A new boat slid into a vacant slip on K-dock today.........But, before I continue, lets jump into the ole' time machine between our ears and travel back to when this narrator first got into sailing.....back in those days "Men were Men, Women were Women, Dogs were Dogs, Children were, well, you know, ....you get the idea here"...during these years cruising boats were a little different than they are now. Cruising World and Sail Magazine actually printed stories about real, ordinary people on real ordinary boats doing remarkable voyages in Pearson 28's and 32's, Westsail 32's, Ingrid 38's, Tahiti Ketch 30's, Southern Cross 28's and 31's, Dreadnought's 32's, Golden Hind 31's, Vertue 26's, Nor Sea 27's, Bristol Channel Cutter 28's are just a few that immediately come to mind. Companies, now long gone, manufactured and sold all kinds of stuff for we wannabe cruisers, ABI, New Found Metals, Thomas Foulkes. The books of, to name just a few, Lynn and Larry Pardey and Hal Roth and Bernard Motissier and Eric and Susan Hiscock and Wayne Carpenter and Donald Street fueled our imaginations and dreams of one day "chucking it" and heading for the open horizons. Back in those days the RDF and Loran networks were the primary electronic gadgetry for finding yourself....a small boat radar cost $10,000.
Offshore sailors knew how to use a sextant and dead reckoning to navigate. Most of the stuff that the sailing mags of today tell us that we must have in order to successfully cruise had not even been invented yet!!
Don't get me wrong here! I'm for progress. There is no Luddite blood in my veins.....new materials coupled with new design technology has dramatically altered the conventional wisdom of cruising boats......I embrace the new and fully support the rethinking of historical standards in just about everything; however, realizing that I'm not smart enough to figure any of this stuff out and being old school, its hard for me to understand how a 42 foot, deep fin keeled, high aspect rig boat that displaces less the my 28 foot ZOSHA, which is a full-on cruising boat, can be considered to be safe at sea.......? In my formative sailing days for cruising boats... it was about
heft. Not size but
heft...... Heft? what the heck is heft you must be asking yourself.....I can see it in your eyes......well let me tell you.... it is something that is rugged and powerful and of substantial bulk for its size.....something that inspires security and imparts to one the feeling security and the ability to handle whatever comes along....something that is fearlessness in the face of adversity.......
ZOSHA
"Now where ya goin' with this buddy" you must be thinking by now!
Ok....lets travel back to present day Galveston Bay, Seabrook Shipyard Marina, K-dock....... Today a boat with HEFT sled into an empty slip a few down from me. This boat is what we used to call in the old days
a reef knocker........!
Massive scantlings, mean looking, a boat that looks like it can tame the wildest tempest....a full on, hard core, no question about it....tough vessel that was designed and built for offshore voyaging.....nothing else...not for cheese and white Zinfandel with neighbors on the cockpit table while watching fireworks, not for racing around some inflatable buoys on the bay, not for hanging lights all over it for the Christmas parade....one purpose for this boat.....offshore sailing.
I talked to the guy who owns and built the boat. His name is Erwin. He is a kinda young middle age guy who told me that he will retire in a couple years and wants to sail the world.....sound familiar? He gave me permission to post photos of his boat on this blog. That's all I know...don't like to pry into other people's business.
The boat is a steel variation of the venerable Bruce Roberts Offshore 44 and displaces about 26,000-29,000 lbs. Believe me folks when I tell you its a real honest to goodness
reef knocker!!!!!
Take a look:
There are houses around here that don't have this much space in their backyards!
NO WOOD......!!! Whoo Hoo!!
Now this is GROUND TACKLE....60 pound CQR on 3/8" chain!
There must be some majestic windlass under there!!?!!
Swim platform?....dingy storage? sundeck? Whatever it is, its cool!
The steering cockpit........look at the size of that winch pad!!!!!
The relaxing cockpit directly forward of the steering station....notice the watertight door/companionway hatch
Nice, fair steel work....this guy did an awesome job of building the hull!
You could land a small plane on this deck!!!
I just love a nice butt don't you?
Well there she is... an awesome vessel. A bona fide"reef knocker" I know that all of us extend our collective best wishes to Erwin and hope that his sailing dreams come to reality soon.
You guys take care. I'll have ZOSHAS Tour #3 up soon.
Until next time, peace to you my friends.....
