New Boat 4 Sled

[Dazzler]

What's the depth into Drakes Estero? Wikipedia says the Golden Hind drew 13.5 feet. I know things have changed since back then but still...

Very good question that deserves an explanation. We know that the mouths of tidal estuaries, river mouths and beaches change shape both horizontally and in profile seasonally, and they can silt-in over time. Drake was on our coast in the Summer of 1579. In 1595, sixteen years after Drake, the Portuguese explorer Sebastian Rodriquez Cermeño led a Spanish expedition to explore and map the California coast. Records from the Cermeño expedition indicate they found three Spanish fathoms (sixteen-and-a-half English feet) of water over the estero bar at high tide. So, there’s evidence that in 1579 it’s likely there was enough depth for the Golden Hind to enter the estero.

 

[sleddog]

What's the depth into Drakes Estero? Wikipedia says the Golden Hind drew 13.5 feet. I know things have changed since back then but still...

Hi Jonathan,

Little known is GOLDEN HIND had a consort for the passage north from Huatulco, Mexico, and ultimately into Drakes Bay, the Estero, and Cove. This was a small bark or "fregata," TELLO's Bark, named after its Spanish owner when captured near Panama. TELLO's Bark had two masts, was square rigged, and had a small mizzen. She was about 40 feet long, drew about 5 feet, displaced 15 tons and was a nimble sailor, which Drake liked, especially for close-in navigation. It was likely TELLO's Bark could safely sail into and out of Drake's Estero with the tide and provide soundings. As well, Drake was very familiar with careening GOLDEN HIND, and likely used TELLO's Bark to assist careening as well as to carry men and gear during the process. More info on this can be found here: https://www.discoveringnovaalbion.org/what-is-tellos-bark







What became of TELLO's Bark is unknown. She was likely left behind at Pt. Reyes and could be one of the nearby wrecks discovered there.

 

[BobJ]

This is fascinating - thank you to the contributors.

In both of the more recent photos it is breaking at the mouth of Drake's Estero. But in the right conditions one might anchor off the mouth and take a small boat inside, which would enable more thorough exploring. It would be even safer if you weren't singlehanding so someone could stand anchor watch aboard the "mother ship." Then a swift rowboat, kayak or even a little cat boat (sail) would be the ticket.

 

[sleddog]

As a kid, even to this day, I enjoy walking docks, visiting boat yards, and enjoying a chinwag with racing or cruising crew. Alas, access has become more difficult over the years with security.

As mentioned above on 11/05/21, these days kayaking has proven inexpensive means for both exercise and "walking the docks." A CBC flag at the bow, or crew shirt from a SSS Race, provides introduction if needed. Locally I kayak early morning inside and outside Santa Cruz Harbor and enjoy the sounds and smells that are lost later in the day with local busyness. As well, there are often interesting visiting yachts on end ties to admire or critique.

Just the other day I saw an osprey on the masthead wind vane of a Catalina 36 with his talons tightly gripping the masthead anemometer cups.The osprey decided his perch was less than secure and flew off as I paddled on, under the bridge, and into the Upper Harbor where I came across a 40 foot power boat, LISA MARIE with a starboard list, stern step underwater, and no one around. I halted and hailed, but no answer. I called the Harbor Office on VHF 9 with my handheld and advised the situation...Nothing worse than a potential sinking and oil spill.

Sure enough, on my return lap, LISA MARIE was going down stern first. But on the dock was a Harbor Patrolman with a large electric pump gushing water. As I passed he hailed a "Thank You!" Monty on VESSEL ASSIST was charging from his slip with red light flashing, and 3 fire trucks with red lights and sirens raced overhead on the Harbor Bridge. Thankfully the combined forces saved LISA MARIE who was then towed to the Travel Lift at the boatyard and hauled. I never did ask what failed.

All in a day. And it wasn't even 8 a.m.

 

[sleddog]

I will attempt an answer to Tchoupitoulas trivia over on his thread, New Boat for Tchoup. "what do you call the lines that hold up the wishbone boom?.

I don't know what Nat Herreshoff called them, but on Wyliecats they are called simply "hangers."

The weather here at CBC is so delicious it is hard to be indoors for very long. But here is your trivia. One correct answer earns honorable mention, two correct answers earns a CBC burgee. And if you can answer all three, you win a quart of Macapuno from Grady's market down the street. Here goes:

1) What veteran boat/skipper had this as a crew shirt in a SHTP?


2) What famous dinghy, below, was once the largest one design class in Santa Cruz, with 20-30 boats regularly racing. The class even had an ocean race, a '"Transpac" from Santa Cruz Harbor, to an ocean mark, to China Beach, and one of our forum denizens designed and built a kick-up rudder especially to sail through the kelp at Pleasure Point and win the Transpac.

3) Who was Manuel "Manny" Fagundes?

 

[BobJ]

1) Bill Meanley
2) My reactive answer was "Andre is nuts" but the real answer is the Jester dinghy. "Jester" is also the name of our El Toro.
3) Portuguese dairy farmer from Marin. Mover and shaker in the GGYC - the kind of guy who was always there to help. The club named the Manuel Fagundes Seaweed Soup midwinter series for him. Gordie and Ruth won the bowl one year, got the recipe from the GGYC and made the soup in it!
.

 

[sleddog]

BobJ scores 100%. Happy to see in his recent retirement he has time for this distraction. Well done, Robert!

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

Wow Sled that thing is powered up!
Hangers. Thank you.

 

[sleddog]

Wow Sled that thing is powered up!

Tchoup is referring to good friend and shipmate Andre' Lacour, one of the best sailors I know, and watch captain for many years on SC-70 MIRAGE. Here again is Andre' hiking on his Jester dinghy at Mother' Day Regatta, Woodward Lake, 1991. Look closely. Below the photo Andre' answers your questions:



it is really hard to remember exactly how I rigged the 505 spinny on my 7 foot Jester, but when I zoom in on the photo in my laptop it does appear the spin sheet is in my tiller hand. The main sheet became irrelevant because the tent pole aka spin pole was lashed directly to the boom so when I trimmed the pole with my right hand the boom moved as well. As far as returning to shore, once dousing the kite I resumed normal sailing, but I am sure when I got to the beach I had an adult beverage. Yes 8 kts TWS is probably the max. This photo is quite special to me. I have used it for years as an avatar for an online sailing game I play. The fact that you took this picture makes it that much more special. I have been playing a game called VSK5 for quite some time now. I find it the best sailing game/ simulator. What’s funny is I am the top ranked sailor in the US. Best, Andre', Kihei, Maui.

 

[Mewes]

1) Bill Meanley
2) My reactive answer was "Andre is nuts" but the real answer is the Jester dinghy. "Jester" is also the name of our El Toro.
3) Portuguese dairy farmer from Marin. Mover and shaker in the GGYC - the kind of guy who was always there to help. The club named the Manuel Fagundes Seaweed Soup midwinter series for him. Gordie and Ruth won the bowl one year, got the recipe from the GGYC and made the soup in it!
.

Hmmm. I was there that year, it was a lot of fun. But I remember that John Dukat researched and provided the recipe. A very particular tomato as I recall.

Good work Bob!

 

[sleddog]

Honored to be an invitee to the maiden launching of mini-MAGIC, on Monday I drove 3 hours south from CBC to Los Osos to find Craig and Vicky had their act together and had neatly loaded 6' MAGIC, keel, rig and sails, launching cart, sounding pole, waders, and mini-bottles of rum for the christening into the mini-van for an early, high tide, start Tues.



Tuesday dawned with perfect weather, clear with a light easterly, night drainage, offshore breeze, 2-5 knots. MAGIC was easily rigged in the parking lot at the kayak ramp at Morro Bay State Park. Masts were stepped, rigging turnbuckles snugged, keel attached, radio control adjustments checked, hatches snugged, and questions asked and answered to early riser passerbys.






At high tide, 8:30 a.m. Vicky did the honors of naming MAGIC and blessing her voyages with a dollop of rum. Craig in his waders wheeled MAGIC down the cinderblock ramp and into Morro Bay. We all held our breaths. With the necessary 28" of depth, Craig gently pushed MAGIC stern first off the cart and into her element...and she floated happily, exactly on her lines!

I was already afloat in my kayak, nearby, acting as tug if necessary. MAGIC's sails filled in the gentle breeze and off she went with Craig at the controls. Cheers erupted from the small crowd. Soon MAGIC began to feel the 5-6 knots of breeze in the marina entrance channel, and off she schooned with Vicky in her yellow kayak/canoe WOODSTOCK and myself in PADDLIN' MADELINE in chase. With MAGIC's sails trimmed on a beam reach she left a clean wake and was making an honest 2.5 knots. Over the course of the next 45 minutes Craig put MAGIC through her paces, tacking, gybing, beating, reaching, and running. My only job as tug came when MAGIC noticeably slowed when heeled over. At first we thought maybe she was aground on the nearby mudflats. But no, plenty of water measured with the sounding pole, it was just a collection of eel grass on her keel, something easily removed by coming alongside, rolling up my sleeve, and reaching underwater a half dozen times.



Too soon, the land breeze went light, and the sea breeze was yet a half hour from building as the tide began to fall, revealing Morro Bay's ubiquitous mud flats. I kayaked out to visit an osprey on an abandoned ketch while MAGIC was hauled, unrigged, and taken home for slight adjustments to the steering and sheeting. It was so much fun that we turned to an hour later the next morning, Wednesday, and found a little more breeze that sent MAGIC off at 2.5-3 knots, happy as you please.



Good job, Magicians! If you want to see a fun, short tour of the 40 foot schooner MAGIC, which Craig designed and was their home for many years and 25,000 miles of voyaging, you should visit this wonderful video taken by her current owners in Maine.
https://www.offcenterharbor.com/vid...-cruising/?awt_l=oKWAuY&awt_m=3Z5aBmGd.Q44w9k

 

[AntsUiga]

Absolutely wonderful!!

Ants

 

[MAGICdreamer]

Our thanks!

Sleddog:

Thanks so much for joining us as well as lending your expertise and delightful humor to these couple of days!. As all know, a boat is never finished and this certainly applies to MAGIC in this, her smaller form. The pending list of "improvements, additions and corrections" has benefited from the questions, suggestions and observations of all who were present. My work will pleasantly continue as a result.

For those who might question how Sleddog can be a tug in a very short kayak, the attached image shows him mightily striving to bring MAGIC back after the wind died.

 

[AntsUiga]

View attachment 7006

Sleddog’s writeup said 28 inches of depth. The above water is very traditional. I presume the mahogany keel in the photo requires the depth, and certainly appreciates the sea grass removal.

That model takes more depth of water to launch than all my watercraft, except one.

Fabulous!!

Ants

 

[sleddog]

That model takes more depth of water to launch than all my watercraft, except one.
Fabulous!! Ants

Bodfish, CA. 93205. Pomegranate capitol of the world. Photo of CBC, Bodfish Station, compliments of Fleet Captain at Large, Ants Uiga.

And here's CBC's Port Captain, Howard Spruit, on "BLACKIE."



If interested in a position at CBC, aka Capitola Boat Club and Maritime Museum, give us your field of interest. Positions open at the top.

 

[sleddog]

Capitola's cliffs are world famous for their ancient fossils: whales and dolphins, walrus, snails, shells and rocks that are 50% fossil bits. So much so these fossil rocks and bones were used extensively to construct walls and paths throughout the Village.



The other day I had a call from a paleontologist friend and specialist in the history of our local cliffs. Would I assist in recovering a baleen whale jaw, 4.3 million years old, he'd discovered in recent rockfall, accessible only at minus low tide?

There is no digging or collecting allowed from the cliffs. Not only to protect the cliffs, but as the cliffs are receding an average of a foot a year, the possibility of rockfall is a very real danger. However the beach is literally awash in fossil rocks and the whale jaw, if it could be recovered, would be going to the UC Berkeley Paleontology Museum to be cleaned, categorized and displayed.

We set to work, and after about 30 minutes had freed the whale jaw, identified as the right, lower jaw, 4.3 million years old, from the Pliocene Epoch . The problem then was to carry or drag the 150 pound fossilized jawbone 200 yards down the beach to the truck.



Fortunately we had the right tools: an 8 foot iron bar, plenty of strong, yellow webbing, and several strong backs.



Visitors to CBC are always welcome, and if low tide I am happy to lead walks among the many fossils and imbedded whale bones along the beach.

 

[Dazzler]

If interested in a position at CBC, aka Capitola Boat Club and Maritime Museum, give us your field of interest. Positions open at the top.

Many years ago, working at a major corporation, it was suggested that my job title should have been, “Manager of Winds and Tides.” I’m good with that.

 

[Howard Spruit]

Many years ago, working at a major corporation, it was suggested that my job title should have been, “Manager of Winds and Tides.” I’m good with that.

Sled, made the comment below, about weirdos, and me having been DRAFTED to be CBC "port captain" I can attest to being in that category, and having a WIND manager is something I would have many words for, hoping to get a shift in my favor. And more often that not those words would be dark in color when the shifts went against my desires, so you are volunteering, come on in the waters might be COLD!

"Hmmm. Chris Bertish recently left Half Moon Bay to be the first to wing foil to Hawaii. On Yellow Brick tracker, looks like Chris is headed for CBC instead. We'll feed him some Macapuno and get him underway. No weirdo too weird for the CBC docks."

 

[sleddog]

A call this morning and the above pic he took this afternoon, confirms that barely a week after being anointed Race Chair (RC) for the 2023 Singlehanded Transpac, our very own Hedgehog, Dave Herrigel, is in Kauai laying groundwork for your start and finish 18 months hence. That is dedication, as well as Hedgehog withdrawing his consideration of racing his highly competitive O-29 HEDGEHOG to Hanalei in favor of making sure the 2023 SHTP will have his full attention and support. Did I mention David is also in charge of a dozen crew designing and building 125 new exhibits for the San Francisco Exploratorium?

I'm not sure what, if any, part Hedgehog played in one of his and the public's favorite Exploratorium exhibits, "Fog Bridge."

,

which uses desalinated water, pumped at high pressure through more than 800 nozzles, and shrouds visitors in fog. If you don't get to experience fog outbound at the Golden Gate, go visit "Fog Bridge." A kazoo will suffice for a fog horn.

Meanwhile, over Give Thanks holiday, I was walking a seldom trafficked dirt road towards sunrise over the Panoche. Nearby, 35 miles from the nearest civilization, was a very cool hot springs oasis, once a hideout for bandito Joaquin Murrieta and current outstation of CBC.



Significant contrasts exist between the Panoche Hills in Central California and Bali Hai at Hanalei Bay. But both are delightfully beautiful.

 

[Philpott]

What a nice report, Skip! Thank you. I love your photographs. I love David's photographs. Yes, the club is fortunate that Mr Hedgehog has agreed to be SHTP Chair. The racers are in good hands now. And oh, how I wish I were on that beach.