American Mór

Comment by Galway Bay on March 7, 2014 at 10:30am

Thanks Roger , one of our own. Named for the "American Mor" bar in Kilronan , the main harbour in the Aran Islands. On passage to an event most likely as she would carry full sail racing in these conditions. Dropping the staysail de-powers the main a lot apart from the loss of area.

The winning tactic is to get the boat down to minimum weight then heel it until one bilge comes completely out of the water to half the wetted surface. Sound familiar ?

Very exciting sailing in a big open boat , very on-the-edge.

I accompanied two of these on a passage of 24 nm to windward - we could just lay the course without tacking. In strong and very strong wind they held 8kn the whole way.

Puts a whole new meaning on the expression "she sails like an old hooker ! "

Comment by Roger on March 8, 2014 at 9:00pm

That's really impressive for a "traditional" boat. I often wonder if some of the old ways were also the best ways (compared to plumb bows, deep bulb keels, low displacement etc etc.)

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