Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/04/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry - Amazing! You actually own one of these things. The Nomad was one of the small cruisers I was very interested in when I was seriously thinking of buying a small boat. The other was the Stone Horse that I've talked about here before. I have real weakness for efficient design and the Nomad, despite being, shall we say, err... gorgeousness-challenged, was certainly that. I loved the boat but nothing came of it, or of the Stone Horse, for that matter. I ended up buying a Thistle that I raced for a dozen years. Now, just tell me that you power it with a Seagull outboard and my life will be complete. :-) Regards, Dick On Apr 14, 2010, at 9:57 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > The breadth of interest of Luggers continues to amaze me. Westerly twin > keel > sailboats are a comparative rarity in the USA but at least two Luggers have > owned, or wanted to own one. Westerlys are not the Leicas of sailboats, > more > like the Mack trucks. Strongly built, almost indestructible, but slow and > not overly responsive. > > > As part of our personal navy we own a Westerly Nomad, an English twin keel > auxiliary sailboat. We named it "Quark" since the Irishman we bought it > from > was named Finnegan. James Joyce fans will know the derivation of the name. > It was extremely seaworthy and had full headroom, provided you were shorter > than 5'10". It slept 4 and had an enclosed head and a small galley. The > twin > keels and skeg protecting the prop and rudder permitted it to sit upright > on > the bottom if the tide ran out. It could be towed on a flatbed trailer > without any supports or bracing. We sailed it all along the Northeast US > coast from Maryland to Maine, up the Hudson and the Erie Canal, and trailed > it to Florida for a couple of months of boating in the Keys. > > > We used the boat every summer and a few sabbatical winters from 1969 > through > 1996. When I retired from the university, I took my unused accrued sick > leave pay and bought a larger offshore type motorsailer in Florida. We > sailed up theIntracoastal Waterway and used until the end of last summer. > Now that my kids have moved away and started families of their own, it was > too big for two geriatric sailors to handle. And expensive too. In boating > you pay by the foot. Besides it was overkill for sailing in the relatively > placid waters of the Hudson Valley and Long Island Sound. We still have the > older Quark although it is under wraps and parked on its trailer next to > our > garage. Right now I am refurbishing it for next season. It has had a long, > well deserved rest. > > > Here is a photo of Westerly Nomad "Quark" > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Quark+in+water.jpg.html > > It is the boat just left of center in our local harbor. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Senesqua+harbor.jpg.html > > A main advantage of twin keel boats is that they trail easily without > supports. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Trailing+Quark.jpg.html > > A page from the Westerly 1964 catalog. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/img002.jpg.html > > > > Twin keel yachts have been popular in Britain for more than fifty years. > They have a number of practical advantages and a notable disadvantage. The > twin keels and the rudder skeg provide a stable tripod-like support if the > yacht takes the mud in areas where the mooring dries out at low tide. The > yacht stays level and does not flop over on the side as would a single keel > yacht. This stability when grounded permits the owner to intentionally > beach > the yacht to clean the bottom at low tide. The yacht does not require a > cradle when stored for the winter and, if small enough, can be towed easily > on a flat bed trailer. The relatively shallow draft makes launching easier. > The disadvantage is, of course, poorer performance under sail.significantly > hampered. For a given lateral plane, twin keels have greater wetted area > than a single keel. The greater frictional resistance simply makes the twin > keel designs slightly slower on all points of sailing. > > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information