Senorita Helmsman - a beauty
' Here is looking at you, Senorita ' ; Saggö, Northern Aland islands, summer 2002: N60o25.9' ; E020o 01.3'
Designed by Swedish Håkan Södergren in the '70s, Senorita Helmsman is a balanced 32 ft. boat, and a potent sailor; fast and going high into the wind.
"Pretty boats sail well", is an age-old truth from the sea. While beaty is in the eye of the beholder, the clean lines of Senorita Helmsman can take looking at even when moored after a day's sailing.
The sailing behaviour of the slender longish boat design is balanced and under control of a compact crew or even when single handed. In a gust of wind, a slim boat heels and picks up speed: the hull profile does not change radically when leaning over. With this type of boat, there is no risk of getting out of control, lifting the rudder off from water, or 'broaching'.
The interior offers reasonable accommodation for a family week end cruise or a week or two of summer vacation in the islands: 5 sleeping places, a compact galley, Wallas heater, and pump toilet with holding tank. Optimus paraffin cooker was nostalgic but operating it is not to everybody's liking.
The good sailing characteristics of our Senorita were complemented with some equipment upgrades: roller furling genua, self-tailing genua winches , Lewmar main sheet traveller and EasyMatic 2-speed main sheet, Easykick telescope wang, fully battened main sail, and the possibility to use full-batten self-tailing jib.
The original Volvo-Penta MD5A was replaced in ' 02 with a new fresh-water cooled Kubota Beta 10 hp diesel engine, utilizing the original saildrive. The hull was checked below waterline and epoxy treated in ' 98.
The attached stories describe some of the modifications.
In addition to the normal equipment, there were: a Garmin 128 gps navigator, a tiller pilot, a marine vhf and a gsm phone set-up. The mast top combination antenna gave good signal for the phones even further away from the shore.
There are not many weak points in the construction of Senorita Helmsman. If you plan getting one, look through the list 'points to check'.
s
/y 'Oili' was built by Lito-Marin in '80. We were the third owners of the boat. Many Senoritas have also been built from semi-fab kits. After 12 years in our family, she now is in a new family and at a new home port, right next to the best sailing grounds of Finland.We still think highly about Senorita Helmsman as a sailing instrument. Her successor is a bit longer but not any wider: maintaining the slim line keeps a sailor healthy, we hope.
A windy day at Gulf of Finland: Senorita sails well with a plain main sail, too.
Interior lay-out
The deck layout of Senorita is clean and straight forward.
Links to other Senorita sites:
Interior layout and profile drawings courtesy of Lady Helmsman site
