A Weatherly Boat and Manatees

Manatees everywhere, alligators too but they're a bit more reclusive.  Rule of thumb in Florida - never swim in water that isn't gin clear. I love my SeaHawk and everyone here in Florida compliments her on her good looks and I get to explain her provenance from England to my finding her in a Georgia Sea Island swamp and eventual restoration.

She is a steady boat and handles well if a bit weatherly. This is my first fractional rig and I find the smaller jib doesn't turbo-charge the main sail. Also whenever a new line is chosen the jib has to be trimmed anew.  She is strongly built much like a Maltida tank even these 45 years down the road. So after trials and tuning up on the St Jons river I'll be trailering her off to Charleston, South Carolina ("The most English of American cities" - John Keegan) for a stay and harbor sail in the month of October the official beginning of sailing season in the south east of the United States. Winter is our good weather time...

Hi Tom,

Tom Altee wrote

I love my SeaHawk and everyone here in Florida compliments her on her good looks.

It sounds as if Americans have good taste. Some Brits, it seems, are less taken with a SeaHawk's looks when first seen:
http://www.seahawk17.org.uk/reviews/pbo.htm

She is a steady boat and handles well if a bit weatherly.

"Weatherly" is a term I'm not used to. I looked it up and found "able to sail close to the wind with little drift to leeward". That seems an entirely beneficial trait to me, so I'm puzzled by "if a bit weatherly". However, if weatherly meant "too much weather helm" then I'd agree. While a tendency to turn into the wind is often regarded as a safety feature for beginners, I do find that my SeaHawk, which has the same standard jib as English Rose and not the larger furling genoa of later boats, wants to turn into the wind too sharply on most points of sail if I let go of the tiller even for the briefest second.

I have contemplated making up a rudder similar to that fitted to Feckless, although in the waters I sail in there's too much risk of grounding not to also make a lifting version.

This is my first fractional rig and I find the smaller jib doesn't turbo-charge the main sail. Also whenever a new line is chosen the jib has to be trimmed anew.

I lack experience of other rig types but I suspect you're right about the lack of "slot" between main and jib having far less impact on the main. However, I've always assumed that the need to fine tune the set of the sails with any change of heading was a given and that it was only laziness of the crew or poor boat design leading to a lack of ability of the crew to detect when adjustment was needed that means that many crew don't bother to make adjustments when changing heading.

She is strongly built much like a Maltida tank even these 45 years down the road.

I think that reflects the period when the boat was designed. GRP was anew material then. These days boats tend to be built a lot lighter as experience has taught that you can get away with it - most of the time!

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As an aside on forum technique, I see you seem to have taken to deleting posts to make small corrections and then reposting them. For those who subscribe to the forum that means you get two emails saying virtually the same thing. Not only that, if you try and use the link in the first email to visit the post on the forum you get a 404 error as that version is no longer there. Far better, I think, rather than "Delete", use the "More > Edit post" link on the original post and just update the original.

But whatever you do, don't stop posting. I really enjoy reading about your exploits and experiences.

My rigger Julian Crisp tuned her up with a good looking though pronounced rake in the mast. A moments inattention and she was up into the wind (Weatherly). We retuned the mast taking out much of the rake and she handles in a more neutral fashion now though she still like turning into the wind a bit though much less than before.
Here in the States her painting scheme and straked hull, combined with her bell housing over the cabin causes heads to turn. Other sailboats pull alongside asking about her. She is an unusual boat for Florida to say the least. And last but not least I have also fielded comments about her name English Rose - everything from the War of the Roses to the dictionary definition. The name seems much loved here.
And what a fun boat to sail! I've had a run of small boats these last 20 years, a San Juan, a Catalina, a Compac among others. But its my little SeaHawk that has won me over. She's my last boat. One can't do better.

Hi Tom
Thought you might like sailing her!   I'm not surprised she turns heads - the same happens to me when sailing my boat (Mustang) in Cornwall where Seahawks are rare!  You may find that a larger jib will help to make English Rose less weatherly, although in my experience all these boat carry a bit of weather helm.  Modifying the rudder to a longer straight blade seems to improve things.
Love the photo of the manatee - we had a humpback whale around our coast last month feeding on whelks close inshore!!!  
All the best
Brian

Mustang - great name that.  After the P-51 fighter or the western American wild horse?  I just saw a herd of them on a trip out to Colorado from Florida.  My ex's brother gets them free from the government and raises them on his ranch. Breeds them with zebras. Go figure...
Anways, I almost named my English Rose the Spitfire after your fighter of WWII.  I am a military artist and years ago back in the 1970's I did a BF-109G for a former Luftwaffe pilot. He said he wanted a Spitfire and a Hurricane too but I lost track of him. I digress - Still love the name Spitfire for the boat. I'll try a big genoa - I think I have an original 110% and a baby spinnaker (which scares me just to look at). I'll see if I can get some photos of an alligator - they're always cruising around.  The manatees cruise our docks - especially in the winter.  They'll drink from a hose next to your docked boat all day if you let them.  Friendly creatures - curious about you too. Laters...

She's named after the wild horse, Tom.  But the fighter is my favourite aircraft (after the Spitfire of course!).  As a professional biologist, I love the idea of manatees drinking from a hose.  If only I could persuade our harbour porpoises to do the same..............