Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/04/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry, Sonny - I've always liked the Westerly boats and seriously considering buying one in the 70's. I liked the twin keel idea, too, for it's shallow draft and the drying out possibilities in some of our shallower harbors. Any twin keel boat must have a good engine, though, since they sure don't point worth a damn. This business of being comfortable with hitting bottom depends very much on where you sail. In New England the bottom is most likely hard sand, if you're lucky, or boulders if you're not. Best to stay away. :-) OTH, there's alot of getting used to the idea, too. People who've listened to alot of modern music, e.g., Elliot Carter or Milton Babbitt, tell me it's beautiful, whereas I can't listen to it long enough to adapt. I suppose if I had to I'd listen for some reason I would and maybe that's how it would be with grounding the boat every day. Regards, Dick On Apr 14, 2010, at 11:14 AM, Sonny Carter wrote: > On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 9:32 AM, Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at > gmail.com>wrote: > >> Richard, >> >> >> I too believed that it was a sin to let a boat touch the bottom until I >> lived on the shore of the Irish Channel for a couple of years. The wide >> tidal range means that anchoring areas along the shore dry out and boats >> settle on the bottom for half a day. >> > > > I've owned a couple of twin keelers, (both British boats,) not because of > the huge tides in the Gulf of Mexico, but because the boats had > particularly shallow draft. > > Lake Pontchartrain averages about twelve feet, so it was nice to poke > around > in a shallow draft boat with little fear of needing a tow. (Almost never . > . . ) > > The Westerly 30 had just a 3 foot draft, but I did manage to run her > aground > one night on the north shore, and it cost me a bottle of Jack Daniels to > get > her pulled off. > > My earlier sloop, a Vivacity 20 drew only about 2 feet. > > Here's a picture of what bilge keels look like. Makes it easy when you > need > to paint the bottom too! > > http://sailboatdata.com/VIEWRECORD.ASP?CLASS_ID=3616 > > -- > Regards, > > Sonny > http://www.sonc.com > http://sonc.stumbleupon.com/ > Natchitoches, Louisiana > > USA > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information