PEARSON 36 SNOEK PREPS FOR THE FIRST ADVENTURE

Onne van der Wal and his family have spent the winter restoring their 1972 Pearson 36, Snoek. This summer they will take to the waters of Narragansett Bay to stretch their legs and get to know the boat. One of Snoek’s many upgrades was a new suit of North Sails.

A renown nautical photographer, Onne spent some time on the “other” side of the lens for this project! We look forward to hearing more from the van der Wal clan as they set off on various adventures this season. Stay tuned!

Onne van der Wal and 17 year old son Adrian recently unpacked their brand new North cruising sails for their 1972 Pearson 36, Snoek. They were closely supervised by Lucy the beagle, who will join the family cruising on Narragansett Bay this summer.

While Lucy looked on from a safe distance, Onne gave each of the three sails (mainsail, genoa, and gennaker) a careful inspection, partly to familiarize himself with what state-of-the-art cruising sails look like. “The level of detail and finish work are very impressive,” he said.

Telltales have been carefully placed to provide the best trim information for a variety of sailing angles, and the gray sunshade will protect the rest of the sail from UV. The sails are made of North Sails NPC RADIANTM, a patented warp-oriented cloth with superior shapeholding qualities. The blue rope luff reefing pad maintains optimum shape when the sail is reefed.

Surrounded by a backyard full of boats, the spring lawn became a sunny sail loft for the afternoon. Adrian, a racing sailor, spotted the batten pocket detail on the main.

“I can’t wait to use this genoa,” Onne said. “The leechline and footline have been really well thought out for ease of use, without leaving any loose ends that could catch on something. And the soft clew will really save the mast from getting beat up if our tacks aren’t quite perfect.”

The genoa leechline has a purchase and retractor system, making for easy adjustment. “We’re not going racing,” Onne reminded us. “We want these sails to last many years. So it’s nice to see North has thought out how to keep the leech from fluttering, once they’re not quite as new as they are now.”

Onne and his family spent much of the winter updating the Pearson 36, so they will proudly display the Pearson logo every time they hoist the mainsail. “It’s a great classic design, so we want people to know what she is as we sail her around Narragansett Bay.”

Each sail has a unique number stamped on the logo. The serial number matches Onne’s order number and is used to reference the sail’s history and service record.

They saved the best for last: pulling the Gennaker™ out of its turtle. “The boat’s getting repainted at Bristol Marine in Awlgrip’s Stars and Stripes blue,” Onne said. “So this red white and blue kite is going to look really good.”

“Family cruising should be easy, but I like to set a kite,” Onne said. “So the gennaker’s a good compromise.” The North SnufferPlus™ will make deploying and dousing a breeze.