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August 5th, 2000
My brother drove up to Minneapolis, we strapped the boats to our cars and drove to a very small nearby lake. The wind was very light. Which was fine with us.
First Time Out
First time out these boats were a joy to sail. The track well and turn on a dime. The "lake" we went to sail on was very small - no other boats of any kind. An no wakes. There was just enough wind to fill the sails and get us moving. It was a thrill to hear the water begin to gurgle under the bows.
Second Sailing experience
So how much wind it too much. If it starts to whitecap and flags fly straight out and stiff. Keep your Brick on shore. A Brick is fairly flimsy. And there are definite limits to how fast you can get it to go. I believe I did manage to get it to plane for a moment or two. But it wasn't that fun. When the wind was lighter earlier in the day I had some absolutely wonderful sailing. I learned that with the long thin rudder you really do need to keep the boat moving to be able to steer.
A brick will still manage some leeway with a snapped dagger board. The next board I build will be fiberglassed for a little more strength.
Recommended Brick-Sailing Gear
The two pieces of equipment that I found essential to happy brick sailing were a short canoe paddle and a big sponge. The paddle is used to get away from to back to the dock. The paddle I use was set out by the neighbors as trash. I recycled it. Don't mind if it get scuffed up at all.
The big sponge will keep you happier when you are actually sailing your the Brick. There is nothing in the interior of a Brick to keep the teacup or so of water that will enter your boat with you (no matter how careful you are) from soaking your pants when the boat rocks back and forth on a wave or wake. Bring a sponge. Soak it up. Be happy.
And if you capsize?
I did some controlled shallow water experiments to learn what it takes to tip a Brick and what happens when a brick goes over. As you would expect there is plenty of initial stability. A Brick seems happiest sailing bolt upright. There really isn't much reason to sail heeled over. I could very carefully stand right at the edge of the boat. When it started to heel too much it began to feel very unstable - and then blam! capsized like a mousetrap slamming shut. Fast.
I did my tipping experiments with the mast out. The boat tended to land bolt bottom side up. Since there is no flotation in a stock Brick there is really no way to right it from the water. You can roll it over easily enough. It will be filled will hundreds of pounds of water and will not support your weight. I plan on adding some flotation. This will of couse mean giving in to the siren song of creative boat design impulses and will no doubt result in a heavier boat that isn't at all as much fun to plop in to the water. Since the initial posting of this site my beloved Trooper blew a head gasket and assorted other expensive parts. It has been replaced with a much shorter car, with nicer paint.
Car-toppng a Brick
One virtue of the Bolger Brick as designed is its weight. It is light enough that hauling it onto the top of a Isuzu Trooper doesn't hurt too much. After hauling the boat flat on the top of my truck once I spent $20 on a set of foam canoe pads. Outdoors shops sell them to you to car top a canoe. The straps that will be bundled with the blocks will be too short to do any good for a brick. Canoe gunnels will be a little thinner than Brick gunnels so you will have to force the blocks a little, but the will work. Your paint will be protected and you can cartop your brick in the aerodynamic bow-first configuration. Strap the mast and sprit to the side of the boat and away you go. At highway speeds a Brick will accumulate more bugs than one might expect..
