruising I would have taken someone else with me to quieten down the boat or put a reef in the sail to reduce its size.
This video is dedicated to all the people who think that a boat has to have $3000 of ball bearing blocks to go fast. This boat has a total of 5. And none have ball bearings!!!!
This is why small boat sailing is dying as a pastime – the “powers that be” don’t think of the entry level – even a little kids boat like an Australian “Manly Junior” is almost $8000 because they think that winning should be at all costs – rather than keeping entry level boats simple and accessible as they were intended to be originally.
A Manly Junior following the original intent would cost little more than around $1300 to get in the water. This is true of almost ALL the other boat classes that were intended to be simple and cheap in the ’60s.
The Goat is a 16ft boat that costs a third of the amount to get a little 8ft racing boat on the water. Go figure!?
If the water had been a bit more open … we would have gone faster still.
