Hello Gideon
Ok - I have re-read the blog and the boat did not go back into the yard - it was apparently having internal having re-spray jobs in the marina.
Anyway sticking to the point of getting a
Fastcat ready and what you say, these are quotes from the blog.
"We gave Butterfly a wide berth this weekend. Wanted to leave the guys to get on with things without us slowing them up. There’s a lot of respraying going on - we do know that. Chiefly the
varnish, which needed attention in many areas. Pity the poor guys who had to go in there on Sunday and do the job. A face mask is better than nothing, but far from ideal in such confined spaces."
Also
"We’ve always said from the word go that what we wanted was the boat right. And that if this took a little longer to achieve, than one would expect, we would be patient and not hassle anyone. Well, we’ve more than played our part - in fact our patience has become something of a legend among the folks down at the marina and other boatbuilders - but there comes a point where you realise that, ironically, your patience and forbearance are working against you. Follow that realisation with a series of unfortunate clangers, some poor workmanship, and the
email mentioned above - and it becomes straws and camels’ backs time. Since that Boof! point, things have started moving briskly - hooray!- and after some rather lively exchanges (I do so like an understatement) at last we have a completion date that is based on rationalised planning, rather than wishful thinking. We know FastCats are now trying very hard to keep their end of the bargain too. But perhaps we’ll let you be the judge of that. You see, thanks to Gideon’s impressive and relentless promotion of the FastCat range, we get so many requests these days for more pics of the boat - the details, the
electronics, the
cabin fitments - that sort of thing, that it will be good to try and offer those who are very interested in the 455, a good range of photos without the clutter, without the lovely guys (we mean that, too) who’ve been months slaving over her - and without all the sea of tools, grub, muck and dust. Later, of course, once we’ve had a chance to dress her properly, we’ll take pics of that too. We think it might be enlightening for the other FastCatters especially to see for themselves what you get with a boat that Gideon has promised will be of “showroom standard”. Oh, and that completion date? 13th August. So expect pics soonishly after."
As regards testing a boat for speed:-
For the
record I have no doubt that normally the lighter the weight the faster the boat should be .... as a general
rule that us something I accept for cats.
We are beginners at sailing but not in
boating - we had experienced 18 foot waves in a
power boat and I explained that to you. There was no need to hold back on speed nor did I think you did. Both our observations were that you tried your best to get the best speed.
Ok I accept that I was looking at the SOG but seeing as all we did was one circle at times that
current you mention should have been with us.
To answer your question - the other boats were tested in light winds of 5 to 12 knots. Both were happy to test sail in up to 35 knots of wind.
Gideon - no where is there any type of independent verification with a FastCat actually sailing fast. What results we do see show modest speeds. and yes I am baffled. You tell me 19 are
sold and there are 7 a year being produced, so you have another 15 customers currently on the
books awaiting their FastCats. This means a boat built on average less than every 2 months so why not take one and subject it to independent trails that you can use?