Mikesboat

After thoroughly enjoying my Piccup Pram, discovering its “scaled-up” cousin—Mikesboat—lit up some part of my brain I couldn’t quiet down. I like square boats. I like weird boats. So when a junk-rigged Mikesboat came up for sale at a fair price, adopting her felt inevitable. LLAMA fit right into that category of lovable oddballs I can’t resist. She has an interesting pedigree. The second owner raced her in the Everglades Challenge and ran into a few issues along the way—issues I can now absolutely relate to after wrestling with some of the boat’s quirks myself. I’m still tweaking a few things, but she definitely has a stubborn streak when it comes to tacking. I’m used to boats that don’t point like modern blades, but getting caught mid-tack with no way to finish the turn is a special kind of adrenaline spike. That said, load her up and she transforms. The first time I sailed LLAMA, there were six of us aboard, and Mikesboat suddenly felt like we’d summoned a mythical creature—steady, eager, almost purring under the weight. I also learned quickly that if she stalls in irons, you either jump on the 2.5hp outboard or get clever with the sails: back the mizzen, hold the main, coax her through. She’s a work in progress, but the bones are good, and the rig is ripe for improvement. I’ve had her out in some big days for our inland waters, and she’s inspired more confidence than I expected. Surfing a two-foot chop down the Cooper River, I felt this strange mix of hesitation and exhilaration—something between “what am I doing?” and “I never want this to end.” The polytarp junk is clearly aging, so I picked up an RSS lug rig and I’m looking forward to dialing it in. Part of me sees Mikesboat as a wide-open, giant SCAMP, and water ballast is on my mind since I can’t always round up five friends. She has real potential as a roomy camp cruiser—maybe even with a removable foam-core cabin top for tucking out of the weather. I’m still getting to know LLAMA, but the more time I spend with her, the more I suspect she might just be a keeper.