French, Spanish… and then some!

Just ordered even more great books for the sea library!

But these should be the last additions for a while. Lookin’ forward to more good snoozing ahead…

• Spanish for Cruisers: The Boater’s Complete Language Guide for Spanish-Speaking Destinations, by Kathy Parsons
• French for Cruisers: The Boater’s Complete Language Guide for French Waters, by Kathy Parsons
  

and

• Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere, by John Vigor
• Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat: A Guide to Essential Features, Handling, and Gear, by John Vigor

Book reviews coming soon! 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Book reviews coming soon:

Spanish for Cruisers
French for Cruisers    
Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere

Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat

Languages

Previously: Study Sailing in French… and Spanish?

Chuck Paine Speaks

link below at bottom of post

After a long day at the Boat Show last week, I was rarin’
to get over to the Cruising Association to hear Chuck Paine, master yacht designer, speak on ’35 Years of Cruising Design’!!!

So I loaded up the Can Opener with all my purchases and dragged him onto the tube to Limehouse. 

It took all my charm and persuasion to get my First Mate up the hill to the CA clubhouse. I had to push him the last few metres inside, but in the end we got there. 

And it was so worth it! Here are the highlights:

How Chuck got started

• He was an architect who wanted to be a naval designer
• so he designed a small yacht based on a fishing dory profile that he admired one day and called it ‘Frances’.
• He started to build his boat (a double-ended cutter) in a small shed…

but 

• the shed – and boat – burned down after one year (though not before Tom Morris, soon-to-be great boat builder saw it).

But

• Chuck rebuilt it from scratch with the help of his twin brother

and 

• Yachting World gave it a GREAT review.
• This review was so good that it generated the most positive inquiries YW ever got.

And then

• four builders asked to build it – Chuck picked one, the Desty brothers.
• This became the Frances 26 class,
• a good enough start to launch a design company on.

Chuck builds a design company

• Tom Morris, now upcoming-great boat builder, hires him to design the Morris Leigh in the US (in the UK, called the Victoria 30). 

And next

• Chuck really wanted to design for Rival Yachts, a British boat builder, too.

So

• he set up a stand at the London Boat Show and started sketching his stuff – stuff that maybe Rival Yachts might like to make. 
• 2 suits from the London banking district admired his work, and trotted him over to the Rival Yachts boat show stand nearby.
• They tell Rival Yachts that they will each buy a yacht on the spot if Rival uses Chuck’s design.
• And they did.

Growth
Chuck designs:

• Morris Linda 28
• Morris Annie 29
• Morris 30 
• Morris 32 
• Morris 34 
• … 
• Morris 52 

More Growth 
Chuck designs:

• the Paine keel (adapted from the Sheel keel) 
• the largest aluminum boat at the time in the US (125 feet) 
• Vela 
• Te Mana 
• Onora 
• Seal 
• Carol
• Cabo Rico
• Bermuda series
• Tangier 31
• Erica 45
• Gusto 44
• and a bunch of other stuff that the Can Opener couldn’t write down fast enough as the power point slides flipped past…
• … and finally the Frances II.

• Then Chuck retired and wrote a book.
  

  The original Frances
  Turns out that the namesake of the original Frances class boat (Frances Cairncross, former editor of the Economist and Rector at Exeter College, Oxford) was in the audience that evening, so Chuck introduced her. Round of applause.

  The book  

  Chuck summed up all of the above in a great big book (with hundreds of illustrations) which we haven’t read yet but sure looked nice. 
  Great speaker with a pretty fantastic life story to talk about. A++ for another great Cruising Association lecture.
  Ever heard Chuck speak? 
  Where and when? What did he speak on?
  I could listen to that guy for days.
  –Captain Cat
  (transcribed by the Can Opener) 

  Cruising Lectures 
  Next: Jimmy Cornell Speaks

• Previously: Battery Capacity
  
  • http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/httpthecruisi-20/8001/7ae1d93c-405e-4b18-a796-337b71d35695 <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fhttpthecruisi-20%2F8001%2F7ae1d93c-405e-4b18-a796-337b71d35695&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>

Morris Yacht Designs & Morris 34

We could only find a vid for the Morris 36. Mostly shows the boat in action sailing. 

At about 1:07~ you get some close ups of winches, fittings etc. Unfortunately, no interior views shown.

Morris Yachts – Highlights

Built very very well… 
‘Every boat built by Morris is a work of art!’ — John Neal of Mahina Expeditions. 

The shortest Ocean Series design that the Morris yard is currently offering is the Morris 34. The First Mate and I were aiming for circa 30 foot designs as he’ll be solo sailing most of the time – but these boats are so gorgeous we can’t resist taking a peek. 

The Morris 34 was Best Overall Boat of the Year for 1998 at the Annapolis Boat Show so we are not alone in our admiration it seems. 

Not that many built… 
The Morris site notes the Morris Annie 29 design was built 1980~ and only 16 were built. The Linda 28 design is meant to be similar – again only 16 were built. But for Morris, these seem to be long runs. 

‘More recently… production numbers have increased quite a bit, but I doubt Morris has yet built its 300th boat. If so, that boat would have been built fairly recently.’ – Richard Reinhart, Morris Yachts post, Sailnet 

We had the Morris Annie in our sights, but I think finding one of these on the market will be more than a little tough. 

Hard to find present/past owners’ opinions online… 
Since not so many Morris boats have been made, not so many owners (or past owners) are around. Can’t seem to find too many specific comments on specific Morris boats in sailing forums (just general comments on the Morris yard and their great production standards and after service). 

Ditto can’t find an owners’ association or any sail mag reviews on the shorter Morris designs (though reviews for the Morris 45 and 52 can be seen at Cruising World online). 

But there are some useful comments online… 
So for what it’s worth, here are the highlights of the few the bits we’ve found online, focusing mostly on the Morris 34… 

Pluses 

• cockpit is set up for either tiller or wheel steering* (tiller is the way we’re planning to go – simple systems mean fewer breakdowns and also the auto-helm will be easier to attach)
• interiors can be customized* (doesn’t mean much to us who will be buying used, but may appeal to others…)
• ‘Morris Yachts is well known for building sailboats that border on floating works of art.’ – bluewaterboats.org, Morris Linda 28 page
• ‘(Morris) don’t wait until a vessel is in the new owners hands to see if there are problems. They look for problems before the vessel is delivered.’ –JHJensen, Marine Educator/Surveyor, Morris Yachts post, Sailnet 

Minuses

• ‘Asking prices on the Morris 36s seem to have been rising pretty steadily for the last 5 or so years.’ – Richard Reinhart, Morris Yachts post, Sailnet
• (Seems to be true for Morris boats in general. Not so great if you are buying; quite nice if you are selling…)

Specs for the Morris 34* 
LOA:             33’9″ 
LWL:             26’1″ 
Beam: 10’5″ 
Draft (Scheel Keel): 4’3″ 
Displacement: 11,400 lbs 
vs 
Bavaria 34, 12 yrs old: $89,804 
Contour 34, 12 yrs old: $125,000 
Hallberg Rassy 34, 12 yrs old: $182,676 

 

Sample Pricing for the Morris 34** 
Morris 34, 7 yrs old: $345,000 
vs 
Beneteau 34, 7 yrs old: $97,530 
Jeanneau 34, 7 yrs old: $108,367 
Catalina 34, 7 yrs old: $114,900 

Morris 34, 12 yrs old: $235,000 
vs 
Bavaria 34, 12 yrs old: $89,804 
Contour 34, 12 yrs old: $125,000 
Hallberg Rassy 34, 12 yrs old: $182,676 

Criteria Match 

<span lang="EN-GB" style="font

Decision 
We’d love to have a Morris and will definitely keep our eyes open for examples to take a look at during our research (more likely to be found in the US though). We’re hoping we come across a Morris Annie 29 or a Linda 28. 

However, the Morris 34 looks awfully pricey for our first boat. We’d like to make mistakes and learn on something a little more moderate when we outfit for long distance the first time.WOW, they are pricey. Though beautiful. Ouch.

Decision 
We’d love to have a Morris and will definitely keep our eyes open for examples to take a look at during our research (more likely to be found in the US though). We’re hoping we come across a Morris Annie 29 or a Linda 28. 

However, the Morris 34 looks awfully pricey for our first boat. We’d like to make mistakes and learn on something a little more moderate when we outfit for long distance the first time. 

For now, for us, the Morris 34 doesn’t make the short list. 

But we’ll keep it on the long list for future reference. We are confident there will be more than one boat in our long term future. 

Have you ever sailed or owned one of these boats? 
What do you think? Would you buy this boat (or buy it again)? 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

*  Data taken from http://www.morrisyachts.com/Morris-34 
** Sample data taken from yachtworld.com

Yacht Designs

Next: Westsail 28 & 32
Previously: What about a Catamaran?

The Plan to Find a Boat that Fits

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Part 4 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

Captain Cat: Thursday night and life was good. I was just putting the last touches onto the final draft of my three-storey dream yacht. The Can Opener was gently fanning me with palm fronds and feeding me smoked oysters straight from the tin, when –

Can Opener: Those weren’t palm fronds. They were bed sheets. And I was fluffing them out across the bed before tucking them in.

Captain Cat: I did find those palm fronds rather claustrophobic as you hospital-cornered and ferociously tucked their edges under the mattress around me at lightning speed…

Can Opener: Listen carefully. There will be no three-storey yacht. We will follow a simple, systematic method to research great designs that have stood the test of time and…

… Our Method is as follows:

1. Consider/research one design per week.
2. Compare it versus the Yacht Design Criteria we wrote for the boat of our dreams.
3. Does it fit? What are the pluses and minuses?
4. After narrowing down to 10 or so favourite designs, we go see examples in person.
5. Review top 10 and continue looking until we find The One…

Where to find potential dream yacht designs?

• Internet:
• Sail magazine reviews: Yachting, Cruising World
  
• Yacht designers’ sites 
•  Comparison sites? Forums?

• Talk to club members about their boats and experiences
• Volunteer to crew on different designs

Where to visit examples of these yacht designs?

• Boat shows
• Volunteer to crew on these designs as possible
• Contact boat agents for viewings of yachts for sale

Captain Cat: Sounds very organised. But just a few more oysters under the palm fronds and I could have created exactly what I want and saved us both a lot of effort –

Can Opener: No. No palm fronds. And there were no oysters involved!

Captain Cat: Of course there were. It was a Thursday. I distinctly remember my tin of Crown Prince Best Smoked at my elbow.

Can Opener: Hm. It was a Thursday…

–transcribed by the Can Opener

N.B. Part 5 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Get a Boat.