The Boat

Man... I've been looking for the perfect boat for what seems like all of my life.  Actually, not the perfect boat because it doesn't exist.  But a boat that has the least number of compromises, and of those, ones that I can live with. 

I've owned a couple Pacific Seacrafts, a Seawind Catamaran, a Island Packet, a 2001 Gemini 105Mc, a Europa style trawler and a fast power cat.  After countless hours of research this last year and thousands of miles on the odometer looking at different boats, it finally hit me.  The boat for me, that has the fewest compromises, for me again, is one that I owned 6 years ago - the Performance Cruising Gemini 105Mc. 

2008 Gemini 105Mc Specifications

LOA 33' 6 "
LWL 31' 9 "
Beam 14'
Displacement 9,600 lbs
Sail Area - Main 340 sq ft
Sail Area - Genoa 350 sq ft
Sail Area - Screacher 490 sq ft
Draft - Board Up 18"
Draft - Board Down 5' 6 "
J 11'
Berths 6
Mast Height 46'
Fuel - 36gal

Water - 60gal

I need to back up a bit and explain what my requirements are, what my background is, in slightly greater depths.  Then you may understand why I finally chose the Gemini 105Mc. 

Over the last 23 years I've bought a boat and gone cruising about every 3-4 years.  I've owned, modified (some extensively)and cruised a number of different types of vessels.  Monohulls like Pacific Seacrafts and an Island Packet, sailing cats like the Seawind and the 2001 Gemini 105Mc and power boats like the Marine Trader 36' trawler and the Power Motorcat.  All were very different from one another and all had their good and bad attributes.  By this time in life I have a reasonably good understanding of what attributes are important to me as well as what compromises I can live with.

I sold my last boat, "Cat's Away" the MC30, while looking at potential employment back in the fall of '07.  When that fell through, I decided that maybe it was time that I retired...  Now what do I want to do with my time while retired?  Hey, I know, I'll go cruising!  To do that, I needed a boat.  One not only large enough to go comfortably cruising on but also large enough to live on. (Very different from a few months or a year's cruise).  Hmmmm... my requirements...

First off, my cruising grounds are the East coast of the United States and the Bahamas with future prospects into Central America.  Even though I've sailed to Bermuda and love going offshore along the coast, I have no great desire to actually cross oceans.  While I may sail as much as 1500+ miles offshore in any one year, most of my time is spent sailing close to shore and in relatively shallow water.  The best gunkholing, anchorages, parts of the intracoastal waterway and Bahamas are only accessible with a shoal draft vessel.  Therefore shoal draft is very high on the list of requirements. 

Second, I've rebuilt, modified and upgraded quite a few boats in my time and so I have a long list of requirements as far as the actual construction of my vessel are concerned.  This list is too long to go into here but includes items like; no coring below the waterline, no teak decks and no unprotected spade rudders. (They kick up on the Gemini when grounding so that doesn't count.)   One can find many boats with good names and pedigrees whose construction goes contrary to my list. I say good for them, but it's not something that I'm willing to compromise on. 

Third, I really wanted a roomy boat this time.  I could have found that in the larger (40'+) monohulls but then wouldn't meet my first two requirements not to mention many of those not listed.  Modern cats fit most of my requirements but have a compromise of their own - wide beams.  The problem with wide beams is that there are relatively few yards that can haul them out for maintenance. This is certainly a convenience issue for me if not a potential safety issue for the vessel.   Slips, usually limited to face docks for wide cats, are also becoming harder to find as the number of cats has increased dramatically over the last several years.

The Gemini 105Mc, "Cat Pause," that I owned a few years ago met most of the above requirements. The Gemini is very roomy.  The sailing draft of  18"+ (Yes, I sailed my last one in the Bahamas on several instances in less than 2' of water!)  and motoring draft of ~3' is as good as it gets for a cruising boat.  The construction, while not finished to  yacht standards, is more than adequate and has no coring in the hulls. Plus it gives me plenty of boat upgrade projects, along with enough money to do them because the boat is priced well under similar sized cats.

Best of all, the Gemini is REALLY fun to sail!  The picture of the speedo on the right of this page is with Felix running South on the Albemarle Sound when we were bringing the boat back to NC.  The fastest run we got that day was 13.1kts but, then hey..., anything in the double digits puts a smile on my face!  She point's very well with her kick-up centerboards and can be very fast if you don't overload her. (Reminds me of a Gemini owner that I met that carried his couple of hundred pounds worth of Shopsmith woodworking multi-tool bench set in his aft starboard cabin...) In 2001, I hit 19kts on the edge of hurricane Michelle in my Gemini 105Mc surfing under bare pole (I was not smiling!) but then, that's another story.

12/27/07

Felix under construction at Performance Cruising in Annapolis Maryland

From the starboard quarter...

Leaving Annapolis on Felix's maiden voyage.  Yup, that's ice on Back Creek!

Felix running South on the Albemarle Sound...

And a picture of the speedo in the lower double digits.  I didn't have the camera out while we were at the higher 12 -13kts.  Too busy grinning!