What a difference a new headsail makes!

We were able to sneak some sailing in this weekend to test out the new genoa -- after the gale winds and before the torrential rains began.

Eventually gale winds shouldn't be a problem for an Andromeda like Phoenix -- especially with the mizzen and new staysail -- but when testing the initial performance of the new headsail, it seemed prudent to wait for more moderate air.

We had NW winds at 10-15 knots and we started things out sailing on a downwind run with a full main and genoa. The sail shape looked great and we were cruising along at or slightly faster than the apparent wind. The helm was easy (as you'd expect) going downwind.

On both a broad and beam reach, Phoenix picked up speed and we were comfortably doing high 5s to low 6s with very little effort. Admittedly we weren't breaking any records, but a respectable speed given the relatively light air.

We could never get this nice of a slot with the old headsail!

It was chilly out there!

Looking up from the foredeck

Genoa on a broad reach

Upwind sailing was going to be the true test, since our old, bagged out sail caused excessive weather helm when sailing close to the wind and we typically heeled at about 20-25 degrees. With the new sail, Phoenix heeled over quickly then stabilized at about 15 degrees, and we were really able to flatten the new headsail and maintained excellent helm control.

For kicks, we reefed the headsail a few turns (about 10%), and the rope luff did a great job keeping the luff tight and the sail flat. Bill let out the sheeting a hair and we were heeled at about 10 degrees and picked up a bit more speed.

With the new canvas, Phoenix's upwind performance is 1,000 times more enjoyable! After a bit more fine tuning of the rig and sheeting, we're sure that her performance will be even better!

Over the years we've seen too many people unwittingly wait way too long for new sails and wonder why their boat isn't performing as well as it should. As sailors we spend so much time and effort on other improvements and maintenance projects that sadly the sails are often the last thing to get replaced.

If we can offer any advice, pay attention to your sails and how they are wearing over time. I didn't realize that a bagged out sail could cause such a difference in sail performance, but I'm a true believer now!

Phoenix Has New Sails!

When we bought Phoenix, she came with a main, mizzen, 140% genoa, a storm staysail, and gennaker -- all of which were made by North Sails in their loft outside of Detroit.

Just before we began sailing, the Annapolis North Sails loft made us a new main and our Phoenix logo was added with the help of North Graphics. We went with a 9.9 ounce Dacron cross-cut main with 3/4 battens, two reef points, and with excellent controls so we can really flatten this sail when sailing upwind or in heavy air. Jonathan's team did a great job constructing the main and we've been very happy with it thus far.

Checking out the main while sailing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

After several sailing trips last year, we decided that it was time to replace our 140% genoa. The 6 ounce cloth was really a light air sail and the laminate material was past its prime, causing the sail to bag and move the draft too far aft. Moving the draft aft caused Phoenix to heel excessively when sailing upwind and was causing some weather helm.

Shopping for new sails can be a daunting task -- not only are they expensive but there is a ton of information and hype to wade through in terms of cuts, fabrics, and sizes. Shopping at the boat shows helps quite a bit because you typically have all the major sail lofts within walking distance so you can talk to each, compare prices (and boat show discounts), and ideally get them to sharpen their pencils and give you the best possible deal for your money.

Since our primary plan is to cruise, we knew we wanted durability in our new headsail, but we didn't want to sacrifice sail shape and performance. We often reef the headsail on the furler and didn't want to compromise sail shape, but we didn't want to completely break the bank either. This meant that the high tech laminate materials were out (based on price, even though it would make a lighter sail) and we didn't want to go with a cross-cut sail either -- you can never really get good sail shape with a reefed cross-cut headsail on a roller furler.

Tri-radial sails can give you much better sail shape when reefed and have a much flatter cut, which would help reduce heeling when sailing upwind. The downside is that they take more fabric and man-hours to make since there are more panels to sew together, making them slightly more expensive than cross-cut sails.

For bigger headsails, many sail lofts are moving away from foam luffs and switching to rope luffs. The foam can crush, mildew, and degrade from UV exposure over time. The rope luff reefing pad is made up of three staggered lengths of polypropylene line sewn into a sock at the luff of the sail. The rope luff won't crush, won't mildew, is more UV stable, and helps flatten the sail as you reef. Supposedly it's "easily" replaced if necessary, but that remains to be seen at this point.

After meeting with Doyle, North and Ullman at the boat show and comparing bids, we opted for a higher cut, tri-radial 130% genoa with a rope luff, and a sail area of 755 square feet.

Jerry from the Ullman loft in Deltaville, VA gave us a very competitive bid for the headsail using Dimension-Polyant's ProRadial woven polyester fabric. ProRadial has almost no crimp, and is woven on the same looms as Dimension-Polyant's HydraNet sailcloth. We opted for 9.9 ounce fabric for most of the sail with 8.9 ounce near the luff. Since we chose the heavier fabric, we went with a Sunbrella sacrificial cover rather than UV Dacron like we had on the old genoa.

New genoa on deck and ready for installation

Tri-radial cut with rope luff after initially hoisting the sail

Bill checking out the new headsail

Dock sailing at its finest!

We also had a new 230 square foot staysail made to round out our sail inventory. Since our staysail is a hank-on, we went with a cross-cut design using Challenge 9.62 High Aspect 104 sail cloth.
 

New cross-cut staysail

Jerry from Ullman Sails did a great job constructing the new sails and we are very pleased with how they turned out. Now all the sails are all on board, the water tanks are full and Phoenix is ready to head out. We can't wait to see what a difference the new sails make.

Stay tuned for next week when we share more pics and our findings!

Happy Birthday Bruce!

The crew of our sister ship, Eager Dreamer, invited Bruce Bingham up from Florida to sail with them for a long weekend. It so happened that Bruce's birthday fell within the planned trip so we all got together for an Andromeda reunion and to celebrate Bruce's birthday.

There are so few Andromeda's out there that it's pretty amazing to have Phoenix and Eager Dreamer both right here in the Chesapeake, let alone seeing them both in the same creek. And it's also good to be able to compare notes on sailing characteristics, modifications we're both making, etc.

The weather warmed up nicely for the visit, and thankfully the creek thawed a few days prior to their arrival. I dare say we're finally seeing some signs of spring! Scott, Laurie, Bruce and Tiller arrived early afternoon, and we had a great time catching up, hearing about their sailing adventure with Bruce, showing them the progress we've made on Phoenix, and enjoying some delicious food and wine.

Eager Dreamer arriving for the party

Bill, Scott, Bruce and Tiller examining our framed, original print ad for the Andromeda

Laurie, Bill, Bruce and Scott sitting down for our steak dinner

It wouldn't be a birthday celebration without dessert, so I whipped up Bruce's favorite -- key lime pie.

Birthday Key Lime Pie

Laurie, Bruce and me

Bill and Bruce both grew up in Michigan and have an affinity for Sanders chocolate, so we thought a little reminder of home would be a fitting birthday gift.

Bruce opening his birthday present

It was a great visit, and a treat to spend time with Bruce and the Eager Dreamer crew.

Now with spring finally on the horizon, it's time to get back to boat work and back to sailing.

Cheers.

A Rose by Any Other Name…

So much has happened in the past month and we have quite a backlog of things to share. Bruce Bingham, Gary, Lana and the Eager Dreamer clan (the Wybranski family) all came out, along with some of our close friends, for Andromeda-fest 2012. Perhaps as we discover more Andromeda’s out there our numbers will grown into a true gala event, but with only 2 boats, it will remain a “fest” for now and we will share the highlights soon. J

In the meantime, you may recall our posting on Phoenix’s Origins, how we discovered that she was an Andromeda, and how we met Gary, Lana and Bruce in the first place. Fast forward to Bruce’s arrival and upon first glance telling us that she is NOT an Andromeda, but a Christina. Now we were really confused…

Bruce designed both boats in the 60s and the Christina is simply a modified version of the Andromeda. Our understanding is that the key distinguishing characteristics in our design are:

• Single, rather than double ports in the hull
• The bulwarks are slightly taller and have more flair
• Squared rather than “bubble” cabin tops
• Slightly fuller, more pointed canoe stern

Beyond that, the LOA, LWL, beam, displacement, etc. are the same. When we began our blog we said we were a “highly modified Andromeda,” but apparently we didn’t know the half of it! We were crediting all of the previous owners and ourselves for her modifications, though some were there from the start!

Gary and Lana have the line drawings comparing the two designs tucked away in an attic somewhere, and we hope to get a copy some day so we can do a more proper comparison. Call her an Andromeda or a Christina if you’d like, but soon we’ll be calling her home.

Phoenix's Origins

For years, all we knew about Phoenix was that she was a “custom 48’ ketch” built in the mid 70s by a “Mr. Kim” in Pusan, Korea. Not really much to go on… But leave it to 2 super sleuth researchers to uncover the true pedigree of our “little” gem!

Fast forward a few years and Bill sees a boat for sale on E-bay that looks remarkably similar to Phoenix. This was a ferro-cement hull rather than fiberglass like ours, but the design similarities were striking! That boat – Eager Dreamer (ED) – is a Bruce Bingham 48’ Andromeda ketch. Armed with a few key pieces of information from the ad, Bill and I set out to unravel the mystery behind Phoenix's origins.

We decided to divide and conquer. Bill discovered that ED was built in Seattle by a man named Gary Wiles, and found his contact info online. I hit the message boards and found that Bruce Bingham is living in Florida and got his contact info. Bill called them both and what we learned excited us both!

Phoenix is, in fact, a Bruce Bingham Christina (similar to an Andromeda), and 1 of only 2 ever made in the factory under Bruce's supervision. For all intents and purposes, she is hull #1 of the 2, and was commissioned with an additional 6 foot bowsprit and staysl rig. There are other Andromeda's out there, but none built under Bruce’s watch. The hull was made in Korea, and she was shipped to Seattle where she was finished and delivered. Gary saw her there in 1976, and she was the inspiration that led him and his wife Lana to build ED!

Bruce's book entitled,  Ferro-Cement, is almost an "Andromeda manifesto" as I like to call it, and he spends a good part of the introduction discussing his then-current philosophy on boat design that culminated in the Andromeda. Gary was kind enough to send us copies of the original blue prints which gave us invaluable pieces of Phoenix's puzzle.

Phoenix has had several owners, a hand full of names, and many modifications over the years. We've seen remnants of bulkheads, shoveled out bags full of woodchips and epoxy that settled in her keel, and uncovered a variety of paint colors as we completed the re-decking and paint job. But now we could really see where she came from, and amazingly that many of our modifications hark back to her original design!

Bill contacted her previous owner Dieter to share the news, and he in turn offered pictures of the boat from the mid-90s. At that point her teak decks had be replaced with Ipe (aka Brazilian walnut). The compromised foredeck had been leaking badly, and Dieter ripped all of the Ipe -- and even the cabin tops -- off the boat. Dieter re-beamed the foredeck and began a Herculean attempt at reviving the boat before running out of steam and putting her on the market.



The Ipe and cabin tops ripped off!

View of the main cabin from the deck...



How she looked when we got her

We picked up where Dieter left off and are rounding the corner towards her completion. Bruce, Gary and Lana will most likely be here visiting this summer, and with any luck she will be ready to sail for our honored guests. At 36 years old, it is time for Phoenix to rise and shine!



Phoenix today

The Rebirth Began...

Phoenix's rebirth began several years ago, when Bill found her on the hard in Detroit. The masts hadn't been up for 10 years, and the current owner decided to throw in the towel after ripping the Ipe off the decking, replying the deck, and gutting the interior.

Within 6 months, Bill had the motor working and the boat ready enough for the 1,100 mile journey from Detroit to Pasadena, MD.

No coaming walls at this point and the decks are nowhere near fair...

Temporary hatches and bimini, etc. , but all the basics needed to keep the crew happy for 2 weeks!

I came into the picture about a year after the project began, and we've been been putting her back together again ever since (well, we did take time out to get married, teach me how to sail, and of have some fun, but we'll get to that later!)