• Ahoy and Welcome to the New SSS Forums!!

    As you can see, we have migrated our old forums to new software. All your old posts, threads, attachments, and messages should be here. If you see anything out of place or have any questions, please scroll to the very bottom of the page and click "Contact Us" and leave a note with as much detail as possible.

    You should be able to login with your old credentials. If you have any issues, try resetting your password before clicking the Contact Us link.

    Cheers
    - Bryan

New Boat 4 Sled

The topping lift should be led to a cam cleat, chest high, on starboard side of mast. To raise pole, untie the pole from the chocks, affix topping lift, face forward standing on deck abeam the mast, and hoist the outer end of the pole with your left arm while grabbing the butt end with your right arm and swinging it to the mast slider.

I'm having my boat re-rigged next week. So I should ask for a cam cleat to be added to the starboard side of my (soon to be sanded and repainted) mast? Chest high? Thank you.
 
I don't know if your topping lift is internal or external, nor where it exits the mast. I do know, for solo sailing, having the topping lift controllable from the mast area is a good thing. It allows the pole to be more easily raised and lowered. I only said starboard side, because 75% of spinnaker sailing on the Eastern Pacific is on starboard tack. So the pole will more often be raised to starboard.

"Chest high" when you are standing on the cabin top is a good compromise for being both reachable and ergonomically being able to be pulled. On WILDFLOWER I then ran the topping lift tail down to a block on deck and aft to another cam reachable from the tiller. That way I could also adjust the pole height while steering. The foreguy was double ended, one cam each side of cockpit, also within reach of the tiller.

It might be good for you to go sailing on an Express 27, Laser 28, or Moore 24 and see their spinny setups. They use twingers in lieu of a foreguy. But otherwise things are similar.

A good look for your initial spinnaker sailing is tie your boat stern first to a buoy or dock. In true wind less than 8 knots, you can practice set, jibe, and douse your spinnaker without having to watch where you are going or running out of runway.

In '08 I spent several afternoons tied stern first to a CG mooring buoy off Santa Cruz Wharf practicing two pole jibes, and spin/ twin jib changeovers. Eventually, with sails going up and down, but the boat not moving, someone on shore thought I was in trouble, and called the CG. As the Coasties approached in the distance, I slipped my stern line and took off.
 
Last edited:
To Hugsatthe beach in N.C. Thankyou for the kind words. I just finished an article for Small Craft Advisor. And thankyou to all who check in here. You know who you are, including RAGTIME!, Critter, Cap'n Bob, Jonathan, ERGO, the Rubies, Synbad, SleddogSis, Jan, brianb, Travieso, Tom and Sue, Richard and Anne, alanH, Larry V, Howard, DIANNE, Knotbum, Rock Lobster, AJ (where are you?), Philpot ....

I love hearing from one and all, whatever you want to share, agree or disagree, or just tell a story. News tonight is they have apparently found evidence of life on Mars. Heck, we got evidence of life right here, and there are no expensive rockets or cameras in this group. Well, almost none. Travieso is gonna aim his sliver boat vertically, mount two JATO packs, torch them off. And then SSS will have reached the stars.
 
Last edited:
Okay, with that bit of encouragement here are a couple more.


Jack London Square

Before Scott's and the Waterfront Hotel, the Seawolf and the Bow and Bell occupied those spots. The guest docks were between them, long fingers that jutted straight out towards the Estuary. At least one of the restaurants (I can't remember which) was far enough out on pilings that diners were treated to shenanigans comparable to those seen at boat ramps on a Summer weekend. A couple examples:

When racing out the Estuary you wanted to maximize the length of your tacks. As you approached the restaurant windows, you judged the timing of your tack based on the reaction of the diners. Simply wide-eyed wasn't quite close enough. When the guy placed his hands flat on the table to jump up, it was "Helm's a-Lee!" Then once on starboard, you seemed to get a bit of a lift from the wind deflecting off the windows.

Daysailing, we'd tie up SQUALI at the guest dock and walk up to Sambo's - that most politically-incorrect of restaurants. It was a family favorite, more for the boat ride than for the food. One of the first times we tied up there I was handling the stern line. I was backing up with the line, using the ends of the adjacent fingers as reference. What I'd failed to notice was the finger on which I was backing up was a few feet shorter than those on either side. Yep.

The pilings under the Bow and Bell were surrounded by bags of cement that looked just like punching bags. Yep.

Back then we had real chandleries. The small one down near the Stone Boat Yard was Proper-Tighes. The big one at Jack London Square was Johnson & Joseph - a wonderful place to pass the time.

Speaking of Stone's, Lester Stone kept his cutter "SCAMP" at Alameda Marina, a couple rows east of where SQUALI was berthed. He was a real gentleman. Svendsen's had a gas dock, alongside where the travel-lift launches boats now. One day a gas-engined cutter blew out his transom and sank on the spot there. But that's another story.
 
Last edited:
Quetzal

When we were cleaning out Bill's ERGO a couple weeks ago, I noticed a Santana 27 named QUETZAL just a few slips over. Assuming it's the same boat, I experienced my first ocean race on that very boat about 40 years ago. Back then it was owned and raced aggressively by Dick Heckman, a member of the newly-formed Island Yacht Club. As a member of IYC's Jr. Program, I was invited to crew for Dick for some YRA races. At first I was on the traveler but before long he had me releasing the genoa sheet on tacks. When Dick would get wound up he did what too many skippers do - he yelled. But he knew it and would encourage us to simply yell back at him. We rarely did.

After a few races Dick invited me to join him and a one other crew for a night race in the ocean - I think it was called the Waterhouse. It started off the St. Fancy at 1800, went up to the Duxbury buoy, around the Farallones and back in the Gate, finishing the next afternoon up in Vallejo.

The beat up to Duxbury was an honest upwind leg and it was blowing, and it didn't ease up as the night wore on. The reach out to SE Farallon was downright scary. After rounding the island, Dick announced he was going to sleep. Sometime later we saw a seagoing tug approaching and decided after some hand-wringing to take his stern. I guess our conversation woke up Dick - he came on deck just in time to tell us to change course. In the darkness we hadn't noticed the tug was towing a barge.

I don't remember how we finished but it was a great introduction to ocean racing.
 
Last edited:
I drove Capitola to Berkeley Marina early this morning. WILDFLOWER's slip expires today, and I planned to haul her on the hoist and trailer home.

Best laid plans don't always happen. The Berkeley hoist is on the SE side of the Marina, where the Cal Sailing Club has its boats. There is no protection from the SE, and it was blowing from the SE at 15-18 knts., making a lee shore where I had planned to tie up.

The 2' wind waves were smacking the seawall right under the hoist, and reflecting upwind. In a good example of Physics 101, there were 3' standing waves popping up all over the place. It would have been nearly impossible to get WILDFLOWER anywhere near the hoist without damage. The Berkeley Marina staff was most accommodating, and found me a well protected end tie. I closed the boat up good, and retreated to Bette's for breakfast with my sister and family, and will return next week when the weather moderates.
 
Last edited:
I'm going down to the marina tomorrow and again for sure on Sunday, when I will bring Dura Mater over to chat with and spend the night with Wildflower. She's so small: my big fat girl will keep an eye on her, not let any of the other boats bully her.
 
The SE winds, gusting 30-40 knots in Monterey Bay, have shoaled the Santa Cruz Harbor Entrance extensively. Not much "channel" remains. Yesterday morning (Saturday), the surf was breaking the whole way across during sets.
http://www.santacruzharbor.org/harborCams/harborEntrance.html

More impressive is what is happening offshore. Third Reef, about a mile seaward off Lighthouse Point, is also breaking "burgers." The localized depth at Third Reef is only 18-20' at low tide. But so far offshore, surfers can't get there short of jet skis.

Yesterday, at "Coffee Club" at the Harbor Kind Grind, we chuckled at the original paint job on the Santa Cruz Breakwater boutique light house. Costing nearly $3/4 million, the lighthouse was supposed to look like romantic New England, something Santa Cruz certainly is not.

I guess the architects never got the word. The new lighthouse sits on the end of the West breakwater, on your port side when entering. It's original paint job, lasting at least a year, featured a nice broad red stripe around its white tower.
 
Last edited:
Getting a break in the weather, I departed Capitola at 0500 this morning for Berkeley Marina. With help from brother-in-law Tom we hauled the boat on the 2 ton hoist. It then took two hours to unrig and tie down.

Not sure what is more challenging: rounding Pt. Sur northbound. Or towing a trailer down the 880 corridor with faded lane lines and 18 wheelers only inches away. Today, the latter had my full attention.

Arrived safely back at Capitola at 1:30 p.m. and backed WILDFLOWER into the driveway.
 
Many sailors on SF Bay have likely noticed an increase in sightings of Harbor Porpoise. These small and usually solitary animals are found up and down the CA coast. But their presence in SF Bay since WW II was limited. Now, likely because of cleaner water, they have returned.

But there is possibly another, darker, reason for Harbor Porpoise in SF Bay. Right here off Capitola, and elsewhere off the Central CA Coast, gangs of juvenile Bottlenose Dolphins are attacking the smaller Harbor Porpoise and killing them with blunt force. Dozens of dead Harbor Porpoise have washed ashore in the last few years, and there is now video of these attacks.

What this all means is uncertain. Bottlenose Dolphins are usually found in warmer waters to the south. Are Harbor Porpoise seeking refuge from these "porpicide" attacks in SF Bay? Fascinating stuff.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Porpicide-Bottlenose-dolphins-killing-porpoises-2309298.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBul5j30V98
 
On her trailer, WILDFLOWER is now rerigged here in Capitola and ready for some driveway sailing. A two page list of maintenance and improvements awaits sunny winter days.

Say what you want. But there is a certain pleasure being able to see the boat out the window. And step outside, climb a ladder, and be aboard.

On the other side of the World, the Vendee racers have passed south of the Cape of Good Hope. The Virtual Vendee now has 390,000 racers, of which SLEDCAT is currently 1500 miles behind the leader in position 28,872. No worries, we've been averaging 21.8 knots for 36 hours with a 30 knot tailwind down at latitude 43 S. The leading group is only making 6 knots, stuck under a slow moving area of high pressure.

The enjoyment of sailing takes many forms. My good friend, Gary, in Anacortes, finds simple pleasure in seeking out used bronze boat parts. Over in Hawaii, Cap'n Bob stand up paddles every day, as well as monitoring Matson's fleet comings and goings. Down in Los Barriles, Alex is windsurfing.

Onward.
 
Last edited:
You can't put numbers in front of a bean-counter like that and not expect him to do something with them - you're in the top 8% of a 390,000 boat fleet and moving up!

In the live race, the tactics for staying in the breeze while navigating through the latest ice gate have been interesting. I was sure Armel (BP) had given up his lead for good but now it looks like he'll be back up there as the other leaders sail into 5 knots of breeze to clear the gate.

The top three boats are less than 50 miles apart after 27 days of racing!
 
Last edited:
We are all connoisseurs of something: wine, coffee, dessert, wood, hot springs, gardens and ?
My taste reaches towards the horizon. More specifically, catching the Green Flash at sunrise and sunset. The Green Flash twice a day takes some doing and some luck. Sunrise is harder than sunset. I walk to the cliff, hoping it is clear down the Salinas Valley, toward El Gabilan Peak. I know the sun is currently rising 40 seconds later each morning.

If everything aligns, like it did this morning at 7:13:29 a.m., the Green Flash lights a point on the horizon for an instant, just as the sun's upper limb appears above the distant Coastal mountain range. The color, at least to me, is not deep green. But more a fluorescent green, almost turquoise, that lasts for a count of 2.

I'd be interested if others have seen the Green Flash at sunrise, and where.
 
We used to refer to color of the flash as psychedelic or electric green.
While living in Hawaii the evening sunset and green flash became a ritual event, my mornings have almost never allowed such leisure.
However in the winter of 1968, when leaving La Paz before sunrise bound for San Diego, and strictly by chance, caught the morning flash.
H Spruit
 
Single and short handed sailors like you and I often create marvelously inventive equipment and techniques to compensate for our lack of manpower. For example, though I am not a fan of spinnaker snuffers, in the '98 DH Pacific Cup on the 60' Wylie design ROXANNE, we would hoist the spinnaker by attaching the tail of the spinnaker halyard to a 5 gal mayonnaise bucket. On the command "hoist away" the mayo bucket would be launched overboard. It would fill with water having a sea anchor effect, and the 35 pound spinnaker, with snuffer, would shoot to the top of the 80 foot mast in 3-4 seconds, no physical exertion required.

When the spinnaker two blocked, the 75# plastic wire tie holding the halyard tail to the bucket handle would break, the bucket would capsize, and we would conveniently haul it back aboard.

OK. I'm offering another cruise on WILDFLOWER to the most creative shorthanded piece of gear or technique posted below. The above H. Spruit has already made known one of his many boat building shortcuts. H Spruit is the only one I know who has 19 pairs of vice grips in his tool kit. I asked him why. He says he often uses them when singlehandedly removing fasteners from deck gear and jib tracks. He simply attaches a vice grip to each underdeck nut, then goes topsides with his Makita electric drill. Presto, the jib track or whatever is removed in a few short minutes....
 
Last edited:
On a lowtide walk this afternoon down towards New Brighton, I encountered possibly 100 or more beached Humboldt Squid. The seagulls were having a calimari feast on the carcasses. The squid looked to be mostly about 2' long, weighing probably 5 pounds.

Why they came ashore last night is anyone's guess. Humboldt Squid, until recently, were found much further south, Mexico and beyond. I'd hate to have one of those puppies be flushed into the cockpit at night. Their beaks are rumored to be razor sharp.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/aptos/ci_22163225/hundreds-squid-beached-aptos-area
 
Do you know if they are any good to eat ? if fresh of course.

My neighbor uses Humboldt squid he catches with a fishing pole to bait his crab traps. But according to guide books, they are good eating as well. The Humboldt squid give thick steaks. But reportedly the tentacle suction cups have teeth and are not edible.

The knock on Humboldt squid is that it is tough and chewy, like retread truck tires. But this toughness is often a result of overcooking. If worried about toughness, wrap the squid steak in plastic, and pound it with a meat tenderizer or wooden mallet. The other thing is to use a marinade containing something acidic, like lemon juice or vinegar.

Cleaning a Humboldt Squid: Film at 11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8_JgzAKdE
 
One of my childhood heroes and pioneering British solo sailor Bill King has died at age 102. King was a much decorated British submarine captain, and the only man to command a sub from the first to the last day of WW II.

While restoring the roofless 12th century Oranmore Castle overlooking Galway Bay, the idea of sailing alone around the world took seed for King. He developed his own junk-rigged 42' schooner GALWAY BLAZER II to compete in the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo round-the-world race, which was eventually won by Robin Knox-Johnston.

King left Plymouth in August, 1968, but lost his rig two months later in what he described as the "worst storm I have ever witnessed" and was towed to Cape Town. A second attempt ended in Perth, Western Australia when ill health forced him ashore. He resumed his voyage the following year and finally completed his circumnavigation in 1973.

During his time in subs, Bill King survived on a "soap-like meat substitute" and became so haunted by the smell of Spam that he lived on raisins, wholemeal biscuits and almond paste for protein. For vitamin C he, like Chichester, grew watercress aboard, and collected the odd flying fish.

In 1975 The Cruising Club of America (CCA) awarded Commander Bill King the Blue Water Medal. I recommend his books, including "The Stick and the Stars" about his war experiences and "Adventure in Depth" about sailing.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top