Portfolio 2014

Kodachrome Skies

A sublime end to yet another glorious sailing day.

It's Time

Time to move back to the cockpit!

Big Air

Late September on Lake Diefenbaker Saskatchewan with our Stiletto 30,no problem.

fun in the sun

My son and a friend on Lake Erie

No Wake Zone

Our lake is under a No Wake as the lake levels are at a historic high. This makes for nice smooth low wind sailing as there is no motor boat chop. I wonder if I'll get in trouble when the wind picks up?

The Middle Grounds

Headed west on the Sacramento River with Port Chicago behind us. This shows your typical Stiletto enthusiast counting the channel markers as they go by on PAPER CHARTS: a novel, archaic, and sure fire method of navigation. Ideal for old boats like the Stiletto. No batteries needed. Won't chip, rust or leak AND they float.

Coming back from the California Delta

65 mi. mostly motor sailing. It is fun to cut the engine and short tack, but you run aground a lot. The idea is to get as far west as you can before the afternoon winds fill in. Then decide to go for it, or find a marina.

S. F. Bay Fog

Tacking toward the Marin shore and the sun.

San Francisco Bay

Finally a beam reach home to the City.

semi-balanced rudder

This shows the rudder blade down in its new position. The leading edge is parallel to the pintle's axis and 1 inch ahead. The new and old blade pivot bolt positions are visible on the cheek plate. The amount of balance(about 6.8 % of total surface area)is minimal. However, the change of position is considerable from original. These Stiletto rudders were changed after extensive modifications to the boat resulted in unacceptable weather helm conditions during high wind close reaching. Now I steer the boat with one hand again even in high winds. I do not recommend this exact rudder change for stock boats. Knowing what I do now though, I would consider a fractional, or incremental rudder mod in this direction for a stock Stiletto with hard weather helm on which easier steering was desired. You can always go back to the old holes to reverse the change. The tips of my rudder blades are now about 6" forward of their original position.