Okay, it’s only a partial Yay! I had a chance to go sailing on a Telstar today. It is only a partial Yay! because the boat wasn’t mine. The Pretty Gee is still being worked on, and sitting on her trailer, as you can see here.
When I got to Performance Cruising today, Will asked me if I wanted a quick lesson in rigging a Telstar. He had seen two of the Volvo 70 boats earlier in the morning, and wanted to get a boat out to see if he could watch them come into Annapolis. We ended up rigging the boat in about 20 minutes.
After we got the boat rigged, we waited for Aku and Jay, from Finland and San Diego, who had been promised a sail on a Telstar. When they arrived, we went sailing in 10-15 knots of wind. Here is a photo of Jay, Aku and Will in the cockpit of the Telstar we were sailing.
Aku appeared to be impressed by the Telstar’s ability to point as high as 30 degrees off the wind, and how well the boat tacked. The boat’s sailing performance didn’t hurt in making a good impression either. The boat we were sailing is not a stock Telstar, having a mast that is two-feet taller than the standard production boat, a boom that is six-inches lower, and a larger mainsail. The sails on the boat are laminate sails, as can be seen in this photo of Will.
The conditions were close to perfect for a spring day of sailing. The top speed we saw on the knotmeter was over 11 knots, in about 17 knots of wind. This photo is of the wake streaming behind the Telstar’s stern of the main hull. You can see the tackle for the back stay along the bottom third of the photo as well as the swim ladder.
Cool. So did you get to see the Volvo boats too?
Unfortunately, the only one we saw was way off in the distance, and going the same direction as us… no chance of getting a closer look.
Oh Dan, that looks heavenly out there! I hope “The Pretty Gee” is under way soon.
Tammy