My folkboat sailing hero, Michael Richey, died just before Christmas. He was the kind of Englishman who would say, "I've done a little sailing," when he'd only done 13 solo crossings of the Atlantic in his folkboat, the Jester, the last when he was 80. During tough times at sea, he kept hi...

Congratulations on buying the boat that will be "the measure of any boat you may ever sail"! For what it's worth, I shipped my IF with a commercial shipper, and did not remove the stanchions or the rudder. The boat was loaded on a big trailer, which was rolled onto a ship in Honolulu, roll...

I have a very small leak around my lower gudgeon. The portions of the bolt and the stainless steel boss that can be seen from the inside of the boat look fine, but the wood block around them on the inside of the boat is somewhat rotted. Is failure of the gudgeon likely? Is it necessary to haul the b...

Looking at pictures of IFs racing in Sweden and Germany, I have noticed that many of them have genoa tracks aft but inboard of the rail, with the genoa sheets inside the stays. The North Sails tuning guide shows the same. Does this improve upwind performance with the genoa? This is important to me n...

You can look at www.sfbaysss.org, click on singlehanded transpac, and then on competitor's logs. My wife posted my reports after my satphone conversations with her, but the website has the reports of the other competitors as well, which are informative and sometimes amusing. Regards, Tom K. IF 637 F...

Congratulations on having bought the best boat for sailing in SF Bay with relatively little experience! You'll still love the boat after you have a lot of experience! You will clearly want the 102% working jib for sailing in SF. You will also want a decent genoa. If you start racing, you will want a...

Thanks, Marek! A 4 stroke outboard is not the best for me because I already have a steering windvane hanging off the stern and solar panels on the aft rail, and I am afraid of having gas (petrol) on the boat. I actually thought of getting an electric trolling motor instead of another inboard diesel,...

My BMW MD-7 inboard diesel is dead. Most people here (in California) use Yanmar or Kubota diesels, but my mechanic is from the Baltic, and he recommends a Farymann or Bukh. He says they are just as reliable as a Japanese engine, and much easier to start manually with a crank. (People who have Japane...

It should be possible to row an IF with proper gear. Take a look at this website: http://www.solopublications.com/sailario.htm. It shows rowing gear on a Pearson Ariel, which is similar to an IF. Another source for rowing of a small full keel boat is the Pardey's book, "The Self Sufficient Sail...

G'day, Matt! I have not written a blog. The only thing online about my sail is what my wife posted on the SSS website after my satphone talks with her. There are some pictures on the web (on Norcalsailing and on the form of the SSS website) that show how Feral was fitted out. Rolling was not too bad...

Matt, I now have more insight into this subject, because this summer I sailed my IF from San Francisco to Hawaii, and the trip included 10 days running with twin headsails and furled main. Before going, I found some expert sailmakers and riggers who know the IF boat, and they advised running backsta...

Matt, I now have more insight into this subject, because this summer I sailed my IF from San Francisco to Hawaii, and the trip included 10 days running with twin headsails and furled main. Before going, I found some expert sailmakers and riggers who know the IF boat, and they advised running backsta...

Matt, I now have more insight into this subject, because this summer I sailed my IF from San Francisco to Hawaii, and the trip included 10 days running with twin headsails and furled main. Before going, I found some expert sailmakers and riggers who know the IF boat, and they advised running backsta...

How is an IF usually shipped by rail or by sea? Does it fit in a standard shipping container? Or is it better or more usual to put the boat on a trailer and roll on/roll off? Also, what is the height of the IF from the bottom of the keel to the top of the stanchions (or the cabin top if that is high...

I know it's generally a bad idea in a fractional rigged sloop like an IF to sail too long with only the jib set and the main furled. I am thinking of doing some downwind sailing in the tradewinds with twin jibs on wiskerpoles. Do you think I would need to keep the main up (probably deeply reefed)? O...