[Rhodes22-list] believer in the Rhodes

[Richard and Sherry Day]

  I can now, honestly, vouch for the sturdiness of the Rhodes sailboat.
  I have only had my boat for 3 years and started out cold turkey.  New
nothing about sailing, zilch, except what I could learn from sailing guide
magazines.   Everything has been trial by error.  But, boy has it been fun!
  I love when it's windy and you can sail with the rail down.  It's not
efficient but makes for a thrilling afternoon anyway.  I have found to my
chagrin (and stupidity) that 9 people in the boat on a very windy day is too
much for my Rhodes but thank god it was a Rhodes underneath us.   While
sailing in very windy conditions this year with this number of people on
board I come to appreciate what some people might consider overkill for the
number of stays on a small boat.
   We were positioned evenly around the cotpit with two in the cabin with
the top-pop up.  With that much ballast for stability we were still getting
the bottom people wet and rounding up when gusts hit.  Then the outside
starboard stay broke loose!  I immediately let loose the main, rounded up
and furled the genoa thinking all the while I was about to lose my mast and
rigging.  I was very lucky in many respects; learned very quickly the
maximum capacity, learned not to get overly confident, and kicked myself for
endangering the people on board.
  It's funny when miscues happen little things run through your mind.  But
when that stay broke free Stan's remark on his tape about the safety factor
of having 9 stays danced through my mind.  I really believe I would have
lost my mast and gotten someone hurt that day if it wasn't for the
additional stays on my Rhodes.
  My boat is an older model.  Therefore I will sail it with a bit of caution
from now on, knowing that if one shear bolt broke others might be suspect
under too heavy of a load.  I just thought I would share this piece of
information and tell you all how proud I am to have a Rhodes.  Richard Day.