1981 8M - Bayou Breeze

[Pat Ross]

We found a Telstar 8M, hull number 253, that basically had been abandoned for 2 years. While she was a mess, and still is on the interior, my wife and I recognized that she still has good bones. We purchased her on July 3, 2009 the same day we first saw her. We spendt the next 7 days arranging to bring her home on her own customized trailer. The trailer needed new tires and the axels and bearings needed greasing. Two days of hard work got her trailer in operational condition and we brought her home on July 10th. We named her Bayou Breeze We live on a bayou near Pensacola, FL and have access to many protected waters throughout the Panhandle of Florida as well as all the opportunities the Gulf of Mexico offers.

This is our first multihull and it fits our idea of a great starter boat. Well proven design that has crossed the Atlantic. Solid decks that aid movement and livability. Being an 8m it has a larger beam in the main hull giving good interior space, along with standing headroom with several good berths with a small galley and private head. These boats are few and far between and are a great value. While she is not the fastest in her class she has a good Base Speed and has great stability. I include a few photos of her being hauled and loaded onto her highway slip.

Pat

1. Bayou Breeze moved to Travel Lift.JPG (236.98 KiB) Viewed 97 times



7. Bayou Breeze on Trailer.JPG (209.57 KiB) Viewed 97 times



18. Our truck i s a full size bed GMC work truck.JPG (194.24 KiB) Viewed 96 times

[dcsailing1]

Congrats! and enjoy!

[Pat Ross]

Thanks Dave and Sharon, of course that is another wonderful thing about these boats. You can take them anywhere and launch them in any location. We are going to modify our trailer a bit to ease with launching. It is not the original PCI trailer. We hope to get out your way with Bayou Breeze in a summer or so.

Pat

[Dan]

Congrats and I look forward to seeing more photos. If you're a former monohull sailor, I would highly recommend at least two books:

Chris White's The Cruising Multihull

and

Mike McMullen's Multihull Seamanship.

There are a few things to remember about sailing a cruising multihull.

First, multihulls reef for the GUST PEAK WIND SPEED, not the average wind speed. This is because multihulls can‘t really bleed off excess wind by heeling during a gust and will generally either accelerate or if pushed to hard, capsize.

Second, you need to be aware of the wind speed differences between going downwind and up wind in a multihull, due to their greater speed. If you’re going downwind in 20 knots of true wind and doing 15 knots, the apparent wind speed will only be about 5 knots or so—and you could easily have the full mainsail and 150% genny up for those conditions. If you then turn upwind, and the boat speed goes from 15 knots downwind to 10 knots upwind, the apparent wind will have jumped from about 5 knots to almost 25 knots...and if you had the full mainsail and 150% genoa up, you may find yourself in a bit of trouble.

Third, when motoring, keep the board down about a third of the way. If you don’t have the board down a bit, the wind will generally blow the bow around. Having the board down gives you a lot more control of the boat.

Fourth, backwinding the jib can help a multihull tack. A multihull does have the mass or accompanying inertia to coast through the eye of the wind, so you have to have a bit of speed to tack, especially in choppy seas and may also need to backwind the jib.

I hope that helps.

[Pat Ross]

Thanks Dan, I appreciate the tips. I have read those books and quite a few more. I recently took a trip from St. Augustine, FL up to Newport, RI on an Admiral 40 Cat. It was my first extensive cruising experience on a multihull. I think the trip was about 1000 miles total. We are going to stay close to home for awhile and get comfortable with Bayou Breeze in "Chamber of Commerce" weather before we venture far from home.

Regards,

Pat

[Dan]

Glad to help out Pat. The old adage about reefing when you first think about it is even more true on a multihull than on a monohull.

Thanks Dan, I appreciate the tips. I have read those books and quite a few more. I recently took a trip from St. Augustine, FL up to Newport, RI on an Admiral 40 Cat. It was my first extensive cruising experience on a multihull. I think the trip was about 1000 miles total. We are going to stay close to home for awhile and get comfortable with Bayou Breeze in "Chamber of Commerce" weather before we venture far from home.

Regards,

Pat