Greetings!

My name is Daren Magness and I have decided to start a blog dedicated to trailer sailing cruising....I like to call my style of cruising "Big Adventure in a Small Boat".  For my small boat cruising, I am currently sailing a 1981 Com-Pac 16 that I launch off a Performance trailer.  S/V Puffin draws a whopping 18" and can be launched from virtually any ramp and can get into some VERY skinny water.  My boat is 16' LOA with a beam of 6'; when not under sail, I motor with a five horse power Briggs & Stratton outboard.  I tow my boat with a 2000 Ford F-150 with a 5.4 V8....I know overkill; I have to actually check the rear view mirror to make sure she's still there.  I was contemplating the addition of a power boat, and still am, but for now - I'll stick with overkill.

I have owned two other sailboats in my ten years of sailing and cruising:

S/V Prima Donna, a 1986 Catalina C-25 with a 12 hp inboard Universal diesel engine

S/V Sunday's Child, a 1973 Tartan T-30 with an Atomic Four inboard gas engine.

So why in the world would someone give up either of these two larger boats for a measly little 16' trailerable cruising sailboat?  In a word, variety. I was looking to sail other areas of the Chesapeake Bay and waters beyond that, but didn't want to pay to have my larger vessels towed, delivered, nor did I have the required leave to undertake week or more trips...I guess the other word was cost - keeping a boat at a marina in a slip is a big expense.

Now I keep my complete little pocket cruiser in my garage and she's ready to go anytime I feel like hitching her up to the Ford and travelling to windward at 55 mph.

Bodies of water I have sailed aboard Puffin:

• Chesapeake Bay
• Potomac River
• Rehoboth Bay

Thanks for checking in and I hope to post my adventures, projects, and plans here in the near future.

Welcome!