Jim Flynn

Boat Name: Slap Shot
'83 Starwind Buccaneer
Sail Number 6124

My family and I live about an hour north of Philadelphia in the Lehigh Valley. Lake Nockamixon is the place my boat calls home. My Buccaneer is a 1983 Starwind (Wellcraft) Buccaneer, which I purchased in late 2003. #6124, no name at this point. I had wanted another sailboat since my first one (10’ Sunflower) broke apart back in the early 80’s. The Bucc has been a pleasant surprise to me.

I was lucky that the boat was stock rigged with good hardware and ready for spinnaker. Some repairs were needed, including replacing the spinnaker sock, bailer gaskets, centerboard gasket, as well as repairing the centerboard and sealing up gunwale separation, but in general it’s a good solid boat. Upgrades I’ve made include adding a spinnaker, new Benson main and jib, and moving the jib cars down to the seats.

Being a rookie, I reluctantly attempted my first race in July of 2004 in Union Lake, NJ, and this was the first time I met some of the fine people of the Buccaneer Class Association. They were there to help me with my boat and give me on and off-waters pointers. This one day resulted in a dramatic improvement in my ability to sail this boat, and I had just one fantastic time of it. Now inspired and enabled, I was able to attend other races and had some respectable results.

The first year of owning my Bucc included launches as far south as the Potomac River in D.C., to the North Woods region of Maine. My experiences have gone from slow windless bobbing to blustery conditions where I could practice righting a turtled Bucc. Times where my wife was screaming in fright while at the same time my boys screamed with delight. It is a fun boat. I will spend many days at the local lake, but will also be trailoring my Bucc several hundred miles this summer to enjoy the camaraderie of the members of this class.