A Late Winter's Sail

By John C. Harris
March 2024 

In early March I slipped away for a bit of PocketShip sailing on the west coast of Florida. Timing my arrival to view the start of the annual Everglades Challenge, I was counting on mild temperatures and good sailing breezes. I got a little of both. It was a lot of driving—four days round-trip for four days on the water—but it'd been ages since I sailed those waters, and I had a good audiobook.

PocketShip Hull #1 from above, showing a dry and comfortable cockpit with plenty of sprawling room, ample sail area, and a stiff, easily-driven hull.

Sailing with a sistership, built by Andrew F. in New Hampshire, multiplied the fun. Here, we're rigged up and ready to launch at Fort DeSoto park in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Fitting a quart into a pint pot! Camera foreshortening makes the pile of dunnage and stores look gigantic. But all of that really DOES disappear into PocketShip's cabin for extended cruising.

Chaos below, while everything gets stowed.

Some order imposed. Much of the gear slides back under the cockpit seats. Yes, I brought four pillows. That's the difference between camping out of a backpack, or even a kayak-camping. I can bring four pillows because I feel like it. Or rather, because my back feels like it.

Look close: both boats, fully loaded, are sitting right on their lines. Many builders use PocketShip as a daysailer, but the ability to carry quantities of gear was a design feature from the beginning.

Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay, where we lay our scene. It was a lazy clockwise loop of about 50 miles.

Andrew did a fine job building his PocketShip. It's very posh.

Day One featured a long upwind leg in light to moderate air. Looking at the "slot" between jib and mainsail, PocketShip #1 is strapped in about as tight as you'd want. You need good boatspeed to avoid stalling either the sails or the centerboard in such conditions.

Himself. Note the Mark II boom gallows, a thin and lightweight plank laminated from western red cedar and carbon fiber. It's required several redo's to make it strong enough. The advantage is a big decrease in weight and windage compared to the stock boom gallows.

PocketShip #1 at anchor for the night at Longboat Key, near Bradenton. Pic by Andrew F. I appear to be in the cabin making dinner.

Andrew F. had a passenger along—his dad—and thus packed a lot lighter than I did! Still, with two people and provisions for 4-5 days, the boat sits nicely on her lines.

Day 2 saw us sailing down Sarasota Bay. We were happy to tie up at Marina Jack's in downtown Sarasota for two nights. This was "glamping," after all. If my four pillows were comfortable at anchor, they were even more so in the quiet, calm marina. 

Roughing it at the marina. It was about 80 degrees F during our stay, so I set up my boom tent. A tent fly of exactly the right length, found online, keeps the boat cool and rain out of the open companionway.

There was bemusement at the presence of two 15-foot pocket cruisers moored in a marina where the average yacht was 50 feet and up. But at $75/night, a bargain for a couple of small boats.



I'm well known as an evangelist for engineless cruising, but this stretch of water wasn't the place for it. There were narrow channels, tidal currents of 2 knots in places, and bridges to pass under. My old Honda 2hp was dead on arrival in Florida. Fortunately Andrew had a 4hp mounted astern, and by passing a towline he rescued me from trouble on about five occasions. He could tow both boats as quickly as 6 knots if needed.

Some low-key downwind sailing on the 25-mile leg back to St. Pete's from Sarasota, captured on video. The wind dropped off later, but early on there was some spirited "wing-and-wing" sailing. You can watch me execute a solo jibe of a whisker pole. Not a picture of grace, but then again, 16 years after PocketShip was launched, I'm no longer a picture of grace, myself. Still, PocketShip did a nice job of steering herself while I clambered up to the bow and back.

There aren't many 15-foot pocket cruisers that can handle a crew member standing in the anchor well to jibe the jib and set a whisker pole.

Andrew F. and crew making knots with a moderate breeze astern and a whisker pole deployed. PocketShip's generous sailplan is part of the special sauce that makes her such a handy and swift sailing machine.

Bowling along on a broad reach in beautifully clear Florida waters.

Near the end of the last day, a pod of dolphin visited my boat, smiling and frolicking and swimming under and around the boat. Such are the charms of small boats in clear salty waters.