Insurace claim

Lesson No1 if you want anything done quickly email someone in New Zealand.

As most of you will know my boat was damaged whilst being shipped. I originally emailed Oceanbridge in NZ about this and as ever got a immediate email back. I was asked to contact Atlantic Pacific in the UK, well do you think I've had a response yet? Well 3 weeks have been and gone and not a peep. So I'll email NZ to see if they can help. Yep you guessed it, an immediate response even though the individual I emailed was on holiday. All the information I needed to move forward was there, even a CC hurry up to the Atlantic Pacific UK to contact me ( which they still haven't done ).

So if anyone's at all worried about the long distance communication involved in getting a 3.7 imported, I wouldn't worry. In my experience everything's dealt with in a very timely manner. And far better than you get in the UK.

Details, details...

I eluded in a post the other week that my boat was a master class in efficiency and I thought I should show you why I think so.

Firstly there's no main halyard! What! Yep no halyard. This saves the 2:1 compression on the mast allowing the mast to react as it should. So how do you get the sail up and err... down. Simples, roll the boat over to pull the sail up. My boat has a great trailer that incorporates a neat strap ( efficiency 1 ) and cradles that allow this to be done easily. The boat is also very light. The main is attached to the mast head via a loop of spectra which is inserted behind a spinnaker piston hook which has been bonded into the mast tip ( efficiency 2 ). This is achieved by pulling a short rope tag attached to the spinnaker piston at the mast tip. There is also a line that runs to the bottom of the mast, simply pull the line when you want to drop the sail and the piston opens. And you pull the sail down.

The shrouds and forestay terminals in the mast are just holes! ( efficiency 3 ) The terminals on the shrouds and forestay are hooks. You just hook 'em in the holes and put a bit of tape around them to keep them there. You remove the tape when you pull the sail up when the boat is on it's side.

Stepping the mast is easy. ( efficiency 4 ) The shrouds have bottle screws. You attach one using a shackle ( no fiddely shroud plates and pins ). The forestay has a short spectra strop. You put the shackle through this and step the mast locating the mast foot pin in the mast step. Attach the lose shroud with a shackle. The rig is slack at this point. You then take a trapeze line to the bow. And using the bow trolley line tie the line to the trap hook to make a simple boat breaker. Pull the trapeze adjustment system until the forestay shackle can be attached to the deck eye on the fore deck. Release the trap line and your done. Oh there are some lowers as well but you just pop those on the shackle when you are doing the shrouds. Brilliantly simple, no extra bits of kit and less weight.

Second outing...

I have to say I have no idea why this boat is not more widely distributed! The Farr 3.7 is without doubt an absolute joy to sail. She is right up there with the best if not the best, and I have sailed a lot of boats. From Musto Skiffs to MX-Rays to UK Cherubs to National 12's to Buzzes to RS100, RS200, RS800, 29ers, 29erXX, Mirror's, Splash, Int Moth.... the list goes on and on.

I think you can tell I enjoyed my sail today!

Perfect for UK inland waters where space is a little restricted or where the wind is shifty. (Like where I sail at BSC, islands and shallows etc... ). You can sail conservatively and hike her until the mean wind is enough to trapeze on, or go for it and hook on at every gust. She planes readily, is light and well balanced and is statically stable. And what's more she'll be a great sea boat too. Excelling in big wind. With no ultra low boom to deal with and a simple fully battened rotating rig squeezing all the power out the main sail sized just shy of 9 sqm. She is a joy!

First outing...

I sailed her today. Just a shake down sail to make sure I have worked out how to rig her and if I need to sort anything. I have been waiting a couple of weeks to do this, as it has been so dam windy recently. I wasn't keen to go out for the first time with it was blowing a hooley!

But I can report that she everything I had hoped for. Responsive, balanced and a genuine joy to sail. With a really nice matched sail and mast.

The other thing a have been very impressed with is the sheer detail in the way she has been rigged. It is a master class in minimalism. And very much not the way we do things over here. I'll talk more on this in my next post with more detail and pictures as this is just a short up date on my 3.7 progress, to keep everyone up to date. Ta tar for now...

Watch out for VAT!

Simple thing. Watch out for VAT when importing. VAT applies even to secondhand goods when entering the country for the first time from outside the EU. Something I wasn't aware of until now. But hey, that's what this journey is about.