Hello. My name is Schmichter (when I say it, it sounds like “Shmik-ter”) and I’m a Blockhead. Guess you could say I’m THE Blockhead since Harken dreamed me up in Pewaukee and reverse-engineered my likeness into the Blockhead logo. Gotta confess, I don’t entirely understand how that happened. They tell me I’m equal parts historical figure and a figment of imagination. But I’m real too. Or else, who’s typing this?
Anyway, this is not about me. This is all about my favorite boat. He’s called “Once Upon a Blue Moose” and is owned by a friend of mine who loves sailing more than anyone I know. He’s (yep, Moose’s pronouns are he/his) a trimaran, 31 ft long and 22 ft wide. He was designed by a man named Dick Newick to be capable of crossing oceans. Mr. Newick was famous for designing some of the most famous small ocean-going tris of all time. Moose is a brother ship to the famous yellow “Third Turtle” that the legendary Mike Birch sailed in the 1976 singlehanded OSTAR race across the Atlantic. Google the OSTAR.
I like “Moose” because it’s both fast and remarkably easy to sail fast. Those two things don’t normally exist together. I’ve sailed a foiling Moth that may be a little faster, but you have to live through a whole bunch of crashes learning how to deliver that speed potential. On the other hand, I have literally seen someone who has never steered a sailboat in their life, take Moose’s helm and in five minutes, be going faster then 20 knots. They don’t even realize how amazing that is…because Moose doesn’t make it seem remarkable. He has a gigantic speed sweet spot. I guess I respect his design for that. The boat is really dry because it has a lot of deck space as all the area between the amas (the side hulls) is decked rather than netted. The cockpit is deep and you can be blasting along in seas and not get splashed.
He takes care of the people who come aboard.
There are a lot of safe boats. But you won’t find many that go 15 knots all day long and have reached 26.4 knots—without even really heeling. He has a cabin, but it’s really only big enough for two people to stay overnight. So, when I said he was designed to be sailed across oceans, he was designed to sail across those oceans keeping one or two crew members sailing at a high level. You should see how relaxed first-time sailors are out there. The way he makes them feel confident and in control…that’s why he’s my favorite.
#HARKENBLOCKHEADS