Dec 14, 2017
Living the dream! Longtime CY staffer and now blogger Lynn Lortie with her husband Pat left Midland more than a year ago to make their way into the Great Loop and head out on a three year sailing odyssey. Follow their progress right here in CYOB
We have been asked many times what make of boat Adamant 1 is. She is somewhat unusual with her rigid dodger, high topsides, big windows and large foredeck. Most people are surprised when we tell them that Pat designed and built her. It is everything we wanted in a cruising boat and the bonus part is that she sails well! A job well done by a produce manager and a banker!

Adamant 1 came about because we could not find anything for sale that had everything on our wish list. She had to have big water and fuel tanks, lots of storage, a separate freezer compartment, and be roomy enough to live on. It had to be big enough to handle the ocean, but small enough for me to handle alone if anything should happen to Pat. In 1999, after a few weeks on the drawing board, Pat had the plans figured out. He lofted the drawings on our basement floor, and then transferred them to mylar sheets. We ordered a truckload of pine and a 45 gallon drum of epoxy resin, crossed our fingers and went to work. It took a lot more wood and a second 45 gallon drum of resin but we have the boat we wanted.
Adamant 1 was constructed in the half hull format. She is made of 3/4” pine strips glued together with thickened epoxy over 10 building frames. The pine was then covered with a layer of 1/8” cedar, placed on the diagonal. Following the cedar is three coats of cloth and epoxy on the outside and two layers on the inside. Then the two halves were taken out of the shop, and assembled upside down. The keel, constructed of 3/4” oak strips, was lifted onto the upside down hull. Once the two hulls were epoxied together and the keel was epoxied into place, we painted the bottom of the hull and the keel with black barrier coating. The neighbours thought we had built a submarine, because that is what it looked like upside down, painted black.

We then hired a crane, dug a 5' deep, 15' long hole and had the boat rolled over. The keel was put into the hole and the boat rested on cribs we had made. This allowed us to work on the boat without having to climb up steps. We then got our first look at what we had created. It looked big and it looked awesome! It was early in the spring of 2000 and we had a long summer of work ahead of us. Pat was “adamant” he was going to have the boat floating in two years, which is where the name came from.... he was the adamant one! So we geared up and started the inside. By the way, we both had full time jobs, so the boat was built in the evenings and on weekends!

In our special issue next week on Dec 21, we continue the saga of Adamant 1’s construction. Don’t miss it!
Read Part B of Building Adamant 1
By Andy Adams
100% Electric performance available now
When we arranged to interview the designer and manufacturer to write a profile of the X Shore Eelex 8000 for the June 2021 issue of Canadian Yachting magazine, it was on the understanding that we always prefer to actually drive and experience the boats we write about, and we were especially keen to drive the X Shore when BCI Marine here in Canada, got their first boat from Sweden.
There has been a lot of media attention around everything electric lately, especially electric vehicles, but so far, most electric boats are a concept, not yet a reality. The X Shore Eelex 8000 is a reality and a very impressive one at that.
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Beneteau Oceanis 34.1
By Zuzana Prochazka
Boats have been in high demand for the past two years and there’s no sign of this easing. Sailboats, that can move with the power of the wind, have made an especially significant comeback probably because of the high prices of fuel.
Even more interesting is the increased interest in smaller models that have been doing well at recent boat shows. These compact cruisers have definitely held their own even among the 50-foot behemoths at the docks. A good example of this is Beneteau’s new Oceanis 34.1, the second smallest in the line.
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Text and Photos by Marianne Scott
Cowichan Bay is a waterfront village with a row of shops, artisan products, marine supplies and a variety of places to eat. It also has a delightful Maritime Centre. You can easily spend a day or more here at one of three marinas hosting transient moorage. The place feels like an old-fashioned fishing village.
We arrived at this quaint hamlet on a calm day when the sun burned off twists of mist and created undulating oval diamonds on the wavelets. From the water, the village looks enticing with its dense jumble of colourful character buildings, float homes and houses-on-stilts lining the coast.
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Story and photos by Timothy J.S. Martin
It seems like everyone has their “guy”, usually a marine surveyor they either know personally or have been referred to by another boater (or someone in the marine or insurance industries). Marine surveyors are often hired based on this type of referral, rather than on the merits of their qualifications and skills.
I often hear boaters express their displeasure about an experience where a marine surveyor “condemned” a boat, or the surveyor was viewed as unreasonable in relation to their recommendations. As a result, surveyors known to be less thorough and less detailed in their work tend to be favoured by boaters, especially for insurance surveys.
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SailGP, the international racing series featuring high speed F50 wingsailed catamarans, is partnering with RS Electric Boats – sister brand of sailboat manufacturer RS Sailing – to use the Pulse 63 electric RIB as chase, coach and support boats.
RS Electric Boats will supply SailGP with four Pulse 63s, which were designed to be electric boats from the outset. The unique aerodynamic hull form is designed to support the weight of the batteries while allowing rapid acceleration, functional speeds up to 23 knots and ample range.
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