Top-Sail Schooner, Sarasota Fl - Gone

[zertgold]

I never knew her name, and now she is gone; I think I will miss her. I believe she was rigged as a top sail schooner. She had one big yard on her foremast. I myself have a gaffer which I believe is pretty neat because it is old-timee, but to have a square sail that is a whole ‘nother level. I estimate she was about 38 feet long, two masts, and her hull was of wood with a clear varnish. There where davits off the stern always holding a dinghy.
She had been moored off the shore for many years in the bay near the Island Park, and the Bar, O’Leary’s in Sarasota, fl. I had never seen her in action, but I would squint to see her when I drove by the bay on 41.

The city has changed the ordinance to push all the boats moored in that field to clear out. Perhaps she was one of the first to go, but I wonder where she went.



I will see if i can find a pictures to post.

[zertgold]

http://www.lglife.net/boards/topsail.gif

This is the only picture I have. You can see her the back the most remarkable boat in the picture. We don't get to many boat like her in Florida.

[michigangeorge]

she was a ketch- not a schooner :-)

[zertgold]

I suppose she is more of a ketch than a schooner. I had said Top-Sail Schooner because of the square sale on her main mast:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/rig-schooner-topsail3.gif


Can a ketch have a square sale on her main mast? or would that make her a Brigantine:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/rig-brigantine.gif

Have you seen this boat? Has anyone else?

[StevenBauer]

Well if we're going to be picky - topsails are really quite different from squaresails. ;)

Sorry, I haven't seen her.

Steven

[zertgold]

I found her. I took this picture Saturday, (Aug 15th, 2009)
http://www.daledimke.com/out/square.jpg

[zertgold]

Unfortunately she wasn't having a very good day. After a quick squall we saw her limping home in Sarasota Bay.
http://www.daledimke.com/out/square2.jpg

[rbgarr]

Ouch

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Unfortunately she wasn't having a very good day. After a quick squall we saw her limping home in Sarasota Bay.
http://www.daledimke.com/out/square2.jpg

That had to be an expensive day on the water!:eek:

[John B]

Another bobstay failure eh. Maybe a martingale would help next time, that bobstay/ geometry doesn't look satisfactory to me.

[zertgold]

We saw the white wall of rain coming towards us from the south. We decided to drop our sails; It is better safe than sorry was our reasoning. When the wall hit us we realized we made the right decision. The rain was pelting hard enough that it seemed like hail because of the wind speed. Looking north I saw another sailboat with their full genoa out. They didn't know what was about to hit them, and we had no way of warning them. When the wall hit them, their sail was torn up too. Expensive day for a couple folks that afternoon.

[Raka025]

We saw the white wall of rain coming towards us from the south. We decided to drop our sails; It is better safe than sorry was our reasoning. When the wall hit us we realized we made the right decision. The rain was pelting hard enough that it seemed like hail because of the wind speed. Looking north I saw another sailboat with their full genoa out. They didn't know what was about to hit them, and we had no way of warning them. When the wall hit them, their sail was torn up too. Expensive day for a couple folks that afternoon.

I got hit with a similar squal motoring into Camden Harbor on the 5th of August. Interesting experience. I felt fortunate to be where I was with the sails down. I hoovered just outside the inner harbor to avoid the expensive realestate should more hell break through. The diesel had just enough power to maintain it's position.

[seo]

There's no reason I know of why a ketch can't have a yard on its mainmast. From what I can see in the picture that yard would be called a "course yard (or crossjack, aka cro'jack, or lower yard," and the sail would be a "course," not a topsail. Obviously, if you have only one yard and one squaresail, you can just call it the yard and the squaresail.
A topsail is set from a yard that is crossed on the topmast. Maybe one could say that because the yard is crossed above the lower spreaders of a one-piece mast that this topmast territory on a one piece mast. In any event, all the topsails that I know about are set above another yard that the topsails are clewed down to. A course sails clews are taken directly down to the deck, which keeps the course from being much good above a quartering reach.
But this is all just terminology, and what the Americans call a raffee the Dutch call "Schloppmutts," I think.
In any event the sail shown might be useful on an ocean downwind passage, where it would damp roll, is a cheap sail and a lot less trouble than a spinnaker. I would be tempted to carry the yard on deck when the sail isn't being used, and set the whole thing flying.
I wonder about what looks like a roller-furling sail on the main backstay on the boat in the picture.
I've always wondered why on a schooner the square sail set above the foretopsail is called a "topgallant" instead of "upper topsail." On other square rigs the topgallant sail is set on the topgallant mast, which is above the topsail.

[zertgold]

I drove by the bay; she is back, and it appears she is all fixed up. I will see if i can get pictures.