I don't know why I missed this post but I just saw this. I really loved this boat more than any person should love an inanimate object. Of the over a dozen boats that I have owned Rugosa was certainly one of my favorites. She was fast, easily handled and offered a great compromise between accomodations and performance. I have sailed in winds as low as they get and up into winds that pegged the anomometer on a near by boat at 65 knots.
I owned Rugosa for approximately 12 years. I raced her, daysailed her, and cruised her pretty extensively. I somewhat disagree with the comment that she needs a big crew to race her successfully. I typically raced with a crew of 5, and was able to get a third for highpoint on the Chesapeake CBYRA scoring in the very competitive Laser 28 one-design class and had a year racing PHRF at the club level with a total score of 9 firsts, 2 seconds and a third.
You certainly don't need a big crew to cruise her. I very often single-handed her. The key is in the design of the rig. Once you learn to take advantage of her fractional rig, she is a piece of cake tol sail. The boat came with a very clever sail that that Laser called a lapper. The lapper was a 109% jib that was cut full like the leading edge of a #1 genoa and which had full length upper battens. Coupled with the fractional rigs ability to quickly shift gears, this sail was the bee's knees for cruising and single-handing with a tremndous windrange stretching from nearly no wind to close to 20 knots of breeze (with a reef in the main at the upper end). I typically flew a spinnaker in winds under 10-12 knots if I was going anywhere near downwind for any length of time. As noted above the boat could be a handful at the upper limit of the #1 genoa range with the rudder stalling at largish heel angles, which is what made the lapper so wonderful.
The interior worked great for coastal cruising with just a couple aboard, or with a few kids along. My ex-wife and I spent as much as two weeks aboard cruising the Chesapeake and found Rugosa comfortable. I particularly liked the huge storage area aft of the head. We could throw a couple bicycles back in there and then go exploring when we got to some place interesting. It was amazing how much stuff you could carry on board with the huge storage areas under the settees, quarter berth, veeberth and aft of the head.
I found the boat were amazingly rugged, and easy to maintain and/or upgrade. The interior pretty much disassembled allowing access to every where for cleaning, running new systems or electrical. The Buhk diesel was a great little engine. Easy to access and easy to work on. Parts were reasonable and available when I owned her but I suspect that the falling dollar may effect that some.
I hope that you find her in good shape. Please contact me by PM and I'll send you my current email address (the one above is long out of service) I think that I may still have a few canvas parts for her that I have been keeping an eye out for since I sold the boat and finally think that I know where they are located.
Good luck,
Jeff
bill
