More than a few years ago my wife Carey and I were looking to move up from our O’Day 25 to something a little larger, “two-foot-itis fever” had set in. With our daughter Nicky, we had sailed the O’Day along the coast of British Columbia for eight fabulous years. She was now attaining teenage years and we needed more room! We had visited boat shows to get ideas, scoured magazine listings, and climbed aboard some fairly musty boats without success. An advertisement in a local sailing magazine caught our eye, a 1978 Islander Bahama 30 at a price we could almost afford. We made the ferry trek to the broker on Vancouver Island and, as is typical, Carey and Nicky dove below to check out the interior. I climbed on deck to check out the sailing gear. With no apparent surprises on deck, I dropped below to join the girls. A voluminous interior greeted me through a wide companionway. Far more room than the O’Day, and with a similar layout that sold us on the O’Day. We were sold!
Main is taken down at 20 knts? how about reefing?
Hi Stuart. Yeah, that was in the interest of brevity for the article. First the main is flattened with the cunningham, then a reef goes in at about 15knots over the deck (slab reefing from the cockpit), then the fully batten main gets depowered with a bit of feathering without damage, then it comes down at over 20knots. This is all going to windward. With a foam luff in the genoa I can also roll a few turns on the furler as well, flattening the genoa. I’ve gone to windward in 25, gusting close to 30, but not with the wife on board. It’s not comfortable, but the boat can do it, depending on the sea state of course. Off the wind 20+ knots is not a problem. Off the west coast of the Vancouver Island there were many passages of 30+ knots down wind, one of 40+ knots which can be seen on my Island circumnavigation video on You Tube. Sailing Natasha, 1991, episode 3
Great article. I have had my 1980 IB 30 berthed in San Diego Bay since 1997. We won every race we were in, but then I had a very good helm woman and did a decent job of trimming. I did move the pennant from the top of the jib to the bottom, giving me better visibility forward.
I could also outpoint the Mark II.
Rich Geary
Thanks for the comment Rich! San Diego is where “Natasha” originated. The previous owner harbour-hopped her up the coast to Victoria, had such a bad voyage that he decided to sell. She was called “Folly” at the time. In pretty rough shape, certainly not what I consider ready for sea. Lots of work (and boat dollars) later and I’ll be headed back out to the west side of Vancouver Island again this spring, ready for open ocean water. We just finished an event we call the “Smelly Boys Weekend”, a fun gathering of sailboats where we have a “Maximum Efficiency Sail” (we don’t race) day on the Saturday. No ratings, no rules, just fun. We came in first against some 40 footers in perfect wind conditions. A great boat to short-hand. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAQBNJ37Ljo&t=55s. Unfortunately, this platform does not allow links, copy & paste.