GARDEN PORPOISE KETCH 46''

[jakeko]

Does anyone know this boat and would anyone recommend it as a liveaboard and for a circumnavigation. Any comment

[Jeff_H]

Boats like the Porpoise are a bit of an anathema to me. Garden is a highly respected designer of boats of this type. He has designed many successful world cruisers. His designs talk of another time and place and have a certain classic beauty and elegance of line that really has its roots 19th century yacht design practices. That elegance and beauty is the good news.

While that romance has its place, in my mind so much positive has happened in yacht design in the past century or so that it is hard for me to think of these as still making sense as still making sense for a circumnavigation.

If you compare the PORPOISE to a more modern heavy displacement cruiser, you will quickly notice that it is nearly twice the displacement of a more modern design. I am not talking light displacement boats here. If you compare the Porpoise to a boat like Kelly Peterson 44/46 (which I am only using as an example of a typical more modern heavy weight offshore cruiser) you will note that the Peterson is nearly half the weight (24000 vs 44000) yet still has almost the same ballast. The Peterson carries more water and almost equal fuel. The Peterson''s more easily driven hull means that you are wrestling with a lot less sail area with a lot more modern sail handling hardware. The Porpoise clearly offers a lot more living space. Maintenance wise, even the glass hulled Porpoises are essentially wooden boats above the rail and since (I believe but could be wrong) few were built after the 1970''s, you are talking about a 20 year old wooden boat. As much as I love wooden boats, a twenty year old wooden boat is ''older'' than a 20 year old glass boat, if not maintained to an extremely high standard of care.

There are all sorts of issues to these kinds of boats that are truely subjective. Speed may have no importance to you other than it means longer passages and the need to carry more supplies. The large roll angles of these older designs may be more comfortable to you than the quicker motion of a more modern design (although boats like the one in the example above tend to offer a good balance between roll angle and roll speed). To me these boats are a kind of museum piece. They are a reminder of a time and place that was far, far away. They are wonderful to have around as a reminder of where we came from. But they are not examples of boats that I would ever suggest for a 21st Century circumnavication.

Respectfully
Jeff

[jakeko]

Hello Jeff,

Thanks for you prompt response, since I have not much experiance with that kind of boats, I really appreciate your opinion.

Jake

[dakine]

I have to agree with Jeff''s assessment of this boat. I have seen and been aboard a beautiful Porpoise Ketch that spent some time in Honolulu. I think this dated design is one of Bill Garden''s best in terms of a truly elegant vessel. The romantic side of me loves it but the practical side, well that''s another matter entirely. To each his own.

Garry L. Powell

[Tony Cravello]

I grew up on the Nereides, a Garden Porpoise Ketch. She was a trooper. We sailed for 3 years throughout Mexico, Central America and the Carribean. She took us through several storms, including gales, squals and a Huricane in the gulf.
She was built in Hong Kong, 1967 by Robin Fung. The boat weighed Twenty tons and we had to use a 50 ton hoist in Channel Islands Harbor.
She was purchased by a French couple, who sailed throught the Mediterranean in the 70's. We purchased the boat in 1978.
If you know where the Nereides is moored these days, I would love to visit the owners and exchange stories.
She's very seaworthy, you never find a yacht like her again.