Total Eclipse of the Butterflies

The flagship of the Caliber Yachts fleet is designed and built to sail to the ends of the Earth.

What, them worry? A Caliber 47LRC instilled so much confidence in a pair of neophytes that they headed straight out to sea.

Three things you should know about Eclipse the Caliber 47 Long-Range Cruiser we test-sailed. First, she was picked out by an engineer, Scott Blouin, who knew nothing about boats but a lot about engineering. Second, she was bought at last year’s Miami International Boat Show, and at show’s end, she was bound east, across the Gulf Stream.

 This day, months later on Chesapeake Bay, Scott’s wife, Karen, played artfully with the bow thrusters to extricate Eclipse from the marina, and we set off in 18 to 25 knots apparent, beam-reaching at 7 to 8 knots over the ground under full main (on a Selden in-mast furler), genoa, and staysail. When we buried the ports, we reefed the main and staysail by a third and the genoa by half, then jogged comfortably through 2-foot beam seas at 5.8 knots. We close-reached back to the barn, and when Eclipse began laboring, we killed the staysail, and the gentle ride returned with no

Page 1  of   1    2    3