______________________ A JUNK NAMED 'FANTAIL' _____________________

 

Fantail with her new colour scheme

The Owen Woolley designed (circa 1970s), New Zealand built Raven is a whole lot of boat packed into 26 feet. Specs on the Raven here: https://www.ravenyachts.com/ravensdownsouth.htm

'Fantail' (above) is a Raven that was converted to Junk rig by Annie Hill, a holder of the esteemed Blue Water Medal and the author of a couple of well known books 'Sailing On A Small Income' and 'Brazil And Beyond'. 'Fantail' was sold a while ago to new owners but you can get more information about 'Fantail' (her conversion to Junk Rig etc) and Annie Hills current Whangarei built boat 'FanShi' here:  https://anniehill.blogspot.com/

Video of 'Fantail' under her new ownership is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9akBxOv9xFg 

The diagram below showing the comparison of the current junk rig with the original masthead sloop rig shows that in terms of  fore and aft 'working sails' there is not much loss of sail area. Of course what is lost in sail area is more than made up by handiness and simplicity. In the same manner as the gaff rig, the junk rig is powerful down wind.

I like the aesthetic of the simple raised deck, a design feature that provides strength to the structure and a roominess below that is common to raised deck boats of all sizes. When combined with the simple Junk rig the outcome is pleasing. 

  

Second hand Ravens go for fire sale prices at the moment (as do many of the older fiberglass yachts). A Raven make over and the construction of a simple, relatively much cheaper (home made) Junk rig would make a nice project. Hmmmmm.

 

_____________ LISTEN TO THE MAN - GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR ____________

So there I was sitting with my grandson doing some Covid Level 3 (he's in our 'bubble') school holiday come lock down babysitting. We had played about a thousand rounds of 'Uno' a kids card game, had a picture drawing competition (he won), built Lego ( I was assigned a crash test dummy kind of inspector role for all of the ingenious vehicles that he built) .......... and then while relaxing watching some Utube videos about Mars we found this photo during yet another Google - come Utube search for further videos about Mars.

This is a photo of that conqueror of gnarly astronautical exploits - Buzz Aldrin. He is older than me. He is 91 years old and is a 'Rocking On' pizzazz exemplar par excellence. He's a bit of an inspiration - When I am 91 years old I will post a photograph of myself in an appropriate 'Get Your Ass To' T-shirt of a nautical nature - Possibly - ' Get Your Ass On A Single Handed Voyage Around Cape Horn'. If I am capable of standing at 91 to get the photo taken, I will attempt my T-shirt pose with style and pizzazz.