“If you are in an area of dependable fesh breezes, e.g. San Francisco Bay, or if you re- ally need the shoal keel because of shallows you might be more satisfied. Otherwise I’d go with something with a centerboard that would point higher, make less leeway, etc.” Bill McCoy, former owner QT 1981 Sparrow 16
“When I first got her I thought, wow she needs more sail. Ten I took her out on a steady 30-knot aſternoon and discovered she needed reefing points. She’s a very stable vessel, and fun to sail. She’s very for- giving and has enough for the experienced sailor to have a thrill. I had a Spin-driſter built for her and it’s a great sail in light winds and for downwind sailing—even had to ‘hike out’ on the stern down a wave.” David Goldsmith former owner 1981 Sparrow
We motored from the Port Townsend marina and out into the bay. Once clear of the breakwater we raised the main and jib. Both sails looked a little small, and they probably are, but 127 square feet is within reason, given her 900 pound displacement. (Compare Com-Pac 16 120 sq ſt on 1100 pound displacement, Siren 17 145 sq ſt on 750 pounds). What surprised us was how well the
Sparrow responded in the light breeze. We were making progress even in the lulls—a nice track behind us and barely a ripple from the hull. The Sparrow seemed to slip through the water with very little disturbance. Helm was per- fect, with just a touch of weather pull in winds up to seven knots. With a shoal keel we anticipated her
performance would suffer when hard on the wind. Tis was not always true, the Sparrow would actually point fairly high and make good progress to wind- ward. It was only with increasing heel that you could tell her shallow keel was losing traction. Our conversations with Chuck Gaylord confirmed this was his experience as well. He said as long as you keep the Sparrow on her feet she’ll go to weather pretty well—but at 15º or more, sideslip becomes increasingly evident. Overall performance was good—and
much better than we’d expected. Al- though we thought she showed a decent turn of speed (we managed to hit nearly 5 knots in the best of the light air), one owner we interviewed expressed a mi-
SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR
TOP—The shoal-keeled 16 doesn’t ride as low as flat-bottomed boats but is light enough for towing behind smaller vehicles, like the Subaru pictured.
ABOVE LEFT—Overhead view of the cockpit. Note lazarette under tiller. ABOVE RIGHT—Bruce Solly skippers Miss Molasses. We were pleased with the 16’s overall performance.
nority opinion that the boat was very slow—particularly in light air. On another occasion we were able to
sail the Sparrow 16 and a Montgomery 15 side-by-side on a beam reach in nearly 15 knots of wind. The boats seemed evenly matched on this tack at least, footing along in unison. We considered this confirmation of some prowess—the M-15 is regarded as a very strong per- former for its size.
TRAILERING AND LAUNCHING: “In my opinion it is easy to trailer and I can
pull up and be on the water in 35-45 min- utes. I can set up all the rigging by myself fairly easily.” Carl Taylor 1976 Guppy 16.
At 900 pounds the Sparrow 16 is light enough for easy trailering behind most cars. Mastraising is relatively painless and
doesn’t require two people or a me- chanical aid. The mast is supported by a spreaderless three-stay rig. The mast step has two pins; one is put in when the mast is down, and the second is pushed through after the mast is raised. Once
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