Florida T2 For Sale

This two year old T2 located in central Florida is for sale for US$4500.  Contact me (gary.dierking at gmail.com) and I will put you in contact with the owner.

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Know Where You Are

For most of human history, the stars told us where we were in space and time. 

 Have we forgotten how to look up?

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Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race 2015

I will be away from my desk from Wednesday morning early, through to the weekend. I won't have my laptop with me, so you won't get me by email for a few days. The reason for this gap in my connectivity is that I will be preparing for and sailing in the "Apella" approaching the start line for the 2014 race.The race connects the two port cities of Baltimore at the northern end of the Bay and Portsmouth at the southern end, both of which throw excellent parties for the crews. The course is actually a bit shorter, starting  just south of the Bay Bridge that spans Chesapeake Bay north of Annapolis and finishing at Thimble Shoals off Hampton Roads. That is for the bigger boats but the smaller and slower boats get to finish at Windmill Point about 50 miles further up the Bay, then choose to either sail or motor the rest of the way to Portsmouth in time for the festivities.

I will be sailing on the schooner-rigged Some of the "Apella" crew showing off the silverware in 2014.It was as we crossed the start line last year that, sitting astride the cockpit coaming and grinding the Genoa winch, I dislocated my left knee. I'll have to be careful about my body placement when grinding this year.

I was wrapped up because it was chilly last year, after a stormy party night.

Great news is that twin sister to "Apella", "Moonbeam", has been bought by a friend of Dan Hall and she is being brought north from Florida for a refit, after which I anticipate that the two boats will get together often. I look forward to match racing these boats down the Bay in future years.

To view our range of designs of all types, please visit / or /mobile.

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Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival and Maritime Model Expo

The Anthony Steward leaving Cape Town at the start of his circumnavigation.If you are looking for something to do next weekend and are within driving distance of St Michaels MD, come to the or /mobile.

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Shearwater Upgrade

The owner of the very nice Starboard aft cabinThe Shearwater 39 is a comfortable and very seaworthy classic ocean cruiser, with surprising performance. Always a pleasure to sail, owners have reported just how much confidence these boats give them in storm conditions. Add to that the classic aesthetic that grabs attention on the water and in marinas and you have a boat that owners love.

Shearwater 39 "Bagheera", classic beauty

See more of "Bagheera" on my website at /bagheera.htm. She is available for US$170,000.

To see this and our other designs, go to /

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Coconut Composites

Another use for dried coconut husk fiber.  Traditionally used to make sennit, the handmade rope of the tropics used for lashing, it also works well in combination with epoxy resin.  It is stretchier than fiberglass but available everywhere in the tropics for free.

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It had a baby and then the baby had a baby.

What i am of course referring to is what is by now one of my favourite things to do; pulling a mould of something out of the oven and then pulling some nice looking carbon bit out of the mould. and intending to wait until it is cool to open the mould but not having the patience and getting burnt. and in this case dropping half the mould on my toe.

cool. so randemnity aside, i have, for the most part, a foil. the flap works after a bit of cracking of stray bog, and the recess i made in the mould (at the T joint for the flap) came out perfectly.

The oven sat on 75-80 degrees for 24 hours, last time it was summer and it all got a bit hotter, more like a solid 80-85. and the resin loves that, so consequently i haven't got the tesnile strength in the resin quite as good. and it has a different, dull pitch when you knock it. but its still ok. that coupled with the better lay-up and a couple of other dirty tricks i have up my sleeve (rubs hands together) should hopefully make this one not break.

so also the top hinge worked well. The kevlar is 2 layers of 75g, one at 45 degrees, so its pretty much exactly as flexible/stiff as it needs to be. as you can see the gap closes up pretty much prefectly when its fully deflected, which will be fine, as id say it will create turbulant bubble at the kink and be pretty efficient. with the flap up at high speed the separation point on the bottom surface is well forward of the gap, so no real drag there either I imagine. Thats my (probably ill informed) justification anyway. wait and see.

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