I was visiting a little marina called Owl Harbor up here on the California Delta. I happened to be given a slip next to a 45 foot two masted sailboat (can’t remember ketch, yawl or schooner). The boat looked a lot like a Valiant or some such with a canoe stern and a very robust build. It was definitely NOT a Freedom.
However the masts were unstayed and identical to Freedom masts right down to the gooseneck bulge and deck ring at the partners, Both masts were black. If I had seen only the masts I would have sworn it was a Freedom.
Mike - always interesting……Owl Harbor has certainly been revitalized too! In the Ditch Run 2018 I saw what looked like a Freedom, 2 masts, with wishbones. Turns out it was a Tanton 45 - could be the same? ( in that race he ran aground and dnf)
Sounds like it could have been a Tanton 45 (or a 43 that is very similar). A rig very close to the Freedom cat ketches, and a reputation for a high quality build. Canoe stern that looks quite a bit like the Valiant. Only a few were made. I’d be curious if it were for sale. https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/offshore-45-tanton/?units=imperial
Mystery resolved. Yes, it was the Toucan! Beautiful boat!
Speaking of going aground…
I never run aground but a close friend of mine. who was visiting Owl Harbor recently, took the westernmost fork of the Owl Harbor access channel and went aground in mud. He tells me it took him 30 minutes to wiggle off. What a dufus
Mike, I know I have to stop doing this…but your posts crack me up! Sailing back to the bay after a Ditch Run at night some goof off I know actually fell asleep (1), woke up and thought he missed New York slough (2), turned into a dead end, realized his bad and turned around (3), saw open water and headed in and wham - aground(4). I’m told he waited 4 hours to get off…
We could tell other people’s running agound stories for a very long time. Surprising the number of friends we have who keep running around. What’s wrong with these people anyway?
Thank God you and I know what the hell we are doing.
The shallowest I’ve seen in Seneca Lake, NY, is 100 feet, and that’s less than 100’ from shore. Now, it’s a different matter in the marina, but the shallowest I’ve seen there is 7’ and that’s alarmingly close to the breakwater.
Sail the Humber and north sea 5 miles offshore 3 m water !!!and shifting sandbanks ,tend to sail just outside main shipping channels ,Humber max depth 17 m at chart datum
Trying to navigate Blakeney Creek (Norfolk, UK) 2m HWS, 0,05m LWS, late at night by the light of a torch to spot the withies marking the channel. Inevitably ran aground, with a mile of mud still to go. Woke in the morning with a 30º list, not level as the bilge keels should have kept her!
This was the first time I had ever taken my girlfriend sailing. To make things worse, we’d run out of gas, so no hot drink to ameliorate the disaster. Strangely enough, we are still married, fifty or so years later, but we have kept to the non-tidal waters of the Baltic for the past ten years!
She only repeats that tale when we are in company! We had been transporting a donkey to the home of a retired brigadier in the Paratroop Regiment (don’t ask!), and spent a couple of nights on board, with some skinny dipping in the North Sea before we discovered the lack of gas. The East coast of England teaches you stuff about mud that no-one really needs to know. Hence our delight in the rocks of tide-free Scandinavia.
Well, when one is doing donkey deliveries one must always stop by the boat, sail about, skinny dip with the GF in the North Sea , run out of gas and go agound.
at the end of that race I came over and talked with you - fine, beautiful boat!
ok so what I was saying is there is a lot of running around after going aground.
