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Another Year, Another Boat When the webmaster heard I was in the market for a new boat, he instantly asked me to write about the experience of buying a brand new Streaker. So I put pen to paper and I hope that there may be something in here of interest to anyone who is considering treading the same path. The first thing is the decision. Why do you want a new boat anyway? I wanted a new boat because I felt that 833 whilst excellent for a 30-year-old refurbishment project, had the hull shape of a 1976 home built kit boat and despite various people's opinions was actually comfortably overweight at 50kg. At the Nationals last year I saw people on the same point of sail as myself in the same wind slowly pulling away from me, which I put down to their superior sailing technique until I noticed that some of them were actually sailing faster than me when heeled 15º to leeward for chunks of the beat. I knew that my mast was a bit soft, the red eye sail was second hand and the foils less than state-of-the-art. Apart from improving my sailing skills (which could involve hard work and practicing: clearly unreasonable) my options were to keep 833 and replace rig and foils, or buy a whole new boat. The thing that finally swayed me to a new boat was the hull shape. I had a look under Nick Lovell’s Butler and the shape was markedly different to 833. Psychologically, the reasoning was that I wanted to be able to compete knowing that if I didn’t win it was entirely my own fault rather than being able to blame any aspect of the boat. There are an awful lot of good sailors on the circuit at the moment who made me work really hard last year just to get anywhere near them. Despite being one of the friendliest and politest fleets anywhere, they don’t give an inch during a race, a combination that makes for good racing and in my opinion goes some way to explaining the current resurgence in the class.
Once you have convinced yourself that you need to buy a new boat, the next thing is to decide what kind of boat. Self build is one option. Despite doing the refurbishment of 833 with a great deal of help and encouragement from Graham Nelson, creating a good hull shape based on good design and experience rather than pure luck was not a statistical probability for me from a kit build, so a professional build was the way to go. That narrowed the options to FRP, Wood or Composite. This is of course entirely down to personal preference and prejudice, but after a number of conversations, observations, web articles and forum comments I went with my personal preference which is for wood. At that point the choice of builder was a foregone conclusion, as only Dave Butler is building commercially in wood at the moment. A chat with Dave at an open meeting and it was clear that he could do the build. For many of us a not inconsiderable issue is how to justify the expense. A few calculations showed that by selling off my boatyard – a Laser, a Miracle, an Oppy and 833 and adding in the cost of changing the mast, sail and foils I could effectively swap all that lot for a brand new ready built Butler Streaker. No competition. Dave offered a range of options from a bare hull to a ready to race boat, but I knew that I wouldn’t really save any money by finishing off myself as one of my main weaknesses is achieving a really excellent finish. Good I can do, for excellent I would need a lot more patience, time and skill than I have available. The timescale Dave offered when I first asked him was great too, but I dithered for a few more months before finally sending him my deposit and despite his best efforts the original four week estimate was stretched quite a bit due to an upsurge of interest in new boats, and that new hulls for Mike and Dan Rimmer were already on the stocks. The plan was to be ready for the first Open meeting of 2007 at Tamworth, but in the event I collected her the evening before the Northern Areas at Hornsea. Dan Rimmer had made me a new-rules sail that I had collected at Welton the week before. I had mistakenly not used it for that meeting – it wouldn’t have hurt my performance. One of the best aspects of dealing with an ‘individual’ boat builder as opposed to say buying something like a Laser, is that you can specify exactly what you do – and don’t – want. I know some people have asked for strengthening in parts of the cockpit because they know they are prone to kicking through floor or cockpit walls! My main concern was the controls. Dave talked me through the layout he used and convinced me that I could use them effectively, and thank goodness he was right, as the new rig seems even more sensitive to the control settings than the previous one. I still managed not to ask all the questions I needed to - when I took delivery the control lines were too short for me due to previous customers complaining that they were too long! I was able to ask Dave lots of really stupid questions which gave me the confidence that the new boat would do what I wanted. The general rule here is to ask the dumb questions early, before things are built into the boat beyond redemption. At the end of the day some things aren’t possible: fitting a deck mounted compass proved a geometric impossibility due to the control lines, so that has been swapped for a bulkhead mounted version. Collecting a brand new boat that has been craftsman built specifically for you: Those of you who know this sensation need no explanation and for everyone else, read ‘Racundra’s first cruise’ by Arthur Ransome. It is a mixture of trepidation, expectation, joy, pride and a host of other emotions. It is widely accepted that the owner of any sailing boat is blind to her faults, and this is certainly true faced with a shiny, gleaming brand new hull! Poor Dave and Colleen were a bit stretched and possibly a bit stressed by a last minute hiccough that had put them behind schedule for the handover. After an admiring look at the hull it was time to go and find some supper courtesy of Steve and Nia Abbott and let Dave and Colleen finish the fitting out without my helpful suggestions getting in the way. We finally loaded the new boat onto a trailer and left them to have their evening meal at about 9pm.
The next morning it was up at a very civilized hour compared to our normal, home departure time for a Northern circuit meeting, to be greeted by a fantastic Full English from Nia and the prospect of a baptism by fire for the new boat. How much carpet can you get round a new hull, anyway? I was sure no one would recognise us as we arrived at Hornsea with a double trailer and a boat with a clean undercover, but the always friendly fleet soon came round with helpful comments about useful additions I could make to the new boat – mainly of the ‘heavy’ variety! Dave had set the rig up to about the usual rake measurement, and due to time and mucking about with a bottle of Cava I left it at that and hit the water with about 15 minutes to the start. A better plan would have been to get on the water much earlier with Dan Rimmer, who was also sailing his new boat for the first time. I saw that his sail number was three newer than mine, but consoled myself that mine was a newer boat for a few minutes because it hadn’t got wet yet. Once on the water I noticed that everything was a bit ‘crisper’ than usual, and I quickly realised that I had been barking mad to think that I could sail in a newly varnished boat without any non-slip on the cockpit floor. I pulled the mainsail in until the boom was over the quarter then gently pulled the kicker on until it was just finger tight. I set off for a trial beat and then heard this alarmed shouting. It was Dave Butler out in his own boat who could clearly see a mast with so much bend that he thought it was in line for an imminent collapse. Whilst accepting his observation I wasn’t going to miss a race, so off we went. I don’t know if it was my fear for the new paintwork that showed, but no-one barged into me as I got a fairly good pin end start. The first race showed me some new experiences: planing past other boats on the surge from a gust which popped the boat straight up on to the plane was a new sensation for me – and I think some other people were a bit startled as well. Despite the obviously wrong rig tune the boat was pretty well balanced upwind and down and although I did broach once it was due to slipping on the cockpit floor, and surviving a roll that would have seen 833 capsize for sure was a further pleasant surprise. After the first race I dropped the rig back a whole pin and scrounged some non-slip for the cockpit. Everything felt even nicer. Still loads of power downwind and going high and fast upwind. I felt as if I was doing what I had seen Nick Lovell doing when I followed him up the beat at Welton: pointing higher than a lot of other people and sailing just as fast as they were – an amazing sensation. After race two the mast came back again as there were still ungainly creases in the sail upwind. Race three saw a truly bad start, but by the first mark I was up to ninth and then worked my way up through a fleet that would have easily held me off last year. Obviously I wasn’t taking anything out of Ian Jones – it is always a bad move to let him see clear air! I learned fairly quickly that the Cunningham is a really important control on the new sail – it must be on just a touch upwind and off downwind or you get some interesting but hardly productive geometry in the sail. This may sound obvious, but I’ve never seen it so marked before. By the end of the meeting I was ecstatic. The new beast was faster than I had any right to hope. The rig came back again and it was off for a Sunday morning sail at my home club. Measuring the mast rake suggests that the standard figure is out of the window. However she’s still going really well. Another half pin back and I’m getting a bit short of holes on the rigging racks. Hopefully the rig is about right now. Any remaining problems are due to the nut on the end of the tiller. Lessons I learned during the last few days include the following; Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dave and Colleen Butler for creating a boat that is even more of a pleasure to sail than my last and to Dan Rimmer for making a sail that really works. Perhaps unfortunately, I have nothing at all left to blame the boat for. It’s all down to me now. See you out there. |
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Starting a Streaker Fleet at Hornsea At Hornsea we always have a club outing to the Dinghy Show at Ally Pally – between half a dozen and about ten of us all go down on the train together and make a day of it. When we get there we split up into loose groups of two or three and keep getting together again during the day, showing off our purchases and splitting up again. I was with fellow Osprey sailor and good mate Steve Clay. We stopped at the Streaker stand, manned at the time by Peter Crooks, whom I’d known for many years as a guest at our prize-giving dinner. We chatted for a while, he gave us some leaflets and we moved on, quite impressed, and interested in what we’d seen. Steve and I were both experiencing crew problems in our Ospreys at the time and were considering sailing together if neither of us could find a regular crew. Sailing a singlehander, something which had only been allowed at our club two or three years before, seemed to offer an attractive alternative. That was early March 2003. In early May that year, just two months later, Steve died whilst sailing his Osprey in our club Osprey open meeting. The club and the Osprey fleet struggled on for the rest of the season. Steve was our club secretary, so his death left a big hole. I found a very good, but only semi-regular crew - he was working month on, month off in the Merchant Navy - and during the winter I decided that I didn’t want to look for a regular crew for my Osprey, I’d sail it when Richard was available, and when he was at sea I’d sail a singlehander. But which class of singlehander would suit me? I was 58 at the time, and had no back or knee trouble, and obviously didn’t want to give myself any. I looked on the Internet at several classes. The two favourites were the Streaker and the Solo. The Streaker had several points in its favour – it is slightly underpowered, which I felt would make for comfortable sailing at my age, they had good fleets all around Yorkshire, and they could be bought for quite reasonable prices second-hand. I found 1296 on the Streaker website straight away. It was 19 years old, so a little long in the tooth, but it had won the National Championship twice, it was bang in the middle of my price range, and it was lying at Thirsk, only about 60 miles from me. A week later it was sitting on my front lawn. A few days later I told the other members of the club committee what I’d bought. Some actually laughed and said that I’d soon want to get rid of the Streaker when I’d had big Ospreys and Swordfish bearing down on me a time or two. I said they’d have to catch me first. I spent a bit of time over the winter flatting down all the paint and varnish and having hull and decks sprayed with two-pack, and by the beginning of the season I thought it looked fantastic. When I took it down to the Mere lots of people came to look at it, many of whom didn’t know what it was. But practically everybody liked the look of it. I went out and won a race in very heavy weather on the first day of the new season, mainly because I was the only boat that stayed upright – but the boat was absolutely full of water, which I didn’t like. When I got home I was straight on the phone to Eddie Whitehead to see if he’d put me a false floor in - I had some weight to make up anyway as the boat was well underweight for the new (1993) standard – so I thought I might as well bring it up to weight with the false floor. When I got the boat back it did seem to go better, maybe because the false floor had stiffened up the hull considerably. So I sailed the Streaker when I couldn’t get a crew for the Osprey, and won races in both boats. When I sailed my Osprey I tried to get someone else to sail the Streaker. I felt that the secret of getting a fleet together was to give others a go – I was certain they’d enjoy it. Soon another Streaker appeared, and then another and then another…….. The class seemed to be taking off. By the end of the following season there were around nine Streakers at Hornsea. And this season we officially adopted the Streaker class as a Hornsea boat. By next season I hope we may be up to thirteen or fourteen boats, by far our strongest fleet. In April 2006 Hornsea Sailing Club hosted its first Streaker Open and I was amazed and delighted when 30 boats turned out, a record attendance for a Streaker Open I believe. I hope you all come again in 2007, and bring a few mates with you. Why not reach 40 or even 50 this time? The water’s certainly big enough and Hornsea have been given the honour of holding the Streaker Northern Championships in only it’s second season as a recognised Streaker club so there’s an even better reason to pay us a visit. Now, how do I get all those Streaker sailors to join the Association Update: The fleet has now grown to 12 boats and 32 Streakers took part in the 2007 Hornsea Northern Championships. |
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