We’ve been reading the Paul Theroux’s book on his travels in the Med. “The Pillars of Hercules”. At one point he rails against travel writers who sugar coat reality. Not wanting to fall into that camp we herewith rededicate ourselves to calling it as we see it. Let’s start with exotic Formentara where we have just dropped the anchor.
We are always on the lookout for interesting design concepts. This use of aluminum barrels serves many purposes. They work as seats, could be used as floatation devices, and are far more efficient than the more traditional amphorae for storage of beveridge. This cat gets the prize as party boat of the day.
Staying with the party cat theme for the moment, check out the hair on the Dude sitting near the fenders. Brian Bosworth would be proud.
We are going to nominate this as the ugliest boat of the day (you can have it the coolest in your own blog). But we’re down (cool) with the color scheme.
Can you imagine the time it took modeling this in 3D, and then fairing the model? We are wondering if these folks like alligator bags and shoes.
The season is past its prime we are told. It is a relief to know that the anchorages are not as crowded as they might be.
Speaking of which, these anchorages are all open roadsteads, something we are used to from Southern California and the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. The swell will wrap around the headlands, or the wind will be blowing right into the anchorage. These folks are rolling through 30 degrees as a result. However we are prepared and with our booms deployed and flopper stoppers in the water we are comfortable.
Cool looking ketch. Modest beam, all waterline, reasonable separation between the spars. And they are sailing.
But the sails. Too baggy, and not nearly enough roach. Hombres, call your sailmaker and tell him you want to get high with roaches.
Color scheme of the day. The third gray and black boat. Looking cool too. Do you think we have started a trend with our bare aluminum and black bottom paint? If so, it is a long time gaining traction as Sundeer, our first, splashed in 1988.
This reminds us of the home region where fenders over the side under way are referred to as Marina Del Rey racing stripes.
We debated about this one, but he was having so much fun we just had to share it with you.
Finally, our neighbor at anchor, the favorite boat of the day. Beautiful lines and we’ll bet she is nicely balanced under sail.
Stay tuned. It appears as if a 100/400 zoom lens and the Balaeric Islands are a natural fit.
Posted by Steve Dashew (August 24, 2010)
August 24th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
From the censored(? – you reported problems with your camera, didn’t you?) photo I will suggest that you get into the European Google Street View debate directly!
Google In/Offshore View?
Hubert
August 25th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Re. the party cat: Those barrels are also adding something like 10-15 kN.m of righting moment if you keep them to windward… of course, any speed advantage that might bring is negated by the degradation of sail trim as they are consumed.
Re. the yacht that fell out of an alien starship’s shuttle bay: I can’t help but wonder how many quizzical looks (and choice words) were exchanged across the build shed as the mould for that superstructure was brought in for fairing and polishing.