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Slider

Multihull beach cruisers are something I spend a little too much of my time thinking about, and it’s nice to discover kindred spirits. Ray Aldridge of Florida has progressed considerably beyond the thinking stage and built one of the sweetest little beach cruisers I’ve ever seen. Slider is well named, squeezing between the fantasy island of sailing nirvana and the rocks of economic/bureaucratic reality.

First off, the boat fits inside the magical 16’ x 8’ envelope, getting the max out of 2 sheets of plywood and the legal trailering width. No fancy folding or sliding parts, the boat is nearly as easy to launch as a Sea Doo. The sprit rig suits the realities of trailer life as well, giving a short and easily stepped mast, and spars that fit tidily on the trailer - which BTW - can be any old beach cat hauler, no assembly required.

The boat is set up perfectly for a pair of sailors, each with their own official cockpit and cupholder. The bridge deck is literally a wood deck, with space for the cooler, crab pot, tent, and the occasional sunbathing mermaid.

The single, off-center daggerboard is all that’s required of a boat designed to view hull flying with suspicion; an unlikely event considering the low and modest sail area. I love the boarding ladder hinging off the forward crossbeam, good for both surf and turf.

Slidercat.com



Slider in Light Air
Upwind in Slider
Slider Goes to Navarre Beach

LOA: 16’
Weight: 480 lbs.
Draft: 11“
Sail Area: 140 sq. ft.

A Southern Star

A superb ethnic double canoe and the superb CSN - together at the Southern Cross.



Ethnic Polynesian Double Canoe built by Hans Klaar, James Wharram, Oct 2007.
Thanks to CO'H for the heads up.

Three CHEERS

The French love all things historical and nautical, so it makes perfect sense that they have become the curators of the first Atlantic proa in the world: the “giant killer” CHEERS. Today, he is kept in Port Saint Louis by Vincent Besin and the French government, which has declared him a "monument historique", one of less than 100 small craft, and the only multihull. CHEERS was relaunched last week, at a ceremony which included his barefoot designer, Dick Newick.

40 years ago, CHEERS arrived third in the 1968 Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race, beaten by only two monohulls, the 56’ Sir Thomas Lipton and the 50’ Voortrekker. It was a bellwether moment for multihulls, yet ironically, the proa has been virtually ignored in what became the Great Multihull Takeover, with greyhound trimarans dominating the race course and charter cat galleons dominating the “gold run”.

CHEERS was the inspired production of three men: the designer Richard C. Newick, called the “Wizard of Maine”; the sailor Tom Follett; and the financier, Jim Morris. The Dreamer, the Doer, and the Patron - a frequently successful trinity.

The French interest in such a uniquely “American” enterprise is not without precedent, consider the Statue of Liberty. Vincent Besin, you are a keeper of the flame, and for that, I salute you!

"I notice that you are taking steps to enable the crew to right the vessel when it has capsized, but my committee are more interested in any steps you may take to stop the capsizing in the first place. We are still of the opinion that to race along at 25 knots in between periodically capsizing is not a proper way to cross the Atlantic..."

--Race Committee letter, October, 1967: Royal Western Yacht Club of England

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