Florida Follies Aboard a Sloop Named ‘Tolvfingertarmen’

© 2021 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Jennifer Gridley

Bay Area sailor Sally Lightfoot didn’t join the sport until her mid-20s, but once she began, she sailed her way through the ranks from eight-ft prams in the East Bay, to sloop-rigged dinghies in the Central Bay, to ocean racing aboard 30- to 38-ft boats and PRO’ing a few YRA one-design regattas. She also took up windsurfing, and though never a serious competitor, she race-managed a few national and international boardsailing competitions. So when a Florida friend needed help sea-trialing his boat, Sally was his go-to sailor. Years later she still remembers the experience as a waypoint on “yet another of sailing’s learning curves.”

The boat was a sturdy, full-keeled Swedish Laurin 28 sloop, unaccountably named Tolvfingertarmen (“12-finger gut,” or duodenum). My friend was comfortable with the boat, but had little offshore experience.

Despite thousands of inshore, coastal and open-Pacific sailing miles, I’d never sailed in Florida, and I was unfamiliar with the boat design. The boat owner and I planned to sail from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas.

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