🚀 go-pugleaf

Any Thunderbird 26 owners/racers out there?  I've got a 1970 T-bird, "Ligero",
which the previous owner single-handed here (Hawai'i) from Canada last year.
I understand that there are fleets in San Francisco, Vancouver and various
other places.

She has a very impressive racing history, and I plan to start campaigning her
here in Hawai'i. The competition here consists of J-24s, Yamahas, Rangers,
Cals, Columbias, Hawkfarms, and Hot Foots.  I'd like advice on any sorts of
peculiarities T-birds may have, and how to handle them and/or turn them to
my advantage.

Weather is usually 10--20 knots, sometimes up to 30 knots, with wave height
4-18 feet.  I usually end up with the main at the first reef point, though at
times I have to go to the second reef with a small (110) head sail.  She's
rigged with all lines run aft, and she's rigged for a spinnaker.  However, she
doesn't have a spinnaker, spinnaker pole, or reaching strut (the previous
owner needed money for food, and sold the whole lot for $100 before I bought
her).

I'd also like to swap stories, both good ones (like the time a humpback whale
surfaced not more than 10 yards away from me), and bad ones (caught in the
Moloka'i channel in what I later found out were 30--40 knot winds
and 18--24 foot seas).

	Thanks,

	Brian Martin
	University of Hawaii School of Medicine
	
	UUCP: ..!{dual|ihnp4|vortex}!islenet!bigtuna!brianm
	US Mail: 3420-A Hinahina Street
		 Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
	Phone:	 (808) 735-5661