First outing with new sail.

First mate was not up to it, so I single-handed. Very happy with the performance. I can tell that I'll be getting more speed in lighter winds. The boat heeled in situations where it wouldn't have with the old, baggy sail.

My new mainsail is here!

A belated but merry Christmas to us. In November, I decided our tired, 27-year-old mainsail needed to be replaced. I shopped around and found Precision Sail Loft online. Today, my sail arrived. Darryl and his crew are top notch. The sail is made of Challenge 6.11 Warp Drive sailcloth. I went for two full battens, two partial plus one reef. The sail is loose foot. I recreated the SYC 7.0 insignia in Photoshop.

New Sovereign Website

I've created a new website to house all kinds of stuff about Sovereign brand sailboats. I've researched the brand's history extensively, found advertising and a whole lot more.

Enjoy...

When you hear a cry for help, at night, in the middle of the bay

So we were on our way back from a lovely sail tonight and I thought I heard a faint cry for help. I yelled back and sure enough someone was yelling for help. 




We steered toward the voice. It was already dark but I could make out the silhouette of a man standing on the platform of a channel marker. We brought in the sails and started the motor to maneuver toward him. When we got close, he offered to dive in and swim to us, which he did.




Once aboard, he explained he had been ejected from his power boat when it struck the channel marker. He swore the boat had continued on in the direction of Key Biscayne but soon it became apparent that the boat had circled back, as a Coast Guard helicopter was flying overhead. We radioed the Coast Guard and let them know we had the captain of the power boat aboard.We then motored to the crash site. The powerboat had crashed into a moored catamaran in the dinner key mooring field. Fortunately nobody was aboard.Here's what the scene looked like from a distance.The man's only injuries were scrapes on his legs from the barnacles on the marker. We turned him over to the fish and wildlife officers and proceeded back to our marina.On my way home in the car I stopped at the dinner key marina and saw the boat had been towed in. The last I heard the catamaran was taking on water and sinking. There was a news truck from channel 10 in the dinner keep parking lot as I drove by. But decided not to say anything.




Little Gypsy, On the water

A fellow sailing club member took this picture of Little Gypsy and shared it with us. 

Old Ads

I work in advertising so I love vintage ads.  Here's one for Sovereign. By the way, I have compiled the largest collection of Sovereign ads online and posted it here.

Renamed

So I know it's bad luck to rename a boat but we decided to do it anyway. We had a little ceremony asking Poseidon to erase all record of previous names and protect our boat, now named "Little Gypsy." My father in-law had a sailboat named "Gitana" (gypsy in Spanish) so I named this one Little Gypsy in his honor.

Here's the new letters on the boat.