A hidden gem for cruising - but can you row it?

[docboz]

Hi All

just want to see if we can kick-start this area a little, especially as Dinghy Cruising is a bit further up the agenda at present. I was hoping to have a good chat with Don Pipes last weekend, but he died before he could attend the UK WA cruising conference he'd been going to for the last 17years, and where we met him. We all raised a glass to him; a very popular man.

"my other boat is a wayfarer" and the UKWA cruising conferences and experiences I've had in the W over the last 3 years lead me to feel that the Osprey may be an overlooked cruising gem. Don certainly loved cruising his. However, last time we met I didn't have an Osprey. My impression is the techniques well worked out on the W can be easily applied: specifically the slab reefing and aeroluffspar genoa reefing systems to keep give you options as the wind rises.

Drawbacks first: Nowhere to hang an outboard (unless you WANT to break the boat, or do a lot of work on the transom). Nowhere to sleep on the boat (depends on your idea of sleep I suppose). Only enclosed stowage is in the forward tank, though aft-section would be good for "deck stowage" in sealed containers.

Advantages: Great sea-boat (I'm told - waiting for Mounts Bay in May to try this). Great hullspeed: so easier to fight a foul tide, or cover ground in lighter winds - very important when cruising. Looks great (good for social aspect of cruising). Option to cruise comfortably with three people aboard (though would need to pack light).

My big question is this. Does anyone have experience of rowing the Osprey? - lack of outboard means oars a must for secondary power. In some ways it looks good as a rowing boat - long waterline, not so wide as the W (a real issue there), with a side deck that can very easily take a rowlock hole. I'm not convinced its easy to get the legs comfy to row it and can't quite work out exactly where oars would go when not in use (due to strut design in Flying Machine). This secondary power is the key issue to resolve: paddling long distances in a dingy is a killer.

Basically I think the Osprey may perfectly fit the bill for what the French call a Voile Aviron (Sail-Oar) boat. This is big movement in France, but I think they may be missing out on the Osprey.

all best

Boris - Flying Machine 854

[ianrmcdonald]

Do you remember the famous film on Frank Dye and his crossing of the North sea in a Wayfarer?

lots of lying to a drogue in huge seas

funnily enough when they landed his crew did not appear in any more footage and seems to have taken the opportunity having got onto dry land to disseapear!

[docboz]

Aye Frank's legacy is an "interesting" one. I think some of his crews did come back for more, but I'm not planning on riding out any gales with a sea-anchor in an osprey, wayfarer, or indeed any other boat! Really just wondering if it is possible to row the Osprey a few miles if the wind dies and you don't fancy wallowing in open water till it comes back.

BTW there's a new hair-raiser out - Peter Clutterbuck's "the sea takes no prisoners". More wayfarer madness from the same era. We've all calmed down a lot since then ...

[Wild Idea]

Big Idea and I paddled ours out of Keyhaven into the Solent last year.

It paddled as easily as our canoes.



We left the board and rudder down so it would track.

Didnt try it with them up, so I cant tell you what thats like.

Havent thought of rowing it.

[Mike Bridgwater]

Funny you should raise this now. I have been thinking along the same lines. I think the osprey would make a very fine cruising dinghy, as you say with a slab main (single line maybe) reefing system and roller reefing jib. I have had 2 old ones in the past, and am probably going to buy another old one soon (if I can find something suitable) and found them wonderful, powerful boats.
The ability to reef down on longer passages would be essential as getting tired and possibly capsizing when you're out there all alone is a really bad idea! As regards storage, maybe the old mark 2 has the edge, as you can use the aft compartment, possibly also the side tanks with suitably reinforced openings. There was one on Ebay recently that looked like it had side tank storage.
I had a heavy 16ft clinker boat that I cruised a few years back and had oars as a back up. I needed to row it in earnest once in Mounts Bay when the East wind dropped away completely leaving a really nasty slop; it was a pig to row! I would have thought the Osprey, being quite long, thin and light would row relatively well, better than a Wayfarer I should think?
Anyway, it would be good to see details of any systems you put in place, and hear of any adventures!

[AlanH]

Welcome back to the forum to Wild Idea, we enjoyed the stories from yourself, Big and Little Idea a while back. Do add more stories or tips. I'd agree that the Osprey has lots of potential as a cruising boat, great sea boat and covers the ground so quickly. Look forward to hearing any cruising stories.

[philip m]

I bought my Osprey specifically as a cruising dinghy- tho I have since been seduced into racing it as well(!)

Peter Frith gave me an old Dacron main and I put in a deep reef ( just above the hounds) and purchased a foil aerospar for an old genoa. The low aspect ratio geometry of the Osprey sail lends itself very well to roller reefing, especially if you have an adjustable genoa car track) and my wife and I found that with a reefed main and partially rolled jib the boat is an absolute pussy cat in a Force 5 and Solent chop, and of course still much faster than a Wayfarer. Downwind we shake out the reef and put the kite up and the only thing that can keep up with us is the Cowes fastcat ferry!

If caught out in a blow , I would be confidant about getting home with just a reefed main , or in extremis , just a reefed genoa.

As for rowing, just take a paddle. In all but a flat calm you will sail faster than any rowed "cruising dinghy" .Summer wednesday night racing often sees the wind die away and one of the delights of the Osprey is that we can get home over the tide in the merest breath of wind, leaving most others to wait for a tow!

NB we use a slab reef system with a hook at the tack and clew reefing line led through the boom to a clamcleat at the fore end of the boom. The reefing line runs through a block forward of the cleat , so you actually pull aftfrom the block. Reefing takes about 30 seconds.

[docboz]

Hi Philip
very interesting to hear about how you've done this
I'm assuming on the main reefing you mean the reef takes the head of the sail down to the level of the spreaders?
Is it an aeroluffspar or another make of furling spar?
I've discovered the W genoa is scarcely any different to the osprey - about 20cm taller, so I may just stick that with its spar onto the O - though rig tension may be an issue. This would save me buying a new spar, a pretty big saving.
Interesting about the paddling vs rowing. I'm thinking I suppose of miles of water to cross in a dead calm, the sort of thing that can happen on an extended cruise, so maybe i shouldn't worry about that just yet!!
over short distances in dead air my son and I hike to each side by turns, rocking the boat about 20 degrees each way, effectively turning the main into an "air paddle" - gives about 2 - 3kt!
all best
Boris

[philip m]

The head goes just above shrouds and forestay when reefed, and yes it is an aero spar (works well as long as there is sufficient rig tension.)

[Greymalkin]

Gentlemen, I am very excited to discover this thread.

Having bought my Mk2 Osprey in March 2013, purely with cruising (or non-racing) in mind, I'm sorry to have left it so long before realising that anybody else had the same idea.

My boat was pretty tatty, though I don't know the average condition for an early '70s all-GRP Osprey. She has had some catastrophic hull damage in the past, seemingly while on an unsupportive trolley or trailer. She had been solidly repaired though and doesn't leak a lot, so I can live with her unseen imperfections, even if she'll never race again. Also, the rear cockpit bulkhead had been crudely cut away, leaving a great gaping void; and two six-inch holes had been cut in the transom, presumably for a cockpit-full of sea to flow out through. The boat was painted a sort of vulgar, beach-toy bright green.

I cut a nice piece of 9mm marine ply to the right size to substitute for the missing rear bulkhead; and I used a couple of yard-long pieces of square-section drain-pipe to allow flood-water in the cockpit, to flow through the new rear bulkhead, and out of the transom holes. Not the neatest work, but nor is it embarrassing. Once I've worked out how to post photos here, I'll flood this forum with unsolicited pics of my boat. Maybe I'll be lucky at first try, immediately below...re-sizing photos is certainly more frustrating than any task I've attempted on the boat...



Anyway, just as Docboz suggested above (although I did it 18 months earlier ) I attached a couple of small plastic 'dry' lockers with round RWO hatches, inside the new bulkhead. In truth, they're not the easiest hatches to open in a hurry with one spare slippery gloved hand, but they do let me keep phone, wallet, car keys and other essentials on board and well within reach of the helmsman, unlike the big fo'csle void. The hatches stay above the waterline in a knock-down too, though I haven't tested an inversion.



If the photos opened above, you'll be able to see that I removed the lurid green paint and gave her a clean coat of white Toplac; and you'll be able to see my oars. I bought them in 2013, along with some rather natty chromed rowlocks and sockets. The sockets fit easily and securely in the solid wood gunwale of the mk2, about 12" astern of the thwart. My boat has a traveller (do all Ospreys?) but my legs fit neatly enough between the thwart and the track.

My oars are eight feet long, and I'd strongly discourage anyone from being tempted to try shorter ones, even though long ones are harder to source.

I fitted home-made lazyjacks (the only instance I've ever seen, on any dinghy), and these mean I can raise the boom with the lowered sail upon it, well above head-height, vital for rowing comfort. It also keeps the boom firmly on the gooseneck, and the whole cockpit clear of clutter. The mainsheet blocks are snap-shackled to the boom, so the tackle doesn't get in the way while rowing. A few feet of shockcord hooked between the boom-end and deck keeps the boom fairly central overhead.

Regarding the actual business of rowing an Osprey...to be honest, it is harder work than I expected. With her long and fairly slender hull, and knowing how very easily she slides upwind under sail in a force 2, I was surprised at the effort required to replicate that progress by rowing, even with the board partly down for directional stability. Nevertheless, now that I have oars, I've discovered that the only times I have to use them are when I have left them ashore, so I'm obliged to take them every time I go out, in order to be certain of not needing them.

Having said that, my cruising sometimes takes me to shallow and tree-lined creeks where oars are far more likely to be needed...so I'm always glad to know I have the option.

I thank you for reading this far, gentlemen...and I commend your patience. I sincerely hope you'll bombard me with questions about my cruising-kit, because I've been thinking about sailing (not racing) the Osprey for at least three hours out of every 24 for the last six years, and my girlfriend is no longer so keen to hear about it.

Dan