mike cunningham
Freedom 30 "Jacqueline"
I submitted a stupid question to the community and, fortunately, answered it myself before being publicly exposed as a complete idiot. Please ignore.
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Don't laugh - and I mean it!
- Thread starter mike cunningham
- Start date
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
oh, damn. did I miss an opportunity to tease you? I take it you have learned how to Delete.
Daydreamer
SAILOR
Darn, I thought this was going to be a good one. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Since Mike deleted his stupid question, I'll contribute my latest:
I bought some cool line bags for the cockpit that match the gelcoat color. To make sure they would stay attached I epoxied strips of 3M Dual-Lock to the bags instead of regular velcro.
But I forgot to remove the backing strips first.
I bought some cool line bags for the cockpit that match the gelcoat color. To make sure they would stay attached I epoxied strips of 3M Dual-Lock to the bags instead of regular velcro.
But I forgot to remove the backing strips first.
mike cunningham
Freedom 30 "Jacqueline"
Bob, that is s stupid deed. This is different from a stupid question because you are just admitting what we all know to be true about each other. If we had a dollar for every stupid thing we actually did aboard a boat we would all be millionaires. With interest, dividends and inflation I might be approaching billionaire status.
A stupid question, however, reveals the true depth of our (well, my anyway) cluelessness. How, exactly, did this dude make it outside the gate?
But, due to not all that popular demand, I will expose my stupid question. I bought a used spinnaker from Pineapple. Good fit for my gunmount and has a retrieval line patch already sewn in. I thought this was unique to the gunmount system but apparently a retrieval line is also used on a normal spinnaker in some cases to improve retrievability in higher winds. Anyway, I get the spinnaker home and decide to rig the retrieval line but which side of the sail is forward and which side is backward? I think on this for a few minutes and realize, hey, why don't I ask my colleagues at SSS. They are used to dumb questions.
Several seconds after posting I remember one luff has a red ribbon for the full length. Aha! ... get that frigging post down...NOW before anyone sees it. This is not a dumb question this is a really really clueless question. Fortunately I can now unburden myself since I figured it out on my own.
And how the hell do you delete the thread in its entirely including title?
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
This might be a long thread. Singlehanders, start your engines.
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Intermission
Member
Do first marriages count?
If you’re easily embarrassed, sailing might not be for you . . .
I was still learning to sail, mostly by trial and error, in rental boats. My wife, seriously over estimating my skills, came with me for a day sail, and brought our son who was seven or eight at the time. We rented a Catalina 250 from the boat rental place in Glorietta Bay and sailed out under the Coronado Bay Bridge and into the central part of San Diego Bay. On the Embarcadero in those days was a long-time seafood restaurant named Anthony’s. It was real touristy place where we had eaten many times over the course of our many years of being Zonnies in SD. The restaurant had small, rickety dock where a couple of boats at a time could tie up for ‘dock and dine,’ and I decided that’s what we would do for a late lunch.
My experience docking boats to that point consisted exclusively of returning the boat to the same dock from which it had been rented, where there would usually be someone to grab a line. The Anthony’s dock was clear of other boats and other people, so I was on my own. Out in the Bay I lowered the outboard, motored head to wind, and dropped the main. Turned around and headed for the dock, which ran perpendicular to the sea wall of the Embarcadero. Decided I wanted the bow facing out to the bay, so I headed to the sea wall, did a sharp 180, and brought the starboard beam up to the dock, gave the motor a short shot in reverse, and we were right where we wanted to be, looking good. Pride was definitely going before a fall.
For some reason I wanted to tie off the bow line first, and went to leap over the lifelines from the foredeck. My right foot snagged the jib sheet lying on the deck and I fell over the lifeline and found myself dangling upside down as the boat bounced in the surge. I somehow managed to disentangle myself and tumble onto the dock without hitting the water or getting crushed between the boat and the dock. It was evidently quite the comic scene. My wife was laughing hysterically as I finally got the boat tied up, and the dining room crowd applauded as we walked in.
A decade and half later my wife still laughs out loud at the mention of the debacle.
I was still learning to sail, mostly by trial and error, in rental boats. My wife, seriously over estimating my skills, came with me for a day sail, and brought our son who was seven or eight at the time. We rented a Catalina 250 from the boat rental place in Glorietta Bay and sailed out under the Coronado Bay Bridge and into the central part of San Diego Bay. On the Embarcadero in those days was a long-time seafood restaurant named Anthony’s. It was real touristy place where we had eaten many times over the course of our many years of being Zonnies in SD. The restaurant had small, rickety dock where a couple of boats at a time could tie up for ‘dock and dine,’ and I decided that’s what we would do for a late lunch.
My experience docking boats to that point consisted exclusively of returning the boat to the same dock from which it had been rented, where there would usually be someone to grab a line. The Anthony’s dock was clear of other boats and other people, so I was on my own. Out in the Bay I lowered the outboard, motored head to wind, and dropped the main. Turned around and headed for the dock, which ran perpendicular to the sea wall of the Embarcadero. Decided I wanted the bow facing out to the bay, so I headed to the sea wall, did a sharp 180, and brought the starboard beam up to the dock, gave the motor a short shot in reverse, and we were right where we wanted to be, looking good. Pride was definitely going before a fall.
For some reason I wanted to tie off the bow line first, and went to leap over the lifelines from the foredeck. My right foot snagged the jib sheet lying on the deck and I fell over the lifeline and found myself dangling upside down as the boat bounced in the surge. I somehow managed to disentangle myself and tumble onto the dock without hitting the water or getting crushed between the boat and the dock. It was evidently quite the comic scene. My wife was laughing hysterically as I finally got the boat tied up, and the dining room crowd applauded as we walked in.
A decade and half later my wife still laughs out loud at the mention of the debacle.
Back when I had my Cal 20, I was berthed for a while at Coyote Point, in fact just yards from where I am, now. Well, in the summer, it can honk, coming into the marina behind the breakwater. I recall many an afternoon wrestling the tiller and mainsheet on that Cal 20 down the peninsula, to then turn into the channel and REALLY have a wrestling match getting the boat in through the opening, through what might laughably be called a "turning basin" and then down my slipway.
After having done this a number of times, I learn to drop the jib out in the Bay and sail in under main, alone. MUCH easier. Well, one day I get the bright idea that I'll get rid of ALL the weather helm, and drop the mainsail. That way I'll sail in under jib alone. So that's what I do.
In we come, tearing along in a good, solid 20 knots. We're zooming up towards the point where I tack over onto port....which will be followed by another tack to starboard, another to port and then we're in the slipway. I take the boat up to within about 20 feet of the transoms of the first line of Really Big And Expensive Yachts, moving along at about 5 knots, and release the jib sheet. I push the tiller over.
And nothing happens. She will not come up. I can't tack. I have two seconds to decide what, exactly I want to hit.
I could hit the big flat stern of a 45 foot Bertram
I could hit the sloped transom of a Hylas 47
or I could hit the flat side of the concrete piling between them.
I opted for the piling.
Wow. I mean...just WOW. That was a crash. THAT....qualifies as crash. And noisy, too.
Well, the mast didn't come down. In fact, nothing much happened except me soiling my underwear. I got the jib down, somehow, and started the outboard. I don't know how I did this it's all a blur. Anyway I got back to my side tie, and tied the boat up. With heart in mouth I went down below, and crawled into the forepeak to see what I was sure was going to be catastrophic damage.
Nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Not a scratch. Not a flake of paint.
Cal built 'em right.
After having done this a number of times, I learn to drop the jib out in the Bay and sail in under main, alone. MUCH easier. Well, one day I get the bright idea that I'll get rid of ALL the weather helm, and drop the mainsail. That way I'll sail in under jib alone. So that's what I do.
In we come, tearing along in a good, solid 20 knots. We're zooming up towards the point where I tack over onto port....which will be followed by another tack to starboard, another to port and then we're in the slipway. I take the boat up to within about 20 feet of the transoms of the first line of Really Big And Expensive Yachts, moving along at about 5 knots, and release the jib sheet. I push the tiller over.
And nothing happens. She will not come up. I can't tack. I have two seconds to decide what, exactly I want to hit.
I could hit the big flat stern of a 45 foot Bertram
I could hit the sloped transom of a Hylas 47
or I could hit the flat side of the concrete piling between them.
I opted for the piling.
Wow. I mean...just WOW. That was a crash. THAT....qualifies as crash. And noisy, too.
Well, the mast didn't come down. In fact, nothing much happened except me soiling my underwear. I got the jib down, somehow, and started the outboard. I don't know how I did this it's all a blur. Anyway I got back to my side tie, and tied the boat up. With heart in mouth I went down below, and crawled into the forepeak to see what I was sure was going to be catastrophic damage.
Nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Not a scratch. Not a flake of paint.
Cal built 'em right.
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Most of the dumb stuff I've done sailing (that I'm willing to disclose) is posted somewhere in Sled's thread.
Here are a couple examples.
But I don't think I've posted the story about one of my first sails with Connie, which is similar to Lee's story.
We'd been married a year or two and Connie kept hearing (from me) about my sailing exploits. We were camping up at Whiskeytown and I decided it was time to take her sailing. I opted for a rented Hobie Cat 16, even though I'd sailed a catamaran exactly once previously, and that was with someone who knew what they were doing.
Hobie 16s don't have daggerboards and don't maneuver well until you're at speed. I had a heckuva time maneuvering out through the log booms at the entrance to Oak Bottom, but we finally made it out and began our first (and only) booming reach across the lake. Failing to move weight aft, we soon stuck the leeward hull and pitchpoled. Connie went flying past the bow of the boat, fortunately hitting only the water. The boat immediately turtled (no high-tech mast float like Wildflower's) and the mast stuck in the muddy bottom. A passing houseboat helped us get loose and I sheepishly turned back to the marina. We rented a Daysailer instead.
I've heard about that experience many times over the years.
I also fell off the bow of a J/80 while teaching a spinnaker class. I'll save that one for later.
.
Here are a couple examples.
But I don't think I've posted the story about one of my first sails with Connie, which is similar to Lee's story.
We'd been married a year or two and Connie kept hearing (from me) about my sailing exploits. We were camping up at Whiskeytown and I decided it was time to take her sailing. I opted for a rented Hobie Cat 16, even though I'd sailed a catamaran exactly once previously, and that was with someone who knew what they were doing.
Hobie 16s don't have daggerboards and don't maneuver well until you're at speed. I had a heckuva time maneuvering out through the log booms at the entrance to Oak Bottom, but we finally made it out and began our first (and only) booming reach across the lake. Failing to move weight aft, we soon stuck the leeward hull and pitchpoled. Connie went flying past the bow of the boat, fortunately hitting only the water. The boat immediately turtled (no high-tech mast float like Wildflower's) and the mast stuck in the muddy bottom. A passing houseboat helped us get loose and I sheepishly turned back to the marina. We rented a Daysailer instead.
I've heard about that experience many times over the years.
I also fell off the bow of a J/80 while teaching a spinnaker class. I'll save that one for later.
.
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mike cunningham
Freedom 30 "Jacqueline"
Forgetting the boat was on AP and driving right into a delta levy while panicked and trying to overpower he AP drive by hand. AP drives are pretty damn powerful is all I have to say.
Attempting to reef the main between tacks in a 300 foot wide delta channel. Second visit to the levy rip rap.
The list goes on and on and on.
Its amazing we all still have life and limb.
Mike,
I'll bite with my own clueless question. I've never sailed with, or seen a Hoyt Gun Mount in action. My understanding is the spinnaker for a Gun Mount needs to be symmetrical, which makes gybing easy as the spinnaker pole rotates in the gunmount, obviating the need to distinguish the luff and leech.
If this is true, I hear you on your question "which side of the sail is the front and the back" presumably because you'd like the retrieval line to come out the back (aft facing) side and lead into the sailbag.
But then you state "one luff has a red ribbon for the full luff length" Does this mean you bought an asymmetrical spinny from Kame, i.e. the sail is not symmetrical, but has different luff lengths and shaping? If so, how could you gybe this sail without first dousing? If you just rotate the gunmount with an asymmetrical, then the leach becomes the luff, and the sail shape will be backwards, although I doubt you'd begin to sail backwards.
Guessing your new, used spinny is symmetrical ....
(signed) Clueless in Capitola
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mike cunningham
Freedom 30 "Jacqueline"
Mike,
I'll bite with my own clueless question. I've never sailed with, or seen a Hoyt Gun Mount in action. My understanding is the spinnaker for a Gun Mount needs to be symmetrical, which makes gybing easy as the spinnaker pole rotates in the gunmount, obviating the need to distinguish the luff and leech.
If this is true, I hear you on your question "which side of the sail is the front and the back" presumably because you'd like the retrieval line to come out the back (aft facing) side and lead into the sailbag.
But then you state "one luff has a red ribbon for the full luff length" Does this mean you bought an asymmetrical spinny from Kame, i.e. the sail is not symmetrical, but has different luff lengths and shaping? If so, how could you gybe this sail without first dousing? If you just rotate the gunmount with an asymmetrical, then the leach becomes the luff, and the sail shape will be backwards, although I doubt you'd begin to sail backwards.
Guessing your new, used spinny is symmetrical ....
(signed) Clueless in Capitola
Sled
Yes, exactly, I need to know which side to rig the retrieval line on. As you note, when dousing, the sail is pulled into a long sail sleeve on deck.
And yes, you are correct, the sail must be symmetrical. That much I knew - amazing but true.
The sail is definitely symmetrical. Pineapple had it listed as such and before I bought it and one of the fellows at the shop and I unfolded it for a full inspection. The luff and leach are the same length and very close to my original, I measured them. The foot is a little bit longer than the foot on my original sail but that should be fine. Girth is identical.
The thing that differs from my original sail is that one side of the sail (chose leach or luff) has a red ribbon of cloth sewn in full length. I would expect to see a green ribbon on the other side but it is blue. After writing the original post, I realized the back of the sail is that side which presents itself when the red tape is to port. At least I think that's correct. The blue vs green tape is still a bit of a mystery, any idea why they would do that?
So what does one call the sides of a spinnaker when it is not flying and there is no apparent leach and luff?
Just guessing your spinnaker luff and foot tapes (red, blue, and white) were chosen by the original sailmaker to clandestinely celebrate his favorite baseball team, the World Champ Boston Red Sox.
No apparent leach or luff? Identical lengths? Singular would be "leaf," and plural would be "leaves."
