Best Windscoop Ever!

A traditional wind scoop consists of some light material that is hauled up on a halyard and aimed forward so as to catch more wind and guide it down a hatch. They work great as long as you are on the anchor and the boat points itself into the wind. We are on a mooring ball in Ft. Myers where there is a pretty hefty current that changes as the day goes on. We point a variety of directions depending on the relative strengeh and direction of the wind and current. So a traditional wind scoop is almost useless to us and let me tell you, you want every atom of wind you can find for sleeping at night.
We stumbled upon the ‘Best Marine” wind scoop while surfing the web. This clever design consists of four panels that open at 90 degrees from each other. Which ever way the wind blows is pretty much gauranteed to inflate one of the panels and guide the wind below. It works great! It is anchored into the corners of our forward hatch by hooking the corner tabs around 4 cup hooks that we screwed in. We open the hatch all the way back by disconnecting the arm. Then we just haul it up using our spinnaker halyard. They come in a variety of sizes depending on hatch size. We have a really big (28” square) hatch so had to get the big one for $70. Smaller ones range downward in price to around $50.

In other news, yes sadly, it's true that Gracie the Cat that Sails has gone nearly completely blind. Bravely she still finds her way around by feel, smell and memory. If I could teach her to meow on command I'd take her to Mallory square, put dark glasses and a pork pie hat on her and bill her as Gracie - the Blind Blues Cat....Meow, how, how how.... Could be a money maker! Anyway if anyone would like a nice blind cat she could use some cooler and more pleasant surroundings to finish out her days. Email me.