I May Have Just Completed My Last Project On The Hylas 54

Hylas 54

By Rich

I just finished winterizing Rover after she was re-hauled after a successful sea trial. Both we and the prospective buyers are awaiting the written survey results but we got no reports of any major blockers over the two days of survey, which means that barring any left-field events that cause the buyers to change their mind, Rover is very likely to move on to her new owners. That in turn means that apart from cleaning up the mess I made today winterizing and putting all of her hatch and handrail covers back on this coming Saturday, I may have completed my last Rover projects.

How will she do without me as Chief Engineer?

How will I learn to accept that she doesn’t need me anymore?

Rover Sea Trial Tomorrow!

Hylas 54, Yacht Design

By Rich

Rover is back in the water this weekend for a sea trail tomorrow for a buyer candidate! Each evening this week I have been aboard while she has been on land on the jack stands, winterizing various system in advance of very cold weather expected later this coming week (some of these systems have been un-winterized for the sea trial. Ugh!). It’s been a great bonding experience to be aboard showing her love and care – just us two, bonding one-on-one. It really has been a privilege to serve as Chief Engineer on this special boat, and as much as I might have complained at times when we had more problems than were convenient, if I am honest deep down I really enjoyed the responsibility of taking care of Rover and her array of sophisticated systems. Just look at the images I snapped over the last two days – look at the sheer beauty and the artistry of this design. She represents a totally lost art in yacht design outside of just one or two models left in production that come anywhere near her standard of style and workmanship.

Saturday evening after testing and re-commissioning every system for the sea trial. Look at those lines. Ready for battle in any one of the Globe’s oceans.
Sunday morning. I could lie and say I had more work do to today to prep for Monday’s sea trial but….nah. I spent the entire day aboard just to bond with Rover and reflect on our history to date together. I read my grandfather’s diary from WWII for a literary project I am working on and napped while enjoyed the sound of today’s gale blowing through the rig. Look at the light hitting her teak varnished interior. I love my Sabres to the moon and back but the artwork of these Hylas yachts is peerless. It’s like living in a 3D painting.

Lisa And I Are Casually Window Shopping For Our Next Sabre!

Boat Shopping

By Rich

Photo Credit: Sabre Yachts

With Rover hauled out at Jabins for some projects and a new coat of bottom paint, Lisa and I are surfing YachtWorld and giving a little thought to what our next boat might be. We aren’t going to be serious buyers until we have a firm offer on Rover, but it’s never too early to start window shopping! Our focus is on two of the more recent, Jim Taylor designed Sabres: the 426 and the 402.

Continue reading Lisa And I Are Casually Window Shopping For Our Next Sabre! →

Rover Is Still Available!

Hylas 54

By Rich

We are through the sluggish summer season for boat sales, and the fall boat show season is almost upon us! So the time is right for us to double down on getting as much attention as possible on Rover with the help of our brokers, David Walters Yachts. Rover is the best Hylas 54 currently on the market and arguably one of the best 54s Hylas ever built. Look for a stream of new media to be coming out from David Walters on Rover as we get closer to the United States Sailboat Show here in Annapolis next month! For now, enjoy this terrific walk through of Rover by Erik Haaland, our broker with David Walters. If you haven’t been aboard Rover you will feel like you have been after watching this one! Erik does a terrific job of describing what makes Rover such a unique example of this legendary German Frers design.

All These Years On The Chesapeake: We Have Been Spoiled

Hylas 54

By Rich

We have been sailing on the Chesapeake for the last 26 years, but only in the last seven or so have we been broadening our horizons by sailing for considerable periods in other venues such as New England, Florida and the Caribbean. Those other venues give us direct access and exposure to the open ocean, which means much larger waves – especially when it’s windy. In all of the prior years on the Bay, I don’t think we fully appreciated the privilege of the Bay’s protected waters.

Continue reading All These Years On The Chesapeake: We Have Been Spoiled →

A Tragedy In The Cruising Community

Uncategorized

By Rich

Linked here is a story about two fatalities aboard a cruising boat that was returning from the Caribbean this winter. We heard about this tragedy through personal channels in the cruising community, and now an article has been written about it. Escape was docked next to us in St. Martin this winter, and we had briefly met Karl and Annamarie.

S/V Escape, photographed from Rover this winter in St. Martin.

We think it is super important that articles like this be published so that the entire sailing community can reflect on incidents and hopefully learn from them. Here are my personal reflections:

  1. In shopping for our own ocean passage maker, we quickly decided to avoid designs with main sheets led to the cockpit because of precisely this risk – that they can injure crew or damage other equipment in a gybe or a situation like this. This rigging arrangement is best left to race boats. We see a number of design traits in contemporary “passage makers” that are motivated more by marketing and style than by seaworthiness.
  2. As I read the story – and I could be wrong – it appears that Karl was really the only person on board who could lead the group through maneuvers like reefing. The CNB 66 is a huge boat, so for open ocean passages at least one other senior leader should be aboard who is thoroughly familiar with all of the systems and the choreography of maneuvers, and preferably more than just one additional senior leader. In this situation Karl had to both execute procedures and serve as crew chief choreographing. He was over extended.
  3. I hate to point fingers reading a story like this, but we can only learn from them when we do. In this situation the helmsman had no need to go head-to-wind while the genoa was being reefed – indeed, it is preferable not to. A close hauled or even beam reach angle is fine for reefing or furling a headsail. Karl should have given more clear instructions to the helmsman about staging the reefing – first the headsail at a close-hauled angle, then head to wind for the main. Going head-to-wind too quickly is the root cause of this accident, and the responsibility for that decision is jointly shared between the helmsman for doing it and by Karl for failing to correct him.
  4. Piecing together the incident, I am inclined to believe that the helmsman not only came head to wind before it was desirable, but did so too quickly – quickly enough that Annamarie was not able to get the mainsheet in quickly enough to prevent the boom from swinging wildly back and forth. The moment the boom began to swing uncontrollably, a more experienced helmsman would have recognized the danger and fallen back off to prevent the wild motion of the boom and give Annamarie more time to grind in the sheet.
  5. Given the spirited weather conditions, the helmsman probably came head to wind too quickly due to the anxiety of the situation. As weather conditions deteriorate, it is vital to manage our anxiety, slow down, and be very thoughtful about maneuvers.

Our Hylas 54 / 56 Runbook!

Hylas 54, Hylas 56

The Hylas 54 / 56 did not come with an owner’s manual, so over several seasons of operating both models we decided to write our own! The first checklist items in this runbook are intended for new owners who are unfamiliar with the boat and just want reminders of what to do at that moment when you first arrive at the boat and would like to get underway. After a little while much of this will be second nature but as a new owner this checklist will help you get you a jump start on operating your Hylas. The latter portions of the document includes various tips that will help you get up to speed as your Hylas’ new Chief Engineer!

An important caveat to this runbook: our experiences are based on roughly 7,000 passage making miles as owners of Hylas 54 #43 and roughly 3,000 miles as racing crew aboard Hylas 56 #19. Both boats were commissioned in relatively standard fashion when built and neither had extensive modifications to their electrical or mechanical systems. As such owners of yachts with significant modifications will need to modify the runbook accordingly.

Continue reading Our Hylas 54 / 56 Runbook! →