Preview: The Six Metre SAGA, A Beautiful Ride

20 Responses So Far to “The Six Metre SAGA, A Beautiful Ride”

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  Andy Bullock says:

  Watching footage of Saga underway is an aesthetic experience of a high order.

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  Fred Neuschel says:

  Superb!

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  Neil Henderson says:

  Gosh this video brought back memories……….I used to race (as crew) on an IOD out of the RFYC in Edinburgh Scotland – as well as Dragons occasionally. My overwhelming memory is of a boat that would sail itself – it really just occasionally needed humans to help tack or alter sheets. A stunning boat to sail. Less of a fan of running backstays which were a bit of a trap for new players like myself.
  Thanks very much for the video.

  Regards Neil Henderson

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  Paul Manning says:

  I owned an IOD for 30 plus years and had heard the story about Corny Shields seeing Saga and that leading to him getting Bjorn Aas to design and build the IOD class. But it is great to see that she is still sailing and well cared for. A great video. Thanks for sharing it. Happy sailing.

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  Roger Harwood says:

  Beautiful Boat I cracked a fat at 73 who needs viagra ?

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  Barbara Woll Jones says:

  What a treat, not only to learn of this gorgeous boat but also to make her acquaintance thru such a terrific film – thank you !!!

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  Mark Kellogg says:

  I remember a light yellow IOD at Marblehead in the late 1950s owned, I believe, by one Barbara Wood and named SAGA. I knew about Bjarne Aas and Corny Shields and the initiative of the IOD class. But only with this video did I make the connection of the name with two different SAGAs. Coincidence or not?

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  jim kemp says:

  I love the look of the boat and the way it moves though the water. It seems to produce a rather large bow wave and I was wondering just what kind of speed she might have. Based on the waterline, the hull speed should be around 8mph and I was wondering how close that might be under reasonable conditions.

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    Kimo Mackey says:

    Hello Jim,

    Yes a boat that is narrow and also heavy will build up an impressive wake (Bow wave and Quarter wave). There was a fresh breeze blowing when that section of the video was taken (20-25 kts). Her speed was probably in the neighborhood of 8-8.5 kts. I have gone just over 9 kts with SAGA on Puget Sound where waves are not usually very high. They can achieve higher speeds running down the face of large waves. On my 6 Metre in the Mediterranean we once “pegged” an analog knotmeter at 12 knots for more than 10 seconds because we were surfing a big Wave. Don’t expect to see that again!

    Cheers

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  Byron Fox says:

  Although this Six Meter is indeed a gorgeous boat, the speaker offers a sidebar about the genesis of International One Designs. He tells of Cornelius “Corny” Shields. Corny was a well known International owner racing from Larchmont YC, and my dad asked him to train me to handle its spinnaker. He generously did. I think I was 15 or 16 at the time. What I didn’t know was that Shields, upon seeing this Six Meter, became the father of the entire International class that spread from Long Island Sound to Marblehead, Bermuda and San Francisco.

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  Paul Silverman says:

  Beautiful boat and wonderful story. Although I am in Montana, I visit friends (with a boat!) in Poulsbo. What is your favorite restaurant?!

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  Joseph Lindbloom says:

  I was 4 years old when I first sailed on my father’s Star boat # 601 SAGA. I later named my first racing sailboat ,a Penguin , SAGA II . I never thought much about why he named the Star Boat ,SAGA. But after seeing this this video and recalling that many of our conversations were about a sailboat’s lines, beautiful lines, elegant lines, that I realized he had named her after the Barnes Aas designed 6 meter. Thanks for making the connection for me.

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  Dirk Faegre says:

  This is a mystery to me. I had always thought that ELM is NOT a very rot resistant wood. I know of no boats bragging about having elm in them. So I did a search on the web and seem to find that to be true — lots of entries as elm to be a poor choice for outdoor furniture, decks, etc. and no mention of it as a boatbuilding wood.
  The Wood Database says of all species of elm — rock, red, American, English, Cedar, Dutch (not the disease but the tree!) slippery and wych as having: “Rot Resistance: Rated as non-durable”. And, of course, it’s hard to work (from personal experience and the Wood Database) because of the interlocked grain, planing will get you tearout and it has poor dimensional stability. However, it glues well, holds finishes well and holds fastenings well (altho it’s awfully HARD when dry). Am I missing something here?

  I did find a couple of entries that show or list elm as having been used in a boat. So it’s not unheard of, but I rather think this is uncommon.

  All this, of course, detracts none from the elegance of this boat and the wonderful video by Saga’s owner. Thanks for another treat from Off Center Harbor.

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    Graham Holmes says:

    I was trained as a Coach Body Builder (altho I always wanted to build boats) and was told that English elm was a favorite for the hubs of wagon wheels.

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  Arthur Winer says:

  Wonderful video, gorgeous six meter. Great discussion of the shear on SAGA. Shields, Six Meters and Dragons, all beautiful in part because of their shears and fine ends, features absent from many contemporary sailboats. Have had the privilege of sailing on all three of these classes and it is a joy to sail and race these beautiful, high performing one-designs.

  Love these videos of wooden boats from the Salish Sea, send us more, please.

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  Jim Sullivan says:

  I have completely fallen in love…..with Saga!! Thanks a million!!!

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  Theodore Gentsch says:

  Such a wonderful history, great boat. This SV is an absolute heirloom. I remember Dutch Elm disease wiping out the Elms here in the Midwest and never realized they were so critical to boat building, I simply love how I learn something new with Off Center Harbor in each and every video. You guys simply Rock! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  Chris Chesley says:

  The Magic Carpet Ride. Yep, a little heft, a full keel and attached rudder on a thoroughbred–nothing like it.

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  Philip Myer says:

  Superb- what an elegant yacht.

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    Sean Hogben says:

    Almost as beautiful as yours.