READER BOAT: Danica 16, "Nutmeg"

A Salty Little Cruiser

by Bernard Boulanger

I found my Danica 16 whilst perusing the local craigslist. The idea of a pocket cruiser had been nagging at me for a while—something small, trailerable, yet seaworthy. A couple of comfortable berths would be ideal—oh yeah—and preferably cute as a bug’s ear. And salty looking too!

The Danica was out in Harrison Hot Springs, a resort community about two hours out of Vancouver up the Fraser Valley. I tried to research the Danica, and the closest I could find was the Nordica site. This isn’t terribly surprising as the Danica was built using a Nordica mold, but with a deeper, fuller keel, a lazarette (thus a smaller cockpit), and a higher, more roomy cabin. It also features a cockpit drain which many Nordica owners wish for.

Both are Colin Archer type double-ender designs, beamy little boats at 15' LOA, 13' 10" LWL and 6' 2" beam, not unlike life boats but with a reputation for speed in high winds and ease of sailing. The Danica Builder Peter Hahn liked the Nordica design but wanted a few changes so he made his own version. Shortly after, he sailed one from Vancouver BC to Hawaii! With just oars for auxiliary power he was hoping for a world record, but someone beat him there in an 11-foot boat. That must’ve been frustrating! In total 25 Danica 16s were built. One by the name of Emily garnered some yachting fame in 1985 when she was sailed up to Desolation Sound. It’s a cool story

Excited by all this information I saddled up the Mercedes and headed up to Harrison. She was cuter and sturdier looking than imagined, in need of a few small glass repairs inside and some brightwork refinishing. I especially liked the real opening brass portholes and seaworthy look.

When I got back, I went right to work with some retabbing and a bit of keel bottom repair. I also had to add a slide-in 7-foot trailer extension so I could float her off the trailer with her 28" draft—either that or rig the Mercedes for underwater use. I had her in the water about a week later and had a ball, easy to set up and sail singlehanded, she could heave-to no problem and was nice and stiff with the full keel and 400 pounds of ballast. Sporting a 21' mast, with main and genoa, she has about 140 square feet of sail area, with the working jib more like 120. She sails more like a big boat than a 15-footer, very steady on her course, though sometimes in light airs you have to backwind the jib to come about. I put a little longshaft Seagull 40 Plus on the back for auxiliary power, changed the roller furling main to traditional reefing, and added a bow pulpit for foredeck safety.

Then I took her on a camping trip up Indian Arm with my girlfriend (always a good test for a pocket cruisers livability). We launched in the early afternoon and passed a friend in a 30-foot boat on the way. He got really mad when I asked him if he was hove to! Stopped at Twin Islands on the way and spent the night on the boat. It was cosy, yet with sitting headroom and room to stretch out. The opening ports made for a nice cross breeze. Next day we sailed the rest of the way up the arm to Granite Falls (about 24 km one way), mostly running with the genoa poled out wing and wing. On the way back we were beating into a good stiff breeze at about 20-25 degrees heel; she handled it well. I didn’t have to reef and we made good time. As she was small, round and stout I named her Nutmeg.

She doesn’t paddle too bad either! One time I lost the wind about 3 km from the launch, hooked up the Seagull which ran fine—but I hadn’t noticed I’d lost the pin securing it to its mount till it jumped off the back of the boat for a swim! Luckily I had it secured to a lanyard, but it wasn’t going to start for me right then without a thorough rinsing. So I paddled the 3 km back, about 1000 strokes. My next goal was English Bay and Howe Sound with Bowen Island my first point of call (about 25 km one way).

It was a fine blustery day and I was sailing singlehanded as usual with some hot tea and rough provisions. I beat out across English Bay headed towards Point Grey. When I’d made it about halfway, I came about on the port tack and headed towards Point Atkinson with its picturesque lighthouse and WW2 gun emplacement.

When I started getting close, the wind began freshening and the white horses started getting more frequent. I was spilling a lot of air out of the main to stay at a reasonable angle, so I hove to and took a reef in the main (being a dinghy sailor originally, being able to heave to is pretty cool). This worked like a charm and I came about on the starboard tack to weather the point and then head towards Bowen. There’s a short video with some fine sailing music on youtube that was taken at about this point.

Fun stuff. The wind that day was 16-20 knots but Nutmeg seemed right in her element. After I weathered the point I had pretty well reached Bowen Island. As the day was waning and it was late in the year, I decided to not stop there, but opted instead for a brief circumnavigation of Passage Island and then head back to Ambleside. The wind had calmed considerably by this time but there was still enough to keep me going as I ran back to the launch, making it there by dusk.

This year as soon as things warm up a bit more, I’m going to do a little fairing and painting of the bottom, and add a retractable bowsprit for fun and a little more light-air ability. She’ll also get new halyards, some genoa tracks and a few other essentials for some longer overnight cruising. I plan to head over to Gibsons where my drummer lives, explore Howe Sound, and then head off across Georgia Straight to cruise the Gulf Islands! Adventure!

Nothing like a little seaworthy pocket cruiser that lives on a trailer—all the fun, but little of the crushing responsibility and expense. Yeeehaa! •SCA•

See the YouTube video of Nutmeg under sail here.

First seen in issue #75

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