OzGoose - Inexpensive family sailboat or club training and racing boat (2024)

Sailboat with Stability and Good Performance

The Oz Goose is a 12ft sailboat with enormous stability from its box planform which also makes it very easy to build and a powerful sailer. It was formerly called the PD Goose.

The green boat is being steered by Cherrie Pinpin who just came third in the Paralympic worlds in Kiel. The white boat is Clytie Bernardi who came fourth in Kiel.

This doesn’t at all sacrifice good sailing performance or rough water capability. It demonstratesnormal upwind speeds for body hiked sailing dinghies and downwind speeds easily in the 10 to 13 knots range when one up.

Or to carry three adults with good performance and response even in light winds.

Handles well in strong winds and big waves and if capsized comes up with no water in the co*ckpit.

Oz Goose Website for building, rigging and sailing information
Buy plan USD38
Oz Goose Facebook Group

The stability allows it to carry a large 90sq ft mainsail. Hull weight is lighter than a Laser Dinghy. While derived from the shorter 8ft Oz Racer it has a quantum leap in both performance and capacity over the smaller boat.

Sails well with one to three adults

With the large sail and light hull (115 to 130lbs – 52 to 60kg built as specified) it has the right feel and excellent balance of well designed sailing dinghies.

We use the Oz Goose in five ways.

1. Training boat with excellent response even with an adult instructor and two adult students.
2. Family sailing boat for parents and up to three kids.
3. Club racing boat where singlehanded and double handed boats can win races.
4. Paralympic boat with members of the National team in pairs competing equally with able bodied sailors.
5. Fleet build in developing nations. We teach locals to build usinglocal materials in three weeks. With sponsorship help 10 Oz Goose sailboats arebuilt for the price of importing one Laser Radial.

It has no vices and steers precisely in all conditions. Comes up easily after capsize with no water aboard. No need to climb up on the centreboard. The rig floats so you can just pull the end of the centreboard down to your stomach.

Low CostSailing for Family or Club.

Less than 10,000 USD for a racefleet of 10 boats for adults and teenagers. Half sponsorship, half paid by family and corporate teams.

Sailing too expensive in developing nations?

No. And you can see the closeness of the racing in these photos. In general about 1/3 to half the cost has been covered by sponsorship by local materials suppliers and sailmakers.

Ten Boats for the price of one Laser and stable enough for many types of disability to not be a handicap.

The rest is made up on a per team basis by the participants.

Most of the management of these projects is through Roy Espiritu of the boatbuidling advocacy group Pinoyboats.org (PHBYC on Facebook).

How does a square Oz Racer/PD Goose sail?

The Oz Goose looks odd – so how do they sail? Top recorded speed solo sailing has crept up in the last two years. Originally 12 knots it was raised to 12.9 (both on a tideless lake in Central Texas. And finally raised to 13.8 knots on a tideless lake in the Philippines. Here is the designer’s boat in upwind mode in about 15 knots of wind.

The Oz Goose class starts after the Hobie 16s at the TLYC. The Taal Lake Yacht Club is probably the Philippine’s most active sailing club and has traditionally focussed on the Hobies. However Hobie 16 is far too expensive for the average middle class family. So Commodore and Founder Peter Capotosto is looking at the Oz/ PD Goose to bring more people into the club, increase participation in sailing and to provide a pool of sailors, some of whom will move into more advanced sailboat types as their experience increases.

For fleet racing they are quite competitive sailed two up allowing learners or disabled sailors to take part in racing against the singlehanders.

But how does the Oz Goose flat bow and flat bottom deal with rough water? For six month of the year the wind blows down to our lee end of Taal Lake. We get SERIOUS waves and chop with lots of reflections off the rocky shore. The goose is very powerful because of its high stability and able to carry full sail happily in 20 knots even with 65kg sailors.

Two up (or three in pic below, the day was the fastest I’ve been with three of us aboard) it just smashes any taller wavetops out of the way, but a bit of heel gives a smooth ride. In light winds and leftover chop they can be quite noisy, but the 89 sq ft of sail gives good speed and action is smooth with a little heel.

Here’s a nosedive on a day when racing was cancelled. You can do massive nosedives with impunity. Peak speed for the day was 18 knots for a couple of seconds and a lot of time around 15 to 16. Try this in a Laser :). At all times the Goose’s steering is fingertip, no wild veers, just keep steering where you want to go.

Instant Sailing Fleet – Prefab for Group build.

Even more interesting when the building of the boats takes about 10 days prep time from a volunteer team. Then the families and corporate groups arrive and in three days for them the flat packed kits turn into 10 boats ready to sail.

We did it 2015 on Taal Lake Luzon and repeated 2016 on another main Philippine Island of Cebu (photo above). This year in Davao, the main city to the South partnering with a school and a resort.

An Instant fleet of Oz Geese for racing, teaching sailing, trekking and fun sailing.

2017 we are looking at starting another fleet on one of the other islands – another instant teaching and racing fleet of around ten Goose sailboats. The third such project for the Philippine Home Boat Builder’s Yacht Club an internet group of enthusiasts

For Sailing Lessons

For sail training we find the boats sail very well with two adult learners and a trainer with good response even in very light wind – thanks to the 89 sq ft sail.A boat that responds instantly is the only way people will learn to sail well.

This prestart photo is Job Ferranco who is regularly coming in the top three of local racing after graduation from one of the sailing racing courses last year. The white boat is being steered by Clyte Bernado a member of the National Parlympic Sailing Team(Sailability)as is Cherrie PinPin in the green boat in photos above.Low Cost Sailing – Local Materials and few imported fittings

The Oz Goose is easy to build from available local materials. It is well developed with good foils and sail/spar matches. It is quick as a one person boat. It sails well to teach people to sail with two learners and one instructor right through the wind range.

Apart from Rudder fittings the boats use three blocks/pulleys, a plastic horn cleat and a stainless steel ring. Every other part of setup is in Spectra rope.

Local plywood, epoxy resin, basic fibreglass cloth and you can build 5 or 10 (with materials sponsorship) for the price of importing a Laser Radial into one of the Developing nations.

Without sponsorship individuals In the Philippines building an Oz Goose from scratch is around PHP35,000 (USD700 for everything including the sail. To have one professionally built is around PHP80,000 (USD1600).

Making your own sail from polytarp; direction included in plan; will reduce the cost by 8000 peso in the Philippines and about $400 in advanced economies.

In the Advanced economies we see builds going together for well under USD1000 (some have been half that) or around USD 2000 for a boat built of top quality materials.

Detailed Plans for the OzGoose/PDGoose.

Plans are highly detailed and you will be introduced to modern boat building methods step by step in the 100 page manual. Itself a course in modern boatbuilding. It even includes how to make a sail from local polytarp/tarpolene or Tyvek

• Find out about buying the Oz Goose plan for under $40 hereand group discounts are available.
• Oz Goose (was PD Goose) Website for building, rigging and sailing information
• Buy plan USD36
• Oz Goose Facebook Group

So the boat that was called the PD Goose was renamed the Oz Goose because of the direct design relationship with the OzRacer series.