crabcrusher - a term right up there with racial epithets?

Posted by Dave_Benjamin (dave_benjamin@…>)

I have to laugh at how someone might take offense to such a harmless
term. We all have friends with powerboats that we jokingly refer to
as stinkpots. Maybe this an east coast - west coast thing. Since I’ve
got friends with “crabcrushers”, a description that brings a grin to
their faces, I thought I’d give a couple of examples.

I have a very close friend from our days of living aboard. He and his
wife lived aboard an engineless light displacement racer/cruiser type
of boat that was about 30’ LOA. They enjoyed tbe Virgins and
surrounding areas immensely. However when it was time to have kids
they wanted something different. They opted for, (drumroll please), a
crabcrusher. Yes it was one of the many variants of the CT-41, aka
Seawolf, aka Formosa 41, etc. etc. Incidentally many of these boats
were pirated designs built by ethically lacking boatyards. I
recommend reading Spurr’s book “Heart of Glass” for a good review of
the history of these boats. He and his wife wanted a relatively
inexpensive boat that would offer a decent ride in a seaway and a
secure platform for a family. Back when we had the F-39 ketch this
friend of mine used to love sailing with me because of the
performance differences of our boats. He even referred to his boat as
a “crabcrusher.” He’s doing well for himself and I anticipate he’ll
end up with a Deerfoot or other Dashew design down the road.

Another friend with a “crabcrusher” was a commercial fisherman turned
cruiser. He and his girlfriend wanted an inexpensive heavily built
cruising boat. They left the west coast, headed for the Canal, and
were in the Caribbean last time I heard from him. He and his
girlfriend loved our boat and said they’d prefer more of a
performance boat but they were going with what they could afford.
Made sense then and still does now.

A wise man said once said you can readily find cruising boats with 2
of these 3 attributes

  1. Performance
  2. Comfort
  3. Low price

The same wise man said you won’t find a boat that offers all three.
Freedoms aren’t cheap boats but they offer performance and comfort.

Posted by andre laviolette (andrelaviolette@…>)
Dave, For posterity that wise man was/is Dick Newick, the well known multihull designer. I heard those words straight from his mouth at the Multihull Symposium in Annapolis , must be over 20 years now. Andre. " Scaramanga "Dave_Benjamin <dave_benjamin@…> wrote: I have to laugh at how someone might take offense to such a harmless term. We all have friends with powerboats that we jokingly refer to as stinkpots. Maybe this an east coast - west coast thing. Since I’ve got friends with “crabcrushers”, a description that brings a grin to their faces, I thought I’d give a couple of examples.I have a very close friend from our days of living aboard. He and his wife lived aboard an engineless light displacement racer/cruiser type of boat
that was about 30’ LOA. They enjoyed tbe Virgins and surrounding areas immensely. However when it was time to have kids they wanted something different. They opted for, (drumroll please), a crabcrusher. Yes it was one of the many variants of the CT-41, aka Seawolf, aka Formosa 41, etc. etc. Incidentally many of these boats were pirated designs built by ethically lacking boatyards. I recommend reading Spurr’s book “Heart of Glass” for a good review of the history of these boats. He and his wife wanted a relatively inexpensive boat that would offer a decent ride in a seaway and a secure platform for a family. Back when we had the F-39 ketch this friend of mine used to love sailing with me because of the performance differences of our boats. He even referred to his boat as a “crabcrusher.” He’s doing well for himself and I anticipate he’ll end up with a Deerfoot or other Dashew design down the road.Another friend
with a “crabcrusher” was a commercial fisherman turned cruiser. He and his girlfriend wanted an inexpensive heavily built cruising boat. They left the west coast, headed for the Canal, and were in the Caribbean last time I heard from him. He and his girlfriend loved our boat and said they’d prefer more of a performance boat but they were going with what they could afford. Made sense then and still does now.A wise man said once said you can readily find cruising boats with 2 of these 3 attributes1. Performance2. Comfort3. Low priceThe same wise man said you won’t find a boat that offers all three. Freedoms aren’t cheap boats but they offer performance and comfort. YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group “freedomyachts2003” on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: freedomyachts2003-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
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Posted by Dave_Benjamin (dave_benjamin@…>)

Andre,

Were/are you into multihulls? I used to race a turbo’d Stiletto 27 and
a Mystere. I’ve got a nice aerial photo of us on that Stiletto. We like
some of the larger multihulls like the Seawinds but the price is a real
deterrent. I’ve read some of Dick Newick’s articles. There are some
parallels between customer acceptance of the Freeedom concept and
crusing multihulls. I still hear some people say they don’t trust a
Freedom rig because “there’s nothing holding it up” in the same way
people say they wouldn’t sail a cat because it could capsize and remain
inverted.

— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, andre laviolette
<andrelaviolette@…> wrote:

Dave,

For posterity that wise man was/is Dick Newick, the well known
multihull designer. I heard those words straight from his mouth at the
Multihull Symposium in Annapolis , must be over 20 years now.

Andre. " Scaramanga "

Posted by Herman and Gail Schiller (hschiller2@…>)

Better inverted than sunk. Ditto on a Freedom
rig. If it breaks, all one needs is a knife to
cut it away, rather than cable cutter. Herm

At 12:06 PM 5/7/2006, you wrote:

Andre,

Were/are you into multihulls? I used to race a turbo’d Stiletto 27 and
a Mystere. I’ve got a nice aerial photo of us on that Stiletto. We like
some of the larger multihulls like the Seawinds but the price is a real
deterrent. I’ve read some of Dick Newick’s articles. There are some
parallels between customer acceptance of the Freeedom concept and
crusing multihulls. I still hear some people say they don’t trust a
Freedom rig because “there’s nothing holding it up” in the same way
people say they wouldn’t sail a cat because it could capsize and remain
inverted.

— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, andre laviolette
<andrelaviolette@…> wrote:

Dave,

For posterity that wise man was/is Dick Newick, the well known
multihull designer. I heard those words straight from his mouth at the
Multihull Symposium in Annapolis , must be over 20 years now.

Andre. " Scaramanga "

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