not quite cvrda eligible

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Obscured by clouds
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not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Obscured by clouds »


not giving up the Finn or the Merlin just yet, but need something a little more stable for pottering round the bay and further afield: Hirondelle 23 [1971).
Tony



MR 2404 Julia Dream
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Hirondelle catamaran Kalipse
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Rupert
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Rupert »

Always liked this vintage of cat, before they became hotel rooms for the marina.
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PeterV
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by PeterV »

My brother had one. A great boat for demonstrating how you can get a big cabin on a short hull, but I found the sailing experience very poor. So my view is that it's a great boat for transporting a big cabin around under sail but a poor boat if your objective is to enjoy the sailing.
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Obscured by clouds
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Obscured by clouds »

Big cabin - yes
sailing performance - better than a bilgekeeler, not as good as a fin/long, but fine off the wind.
as exciting as a dinghy - absolutely not
good seakeeping - yes, within reason.

I think compared to a thoroughbred sailing boat, you are probably right, but beating to windward at a rate of knots is not what this boat is about.
Tony



MR 2404 Julia Dream
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Hirondelle catamaran Kalipse
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cweed
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by cweed »

Is that a Mk 1?

I've tried one, but can't stand upright in the hulls!
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Rupert »

Compared to new cats with patio doors into the cabin, it seems pretty modest!

The Iroquois was my favourite to look at when I was a kid. Never got a chance to sail one. Maybe something for my old age.
Rupert
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Obscured by clouds »

Yes it's a Mk 1 - with a bigger rig. Given that I'm short and wide, I can comfortably stand up in the hulls, although getting into one of the quarter berths is a struggle. There's a nominal five berths although I reckon you would'nt want more than 4 - preferably 2 aboard.

i think the Iroquis was designed by Rod McAlpine Downie - but there are similarities between the the two cats - probably as a result of the design ethos of the time.

I had originally looked at getting a Strider Club, but getting decent one was outside my budget and to be honest, you'd spend your time 'camping' even though performance would be far better than the Hirondelle.
Tony



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cweed
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by cweed »

............. although you say the Strider would have better performance, they have skegs, whereas the Mk 1 has proper centreboards. It's not as wide as the Strider so maybe more 'volatile' (?)

In 'Catamarans in Close Up', Patrick Boyd mentioned the windows on the Mk 1, saying that although adequate for inshore, he'd fit oversize perspex to the apertures if going further afield.

A sporty boat, though!
Obscured by clouds
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Obscured by clouds »

cweed wrote: It's not as wide as the Strider so maybe more 'volatile' (?)

In 'Catamarans in Close Up', Patrick Boyd mentioned the windows on the Mk 1, saying that although adequate for inshore, he'd fit oversize perspex to the apertures if going further afield.

A sporty boat, though!
Mk 1s have been known to go over, but all the examples seem to be as a result of keeping to much sail up for the conditions and racing crews pushing the boat past it's limits for the conditions.

re: the windows, new perspex was put in a couple of years back but whoever did it neglected to use new rubbers - which are now in need of repacement. Am thinking of getting oversize windows as suggested.
Tony



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Michael Brigg
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Michael Brigg »

Rupert wrote:Compared to new cats with patio doors into the cabin, it seems pretty modest!

The Iroquois was my favourite to look at when I was a kid. Never got a chance to sail one. Maybe something for my old age.
I sailed an Iroquois (Called "Pyewacket"**) from UK to Greece during my "Gap Yah."

It was a very ad hoc experience. I met 2 ausies at the local Rugby club who said they wanted to sail it back home to Oz, starting in March.

Best and worst Experiences:
The day we set off to St Malo it was so cold that the Sheets were frozen to the deck and were like solid iron poles. The boat sailed at any point from 5' off a beat like a rocket. Best speed across the channel was 15Kn, bettered in the Garronne estuarry to 18Kn surfing overfalls (wind over considerable tide/current. Being scared to death by a Whale blowing a few metres from the boat pitch black night and becalmed at the time. Getting stuck in a empty French canal, drained for winter maintenance. (Escaped that by a night time Operation sluice blockage.) Re-stepping the mast by illegally hangimg it down from a Motorway flyover in Adge. Wine and cheese for lunch every day for 2 months. 8) Sailing at 10Kn over ground in 0Kn wind thruogh the Swinge, then getting lost at night in the Channel/Bay of Mte St Michel and realising the course steered had taken us right over the top of Les Minquieres! :shock: Trephining my first and biggest ever sub ungual haematoma (Black nail) after a crew mate got it stuck in a hatch. (I had only ever read about it!) Pat and Jeff (the Aussies) would have full on fisticuffs about once a month before making up and declaring eternal brotherly love.

At the time it was mostly quite scary and lonely as I was just 18 in the company of pretty rough young men, but ever since Ive always wanted my own Iroquois

(** :idea: Pint if you knw the Crossword clue for the name)

I'll see if I can dig out a few pics.
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trebor
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by trebor »

old tv smacks alien :lol:
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by cweed »

Coincidentally............ 'Pyewacket' was Patrick Boyd's 1967 Mk 1 Iroquois completed from a bare shell.
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Rupert »

Yorkshire staple thumped.
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Michael Brigg
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Re: not quite cvrda eligible

Post by Michael Brigg »

cweed wrote:Coincidentally............ 'Pyewacket' was Patrick Boyd's 1967 Mk 1 Iroquois completed from a bare shell.

That's the one.

Named after the Witch's familiar,(a black cat) identified at an alleged coven detected by a Witch hunter in Manningtree, Essex, Circa 1640.

Unfortunately as a self built racing cat, she had no inboard motor, just a 4hp outboard, prone to breakdown.

A diesel would have been warmer in winter, and more economic as a propulsion system to get through the canals in Brittany and the Canal du Midi, and rationing of our fuel meant use of the generator (which fell apart as often as it was used) was limited.

Today we would probably have a 4-stroke outboard and a custom made generator, capable of powering a microwave, but on Mr Boyd's boat it was a two stoke converted engine with an anti vibration rubber bush turning an old car alternator. Very "Scrap heap challenge," and one of the reasons I love that programme.

Ultimately I parted company in Corfu, while the lads got into the casual boat charter business in the Aegean. I am sure they would have many "interesting " stories if ever there was a biography. The boat was perfect for this type of work :shock: . Although Greece was "The only European country that was remotely like Queensland" (Sun Sea, Sand etc) they ended up back in Wood Green, and thence back to the mother country. Import Tax put paid to the ambition, but I feel their story might otherwise have ended up like the recent 8x rescued americans.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... yacht.html

Image

I must say they look like an amiable, if perhaps challenged pair! There is a part of me that is rather jealous of their spirit. It's a "real" version of "Sell up and sail..."

Image
Michael Brigg
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