2613 Princeton Road Cleveland Heights Ohio 44118, USA Dear Mrs Abrams,

SUBJECT: ADVICE ABOUT A DAYSAILER

I have just written to Stanley Dean to apply for membership in the DCA. I understand you accept members from abroad. I am very interested, but also not terribly knowledgeable about small boat sailing, and have tried finding out more both from people and from whatever books are available. I obtained your name from Maureen Coleman; I wrote to her husband, Eric, for advice about small boats and was saddened to learn that he had passed away last year. He wrote what, to me, is one of the finest sailing books ever written. Every page was packed with solid information which I have found only in isolated paragraphs in other books which purport to deal with teaching sailing skills.

Here in the US, dinghy sailing is in decline, with many people migrating towards larger cruisers. Manufacturers make a much better profit off the big boats and, except for one-design racing, nothing much is promoted concerning dinghies. There is no literature anywhere comparable to Eric Coleman’s book, or John Glasspool’s book Open Boat Cruising, and I managed to stumble upon these only by accident and a long search by a local library. There is no Dinghy Cruising Association of any kind in the US, only racing groups.

This situation is rather new to me. I had always taken for granted that the US was in the forefront of every field. Once I met two young Australian travellers who were passing through Cleveland on their way to a camping trip in the mountains in the western part of our country. I invited them home and smugly showed off my camping equipment. They were as much astonished at the quality of my camping equipment as they were chagrined at the poor design of theirs. This wasn’t because they couldn’t afford the gear, they had simply never seen it before; it was not available in Australia. It’s been quite a comeuppance for me to discover that dinghy sailing clubs and written information are simply not available here. I can’t even find a bookstore that carries the two books I’ve mentioned, and I am trying to hunt them up via specialized rare book search businesses. Boat shows feature huge, expensive sailboats almost exclusively, and finding authoritative knowledge about purchasing and sailing dinghies is a matter of lucking onto the right person, or making your own mistakes.

I have a family of two very young pre-school age children, and a wife who is not at all enthusiastic about sailing; she is scared of the water. I haven’t got much free time to go off sailing by myself, nor are a great variety of dinghies available for me to try out. It is imperative that I do not make mistakes either in purchasing or sailing a dinghy with my family aboard. That’s what has finally lead me to write to you. Mrs Coleman said that you were experienced in sailing with your children when they were small.

Does the DCA sell books such as the Dyes’ Open Boat Cruising, John Glasspool’s Open Boat Cruising, Eric Coleman’s book Dinghies for All Waters, and could you recommend any other books of similar quality that would be worthwhile reading? Is Dave Jenkins’ book The Dinghy Owner’s Handbook worth getting hold of? Do you have a catalogue of such books that I could order from?

Is there any way for me to obtain the addresses of some of the experienced dinghy sailors like John Glasspool, Jeff Toghill (he is, or was, editor of Practical Family Boating — a good magazine for dinghy sailing with children), Frank and Margaret Dye and John Buckingham? Are there any others whose names and addresses you could send who have good practical experience in daysailing and cruising in small dinghies, particularly people who sail extensively with young children? (If there is any privacy problem with sending me the name and address information, could I, instead, send a letter to the DCA, who could then pass it along to them?).

Lastly, I’d like to ask you for advice about purchasing a sailing dinghy. If you’ll bear with me, I’ll describe my personal circumstances and what I’m looking for. I am interested in purchasing a daysailer for family sailing. I have looked at several boats, among which are the O’Day Daysailer and O’Day Javelin. The Daysailer was designed by Uffa Fox, but I’m not sure that it is well known in the UK. I’ve included information on both of the above-mentioned boats for that reason. I’ve also read the books by Frank and Margaret Dye and become interested in the Wayfarer dinghy, the Dockerell 17 and Eric Coleman’s Roamer.

MY BACKGROUND

I am a sailor of modest ability with a somewhat difficult family situation which I mentioned before. I’d be taking my family out only in good weather. I’m interested in a daysailer both for inland lakes and for the Lake Erie shoreline in not too rough conditions. Lake Erie’s shoreline is not protected near Cleveland and it can kick up into a bit of a chop in high winds. Lake Erie is quite shallow and 4’ waves and white caps can spring up in just a few minutes, too fast to get back to harbour in time. I won’t be venturing too far from shore on Lake Erie. On days when there are white caps, we can sail on smaller inland lakes, and during small craft warning conditions we can simply not sail at all.

My experience is limited to 3 years of sailing by myself a decade ago using the O’Day Daysailer in/on light to moderate winds and waves. The waters were protected and if whitecaps appeared I didn’t go out. Were it not for other factors, I would be happy to purchase a used Daysailer. The Daysailer was quite stable in the light and moderate conditions I was out in (and probably will be out in with my family). I was a total novice at sailing, yet never capsized the boat. The only time I sailed with whitecaps around, the boat did take some water over the side. The boat was responsive and allowed even as inexperienced a skipper as myself to manoeuvre through a fleet of closely moored boats without difficulty.

The factors which cause me difficulty with the Daysailer are: first that I must now trailer the boat everywhere, and secondly, stepping the mast, even with a tabernacle, is quite difficult, best done with two people. Seating is not too comfortable, nor is the cockpit very deep. I’m wondering if the Wayfarer or Roamer could offer solutions to these problems without introducing new ones in their place.

I currently have a small, 1100 lb. stub-keel boat which, although stable, has also proved too poor a sailer (lots of leeway) and too difficult to trailer. I will be selling it shortly.

Basically what I’m looking for is a daysailing boat which can be used for occasional short cruising; one that can be easily trailered and whose mast and stays can be rigged in 5 minutes, just like a windsurfer, so my kids won’t be bored waiting for it to go in the water, but one that has the stability of a full-keeled ocean cruiser so we won’t capsize or heel violently and take on lots of water. Clearly I’ve got some compromising to do, and it’s difficult to do it with my limited knowledge, especially without the opportunity to try out lots of small boats in lots of different weather conditions. I hope that you, having run through these obstacles already, might make my job a bit easier by offering some good suggestions.

MY REQUIREMENTS

EASY TO TRAILER, RIG, LAUNCH AND RETRIEVE. The boat will be trailer launched exclusively. My children will be attended to by my wife and it is likely that I will be getting the boat in the water all by myself. We have no tides on the Great Lakes, so launching is a matter of running a car and trailer down a ramp. Still, there’s a lot of difference in how easy that is, depending on the boat. The most difficult task is raising the mast. The best configuration I have found is that of the Wayfarer dinghy, employing king posts with a pin through which the mast is hinged and raised. Since the hinge point is near the bottom of the boat and the thwart is nearby and available for standing on, the hinge point is at about the level of my feet and nearly 8’ of leverage can be exerted, making the mast easy to raise.

The O’Day Daysailer has a tabernacle mounted on top of the cuddy, at about chest height and that, coupled with no thwart, gives only about 3 ft. of leverage or less, making mast raising a real nuisance, really requiring two people. The Javelin’s tabernacle is at my waist height, and with a thwart, falls somewhere between the two in ease of raising the mast.

QUESTION Does Roamer have a mast as easy to raise as the Wayfarer’s? How about the Dockerell’s mast? Is the Dockerell much more cumbersome to launch due to its much greater weight? I’ve read that the smaller version of the Wayfarer (the Wanderer) has a slightly different arrangement of securing the mast, because there was some problem with the simple pin arrangement for the Wayfarer. Has the Wayfarer’s mast failed due to the pin arrangement?

STABILITY. Neither my children nor my wife have taken really well to sailing. They equate heeling with immediate capsize. They would prefer a calm, casual sailing experience. I may be sufficiently busy with the kids to make mistakes (unintentional gybes, failing to release the mainsheet immediately in a gust, etc.) while under sail. Neither can I expect either the kids or my wife to be hiking out on the side decks, although I will be. And there will be times when I will be too preoccupied with them to do even that.

I need a boat that does not require total concentration while sailing it. It must have the stability to keep from capsizing in below small craft warning conditions, even if I do an unintentional gybe or fail to release the mainsheet in a gust. A capsize with my small kids would be disastrous. I do not expect to be out with them in anything over 10 knots of wind, and 2’ waves, but in conditions not exceeding that, the boat has got to be stable enough not to capsize, even if somewhat mishandled. I would also hope not to scare my family too much by a boat that is very quick and violent in its motion. I don’t want a boat so tippy that in 12 knots of wind we are heeling drastically, taking large amounts of water over the side and are seemingly totally out of control. I don’t want my kids cowering in terror under the foredeck and my wife grimly clutching the gunwales, determined to see the trip through and never go out again.

Having said all this, I would emphasize that most of our sailing will be done in reasonably calm conditions of 10 knots or less, and in protected areas where the waves are a foot or less. We are more likely to be drifting along in 5 knots eating a picnic aboard than thrashing upwind at 15 knots in a rough sea.

The O’Day Daysailer (16’ long, 6’ 3” beam, 625 lbs, 145 ft² sail area) was reasonably stable in moderate conditions. The Wayfarer in fibreglass is about 425 lbs. My immediate concern is that the Wayfarer, being about 200 lbs lighter than the Daysailer, would for that reason be much less stable. Is that true? The Javelin is fairly stable at 14’ long, 5’ 8” beam, 500 lbs, 125 ft² sail area; it has a 50 lb centreboard. It is heavier than the Wayfarer with the same sail area. I don’t know enough about hull shape and perhaps you could comment on the differences between the Wayfarer’s chines and the more rounded hulls of the Daysailer and Javelin as it relates to their stability, etc.

QUESTION How does the Wayfarer function as a family boat for young children? How tippy is it? Eric Coleman specifically mentioned it in his book as not suitable for family sailing, saying that less experienced sailors should not be deluded into thinking that just because the Dyes can make these incredible trips, the Wayfarer would be a safe boat in less experienced hands. I’m not quite sure how to take that comment; I wonder if he’s right or if he’s assuming much rougher sea conditions than I intend to be in. There is also the consideration that the Wayfarer could be reefed either in advance of sailing or under way if I installed a slab reefing system. Or am I making too little of the difficulties of reefing?

My experience with the Daysailer leads me to think that in 10 knots or less, the boat would be almost impossible to capsize, no matter what I did. It’s a boat meant for new sailors (which is what I was at that time). I’m wondering if the Wayfarer would handle in the same way, and whether it is recommended for new sailors or for people with families who could not rescue themselves adequately in the event of a capsize? What conditions would it take to place a slightly mishandled Wayfarer in significant danger of capsize? I assume both Roamer, and to a greater degree the Dockerell, would be much more stable due to their ballast.

GOOD SAILING QUALITIES. When I bought my stub-keel boat, I went too far in one direction to ensure stability for my family. The boat sails like an anvil upwind in light airs, and is so unenjoyable that I am selling it. Most boats sail reasonably well on most points of sail. It is upwind that poorer sailing boats begin to make excessive leeway and slow down. I found the Daysailer to be nimble and responsive, allowing me to sail within arm’s reach of other boats with confidence. It tacked easily and made sailing in a crowded area quite simple. The Javelin was almost as fast, and I assume the Wayfarer would be at least as good.

QUESTION How does Roamer compare? Is it sluggish upwind next to the Wayfarer? Do I pay a large price in performance for the increased stability in Roamer? How about the Dockerell?

FREEBOARD, COCKPIT, COMFORT AND DEPTH. I have yet to find a boat which has comfortable seating for a long sail. Many backrests are not angled properly (or at all —Daysailer), are just a thin edge which cuts into my back (Javelin), or are not high enough. The Daysailer is only moderately comfortable: it has a raised coaming to add backrest support, but this then cuts badly into my legs if I want to hike out on the side deck — a poor compromise. The cockpit depth is reasonable in the front of the boat, poor in the rear. I need sufficient cockpit depth to ensure that my kids do not fall over the side. A deep cockpit allows me to not harness them up in calm conditions. The Wayfarer’s seating is atrocious, with almost no backrest at all, but it does have one feature that may make it better than the others — the seats are wood slats rather than moulded fibreglass, allowing me to remove them, both front and rear. This would open up the front area for my kids to play in, as well as removing a potential hazard that they might bang into. My wife can sit on the floorboards aft of the thwart, and all of them can feel more secure sitting ‘in’, rather than ‘on’ the boat. Foam pads should make for comfortable seating, and the full depth of the cockpit can be utilised to allow us to not harness the kids in light airs, and also to keep them out of the way of spray. I can more easily use the side decks to hike out on and keep the boat from heeling too much.

QUESTION Has anyone you know of tried the Wayfarer without its seats and found it more comfortable and safe for their kids that way? Are there any structural or handling problems with the seats removed? How does Roamer compare in seating comfort with the other boats? How about the Dockerell?

How do these boats compare with one another with respect to freeboard? Is the Wayfarer’s freeboard much lower than the rest, allowing it to take on water more easily over the side? Does Roamer have much greater freeboard?

Can the Wayfarer be reasonably rowed by an inexperienced person or is it too difficult? I assume the heavier boats would be much more difficult to row, the Dockerell almost impossible.

Can the Wayfarer be righted by one person after a capsize or would it require at least two, and that they be very experienced in the procedure? Roamer looks as if it has quite a bit of freeboard, as does the Dockerell. How important is this in comparison to the lower freeboard centreboard boats in 3-4’ waves?

This is a lot to read. I feel somewhat awkward asking for all this information. I have found no one who has the kind of experience who could evaluate small boats like these. Most long-term sailors move up quickly to larger boats and can give all the advice I’d want about 25 footers, but not about 16 footers. Could you give it your best effort in recommending the boats listed above (or others I might not be aware of). It is important that the boats be easily obtainable second-hand to keep the price down. In Roamer’s case, do you have any idea of what it might cost to have it built?

Thank you very much for your time. If this proves too much for you to respond to during a busy boating season, I wouldn’t at all mind waiting until fall. Thanks once again.

Martin Cooperman