Golant Gaffer No. 70 now sailing

[Jeff Robinson]

Since we launched our Golant Gaffer on 7 Mar, we have rigged her and had her sailing. On the last roll of film, we left her at the dock

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This is how she looked as we left the next day – mast up.

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The next day we had a naming ceremony

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But no sailing.

It was 2 weeks before we let go the mooring and held our breaths as the mainsail felt the wind for the first time. Unrolled the jib, and that felt like enough – there was at least 10 knots of breeze out there!

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This is how we leave her on the mooring, cockpit covered and rigged with bird netting.

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Don't worry avbout the sagging jib and staysail - we release tension in the halyards so we can rig the covers more easily. I think in the future we will take these sails off after each weekend. Sorry about the rotation of your neck - I will try to correct this later.

We had our second sail last weekend, in about 15+ knots. She has beautiful balance, is dry and she lets us beginner sailers, feel safe. Winter might be around the corner but so far autumn has been great, with gentle breezes and temperatures from 22 to 24Cs. Perfect sailing weather. What a pity we missed summer!

We both feel it is 3 years well spent.

JR

[Jeff Robinson]

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[imported_Steven Bauer]

Nice, it must feel great to have her in the water and sailing.

Steven

[John R Smith]

Jeff

that is a gorgeous boat and a great achievment. You should feel very proud. We feel a local pride here, because she is a Cornish design, isn't she?

All hope is not lost for the world if people still want boats like this and love sailing in them smile.gif

John

[Jim Goodine]

Very, very nice!!!! Feeling the sail pull for the first time is a real rush. Now you get to enjoy all that investment of time. Good for you.

[Ken Hutchins]

Absolutely beautiful, enjoy

[Billy Bones]

Lovely job! Congratulations and thanks for the post.

[Ken Hall]

Excellent work, Jeff.

[Johannah]

Hope you have a lovely Fall on your new beauty. Congratulations!

[whb]

smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

[Bruce Taylor]

Truly magnificent, Jeff. You've done it!

From the look of those pictures, your three years were very well spent indeed. Let us know how she sails, when you've had a chance to learn her little ways.

[John B]

Whooo hooo.!! excellent Jeff.great to see.

[brian.cunningham]

Congrats!
Love gaffers! :D

[Lion]

Great ! More sailing info and pics please.

Is this the first Golant Gaffer in Australia to hit the water ?

Lion

[Jeff Robinson]

Thanks people. Lion, I think this is the only Golant Gaffer in Oz. Four or five plan sets had been sold here when I bought mine 3 years ago, but I have not heard of anyone else building and in fact I bought the lead from a plan buyer who had collected all the materials and decided not to build.

She is a Cornish design, from Roger Dongray, of Fowey(?). We were eating lunch out on the water the other weekend and a catboat came motoring through the moorings. Skip looked once and yelled "she looks lovely. Is she a Cornish Crabber?" So you see, the profile has travelled well.

There are some interesting boats in the general area of our mooring. That catboat was one, there is a junk schooner, several couta boats (Victoria specials), and quite a number of gaffers. We look forward to meeting some people (3 years in the garage, you know, is enough isolation) and eventually we would like someone who knows gaffers to come and show us how she should sail.

Thanks again,

JR

[Ruaridh]

... before we let go the mooring and held our breaths as the mainsail felt the wind for the first time.Well done...this is a beautiful boat.
Your quote above made me think....(although, with fixing an old boat I thought it might never happen) This was a moment I used to literally have dreams about....then, when it happened it was pretty much like I thought it would be.
How often does that happen....?!

[Dave Hadfield]

Very nice. Congratulations! More photos under sail please...

[Hans Lassen]

smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif stunning! I especially liked the naming ceremony photo :D . I know that feeling. Congratulations!
Best,
Hans

[Art Read]

"... before we let go the mooring and held our breaths as the mainsail felt the wind for the first time..."

Ah... Now THAT'S the mental image that keeps me going...

Way to go, Jeff! :cool:

[HS]

Having putt-putted past the new arrival last Saturday, I can confirm that she looks even better in real life than in the photos!

Hans

[Jeff Robinson]

You're very kind Hans. If that was you in the lovely little grey clinker putt putt with a gent relaxing on the coaming, and the lady steering, you made a fine sight and sound.

JR

[Paul Denison]

She's gorgeous Jeff. Great work!

[htom]

Lovely.

[Wendy Reymond]

Just beautiful.
Are those galvanised mast fittings? Did you make them yourself?

Wendy

[Wendy Reymond]

Just beautiful.
Are those galvanised mast fittings? Did you make them yourself?

Wendy

[skuthorp]

Congratulations. she's beautiful. I know that 'heart-in-the-mouth' feeling when the first breeze fills a new sail. Your never quite confident that the designer knew what he was doing!

[Paul Brooks]

Well done Jeff, Looks brilliant. Hopefully, will follow you into the water next Spring with mine (no 46)
Fair winds

PS Did you fit the inboard diesel or go with the outboard

[Wendy Reymond]

Another question: did you make the sails yourself, or did you find a sailmaker with experience in making sails for a gaffer?
Wendy

[Jeff Robinson]

Paul

We have only the outboard, on account of the huge cost differential in its favour. She does not like it though - last Sunday she tried to rip it off by catching the dinghy painter under the lower leg as we sailed off the mooring, and in the afternoon she got the powerhead caught under the painter, and untied it from the stern mooring post. I had to take an unscheduled swim to retrieve the dinghy. The 4hp outboard drives her very well, but as she handles so easily under sail I think we will leave it at home more often than not.

I reckon this boat does everything but talk, she is so clear in her likes and dislikes. We had too much mainsheet out last weekend, and we were getting a very mushy ride without thinking too much about it. So she took matters into her own hands - on the next tack, she tangled up a shackle on the mainsheet block and held the block in the middle of the horse. The difference in the speed and drive was very obvious, and we made the appropriate adjustments, feeling duly told off! We (Lelia and me), just have to learn the language she speaks.

I look forward to seeing photos of your boat on the water Paul. You have had Roger make a few changes to the design haven't you? Wendy, most of the fittings are galvanised and some of them I painted. I was not consistent, though, as I was keen to get in the water so the tabernacle is not painted. The galvanised fittings came from Classic Marine in England. They gave good service and good advice too.

JR

[Jeff Robinson]

Sorry Wendy, I missed your last post while writing. The sails are from Lee Sails in Hong Kong, you can order gaff sails direct off the web page. It was a gamble probably but once again price ... They are very well finished and seem to set OK.

JR

[Danny Quin]

Well done Jeff, she looks realy nice. I'am laying planks on my Golant Gaffer and hope that mine will look as good. So in 3 years there will be at least one more Golant Gaffer sailing in Australia!

[ishmael]

Hey, that's great Jeff. I've not followed your building story here very closely, but the result looks wonderful.

Perhaps, now that the boat is in the water you could share your wisdom about the process. What did you learn, what were the pitfalls, what would you have done differently?

I've always admired that design. As I remember it's strip planked over an 'eggcrate' armature of bulkheads.

Godspeed and fair winds.

Jack

[SGurr]

Hi Jeff,

I'm thinking about building a Golant Gaffer in Brisbane to sail on Moreton Bay. Do you have any advice you could provide on likely budget, both in dollars & time to complete the build. I'm in touch with Seashell Boats to acquire a set of plans, and any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Steve Gurr.

[JimD]

Hi Jeff,

I'm thinking about building a Golant Gaffer in Brisbane to sail on Moreton Bay. Do you have any advice you could provide on likely budget, both in dollars & time to complete the build. I'm in touch with Seashell Boats to acquire a set of plans, and any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Steve Gurr.

Steve, you do realize that Jeff hasn't posted in 8 1/2 years? He may be a little slow in answering you.

[G.Sherman]

Where are the pix? I'm seeing nothing but boxes with question marks....

[Larks]

Hi Jeff,

I'm thinking about building a Golant Gaffer in Brisbane to sail on Moreton Bay. Do you have any advice you could provide on likely budget, both in dollars & time to complete the build. I'm in touch with Seashell Boats to acquire a set of plans, and any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Steve Gurr.

Steve, go to Jeff's name on one of his posts, hover your mouse over his name (or left click) you'll see three options, including "View profile" and "Private Message". He hasn't checked in on the forum since 2008 but if you send him a PM via the forum it should come up in his emails to check the forum for your message, that may be the best way to track him down. He does have a blog somewhere according to one of his posts.