Sailing SCAMP Wildflower Tomales Bay 10-28-23 with Diana

This video is longer than usual, because I just want the memories. Diana and I had a lovely fall day sail in Tomales Bay, CA, USA. It was so clear and lovely. We started out with light steady winds, which built fairly quickly into the teens with gusts in the 20's. Our home-built SCAMP sailboat Wildflower #330 was built for just these conditions. Despite her small size at under 12 feet, she has water ballast and a great rig. I can reef easily under way, and did to my first reef point. SCAMP can be beached, which is so nice. We stopped briefly at Kilkenny beach on the Point Reyes National Seashore side. I tried to launch and fly my drone from the boat, but alas, made some mistakes and did not get footage from the boat.
All video shot with Insta360 x3 and Parrot Anafi drone. Music is by me on guitar, and editing was done with Lumafusion.

[@pauldavison7265]

Love to see you out in Wildflower. Thanks for sharing. Living the dream….

[@gerrit555]

Looks great. Would you go for 3 weeks of holiday with 2 person in this boat?

[@dndrich]

I never have. It would be tight. But I could do it with my wife I think.

[@toddpollard9847]

Beautiful SCAMP! How are you mounting your camera for this video?

[@dndrich]

I am using an Insta360x3 with a cheap mount that clips to the transom or the combing.

[@vempronordeste2841]

😃😍

[@ianhalbisch6495]

Love it. Thanks for going to the effort to produce. Why do you emphasise 'safe'? I mean, it looks safe, but the conditions seem fairly mild. Maybe it just seems mild because of the safety elements?

[@dndrich]

Despite only 11 feet 11 inches, SCAMP is terrific in my home waters. The boat has amazing positive floatation with multiple air tight compartments, so even if rammed the boat will float. The water ballast makes for a stable ride, and the boat is very easy to right in the event of a capsize. The ability to reef underway means I am basically carrying 4 sails, including full sail and 3 reef points. The pram bow with huge floatation forward means that the boat is near impossible to pitch pole down wind. The high free board and hard dodger make for a dry ride, and a place to escape the wind. Pound for pound she will take care of you.

[@chien-yinghuang6726]

Wow! It's home tailored Junk Rig. I think you should SHIFT the whole sail higher so you don't have to worry about your head anymore.

[@dndrich]

Nope, it is a balanced lug rig. And, if shifted higher it gives more power high, which makes the boat heal more under load. One nice thing about this rig is that it is lower, requiring a shorter mast rather than a sloop rig with a high mast. When reefed it is even better that the rig is lower.

[@chien-yinghuang6726]

@@dndrich You are right, Stability is the key Thanks for the correction, It looks similar with Junk rig. There are some horizontal line on your sail, I thought you took the battens off.

[@dndrich]

Gotcha. Many point out the similarity to a junk rig. Seems like that would work with this boat! But the junk has full battens as you know. This sail has no battens. The horizontal lines are the reef points. I can reduce the sail to each of those lines, which gives me effectively 4 sails on board!