By Rich
(Photos under sail credit to Lex B on s/v Acadia!)
We’ve been having a ball staying local for some daysailing and three weekends aboard. Two of those we enjoyed just picking up a mooring right in our own home town harbor! We enjoyed dingy rides in for takeout and then peaceful nights sleeping aboard during unseasonably cool and lovely nights.
By Rich
As I predicted, bottom of the aft 50 gallon tank on Rover, which is located under the aft cabin berth, was by a considerable margin the most disgusting because the tank was likely the most seldom used by her prior owners.
Editor’s note: these photos are pretty gross so viewer discretion is advised before scrolling down.
By Rich
Rover has these handy removable inspection ports to allow access to much (but not all) of the inside of the fuel and water tanks:
By Rich
Here are two side by side videos that show why Rover needs a whisker pole, stat! Here’s a video from our 2015 ocean passage from Annapolis to Newport on the Sabre 42. With the jib poled out wing-on-wing we are able to point straight down the rhumb line with an ideal angle to the waves for surfing. Note also how limited the roll is. Even with the centerboard fully retracted, the square angle to the waves dramatically reduces roll, as do the higher speeds resulting from surfing:
Now here is a video from Rover this weekend with no whisker pole. Note that most of the jib has to be rolled up, because it’s blanketed by the main and was otherwise collapsing and re filling with a shuddering bang, while drawing only part of the time. Note that we had to steer higher angles to try to keep the scrap of jib drawing at all, and apart from taking us high of the rhumb line this higher angle means a less favorable angle to the waves for surfing. Worse still, it means a quartering sea that produces lots of roll. Not what we want!
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
By Rich
Over the weekend Rover made her first ocean passage with us when we brought her home to Annapolis from Charleston, South Carolina! If this passage is any indication, we are going to get along incredibly well with this boat, because she exceeded our expectations in every way. Despite significantly throttling the boat down at various points (including an entire overnight flying only the main and staysail) we covered the 525 mile passage in 69 hours, for an average of 182 miles per day. Continue reading Rover’s First Passage!
By Rich
The last time I was in Charleston was my 2016 trip from Annapolis to Fort Lauderdale on the Sabre. During that visit I noted the very strong currents here, but since I was visiting in the fall I didn’t take particular note of the climate.
Now I’m here in July and …
… It.
… Is.
…Hot.
Much more humid than Fort Lauderdale in July but without Lauderdale’s wind, palm trees, and pretty girls in bikinis on the beach. The locals tell me many people leave for July and August.
Working from the boat every day, I hide down below with all of the shades drawn like a hermit until my evening sunset walk. When the squalls don’t keep me hiding through the evening too, the sunsets are the biggest payoff for being here – they’re amazing every day. But man. It’s time to get north!
By Rich
If you own a first – or second-generation (ie 1970s or 1980s era) Sabre like we did, you may be a docking ninja on just about any other sailboat and not even knowing it. We loved our Sabre 42 desperately but she was … uh … slightly challenging to handle under power in tight quarters when docking unless the conditions were totally calm.
I have only docked a Hylas 54 twice – once during the sea trial of a candidate for Rover in Fort Lauderdale, and once weekend before last docking Rover here in Charleston for the first time. On both occasions I have been amazed at how much more relaxed the experience was. Here are the differences:
So here’s the rub: if you’re a Sabre owner and you’re not constantly plowing into things and bending pulpits, congratulations: you’re a Jedi Knight at docking whether you knew it or not.
By Rich
More pre delivery safety checks!
