The RL28 Story by Rob Legg

Episode 9: Designing the RL28

Next day down at the launching ramp the tide was right out and I was concerned that we may have some trouble launching as there was only a few inches of water covering the end of the concrete.

The mast had been easy to stand up. One man could raise it with just another helping with the forestay. The long clear cabin top with no hatch in the way helped.

At first try the boat didn't want to budge, but after the trailer bearers were lowered a little, and the push off bar engaged, the boat slid into the water.

Before launching I had stood at the back of the boat and noted that it was no more than twenty inches deep. That was great as it appeared that we would never have to immerse the rear axle or the wheel bearings.

Some one had raised the question, "Was this the biggest ever legally trailable yacht?" At that time it appears it was, and for that matter it still may be.

Our six HP Mercury outboard seemed more than adequate as an auxiliary as we moved into deep water. Then keel down and thirty pumps to bring it right up seemed simple enough. The hydraulics worked well!

The sails hoisted and after a couple of adjustments to the head sail sheet leads we were sailing. There were several other boats out, and we seemed to more than hold our own. I was never able to help myself, as whenever we tried to go cruising and saw a boat on the horizon it was a case of let's get the sheets on and see if we can catch it. The sails looked good and our sail maker, Mike Fletcher, seemed happy with them, except that we had under estimated the aft mast bend when the back stay was tightened and future main sails would be cut a little fuller. (Mike Fletcher would later become AYF and Olympic sailing coach)

Note: By applying tension to the back stay, the shape of the mainsail will flatten. This in turn will reduce the power and heeling effect of the mainsail, thus reducing the weather helm that develops when the boat is over powered.

Apache 11 performed well, and in spite of our good intensions to develop the 28s purely as cruising boats, we just had to try it out in some of the big TS events. Go back to Previous Episode | Go back to Index | Go on to Next Episode