Specifications
- 1971 Rosborough designed gaff-rigged, square topsail ketch
- Hull: carvel planked Mahogany over double sawn oak frames
- 14' 6" beam
- 6' draft
- 50' on deck / 68' sparred length
- 4-236 diesel 85 hp Perkins w/velvet drive transmission
- 300 gallon freshwater tank
- 300 gallon fuel tank
- Hydraulic steering
- 17,000 lbs of ballast: 9,000 lb encapsulated iron keel and 8,000 in trim ballast
- all ROBLON (Spunflex) rigging
- two 20 gal propane tanks for propane galley stove
- 20 gallon rigid poly holding tank
- Skipper head
- 2 battery banks
- 4 crew berths (in main hold and foc'sle)
- 2 berths in master cabin
- E-series Raymarine Chart Plotter / Radar
- VHF radio with remote command mike at helm
- New 4-man Life raft
- 8' Walker Bay dinghy
- All sails new in 2006 except main
Royaliste was refit to depict an 18th century ketch. This resulted in flush decks with ample room for cannons and crew while giving the period correct look. Headroom belowdeck was sacraficed in the main hold which acts as crew quarters and chandlery so a doghouse was added to afford standing headroom. The foc'sle and large aft cabin were not affected by the refit. The galley and head are located aft.
Spectacle of Sail
It's one thing to own a sailboat, but entirely another to own a traditionally rigged vessel, especially a ship that evokes "pirate."
Several years ago we were sailing north from San Diego on a foggy day. We headed into the harbor at Oceanside hoping to find a slip for the night. After we made fast at the dock a woman approached the ship. She had made her way to the harbor because she wanted to tell us what a sight we had been, sailing out of the fog. "It was amazing. I was looking at the ocean and the wall of fog when your tops'l appeared. What a sight! Just like an old pirate ship coming in!"
Two years later we were traversing the Erie Canal with masts and rigging laying on our deck in a jumble of spars, lines and baggy-wrinkles. We stopped each night since the canal requires visual steerage and is not lit at night. One day just after dawn we awoke to a child's voice calling, "Mommy, Mommy, look! A pirate ship!"
The point is, from coast to coast, either fully rigged or just the hull on the water, Royaliste is quite the spectacle.
In California Waters
Transit Overland
Sailing the Great Lakes
Royaliste has sailed all Great Lakes except Superior
Transiting the Erie Canal
The masts are pulled and placed on deck so the ship can fit under bridges and guard gates, then re-stepped on the other end of the Canal.
Traversing the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW)
Winter in Beaufort, North Carolina in 2007
In the travel lift at annual haul out, ready for new bottom paint
Sailing Eastern waters: Atlantic, Canadian Maritimes, St. Lawrence Seaway
Pirates & Privateers - Entertainment & Education
Yes! The cannons are real.
Film Productions
The Adventures of Buccaneer Blake, Make a Wish Foundation production, filmed in San Francisco Bay in 2004
"True Caribbean Pirates" filmed in Southern California in 2005 for A&E/History Channel
"The Pirating" filmed in April 2006 near the Channel Islands off the Southern California coast.
"The Privateer" filmed in the Cape Fear River near Wilmington, NC, November 2007
2008 Oswego, NY Harbor: filming DVD to accompany children's book written by local author.
|