Annie Hill wrote:
Oh Graham, that is just fantastic! I am so pleased for you, especially to have a rig so easy to handle on a type of boat that you are actually rather fond of. This must make the wrench of parting with Arion a lot easier to handle. Low maintenance, fun to sail, a capable little boat: what's not to like? And as Gary points out - no room for lots of 'stuff', so the boat will be even more fun to sail! Less is More!
Yes, I am thrilled. I asked Shaun to sell Blue Moon to me when I secured an offer for Arion several weeks ago but he said he was not ready to sell her. He has been helping me look for boats in the meantime, but finally decided to let me have her. She is not cheap, as far as Top Hats go, but the others all have bermudian rigs and have not been set up for cruising. Blue Moon has an 85 watt solar panel, autopilot, etc. But mostly that cute rig, beautifully set up for handling from the cockpit. There is a storm jib, but Shaun just uses the reefed main in strong winds. He has run under the top two panels of the sail in winds up to 35 knots at times. I should have the boat by the end of May and cannot wait to play with it! Shaun toyed with the idea of making the boat unsinkable but gave it away because of the loss of space. I suspect I will end up coming to the same conclusion and opt for turning the dinghy into a lifeboat. I will still have to practice my minimalism! Interestingly, Blue Moon is not a conversion, the boat was built with the junkette rig.