Discontinued
Rozinante was the name of Don Quixote’s steed. She was a long, thin animal but every time the Don mounted her he had remarkable adventures. Perhaps seven-eights of the romance of these adventures took place in Quixote’s mind, for he was a great reader of romance who rather looked down on the times in which he lived. Like Don Quixote, every time I venture out in this Rozinante I meet with great adventure and romance. Perhaps, also, seven-eighths of it takes place in my mind but each point that I round opens up new vistas with all sorts of possibilities.
L. Francis Herreshoff
The Compleat Cruiser: The Art, Practice and Enjoyment of Boating
L. Francis, son of famed American yacht designer Nathanael “Captain Nat” Herreshoff was famed and accomplished in his own right. Probably his most admired and beloved design was that of Rozinante, a 28 ft canoe yawl, introduced in a chatty “how-to-build” series of articles in the late sailing magazine, The Rudder. Rozinante was the epitome of LFH’s philosophy of simplicity, elegance and romance (and if you thought you’d seen the last Herreshoff designed boat from Trudeau, think again!).
When a thing is out of the usual and pleasing to contemplate it is romantic. When an object is nicely proportioned and has retained some well-proven ancient quality, it is romantic looking. To a sailor a romantic vessel is one that looks like a good sea boat, one which has a good sheer and nicely proportioned ends: in short, a vessel he falls in love with at first sight, as we all did when we saw Rozinante.
Ibid
LFH was fierce advocate of boats that looked the way boats should, goddammit! Boats that weren’t designed to “meet some ridiculous ratings rule” that “penalize the speed-giving qualities of a sailboat”. Rozinante’s style would be in fashion “long after the abortions of the present are forgotten, dangerous and expensive rule-cheating wind-bags.” He dismissed the thought of spoiling Rozinante’s profile by adding a headroom gaining doghouse as “most of the sailormen I have known sat down when they ate and preferred to lie down when they slept”. His advice? “If you want to make changes, then by all means get a modern boat for your changes cannot make her any worse!”
Quite a character! A throwback in an ever-changing world, it’s no wonder he identified with Don Quixote. But with the passion his 60 year old design arouses in many in comparison to say, your average fiberglass (“frozen-snot” in LFH-speak) McBoat, he was definitely on to something.
When is a Yawl not a Yawl?
Though termed a canoe yawl, sharped eyed viewers will note Rozinante is in fact ketch rigged (the mizzen mast forward of the tillerpost). LFH explains:
In the 1890’s was a very popular type in England for cruising in some of their delightful waters… The name “canoe-yawl” simply means a boat with a sharp stern that is larger than the usual sailing canoe… The term, in it’s day, had nothing to do with the rigs these pretty vessels used, for among them were sloops, ketches, yawls, luggers, and cat yawls…. Of course, many yawl boats had no rig at all.
L. Francis Herreshoff
Sensible Cruising Designs
Okay, so that clears things up, right? :)
The Trudeau Rozinante
We are taking the concept of romance in a slightly different direction from what LFH, lifelong bachelor that he was, probably had in mind. We’ve conceived the Trudeau Rozinante as a couple’s cruising boat. Leave casual friends and family ashore – Rozinante’s 30 prims limits those aboard to captain and his/her/it’s first mate. You will find no less than 5 couples cuddle animation sets built-in (this graphic shows where to sit). Other single sit passenger locations are the berth and the mizzen mast.
If you and your mate want to take an extended cruise, say to seek out that mythical passage north of Nautilus, Rozinante will keep you snug once you find your overnight anchorage. Her simple yet spacious cabin – fully equipped with double berth, settee and galley – is unprecedented in a boat that doesn’t need to be worn. Did you say galley??? True – avatars don’t need to eat, but is not SL the perfect setting for all kinds of LFH-style adventures, seven-eights of which take place in the mind?
And for the times when you want to feel juices of a more competitive nature flowing, have your partner “sit” on the floorboards (trust us, this is for competition!). That’s the position where the crewperson becomes “moveable ballast”, shifting their weight from side to side (using the L-R arrow keys), keeping Rozinante as upright as possible, coaxing out the last bit of performance from her.
The Stuff
We won’t list all the features. If you are reading this, you likely know and love (or hate) them well by now. We will say Rozinante follows our Columbia concept of riding on the complete boat (30 prims) and then optionally filling in the rest of the details by wearing the rigging attachment (42 prims).
Customization? Yes! the hull (1.9MB), name (277KB) and sail (386KB) templates are all here (the name template is little tricky as the portside text has to be flipped and reversed, but you’ll figure it out!).
Rez Rozinante over the hard and she comes down on her boatyard cradle. And just because this is SL don’t think you are off the hook. After all, Rozinante is a wooden boat. So “sit” on the cradle, wear the offered paintbrush and that can of Interlux and get to work!
Dimensions – a little bigger (but then isn’t everything in SL?) than the RL Rozinante:
30 prims (carries skipper and first mate), 49ft LOA, 9.8ft beam, 6ft draft
details – 42 prims
cradle – 44 prims
Come take a look at her at Trudeau Classic Sailing Yachts and kindle a new romance of your own and, in LFH words, “remember that a thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
Mar 22, 2010 @ 10:16:48
Looks good…
Check out “Sensible Crusing Designs” by L Francis….. There’re some of his larger cruisers there….
I, Sancho, will unseat the Don and make his steed mine!!
Mar 22, 2010 @ 11:22:32
Another elegant boat from the Trudeau stable :)
I’ll come in for a look soon!
Mar 22, 2010 @ 12:16:38
I want one. :) I’ll be over soon to get it. Thanks for your work JT…
Mar 22, 2010 @ 12:30:27
When Trapez and me did the great tour up north, around xmas 09, I bought a Knockabout Sloop just for the occasion.
Nowadays I’d pick the Rozinante.
Mar 22, 2010 @ 13:36:03
WooT!!!
I’ve been hooked on Trudeaus ever since I saw a Sea Sharp docked in a fantasy RP sim. I worked hard, saved my L$, and saw the Bluewater when I went to get the Sea Sharp. I now own nearly a dozen Trudeau yachts and I’ll be looking forward to adding this gem to my fleet as well.
Mar 22, 2010 @ 14:13:52
I just bought her and have a few SL miles in her and I absolutely love her! Well done!
Mar 22, 2010 @ 15:42:22
I always loved the designs from “The Compleat Cruiser” :)
Another wonderful addition to the Trudeau stable
Mar 23, 2010 @ 03:28:26
Thank you so much it is a lovely boat!
Mar 25, 2010 @ 10:57:09
Mar 26, 2010 @ 04:44:29
Just wondering… Are you sort of totally hooked on herreshoff designs at the moment?
not that that is a bad thing, or that i am trying to sound critical, mind…
but there are other similarly beautiful classic designs out there to bring into SL… william fife II, anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fife
Mar 31, 2010 @ 19:11:28
Hi Lance, yes I have had a thing on the Herreshoff’s family work lately. LFH’s book – Sensible Cruising Designs – that I came across years ago long after it was first published, is what first introduced me to look of classic yachts and made me wonder why all boats couldn’t look like the ones on those pages. As far as the other worthy designers – there’s only so much output one can do. ;) I’m down to about two boats a year (not to mention the long promised updates to the older boats in the Trudeau fleet)
Oct 21, 2011 @ 16:06:40
i have this boat, and love it, but it seems it starts to tip quite often and i have to change my heading direction and mess around to fix it, anyone else have this issue? contact me inworld if you have any ideas.