Dave Lucas on SCAMP: Hauling Ass, Easy as You Please

by · May 26, 2017

We received this fun report from Small-Boat-Guru, Dave Lucas about his experience at the Cedar Key rendezvous and his thoughts on SCAMP specifically. —Eds

We’ve all seen the videos of the SCAMP dancing and flipping around and have even sailed with some, but this weekend at Cedar Key really showed me the true nature of these little boats. It was blowing a solid 12 to 15 with higher gusts and us hot-rodders were having a ball showing off and speeding around the slower boats when what do I see ahead of me but a SCAMP.

We’ll just zip up, sail circles around him and be on our way. He was only a hundred yards or so ahead of us and we figured to catch him in about two minutes; It didn’t work out that way. It took us about two miles to finally get to him and I was beginning to have my doubts.

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Many of you have experienced these 16 foot Melenseeds that Roger Allen designed and know that they’re real rockets

These guys on SCAMP were just sitting drinking beer and hauling ass, easy as you please. They could tack and jibe and mess around like it was dead calm where we were having to be really careful. You know that’s impossible, this kind of performance cannot come from a clunky little 12-foot boat. This thing somehow ignored everything I thought I know about hull speed. I would strongly recommend this boat to anyone who wants a simple, lightweight, safe, dry, fast boat.
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That’s probably why two of them are going together here at the Happy Hour boatshop; and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple more take shape in the near future.

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Dave

Dave Lucas
Lucas Boatworks and Happy Hour Club
skipjack@tampabay.rr.com

Learn more about SCAMP here:
http://smallcraftadvisor.com/message-board2/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=b3db01ed14712d8e8547ab3ebdbf3c06

SCAMP Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/SmallCraftAdvisorMagazineProject?ref=hl

SCAMP YouTube Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRZNWAkdkXM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD0Si4aKleM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCRY0lH7OAc

Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized

Discussion2 Comments

  1. Rob Hazard says:
    May 27, 2017 at 11:06 am

    Hey, I know that boat!
    That’s PUFFIN (# 197) with myself and Tom Mackey aboard, during the West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron’s Cedar Key Small Boat Meet, just 3 weeks ago!

    PUFFIN was built from a kit and carries a Gig Harbor aluminum mast. She has a few altered interior details, such as a footwell and a couple custom hatches, but her sailing performance is strictly stock SCAMP, pure Welsford.
    Though I would not accuse her of being a “high performance sailing machine” in the modern sense, under certain conditions she can keep up with much faster looking craft, while remaining comfortably dry and stable. She can indeed “haul ass” and look good doing it!
    I must protest, though: We were NOT drinking beer! Out on the Briny Deep I need to keep my wits about me!

    Thanks for the mention, Dave. That was a fun weekend wasn’t it?

    Rob

    Reply
  2. docduracoat says:
    June 1, 2017 at 1:23 pm

    Nice looking gaff rigged catboat!
    Having the mast all the way forward like that means no jib
    You would think that a boat need a jib, but that is not the case
    My Picnic Cat has the same rig and it sails upwind just fine, and flies going downwind while remaining stable
    Makes me wonder why all modern boats are sloop rigged and very tippy

    Reply

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