My Boats

My first boat was a Flying Junior (FJ), a sailing dinghy 13'3" long and 4'11" wide with a mainsail and jib and a sail area of 100 square feet. It is a fast boat and very tipsy; so, you either sail it well or you go swimming. And go swimming I did on several occasions! On the first such occasion I had my ten year old son and his friend aboard; so, you can imagine their shock and fear at finding themselves in the middle of a large Florida lake. We scrambled back aboard and continued our sail. Small boats are much more responsive and less forgiving than larger boats and hence much better boats on which to learn to sail. You make mistakes, you wind up swimming whereas on larger boats you may not even notice your mistakes. So having honed my skills on the FJ I decided that it was time for a larger boat. Over the opposition of my wife, Anne, who felt we could not afford it, I next bought a Spectrum 22 which is no longer made. It is very similar to the better known Catalina 22, but has a shoal draft keel with a centerboard dropping out of it. With the board up she draws 18", with it down 4' 6". One of the appeals of the Spectrum 22 was its enclosed head (toilet to landlovers), but we soon discovered that it was very difficult to remove one's clothes while in the head. To use the head Anne had to open the door and stretch her legs into the companionway. Such are the luxuries of small boats! You soon learn that there is no privacy or room for modesty aboard small boats. I named her Odyssey (Anne opposed the name, "My Love.") and she served me well for twenty years of hard and frequent use. She was advertised to sleep four, but like most boats her size slept two adults when the V-berth was filled with sleeping bags, extra sails, etc. Spending the night or several nights on her was like camping. I equipped her with the usual gear of anchors, compass, fenders, lines, lights, PFD's, VHF radio, etc., all of which are available on www.mountains-and-seas.com, and a cruising chute and a 7.5 Honda outboard.