All Things Boats, Ships, Yachts, Skiffs, Dinghies...

Returning from a week in the South of France, I realize how much I love boats, and how much I miss the days growing up on the water.

So this thread is dedicated to all things floating.

To kick it off, perhaps one of my all time favorites - introducing The Maltese Falcon, at berth in Monaco last week:




At 88 meters (289 feet), the ship has fifteen square sails (five per mast), stored inside the mast; they can fully unfurl into tracks along the yards in six minutes. The three carbon fiber masts are free-standing and able to rotate.

The yacht is easily controlled and has been seen to sail off her anchor and away from berths within harbors. The yacht's sophisticated computer detects parameters such as wind speed automatically and displays key data. An operator must always activate the controls, yet it is possible for a single person to pilot the yacht.

The Maltese Falcon has two 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kW) Deutz engines running at 1,800 rpm with a top speed of 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) with minimal wave-making and virtually no vibration or noise and with a smooth and non-turbulent wake. (from Wikipedia)

Oh my, here I am thinking about a kayak

You would've liked the Tall Ships event this weekend here in the Ocean State. Majestic comes to mind.

Can't get it to embed. Pretty cool video here.

I've never learned to sail, but would love to do a trip on the Tall Ships in that video...

Submarine boat - owned by a Russian banker:

I'd like to own something like this:

Cool story! I think we need more on your experience living aboard the 15' boat too

I took this picture of the Sequoia a few years ago while I was working on the DC waterfront. They used it for a while in their promotional stuff. Which earned me a free tour and trip that I was never able to collect on. But, living in Annapolis, I have been on a enough Trumpy yachts to pretty much know what to expect. Anyway, yachts simply do not get any better looking than this old girl.





My wife also wrangled us a trip on the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's skipjack a few years ago with some of her oceanographer friends. That was probably the only time I ever actually enjoyed sailing.





The same skipjack with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's converted buy boat in fron of her. another seriously good looking boat. So the Sequoia and those two are three of the best looking boats I have ever seen.



Last and least, the SS Grreatdog demonstrating who was the hardcore boater in our previous neighborhood. I did a mile of ice breaking to get her out that year. Frozen boats ramps are a real blast.



Same creek not frozen:

That's lovely, truly wonderful, thank you for sharing.

-Simon

Geode The stories you have are incredible ....... I need to have dinner with you again...

Still would love to hear more about family!

My previous home, on Apalachicola Bay in Florida.


My 1958 Flying Scot after a 4 year restoration and donated to a summer camp.


My Bell Canoe Rob Roy in it's 5th year of drydock.


Now living in Colorado where even the rainwater is spoken for. :eek1

Rain water is spoken for?

In many areas of Colorado it's illegal to collect rainwater the idea being that it would diminish downstream flow, which is all owned. A few years ago this law was repealed in Boulder County where I live but only for residents of rural areas. It's still illegal to collect rainwater in my town.
After growing up in Minnesota and never more than 10 minutes from a lake, this has taken some getting used to.

It would not however be illegal to landscape and do your driveway, gutters etc. in such a way that does not promote the water to quickly escape. For instance, if you have all your downspouts directed over surfaces that will not permit the runoff to quickly reach the street then you have not "collected it" but you are also not diverting it.

We have an opposite problem in which most folks have their property set up to hold little to no water. So when it rains hard the streets flood, then the streams flood, then the rivers flood, and somewhere in that time your basement filled up.

I'm going to Dalmatia (Croatia) on Saturday, the first time for years I'm going in peak season. There will be a lot of people watching/boat watching going on.

The harbour absolutely sucks, so it's mostly the pretentious fuckwits with more money than sense that are mooring.

I watched 47 meter "Elisa" and then 70 meter "High Power III" berthing on the webcam yesterday:







An old schooner like When&If would be more down my alley, though.

When watching the webcam yesterday, I got reminded of the beautiful resource that is www.marinetraffic.com ; I got the link here some time ago and absolutely forgot about it. There are a few nice big yachts in the vicinity that may or may not come our way in the next 2 weeks.

Jesus Christ, marinetraffic.com suggests that Pelorus is heading for the harbour. At 115m, they say she's among the 5 biggest private yachts in the world. And she comes with 2 (two) helipads.

Who the fuck needs 2 helipads?




Fuck work, I'm getting lunch and watch the webcam.

EDIT: Pelorus has its own wikipedia entry, is the ex-Abramovitch yacht and is now owned by record executive David Geffen. So these people need 2 helipads.

I've been seeing these "stealth" boats more often - all black and very angular:



Can't say I see the point unless you are a smuggler...

Wally Power 118 was in our place in Dalmatia last year, chartered by a Chinese guy.

Did you manage to get out of the way after snapping the pic :)

My preference would be the beautiful little sailing craft in the foreground.

I got the kayak of my dreams from a friend a few months ago. It's a Seaward Nigel Foster Legend in Kevlar with an expedition bottom and no skeg which means tons of space in the rear. It paddles like a dream and goes all day.


Here it is next to a 21 foot Scott Hudson Bay Freight canoe in Northern Maine