"Maybe" I Found Her?

Further searching on Google turned-up an interesting J/24 on Sailnet over the Thanksgiving holiday. I was patient but persistent looking for boats all across the country.

This J/24 was described as a 1984 #3801 with 2 mains, 2 genoas, 3 spinnakers, 1 jib, curved tiller, Triad trailer, faired keel, Baltoplate racing bottom paint, measurement certificate, with no engine, and a local race winner located in Noank, CT. This sounded more interesting than the other 44 inquired I had made thus far.

This was a relatively newer boat compared to Take Five. Plus most of the other J/24 owners didn't mention having a measurement certificate along with a faired racing bottom.

It was evident that she was in need of some major TLC on the deck judging by a few of the photos that the owners sent me. I could see the characteristic dark-stained balsa core from being wet.

My wife, Liz, agreed to go look at Maybe and I quickly started planning the trip to Connecticut. We decided to turn it into a vacation of sorts. It was already sub-zero in Minnesota. Winter had set in unusually early and we were both longing for more fall days.

Liz and I have stayed at bed and breakfasts on our past trips and loved meeting new people and getting local advice on sights to see in the areas we visit.

A handful of bed and breakfasts were in the Mystic, CT area. There was one offering an off-season special for a more lengthy stay. Roseledge Herb Farm sounded like the perfect place.

Within a short two week period, plans were set and Liz and I made preparations to head east in early December. The 15 day forecast for Mystic, CT looked relatively warm compared to Excelsior, MN.

Which J/24?

I spent the next two months combing the internet for "local" J/24 boats up for sale. There were three boats and all at Hooper Yachts.

Jazz, the '77 #15 hull, was the right price but needed plenty of bottomside work to make her blue antifouling fair plus the mast had to be upgraded with the spreader thru bar. It seemed like too much work at the time.

'79 hull #1400 had a much smoother bottom but was more than I wanted to spend. It too needed the spreader thru bar and the hatch and companionway upgrade to the new style. This older boat had the upgraded bilge area.

Finally there was an even more expensive '87 hull, Phatty Boom Batty. This boat was in nice shape all the way around and a fair price if you were looking to spend $10k.

The search continued...

The range of prices seemed to grow as did the conditions of the boats. I guess that's to be expected when boats are anywhere from 30 years old to brand new boats coming off the production line!

In all I inquired on 45 boats across the USA and Canada! It was fun and I had all winter.

Quest for a Racer

In my search for a "new" sailboat suited for racing, I came up with a short list of requirements for this new boat:

1. One design in order to measure my skill as a sailor against a seasoned field of competitors
   

That's it! I said the list was short.

Sure, I wasn't looking to layout a wheelbarrow full of cash. Plus the boat had to be large enough to hold the entire family plus a few friends. And the kids would love to be able to sleep overnight on the lake. But these were secondary, nice to haves.

Another sailor in our MYC Open Fleet, Hashem, sails a sweet J/80, Gee Kay. These are awesome sport boats as witnessed firsthand racing in Wales. J/80s simply were out of my price range, though I certainly wouldn't mind owning one.

MYC and WYC share a J/22 fleet with reciprocity between their club races. This looked like a suitable option to consider. I've been sailing a few times on J/22 but knew very little about them.

A quick search on several used boats sites didn't look promising at finding a J/22 for any less than $10k, a little out of my range of what I wanted to spend. However, what I did find was quite a few reasonably priced J/24 boats.

It didn't take long to discover the incredible all-American story of Rod Johnstone and his dream of building a new boat in his Stonington garage. The other cool thing I discovered is that the first handful of J/24s came to Minnesota to race on Lake Minnetonka and thus Fleet 1 was born right in my own back yard! I had to try our a J/24 myself and see if this was indeed the next boat I wanted to trade-up.

After making a few inquiries in early October at WYC, I got in touch with Dave Bennett, the J/24 fleet captain, and he offered a spot on his boat, Hellfire. The race was part of the Commodore Cup, a longer run around Big Island.

We paced back and forth in Wayzata Bay putting in a few tacks and then hoisted the spinnaker to get everyone's position straightened out for the race. The wind was light in the bay and I was excited to be out on the water for one last time on a faster boat.

5, 4, ... 1, and the cannon shot fired to start the race for the S2 7.9 fleet! The J/24 fleet started three minutes later. On our first leg running down to Excelsior Bay. The breeze increased out of the bay and built the entire leg. When a gust blew in with a shift, Hellfire's beam reached off the water as we hiked hard to keep her flat. It was the same thrill I experienced hiking on the beam of Ego Tripp racing my first time in Wales! The wind died down as we squeezed behind Big Island on a reach into Lafayette Bay. As the sun heated up on the final run back to Wayzata Bay, the wind all but died. It was a memorable race.

I had told Dave that I was looking at buying a J/24 so he gave me the helm following the race and we sailed around Wayzata Bay so that I could get a feel. Sitting further back at the tiller, Hellfire seemed much larger due to the low, rounded, windowless cabin. Plus the rudder would mounted on the stern, unlike Take Five.

We headed back in to WYC and Dave steered Hellfire back into her slip. I surely must have had a big smile when I headed back home knowing this was my next type of boat!

Repairs to Take Five

After my first season of racing, it was time get Take Five out of the water and make some needed repairs. Liz was complaining about the wet smell of the boat and it was even starting to get to me.

After a good rain, I always found water around the head from the mast step as well as the port gunwale where it was probably leaking through the stanchions. The prior owner of Take Five did not adequately seal the through deck hardware. Plus it didn't help that she was left uncovered for a handful of seasons in Wisconsin. In an attempt to fix the problem, I didn't do Take Five any favors by using a construction grade silicone adhesive caulk.

The headliner inside surface of the deck had stinky gold 70s carpet. The only good thing was Coastal Recreation did not use foam-backed shag! After removing the trim, I made the cut along the outer edge of the deck from the inside. When I cut into the deck from the bottom inside of the cabin, there was a very wet, soggy layer of what looked like particle board! Further inspection of the side of the cabin revealed Coastal Recreation used plywood for the core. Particle board and plywood isn't the best choice for core materials but I suppose they worked for a cruising boat.

I've been a carpenter ever since I could hold a hammer and bang on my Dad's Chevy truck baby moon hub caps at one and half years old. Boat reconstruction was new to me, but how hard could it be?

After doing some research I decided to use marine grade Luan plywood to rebuild the deck core. Two thin layers of plywood were epoxied back onto the ceiling one layer at a time using West System materials. I ripped some pine boards lengthwise to create flexible supports for the plywood.

Spending all this time with Take Five gave me enough time to think about my first racing season. Take Five was great for cruising but lacked many of the adjustments needed to tweak your sails under all conditions. I started wondering what other sailboats were out there that I could buy for a similar amount of money. After all, I was going to spend all this time and money on Take Five, I might as well have something to show for it with a boat intended for racing.

So began the quest began for a "new"racer...

First Year Racing

I joined the Open Fleet at Minnetonka Yacht Club in 2007 following my experience racing overseas in Wales.

Motivationally speaking, I was excited to start my own crew on Take Five. I had two years of sailing under my belt. How hard can this be to race?

Practically speaking, I was tired of trailering my 26 foot sailboat and stepping the mast each time we wanted to go sailing. There was easily an extra 2 hours spent preparing the boat, stepping, and the unstepping the mast each time I went sailing.

Let me tell you that racing when you're a crewing is a whole lot easier than being the skipper! My first few races were overwhelming to say the least.

There were many lessons I learned in my first year of racing. Here's are few that stood out in my mind:

• Learn all of the RRS and study course strategy and tactics! You're always going to face new and unfamiliar situations in traffic.
  
• Even "slow" cruising boats that race with a handicap need to be kept in racing condition (smooth, faired bottom, good sails, etc.)
  
• Always face forward when driving a boat with a tiller (otherwise you'll zig instead of zag)
• Get on the course early