These, ( Rigel 1, Rigel 2, Rigel 3, Rigel 4 ) were taken by Yacht Shots, who had followed a IP out of North Sound but caught us charging in from Anegada, BVI with a double reef in the Hood sails and still doing better than 8 knots much of the time.
As you can see we’ve added mast rails, KISS wind generator, Kyocera solar panels, Icon HF SSB with back stay and separate receiver antenna for getting emergency or direct calling signals; and a Spectra water maker and removable inner forestay with running back stays that make up out of the arc of the boom. Much of this work we had done at Zahniser’s Yachting Center in Solomons, MD.
Carol and I now have over 13,000 nm under the keel of Rigel and are still very pleased with how the boat sails and handles off shore. We have done a Delmarva circumnavigation in 2005, a Bermuda Cup and Carib1500 in 2006. We double handed back from Culebra USVI to Prove in Turks & Caicos to Port Canaveral FL to Charleston SC and home to Solomons MD in the spring of 2007. We took the summer off to partly refill the kitty and then sailed another Carib1500. This time we got past St. Martin and all the way to Antigua before having to head back. This spring we sailed the Atlantic Cup back to Bermuda and then up to Cape Cod and Maine before returning to the Chesapeake Bay at Zahniser’s.
In summary a great blue water boat that also points to windward very well. On passages we have either 3-4 people on board for crew but coastal sailing is always just the two of us. We are planning another Carib1500 in 2009 but this time from Charleston SC.
