Friday morning 7am I am getting ready to head out on a four hour drive to Vector Works Marine Inc.

My two dogs fumbling around, they are as excited as I am!

If you notice the clock on the wall in this picture you can see at what time I arrived, I left my house at exactly 7:57am EST. It is 12:05EST when I first spotted my boat.



Here is where Matt puts the finishing touches to the boats, in the background you can see another blade comming to life. I beleive that hull is going to Virginia.


Here is Mr Matt McDonald himself carrying my mast over the hulls. Aint he one strong DUDE!!!
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade06.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade07.jpg[/img]

Here you can see the mast stepped and the rig starting to take shape.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade08.jpg[/img]

A few manatees stopped by to see the blade launch.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade09.jpg[/img]

Here she is with her sails hoisted.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade10.jpg[/img]

Here we are on our way out to do my test drive. Pretty much a shakedown.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade11.jpg[/img]
Shaking her down
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade12.jpg[/img]
On our way back in, everything was a success.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade13.jpg[/img]

The boat is at my driveway in South FL. FINALLY!!!! Here you can see where I decided to put my F16 decal. Matt, informed he was thinking about putting the decals there as well. I went ahead and followed on through with what Matt said. Its a great idea and I think it looks perfect.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade14.jpg[/img]

A little Yuquiyu (my avatar) action going on the bows.
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade15.jpg[/img]

And a few other shots
[img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade16.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade17.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade18.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade19.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade20.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade21.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade22.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sefl3s.com/robi/blade_1/blade/_blade23.jpg[/img]

In my test drive I was amazed how controllable the boat feels. She is extremely responsive in every aspect. You move the tiller only a few inches, and the bows will start to come about. If you depower or overpower the boat, you can feel it inmediatley. The setup is not that bad, only drawback is the time it takes to get the spin properly setup and rigged.

All in all I cannot wait to tune her, and take her out on double trap conditions. The boat was definatley worth the wait.

All the decals with the exception of the Vector Works Marine Inc were made by me with my machine at home. Anyone interested in any decals for their boats, do not hestitate to contact me.

I am one extremely happy camper.

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

Mark.

Hi Robi,

that is one great looking boat, I am jealous. You must be totaly stoked with the finish. Worth waiting for. Now take some time to get comfortable with your little freind, then go kick some BUTT !!!!

When you have time let us know how she weighs in etc.
If we could get a production Blade like that in OZ I reckon we could get some serious bums on boats and get F16 going hard.

Regards Gary.

Hi Robi,

I was noticing the beach dolly you have for your new boat. You may want to put cradles on it to better support the hulls other wise you may damage them.

Jennifer Lindsay
Taipan 4.9 #262

Robi:
Exceptional!
I concur with Jennifer on the Cradles.
Haven't heard about the Spinnaker, other than setup time. They are all time consuming to setup, But I'll show you some timesavers on that when you get up this way.
Think I'd get some end caps for those crossbars. Murrays or Performance Cats sells them, about $5 apiece, well worth it.
One thing bothers me. How come sail # is 701 instead of 001 or maybe just 1?

Cary
Three Days and counting til the New Tiger.

Nice! But as Jen said, get some cradles for the beach wheels or you will put dents in the hulls. Ask Mary if Catsailor.com can get some or try www.MurraysMarine.com sells them. When's the first race??

My first official race will be the Miami to Key Largo race April 23rd.

Thanks for the cradle advice Jennifer. I apreciate you looking out for me. I will look into getting some cradles ASAP, or just building my own. I have plenty of foam laying around.