Skip at the helm of WHIMBREL
Skip enjoying the aft deck
Skip’s son Jim at the helm
Skip's daughter Anna Cate at the helm
|
 |
5 Questions for Skip Mersereau
James (Skip) and Barbara Mersereau of Bethesda, MD, keep their new e33 at Gibson Island up on the Magothy River, in the northern end of Chesapeake Bay. Skip took delivery of his e33 WHIMBREL in June 2010, and was kind enough to share his experiences with us:
1. Your family has owned a lot of boats. What made you choose the e33 at this point?
I definitely wanted to pick up some speed and ability to move in light air, to keep things simple and comfortable for family sailing, and have an option to race if we wanted.
If you’ve done the cruising boat thing, you know that you live in the cockpit vs. down below, except for sleeping. So the e33’s clean layout in the cockpit was attractive to us, as well as having the afterdeck as a nice place to hang out – that is a really nice touch.
There were a few details that I really liked: I’d had a Dutchman furling system, but the Doyle StackPack on the e33 did it one better with sail covers that hang out where you need them. And I was impressed by the designer’s emphasis on reducing the strain on aging backs and providing sails that trim easily without a lot of deck apes that… let’s face it… are a mess to clean up after!
And of course my wife says there was just that “look” of love at first sight in my eyes from the moment I boarded the e33 at the Annapolis Boat Show last fall, so there you are. She still says that what she likes best about the boat is the smile on my face while we are underway.
So while there were other boats that focus on other objectives in a similar package, the e33 seemed to put it all together in one, and end up closer to what we were after. Also, the personal, direct sales rather than high pressure corporate approach elsewhere kept it more about the sailing.
2. Where and how are you primarily using your boat? Any plans for local racing?
I find the boat uses me. Every time I step on it… despite all my intentions to get everything organized, to do a little “work” here and there, I find there’s this nice breeze and we’re off sailing and having a great time. I know I really should be doing this “stuff”, but it’s like an addiction.
Given experience so far, plans for local racing are a next-year thing. Off-season seems a better time to plan, get measured, and do all the paperwork and organization to take it seriously. And of course I’ll need an asymmetrical spinnaker… maybe some crew, some sandwiches, the t-shirts, jackets, endorsements, planes, etc. I’m thinking mostly Wednesday night series… but who knows? On the other hand, we do want to keep things light and fun!
3. Tell me a bit about your experience buying ‘factory direct’ from e Sailing Yachts
For us, the experience worked very well right from the start. The folks at e Sailing Yachts (including Jeremy, Carl, Erin, Janet, Robbie and the rest) and Lyman-Morse (Cabot, Drew, Steve, Lance and more) were about as helpful as you could ask for. They all encouraged a visit up north during construction and a re-visit for a test sail which were more than worth the trouble in assuring that things were going well and the variables clearly understood at both ends. And after that, the support has been very good as well. And at the end, of course the e33 Owner’s Manual is a useful piece of equipment.
4. What has been the local reaction to your new e33?
Let’s start with the fact with every ride out, the Harbormaster and his crew tell me how they love the boat, it’s simplicity, clean lines, and they keep passing along compliments I miss when I’m at the office. It’s like your kid doing well at something somewhere and other parents filling in with glowing remarks when you can’t be there. What’s not to like about that? And then there’s the very high compliment of the life-long sailor and octogenarian who moors his J-42 and powerboat nearby who said, “Congratulations! You figured it out. Most folks never do.”
With grown kids, the boat has served as a great magnet for generating the sort of reunion visits from Atlanta and Memphis every parent craves. I was thrilled to have my daughter confidently grab the helm in heavy air and tell me she never liked the old boat’s wheel steering. “This just feels much more natural.” And of course my son’s been in on the project from the start, and handy to have on board when I can get him back in town.
5. You chose a very original name for your e33: WHIMBREL. Can you tell us the story behind that?
After trying many e-names but getting push back each time, we eventually threw in the towel and focused on coming with something (anything!) our crowd could agree to. By this time, I think either folks were more determined to settle on something, or maybe it’s just that at last exhaustion had set in, for it was a great relief to find that WHIMBREL fit the bill. As a shore bird that travels far, looks kind of like a Kiwi, and sounds like it might wander on a whim… it seemed the right sort of non-pretentious name for a daysailer.
|
