I just received sails (main and jib) from Skip at Elliot Pattison Sails . It was my first time buying new sails and it was a pleasant experience. Th...

If anyone needs... I have an Nacra Inter-18 mast conviently separated into 2 15 foot lengths. If someone wants to try a splice. Cut you a good deal....

Those are first gen inter rudders. I don't want to be a debbie downer, but the 5.5 (no dagger boards) might be a bit touchy with those. there are a ...

Hey congrats on the boat. I bought an 1998 Inter-18 a few years back and have upgrading/refining/tweaking since then. I really like the boat. She i...

There was a park district board meeting in November, the lakefront mgr sent out notices, but for "some reason" only about 25% of sailors I know receiv...

So does the 5.5 have the old "piv-matic (tm)" design? I have first gen inter-rudders on my inter-18. the are "touchy" and it does take some practic...

An alternate/shortcut method as coastrat suggest... Clean hulls with acetone. tape the keels about 2 inches wide with painters tape. Mix up some W...

I have a 1998 Nacra I-18 that needed some love. I had excellent luck with VC Performance Epoxy/Paint (2 part). You use the paint/tip method and with...

I painted the bottoms of my hulls with several coats of 2 part epoxy paint (West Marine) like 3 years ago. Prep was a light sanding with wet/dry 600 ...

More shameless self promotion ... 20-25 on shore... the wind was coming down from over 30 on Friday (record wave heights, waves crashing over bike pa...

There is a Nacra 5.7 on Ebay/and here the was wrecked in a storm. He might have a beam. Most non-F-20/F-18/F-17 older nacras have the round beams....

get cradles for your wheels... especially a short heavy boat like a getaway. This made all the difference in the world. We kept the getaway for "fam...

cell phones are worthless if its rough and dry bags leak. Attach a VHF to your vest w/ a lanyard. I'm adding a kayak line/throw bag to the list. We...

Eat more and get an used F-18/Inter-18. 🙂

We have had a number of incidents this year. I'm thinking we need to increase education a bit. Carrying a vhf, a gps, a length of good line, maybe ...

Some shameless self promotion... we do get the boat air born. That counts for something.

I choose to not sail Monday as well... just had one of those feelings.

You don't ALWAYS want to try to save it. I busted my tiller and lost my carbon hot stick last year holding on too long. Not to mention its was a ver...

you won't need that spin above about 18 kts of breeze. At least on an F-18, you are tempting fate if you hoist at in a 20 kt breeze. Now that said, ...

capable crew that is agile and heavy (but not too) and a 35 kt breeze should do it. maybe rake your mast back a touch.

how much are you short when you look at it? multiply that times 4 plus a bit. take the line off, go to a local west marine, buy line.

I transport my 30 ft mast to and from the beach each year. Now it's not that far, but I think my rig would hold up. I built 2 mast holders out of woo...

That's a great H18 video, lets see four on board with two on trap (off the wing) in those conditions on one of these new fangled "high tech" beachcats...

My bad. i didn't realize the "magnums" were the smaller of the two. Trojan says otherwise and I applied that logic. Anyway, I have seen both have l...

The 5.8 is a big nice boat. Typically sailed 2-3 handed. There are 2 versions the standard and the NA (North American). The NA has a (much) larger ...

If you have kids going sans boom is good. plus, the sails were cut to not have a boom, like the getaway's I'm sure with a heavy cord in the foot of t...

get a dry suit. worth every penny. we ARE taling about survival should something bad happen. we sail the great lakes (lake michigan/north of chicago...

the absolute top of the pile is 3000. that is with wings (non-magnums slightly more than magnums) good sails, good tramps, box, good rigging (althoug...

I'm on the hunt for a new jib myself. A fellow cat sailor on our beach bought a (dacron) jib and pentex main from the are really nice. Committee is ...