After a foul on a pilot cutter that had made itself comfortable on the line near the starting boat, a schooner had to sail its penalty circle. Then it continued to calm down, which is why the participants in the Yellow Island Race for wooden boats had problems getting going. Except for "Slipper". The small, elegant daysailer with a vertical bow stem and the red star of the Starboat class in the sail stole away, somewhat heeled and with a hint of a stern wave. See you at the finish line.
It was an impressive performance on a picture-perfect day between the islands of the San Juan archipelago near the Canadian border. But this regatta success pales in comparison to the idea behind this boat, which sails so swiftly and is absolutely state of the art with a lifting keel, profiled rudder and a fully recoverable electric drive. The builder, Chris Maas, 64, made practically everything himself or adapted it for specific use. In doing so, he has not only demonstrated his exceptional craftsmanship, but also realised a unique recycling project that makes you think about the less than edifying ecological footprint of leisure boats, which are largely made from petroleum products and can only be recycled to a very limited extent at the end of their - usually long - life cycle.
Also interesting:
Maas has other vehicles in his fleet, such as a car ferry that is powered by the drive wheels of his electric Fiat 500, and a run-down Hobie Cat 18, which he converted into an electric foiler that he and his wife use once a week to fly to the neighbouring island to do some shopping.
Inspiration for "Slipper": East Coast Daysailer
"I'm a collector and quite stingy, so I'm also a bargain hunter," laughs Maas, who used to build racing yachts for Olympic champion Bill Buchan and later built racing rowing boats, dinghies and foiling moths under his own flag. He is particularly interested in the International Canoe, a construction class in which he became world champion with one of his boats in 2011 and later achieved podium finishes.
"After all these years, at some point I found it frightening how many resources I used to make my boats. There is a lot of impeccable equipment that is rotting away used in some shed or cellar or is simply carelessly thrown away by the owner. Starboat masts, for example. Beautifully designed, well built and mature because they have been optimised by top sailors for decades."
The design of "Slipper" was inspired by traditional East Coast daysailers, simple boats designed to be quick to launch and easy to handle, whether solo or in company. "I also visited the Herreshoff Museum during a regatta training programme in Rhode Island," says Maas. "They have cute boats that I miss here on the West Coast, with pretty lines, elegantly shaped decks and this incredibly charming, flat, round and varnished coachroof ... I wanted to build something like that. But I didn't want a long keel and I wanted a better rig."
Maas is not one to seek the limelight, but rather answers curious questions with disarming honesty. "I've sailed enough in my life to recognise the signs of the times, such as decreasing agility and mental acuity," he explains with a twinkle in his eye. "At some point, I simply wasn't good enough for fast dinghies anymore. That's why I gave it up and built myself an old man's boat."
In the beginning there was a driftwood log
With a length of 8.23 metres, a width of 2.13 metres, a draught of 36 centimetres (with the keel raised) and a weight of just 600 kilograms, this old man's boat can also be towed behind a car, making it quick and easy to explore other areas. If these had been the only criteria, Maas could have looked around at various production yards. However, he wanted a fast, elegant boat with a lightweight construction that was to be made as much as possible from offcuts and recycled materials. However, the market doesn't offer that, so he had to roll up his sleeves.
It all started with a driftwood trunk, a cedar, which Maas used as a source for the hull material, which he laid in strips across the top of the mould before covering everything with 200 grams of carbon fibre mat (scrap from the aircraft manufacturer Boeing) using epoxy resin. He reinforced the keel and dumping areas with carbon fibre. The bulkheads are also made of carbon, but have an eight millimetre thick wooden core, which comes from a cedar tree that his neighbour had to cut down. The prominent transom of "Slipper" also remains true to the carbon fibre cedar theme, although Maas has covered it with a wafer-thin veneer of Honduras mahogany, a remnant of a boat-building project in the 1950s, for the sake of appearance.
The curved tiller made from laminated spruce wood is not only a visual delight, but is also light as a feather in the hand when sailing. Maas cut it from a board that he fished out from under a water tank and first had to remove a layer of tar oil. The fin of the lifting keel is also made of carbon fibre, around a core of Douglas fir. Maas cast the lead bomb himself from melted weights in a concrete mould that he had taken from a plough made of hard foam.
E-drive goes one step further
The rig is the Star mast mentioned at the beginning, which is missing half a metre at the bottom because it buckled at deck level in its first life years ago during a strong wind race, but is otherwise perfectly intact. This was a gift from a Star sailor, who kindly also supplied the original standing rigging, which Maas will of course continue to use. However, because the mast on "Slipper" is on deck, the top is still about as high above the water as on the Star. Maas set the boom 35 centimetres higher for reasons of comfort, so he had to shorten the mainsail at the top accordingly. The sails are also a gift from none other than Carl Buchan, Olympic champion like his father Bill in 1984 (Bill in the Star, Carl in the Flying Dutchman). Maas thus organised a perfect light wind rig for free, to which he only had to add a bowsprit in order to be able to sail the gennakers, which were also recycled.
But that's not all: the do-it-yourself king, who simply can't throw anything overboard, went one better with the electric drive. Originally, it was a 3.5 hp petrol outboard engine that burned almost as much two-stroke oil as fuel. Maas swapped the dirty combustion engine for a clean electric motor and a solid-state controller, both of which have already been used in a children's go-kart and an e-bike and are now in their third utilisation cycle.
But an outboard motor at the stern? Unbearably ugly and impractical in steep waves, Maas thought. He therefore decided to mount it in a shaft in the starboard half of the cabin - no problem without exhaust fumes. The drive can also be lowered on a slide and can be fully raised via a buoy when not in use. A cover adapted to the shape of the hull on the underside of the gearbox closes the shaft flush so that there is no braking effect when sailing.
Herreshoff would certainly have applauded
Even though hardly anything on this boat is new, it has numerous practical and well thought-out details that are missing on many production yachts of this genre. "Epic," said sailing friend Todd Twigg, who lives on a neighbouring island and knows the boat from sailing on it. "'Slipper' is a revelation of the genius of her builder. I don't have the right words to describe the dreamlike feeling of sailing or even just watching her."
So much advance praise arouses curiosity about the trial run, which, in conditions similar to those of an Alpine lake, immediately makes it clear why Maas deliberately designed his boat for light winds. From the jetty, the electric auxiliary drive takes the boat silently out into the nearby fairway.
Pull up the main, furl the jib, pick up the engine and the water gurgles on the leeward side of the slightly heeling hull as "Slipper" readily picks up speed. The passengers can lean back and enjoy the marvellous island panorama. Herreshoff would certainly have applauded. What is immediately noticeable: everything is ergonomically perfect, and riding out is out of the question, because athleticism simply does not fit the user profile.
"When I watch the guys on the Melges 24 as they hang folded up over the railing wires, it looks terrible and uncomfortable," sighs Maas. "My solution: no tiller boom and no foot straps, but benches instead. You sit in the boat, leaning back, maybe with one arm dangling over the cockpit coaming, just to have a nice sail." In fact, the angle of the backrest, the seat depth and the footwell are perfectly harmonised, comfortable and pleasant. Neither the trim lines nor the mainsheet jib get in the way, and even the main boom, notorious and feared on the Star, swings over the crew's heads with a healthy distance of respect when tacking and jibing. This arrangement is absolutely brilliant for pleasure sailing, but in regattas a crew member has to take up position at the front of the deckhouse to operate the outhaul and halyards.
Not designed for regattas, "Slipper" still scores highly
Despite a moderate breeze, we sail swiftly through the Lopez Pass, a current-rich island passage that "Slipper" seems to take at a gallop until the wind simply stops from one moment to the next. The boat immediately drifts sideways, because without speed, the slender and highly efficient appendages with which "Slipper" scores points in light winds on the cross are pretty ineffective. However, the ready-to-start electric motor does not have to kick in, as "Slipper" immediately converts the first breeze from the opposite direction back into propulsion.
Both room sheets have been stowed and are waiting for their moment in their bags in the port half of the cabin, but this afternoon with light and unstable winds, it doesn't materialise. Maas says that he sometimes spends the night on board, for example during away regattas. All he has to do is remove the two spinnaker bags so that he can roll out the mattress and sleeping bag. The electric motor next door neither smells nor disturbs, an invaluable advantage of emission-free drive technology.
The boat is not actually designed for regattas, but also scores points in this discipline. At the Yellow Island regatta, "Slipper" got off to a brisk start and had quickly sailed into a veritable lead over the rest of the fleet. But the fortune only lasted until the first doldrums, which "Slipper" swallowed north of Jones Island, while "Challenge", an excellently sailed six, and the Bermuda-rigged schooner "Sir Isaac", which was more than twice as long, closed the gap with giant strides. As a result, the final miles turned into a three-way battle for line honours and a race against the clock, which put "Slipper" at a severe disadvantage with an astronomically low rating. In the end, it was enough for second place on the water and third according to calculated time. Maas was pleased, "it is not a matter of course to be allowed to take part in a wooden boat regatta with a carbon fibre-reinforced hull".
Another aspect that cannot be taken for granted is the consistency with which Maas has created a globally unique yacht that proves that a fast, elegant boat can also be made from recycled materials.
Technical data of the "Slipper"
- Year of construction: 2019
- Hull material: Cedar wood, carbon fibre
- Designer/Manufacturer: Chris Maas
- Total length: 8,23 m
- Torso length: 7,01 m
- Waterline length: 6,60 m
- Width: 2,13 m
- Draught (lifting keel): 0,36-2,13 m
- Displacement: 600 kg
- Sail area on the wind: 26,0 m²
This article first appeared in YACHT 25-26/2021 and has been updated for this online version.
