| the Virginia Reels, 65
After Arthur Stoner had used Virginia Reel for about four years, he decided he wanted a larger version of the boat. Phil Rhodes and his organization drafted plans for an offshore fishing cruiser that measured 65 feet 1 inch overall, 59 feet on the waterline, with a beam of 17 feet 2 1/2 inches and a draft of 5 feet. In many respects this boat, also named Virginia Reel, was similar to the 44-footer, except she was larger, roomier, and more comfortable. This satisfied Stoner’s request that the new boat be as close as possible to the first one in every way except size. She was built of steel by the Amsterdam shipyard G. DeVriesLentsch, and was launched in 1960.
The main difference between this boat and her predecessor is that she has an elaborate pilothouse, the deckhouse is much roomier and has a U-shaped galley (better for offshore work), and there is another stateroom and another head. A nice feature is the sliding partition between the off-center guest stateroom and the passageway, which allows a large, open cabin when there are no guests aboard but provides privacy when the stateroom is occupied. The heads are arranged so that no guest or crew need ever use the owner’s head, and even the W.C. in the fo’c’s’le is enclosed.
She, too, has a fishing cockpit aft with fighting chairs and a sunken bait box, but unlike her smaller sister, she has a curved taffrail in way of each chair to provide a good foot brace for fighting the big ones. She has a hinged transom door for boating fish, and it folds down in a manner that forms a step and lower platform that is also handy for swimming and dinghy boarding. (Incidentally, there are davits for ward that can handle a Boston Whaler.) Her functionalism for fishing is capped off by her spreader mounted lookout stations, from which fish can be spotted.
The second Virginia Reel is not as good a sailer as is the first, and she probably could be considered to be a powerboat with steadying sails. But even so, her longer waterline and greater sail area (887 square feet) make her faster than her little sister on a broad reach in fresh winds. In conjunction with bilge keels, her sails have an excellent steadying effect on the boat’s motion.
A fair amount of efficiency in the sail plan is traded off for ease of handling. The mainsail is boomless so that it need not be manhandled when taking it in. The original plans show that the main was brailed to the mast, but later it was set on a roller-furling drum mounted a couple of feet abaft the mast. This leaves a wide gap between the luff and mast, but it helps assure that the sail will not bang against the spar when it is furled. The jib likewise is roller furled.
Arthur Stoner evidently was pleased with both of his Virginia Reels, especially the larger version. Some of his comments to Phil Rhodes about the latter include: “A wonderful boat — superb at sea. Everyone comments about the spaciousness. . . and comfort. They all say it is the last word in an offshore fishing boat. This is practically perfection.” |