Mike Mulderig

Very nice job. For a V-bottom boat it has strikingly beautiful lines. And the large rakish rig compliments it perfectly. It is this stunning harmony of hull and rig as laid down by Howard Chapelle that drew me to build the boat to nearly furniture standards back in 1987. It was a challenging and satisfying endeavor, but in the end not the best choice for our often boisterous waters here I Far Northern California. We christened her the Qualawaloo, thinking at the time it was the local indigenous Wiki people’s name for Humboldt Bay. Later two woman ask about they name and informed me that it actually meant “that big body of water over there” and was misunderstood by the white explorers. We primarily sailed it on Humboldt Bay and Big Lagoon as well as a couple of trips to Lake Tahoe. Recently I reviewed other rigs of other similar designs and discovered that this rig seems to be 40 to 60% larger than other boats. This is a big factor in why she is so fast in in light airs. When the wind pipes up it is a very demanding boat to keep upright and swamps when you fail to do so. Reefing safely requires beaching and a handy beach is not always available. I think on the Chesapeake this is a summer rig. It is for this reason I have been drawing up a low aspect fanned junk rig which with it’s nearly instant reefing might make me want to sail the boat now that I am selling my Vertue. I was going to insert a photo of her gliding along on Big Lagoon in light airs but I don’t know how to do that. Mike