J/37 EOS
Sad Day for J/37 Eos
Ryan's (one of the co-owners of this web site) Eos was lost in the surf at Drake's Bay, north of San Francisco this week. Ryan was out of the country and the crew using the boat could not get the mainsail down, as it was apparently stuck on a track screw that came loose. They decided to go into the bay, anchor and work on the sail. After the anchor was down they got caught by a wind shift that started to drive the boat to the beach with the main still up. The anchor line then got caught in the prop and the boat was on the beach. Efforts to pull it off failed and Eos was total loss.
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Eos is J/37 hull #1 (ex "Windquest"). Under the prior two owners, with the exception of a brief jaunt down the California coast as far as Ventura for a few months in 2000, Eos saw (and showed) light use in and around San Francisco Bay and near offshore waters since commissioning in 1987. We have owned the boat since February, 2001.
We chose a J/37 as a result of the classic compromise of performance vs. comfort vs. price. Price considerations dictated a used boat. Performance considerations saw us look at the Express 37 and Santa Cruz 40, but both were ruled out as too spartan. Island Packets and Valiants were wonderfully comfortable, but relatively pricey and not sufficiently performance oriented. The J/36 approached the right mix (especially at half the price of the 37) but was still too spartan, and most J/36s show the wear of considerable racing. J/35s and 105s were too spartan and race oriented; J/120s, 130s and 44s too expensive. For us, the J/37 was the right mix.
As you might expect with a 15-year old boat, this one is a project, despite being in rather good shape. As reflected in the upgrades we have done so far, the priorities of the former owners did not square with our notions of a properly outfitted cruising boat. We are in the process of bringing the boat up to what we think is a more appropriate standard, commensurate with the J/37's performance characteristics.