Category Archives: throwback

Sabre 42 Design Elements

Sabre 42, throwback, Yacht Design, Yacht Reviews

By Rich

Editor’s Note: when we sold Le Saberage, we set up a full website to market her. As part of that site, we created a page detailing the Sabre 42 design elements. I enjoyed creating the content so much that I thought it would be fun to adapt and reprint it here on svrover.com. The timing was also appropriate given that Sabre’s founder, Roger Hewson, was recently interviewed for Sabre Yachts’ upcoming 50 year anniversary celebration. As part of that interview he said in no uncertain terms that the Sabre 42 was the best sailboat the company designed during his tenure:

Given our experiences with the Sabre 42, we’re not at all surprised this design was Hewson’s favorite! So we thought it would be fun to reprint our reflections on the design here.  Continue reading Sabre 42 Design Elements →

Throwback Photos: J/29 Racing In Fresh Breezes

J29, throwback

sailing stbd quarter

Nood_throwback

By Rich

I’m not one of those racers who can remember every leg of every race in his/her career. In fact I remember very little of any of them, but I remember this Annapolis Nood race and this beat in particular. We made the right call by choosing the genoa instead of the #3 (it was a borderline call). We substantially outpointed Huster for the entire first leg of the beat on starboard tack and had a big lead when….a massive lefty filled in. They tacked over and crossed us by a significant margin and beat us to the mark.

That’s yacht racing. Sometimes you can make all the right decisions and still come up short! Still this was only a slight negative in a regatta full of positives that resulted in a podium finish. Best of all was the sailing itself – just look at the J/29 going upwind with a full rail of crew and a nice, flat, 150% heavy genoa. The J/29 in its prime.

Throwback: J/88 Sailboat Review

throwback, Yacht Reviews

By Rich (Photo Credits: North Point Yacht Sales)

Editor’s note: to get our new blog going, we’re importing articles we’ve written in the past about our sailing adventures together. This article was written in September of 2013, and since then the accompanying YouTube videos have gotten a ton of hits (the most of any video on Rich’s channel by a wide margin). Given the evident interest in the boat, we thought it would be fun to re post the review almost a year to the day after it first ran.

563540_10151869778288560_1345519769_n

Thanks to North Point Yacht Sales here in Annapolis, we got a wonderful and unexpected treat today: the opportunity to test sail the brand new J/88 from J/Boats. At 29 feet in length, the J/88 could be considered a modern day interpretation of the 1980s era J/29. As former owners of that wonderful design, we were keen to get a sense of what the 2013 version of the boat would feel like.

Continue reading Throwback: J/88 Sailboat Review →

Throwback: The Restoration Of J/29 Hull #171

J29, throwback

Editor’s note: to get our new blog going, we’re importing articles we’ve written in the past about our sailing adventures together. This article was written by Rich and was published on the J/Boats website, where it remained linked from the main page for many years. Rich and Lisa owned Jeoaprdy from 1996 through 2002. This article was written at the end of 1998, and  Jeopardy would go on to bring us years of adventures, including first place at the 2001 J/29 North American Championships.

8-16-97h copy_2

Without specifically setting out on the task, during the last two years I have found myself determined to bring my J/29, Jeopardy, as close as possible to a new condition. It’s a challenge I have grown to love as much as sailing her.

Continue reading Throwback: The Restoration Of J/29 Hull #171 →

Throwback: Sunsail 41 Yacht Review

throwback, Yacht Reviews

Editor’s note: to get our new blog going, we’re importing articles we’ve written in the past about our sailing adventures together. This article was written in January as the first in a two-part review of our week-long charter in the British Virgin Islands aboard a Sunsail 41. Part II of the series was a review of the charter as a whole, while this article focused on the boat itself.

IMG_1813

For the past week I’ve been living aboard a Sunsail 41 (sold as the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 to the retail market) during a week long, two-couple cruise of the British Virgin Islands. Before relaying too many of my reflections in print, let me share two iPhone video tours of the boat to give the reader a better sense of its layout:

Above Deck Tour:

Below Deck Tour:

Continue reading Throwback: Sunsail 41 Yacht Review →

Throwback: Our Sunsail Charter Review From January 2014

throwback

Editor’s note: to get our new blog going, we’re importing articles we’ve written in the past about our sailing adventures together. This article was written in January as the second in a two-part review of our week-long charter in the British Virgin Islands aboard a Sunsail 41. Part I of the series was a review of the boat itself which is published as its own article. Because narratives of people’s vacations can be a tiring for readers who are looking for specific tips and information on chartering, this article lead with tips readers might find useful and then followed with a media rich narrative for those who are more interested in living vicariously.

Tips & Tricks We Learned

  • Even though we traveled in mid January- which is normally a slow period – we had a very difficult time finding moorings or good space for anchoring at many of the anchorages. Our suggestion: consult Sunsail for the suggested route to take to see the islands, then try taking the exact opposite route. Here’s why: with most charters starting on Saturday and Sunday, we believe there was a big clump of boats traveling from island to island together that results in a shortage of both moorings and anchorage space at each. It’s possible that if you invert the route, you’ll have more space (we didn’t try it, so we can’t confirm it works).

    • Continue reading Throwback: Our Sunsail Charter Review From January 2014 →

Throwback: J/70 Racing Last Year

throwback

Editor’s note: to get our new blog going, we’re importing articles we’ve written in the past about our sailing adventures together. This article was written in May of 2013 after the Annapolis to St. Michael’s race.

Bytes

Photo Credit: Spinsheet Magazine

___________________________________________________________

Time has a funny way of masking experiences, but even making allowances for the muddling of memories, the four of us struggled mightily Saturday afternoon to recall ever having had a sailing experience as exhilarating as the sleigh ride down the bay we had just enjoyed in the Annapolis to Miles River Race.

Continue reading Throwback: J/70 Racing Last Year →