More Pictures

A few more pictures. A couple of me in my boat and one in front of Captain Hirams.

Sailing Videos From This Weekend

These are some fun videos of my Sea Pearl 21 under sail.

Sailing the Indian River Lagoon Near Sebastian Inlet

This past weekend I went sailing with members of the West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron and Johnathan from Honest Johns Fish Camp. It was a 3 day trip with several other Sea Pearls. The original intent was to sail from Ft. Pierce to Honest Johns 5 miles past Sebastian Inlet but the winds were out of the ENE and several in the group did not want to do an upwind beat. That was fine so we elected to start and finish at Honest Johns.

We all decided that the best place to camp was on spoil island IR1. It had a great view east and west. To the east was the inlet bridge and sunrise. To the west was the mainland and of course sunsets. Just to the south was Capt Hirams. A great bar on the water where you can anchor right on the beach.

Here are some pictures

Several of the boats headed for our camp site.

Sea Pearl 21 Tri, very cool boat. If this one was available when I was in the market then I may have been sailing a multi-hull.

Johnathan and Petra sailing across my stern. Great photo op.

This one turned out pretty cool. 

Getting Ready For Next Weekend

I bought a hammock tent. This was my first attempt at a solution for sleeping on board. Most Sea Pearls have lee boards and you can sleep in the hull. Mine has a centerboard so that is not an option for a 6' adult. The hammock is supported by the two masts. It just fits. I would like it to be a little higher but I don't want to secure it over the sails.

I am not sure if its going to work. It was a little difficult on the trailer so it may be 10x worse on the water. Not sure about the asymmetrical design. Doesn't make things any easier. I will bring along a standard tent for camping on an island if this doesn't work out.

More Center Board Sea Pearl 21 Sailboats

This one is an active member on the Sea Pearl Yahoo group.

I can not read the name on this one.

LMSA - Rum Race

This week's Wednesday night rum race was almost perfect. The wind was cooperating both in speed and direction making for a pleasant downwind leg and almost a strait shot back to the start/finish. I only had to tack once to come up to the finish mark and probably could have avoided that if I had sailed a little better. Even with the 8 - 10 MPH winds I could have used more ballast in the boat. Reaching, the boat was healed all the way over and I spent much of the return leg with the rail buried in water trying to maintain speed. In those moderate winds the Sea Pearl performed excellent and I had no indications that the boat was on the verge of going over but without an ballast in the boat I was not as fast as I could have been.

I had forgot my GPS so I probably didn't reach or maintain optimal speed but when the race was over I had come within 6 minutes of the winner on corrected time. I was very pleased with that since my previous best was 10 minutes behind the leader. Not too bad considering its a 25 year old used boat with its original sails and I have not done a thing to it since I bought it.

Mr J has sent you a message:

Mr J has sent you a message:

Seapearl 21

I really liked your videos. I have been shopping for a small trailerable sail boat for my family. My wife and I and two children 4 and 2. I have been looking at Com Pac Cat Boats but the Sea Pearl intrigues me. It seems to have good speed and fairly simple to set up and sail. Do you think it is a nice boat to take the family around the spoil islands of the Gulf? Do you think it is big enough for the four of us?

Thanks for your response


-----------------------------------

Mr J,

The Sea Pearl 21 does seem fast for a boat its size and configuration. From the moment I first sailed it I enjoyed the performance. Its also extremely easy to set up. I estimate that I setup and launch in about 15 minutes. No stays and shrouds. Plus reefing goose necks is a wonderful thing. It really has a clean look and ease of use.

Based upon my current sailing ability, which is limited, the boat is too tippy for a 2 and 4 year old. Some of the speed of the SP21 has to be due to the long narrow design. If you look at one from the bow or stern you will see that its much narrower at the water line than it is at the top of the gunnel. If you move away from the center line and the boat is not under sail power then it will rock quite a bit. It can be a little frightening for my wife and kids because they have no sailing experience. I will also say that if you have two experienced sailors on the boat and can work as a team then you will not have as much problems with the tippyness.

The best advice I can give is go for a test ride. Time on the different boats will be your best help when deciding which one is right for you.

Good Luck!

Tampa Bay

Went to St. Pete today to buy a 2 HP 4 stroke Honda. The recommended motor for a Sea Pearl 21. Motor was in good shape and the price was right. We had the boat in tow so Shellie and I went over Demens Landing Park to test out the motor and go for a sail on the bay.




And getting ready to take the boat out of the water.

Sailing Lake Harris

I took my two kids, Erika and Tommy, to Lake Harris for another shake down cruise. We put in at Hickory Point Recreational Facility in Tavares, FL and sailed to Lake Harris Hide A Way. It was a great sail with enough wind to keep things exciting at times. Downwind we hit 6.2 MPH and on a close reach 5.9 MPH. The restaurant/bar was great. I highly recommend it as a destination by boat or motorcycle.

And the kids playing "ice hockey" at lunch.