Chris Morejohn: Yachts with keels

Here's a bunch of boats that have caught my fancy. There are so many similar fiberglass production sailboats out and about today I just kind of glaze over when seeing them. The anchorages here today are filled with these boats, lots of catamarans, with a sprinkling custom and one off built boats.

A well built Swedish Bruce Roberts steel ketch.

Vintage Swedish double ended sloop.

Wow, love this creation.

Nice French very wide ultralight aluminum deep keel sloop. This boat is at least 15' beam with an open transom and cabin entrance. I don't think this boat would survive a knock down.

Simple sturdy steel French one off

Old steel French steel ketch. When the sails furl up into a Zig Zag size you know it's been around for a long time.

Contemporary Swedish double ender with every thing that can be added to a boat. Sheesh

British Twister design, being sailed by 4 very big young Blond Norwigens . This is a great all round world cruising starter boat. Good for a young couple. Has been sailed every where.

A German steel built and designed sloop. This is a very popular design built by amatures. I have seen about 50 of these one offs in my travels. A young Dutch couple anchored in front of our house last year in one that they had built.

A bigger sisters ship design. Some have bilge keels.

Classic French sloop.

Another Swedish boat that has the illness of buying everything.

We saw this ketch in the Canarys 10 years ago. Good to see them out and about.

Le French aluminum.

A Spirt sloop from England built in wood with a very deep fin keel and torpedo bulb . I raced on this sloop years ago with its owner who is a very eccentric middle aged English women that single hands her sloop about. She was handing out the rum drinks at a fundraising party we went to ashore the first night here. She looked like she has gone native a bit but her yacht is in great nick.

Trying to stay with the British theme here.

When I sailed in the pacific as a kid in the early 70s these kind of boats were all over. Now you see them here and there.

I have seen this German steel boat years ago. Same gold colored deck.

This is an old California built Coronado 40' sloop redone by Canadians to fit the now norm . These boats were built in the 70s with the original advertizing photos of them with bright yellow cushions and shag carpeting throughout. Glad that era is over.

This aluminum sloop is a Peter Lavranous design with a 7' draft. When I was single handing down here I could hear Chris Parker the weather forecaster giving this young couple advice on the weather. I only have a reciver. They were on the same course and track as me but 100 miles behind me. We were both in no wind so we're both motoring making our easting. They gave their waypoints every morning so when they were getting close to me I called them up on VHF. We had a nice chat. I ran out of fuel early so they passed me. Three days ago we ended up in the same anchorage. Lots of fun to see each other's faces.

Classic French steel sloop.

Another one.

This is a french fiberglass Dufor sloop. This is an excellent starter boat. Can be bought very reasonable in Europe and is a well built and designed fin keel sloop.

I would like to hear this boats tale from itself.

21' mini Transat Pogo Go anywhere if you can mini yacht.

A one person boat.

Open 40 sleds. Very fast off the wind. To weather still fast but very wet, like a sub, pounding like crazy. Needs water ballest to work. I have never been so wet on a monohull as when I crewed on one of these machines.

With someone else at the helm you can put in your earplugs and bury yourself in a bean bag and try to forget about the noise. How these single handlers race in them having to hear what's going on is beyond me. It is like being in a huge cored , ribbed trash can that is being pounded to death. It's just you as these boats are built to take it.

Long lean one off with the hungry look in the aluminum plating. This sloop left in a good blow reefed right down pounding away to weather. But the cockpit is way aft so maybe no big deal.