Phil

Employee

Registered: 8 Jun 2011

Posts: 68

Phil's trip to the USA to see Grain and CLC

Well, here we go! I loved meeting the Grain crew in York, Maine. Mike and Brad have a truely dedicated team working with them designing, building, teaching classes, sending out homegrown kits.
The visit would not have been complete without meeting the cows!

All round good guys and I can't wait to go back.

After meeting the Grain crew I headed south to Annapolis to meet John C Harris and all of the Chesapeake Light Craft team.

I got taken to a crab shack for dinner on the Cheaspeake bay - awsome! Typically American, hitting crabs with a wooden mallet and plenty of beer. End of day one with CLC and I vowed to return!

The next day was a tour of the factory and meeting all the staff, a drop into the Kaholo SUP class run by Bill Cave, and a ride on Madness, John's Pacific Proa.

More to follow!

Phil

Employee

Registered: 8 Jun 2011

Posts: 68

Re: Phil's trip to the USA to see Grain and CLC

We had it all worked out.  Weather, wind, and time.  We got to the boat, got it rigged, and started to motor out to Cheaspeake bay, and on our way out the wind dropped! 

We hauled up the sail and ghosted along at between 0.75 and 3 knots - pretty good for no wind.  Skin slightly crispy with the suns rays, but would have been a heap better with wind. 

I am just grateful to have had the opportunity to have a ride on Madness, as I know there are many who would like the chance!

Phil

Employee

Registered: 8 Jun 2011

Posts: 68

Re: Phil's trip to the USA to see Grain and CLC

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the inaugural Harris' Invitational Cocktail Class regatta. It was a combination of a CLC staff social and Cocktail class racing event.

The Cocktail Class racer is an 8' long plywood boat fitted with either a 6HP or 8HP motor. The boats are lighter than the people racing them and the motor is more than enough to shift it along at a good speed.

It gets interesting in the turns in a race, as you slide, engine cavitates then grips and off you go again. But that was probably me being a total novice!

They were really, truly great fun to race and I can see why they are having a resurgence in the States. While I was there, Gary from Prop Talk mag was gathering stuff for an article.

Photos are on our Facebook page.

fairplay

Member

Registered: 16 Jun 2011

Posts: 109

Re: Phil's trip to the USA to see Grain and CLC

The Cocktail Class racer is an 8' long plywood boat fitted with either a 6HP or 8HP motor. The boats are lighter than the people racing them and the motor is more than enough to shift it along at a good speed.

...might this be added to the Fyne-catalogue also?...

...local regulations here would require to use an electric-motor - nevertheless this thing might be fun to build and ride ...

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'...so, how many kayaks do you really need?...' - '...one more!...'