More than a few years ago my wife Carey and I were looking to move up from our O’Day 25 to something a little larger, “two-foot-itis fever” had set in. With our daughter Nicky, we had sailed the O’Day along the coast of British Columbia for eight fabulous years. She was now attaining teenage years and we needed more room! We had visited boat shows to get ideas, scoured magazine listings, and climbed aboard some fairly musty boats without success. An advertisement in a local sailing magazine caught our eye, a 1978 Islander Bahama 30 at a price we could almost afford. We made the ferry trek to the broker on Vancouver Island and, as is typical, Carey and Nicky dove below to check out the interior. I climbed on deck to check out the sailing gear. With no apparent surprises on deck, I dropped below to join the girls. A voluminous interior greeted me through a wide companionway. Far more room than the O’Day, and with a similar layout that sold us on the O’Day. We were sold!
Main is taken down at 20 knts? how about reefing?
Hi Stuart. Yeah, that was in the interest of brevity for the article. First the main is flattened with the cunningham, then a reef goes in at about 15knots over the deck (slab reefing from the cockpit), then the fully batten main gets depowered with a bit of feathering without damage, then it comes down at over 20knots. This is all going to windward. With a foam luff in the genoa I can also roll a few turns on the furler as well, flattening the genoa. I’ve gone to windward in 25, gusting close to 30, but not with the wife on board. It’s not comfortable, but the boat can do it, depending on the sea state of course. Off the wind 20+ knots is not a problem. Off the west coast of the Vancouver Island there were many passages of 30+ knots down wind, one of 40+ knots which can be seen on my Island circumnavigation video on You Tube. Sailing Natasha, 1991, episode 3