Cruising a trailer sailer

Vela is a Sage 15 sloop. Designed by Jerry Montgomery for Sage Marine. Similar to the Lyle Hess designed M15 for Montgomery Boats. Both companies are no longer producing boats. Cruising equivalent of minimalist uber lightweight backpacking. Some people have enjoyed cruising in the M15 and S15s. Even to the extremes. Back in the '80s Michael Mann sailed his M15 from California to Hawaii.

From my experiences the S/M 15s are decent big sea and heavy air boats. Bit like a cork in large seas. 5.2kt hull speed, but Vela has hit 8kts "surfing" down swells and not broaching or pitchpoling. Did experience a +50kt bare pole knockdown. Once the gust dropped the boat popped back up.

Home waters are the western end of L. Superior around the Apostle Is. National Lakeshore. Back in the '80s I use to tour the islands for weekend to week long kayak trips. Seeing the sailboats always had me thinking someday. Learned to sail on Lasers and 420s. Eventually took early retirement and purchased Vela. Thinking time to cruise the islands and nearshore waters. But..... My on water passion is windsurfing. The nearshore F4 and stronger winds are not frequent enough. The NOAA Nearshore Marine forecasts are semi useless. Up here we more or less look out the window and drop everything to go windsurfing when there is decent wind. Cruising will be for when the body no longer enjoys windsurfing.

If unaware. Check out trailersailor.com There are a number of forum members who are into cruising and trailer sailor cruising get togethers.

We have now returned home to SE South Australia after over 8 weeks cruising The Whitsundays in a trailer sailer. It took four days of daylight only driving not months of slog down the east coast, though Bass Straight and into the wind usually across to SA. We rushed home instead of the planned leisurely drive with occasional short exploratory short cruises as we were remotely and sight unseen negotiating the purchase of a property suddenly for sale here in our unknown corner of the world. Successful. We purchased most trailer sailer owners dream ( not the house which is modest and needs an upgrade) a 1708sqm block with sweeping water views and it's own boat ramp and jetty for about the price of the worst freestanding house in the worst suburb in Sydney. In Sydney a property with these features (and perhaps a few other advantages ) could run into tens of millions! Our current home is also waterfront with its own jetty but on a fairly tight block unable to accommodate all our water toys and difficult to launch some from with twin level embankments and high rock retaining walls.

The new place is just around the corner still also accessible mast up on trailer to the high quality new rarely used local boat ramp which is diagonally opposite our existing much newer two storey home.
Given the current very elderly owners used to have a 26 foot Bayliner powerboat which is actually much deeper draft than our 28 foot Imexus and store it and launch it at home, I feel I shouldn't need the lovely new council boat ramp anymore.

We also own the vacant block next to our current house but I was struggling to design a new home to fit on there that could still accommodate the yacht on trailer and our truck camper. Our now two waterfront homes and a waterfront vacant block still cost way less altogether than just my previous home in rural NSW but we will sell the vacant block to fund the renovation of the newly purchased one and probably rent the existing home which had been our original intention for it following our proposed building a new home on our block next door.

It is a little remote here being about an hour and five minutes SE of Adelaide but we are close to the highways to both Melbourne and Sydney and can even dodge Adelaide with our huge travelling package when heading north to QLD, NT and NW WA via going up the middle as we have just returned from doing.

All this new life and toys were made possible by a recombination couple selling both their modest mid range homes in NSW, retiring early and moving to exceptionally cheap rural SA as a base to travel, adventure and sail from. We missed a promised cruise with my daughter on the Hawkesbury on the way home so she flew down here and we did a 6 day cruise of The Coorong instead.