Hello there! My name's Alex, and I have hull #140
Ananda, sailing out of Pier 39 on San Francisco Bay. I hope you pull the trigger, it'd be awesome to have another J/30 around here!
Some answers to your specific questions:
Do you find the boat to be a little tender? I will be sailing most of the time single and double handed, so not much weight on the rail. Maybe some distance races but not planning on any round the buoy racing.
Yes, the boat is quite tender, but as others have mentioned this is manageable by controlling sail area.
Ananda flies a 95% blade jib and my main has two reef points - the second one does see a lot of use on windy days in the slot. This does tend to pull the CoE forward and induce some helm. I had a balanced rudder made which has really helped in that respect.
I sail her much as you expect to - double-handed or with small crew, not much weight on the rail, and purely for pleasure, no racing. I really find the boat to be a great design for San Francisco - fast enough to be fun and stable enough to handle the slot at its windiest.
Of course I will have a survey done, but is there anything special to know to look for? I'm especially concerned with wet coring and will be looking at that. I noticed some water stains at the chain plates.
My boat had a stress crack under the mast step, which I had fixed last year. Not sure if this is a common problem.
I've been pretty lucky with the balsa core - almost everywhere I've mounted or re-mounted hardware it's been dry. I did have some rotten core under the aft tracks, but so far it's been a localized problem.
I've looked at three boats now and all have rudders that seem slightly lose in their pintles and gudgeons. I assume this may be normal but, does that drive you crazy after awhile?
I have noticed that but it hasn't bothered me much. Under way, the force on the rudder keeps the connection there pretty solid.
On that note, can anyone recommend a surveyor in the San Francisco area?
Jeff Keiser out of Sausalito did my survey a few years ago, and I haven't found much that he didn't in two years of restoration and use. I can forward you my survey if you'd like to see an example of his work.
