Saga

The shape of Saga harks back to an ancient concept: that a boat should be shaped like a fish or a whale; bold and full in the bow but very fine aft where it leaves the water. This particular design was documented by Howard Chapelle and the WPA in the 1930’s from resources dated to the 1880’s and archived at the Smithsonian. Those old sailors were made of tough stuff: they ballasted the boats with rock, nets, and fish, and if they accidentally capsized and filled it with water they knew they would die. I was not interested in being quite that authentic, and hired David Wyman, Naval Architect to help design ballast and buoyancy chambers into this historic shape to make the boat survivable. The boat continues to be an experiment and historic research. I have played with ballast placement, mast rake (angle), sail trim, and every other parameter to try to understand why those old ‘hands’ valued this style of boat. But beyond that intellectual pursuit, there is the fact that the long raked keel on this boat holds a course exceedingly well and she offers low-drama day sails, and myriad sail combinations as conditions change.