New Boat 4 Sled

[H Spruit]

I am truly amazed at the creativity and accomplishments that came out of the early recreational yachting scene, and how much of it was thwarted by the rule makers of the day.
I also never cease to be amazed at the lengths the rich kids will go to in order to satisfy their giant ego's
Keep smiling!

 

[sleddog]

Nov. 10 marks the 39th anniversary of the loss of the EDMUND FITGERALD with her entire crew of 29 during a 1975 autumn storm on Lake Superior.

The FITZGERALD, an iron ore bulk carrier, was 729 feet overall, and when launched in 1958 was the largest ship on the Great lakes. The exact reason for her sinking remains a mystery and subject of conflicting theories. Whether she broke in half, was overwhelmed by 35 foot waves, or had leaks through unsecured deck hatches and slowly filled are only some of the conjectures.

The EDMUND FITZGERALD's final resting place has been discovered, some 17 miles from Whitehorse Bay, Michigan. Divers recovered her 200 pound bronze bell in 1995 and the area is now a marine sanctuary. The bell is on display in the nearby Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum as a memorial to her lost crew.

What remains is probably the most famous sinking and legend since the TITANIC.

If you are in the vicinity of Whitehorse Bay Nov. 10, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum will be holding an EDMUND FITZGERALD Memorial at 7 pm at which time the bell will be rung 29 times, once for each lost crew member, plus a 30th ring to remember all those Mariners lost on the Great Lakes.

http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/the-fateful-journey-62/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6DUFPNILvM

 

[sleddog]

What is being billed as the most intense storm ever in the North Pacific Ocean is poised to rake the Aleutian Islands this weekend.

Ex-Category 5 Typhoon Nuri, with 180 mph winds, has recurved northeast from Japan and is about to enter the Bering Sea, complete with an eye and plunging central pressure of 918-922 millibars. This atmospheric pressure will make Nuri a "Super Storm," exceeding Hurricane Sandy in intensity.

Meterologists are describing Nuri's development using a word I'm not much familiar with: "bombogenesis." Bombogenesis occurs between a cold continental air mass and warm ocean waters or between a cold polar air mass and a much warmer air mass."

Those air masses mix together to form an "extratropical surface cyclone" — or, as in Nuri's case, a "bomb" of a storm. Bombogenesis also draws its name from another weather term — cyclogenesis — which is a fancy word for a cyclone's origin.

We remember another weather "bomb," the Queen's Birthday Storm of June, 1994, when the cruising fleet departing New Zealand encountered extreme conditions, loss of boats and life.

Only a few villages, the Naval Station on Adak Island, and the Port of Dutch Harbor are in Nuri's Path. Shipping containers have been secured so they don't blow away, and the crab fishing fleet from the TV Series "Deadliest Catch" has sought shelter.

"Not some kids sailing class, these guys are pros," said Mark Gleason, executive director of the Seattle-based trade association Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

http://news.yahoo.com/remnant-typhoon-nuri-headed-aleutian-islands-232035931.html

 

[sleddog]

Many SSS members have been following the singlehanded Route du Rhum Transatlantic Race from St.Malo, France to Guadelupe in the Caribbean. Ill fortune has struck a big part of the fleet. Injuries; broken rigs and blown sails; lost keels, rudders; structural failures that caused multi-hulls to lose their amas, to name a few.

No bigger catastrophe has occurred than favorite Thomas Colville, whose 105' maxi-trimaran SODEBO T-boned a freighter at a combined closing speed in excess of 40 knots. That only SODEBO's starboard bow was ripped off and Colville was able to make port, unhurt, is fortunate indeed.

For singlehanded sailors anywhere, the opportunity to encounter large commercial ships is only increasing. I like to remind both myself and other fellow sailors, that when you are alone on the ocean and sight a ship on radar, AIS, or visually on the horizon, there inevitably seems to be a 50% chance that ship is on a collision course.

I'm sure Mark Twain would have some choice comment about this possibility.

These days, sailors need to be familiar with two nautical shipping terms: PANAMAX and POST (or NEW) PANAMAX. "Panamax" refers to the size of ship currently able to transit the Panama Canal. Panamax ships can be up to 965 ft. in length, 106 ft in width and 39.5 ft draft in order to fit to the lock chambers. Panamax ships have been in operation since the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.

More and more, especially on voyages to/from Hawaii, and in the approaches to Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, we encounter "PostPanamax" ships, significantly longer, wider, deeper, heavier, and much less manuverable than the Panamax ships of yesteryear.

PostPanamax ships, designed and built to fit the newly enlarged Panama Canal, have max dimensions of 1,200 ft in length, 160.7 ft in width, and 50 feet in depth.

Many of us have already encountered these PostPanamax monsters. I certainly have. At the time, in 2008, the second biggest PostPanamax container ship in the world, the 1061' MSC TORONTO, retrieved me from my sloop WILDFLOWER, 400 miles west of Santa Cruz.

PostPanamx ships are bigger these days than the MSC TORONTO. In the spring of 2012 I had the occasion of watching the MSC FABIOLA enter the Alameda Estuary and be turned 180 degrees. The FABIOLA is 1,200 feet long, and as the three acccompanying tugs pushed and pulled, there was little or no room between either end of the ship and the shores of the Alameda Estuary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEZG-O5XFxI

The presence of the MSC FABIOLA at the Port of Oakland was the result of a 12-year harbor-deepening project. The San Francisco Bay Bar Pilots trained for FABIOLA's visit for over a year on a simulator at the California Maritime Academy.

I recommend to you the documented divisiveness of PostPanamax shipping in Panama (the Panama Canal pilots were not consulted during the design of the current expansion of the Canal.) At about 7 minutes, 20 seconds of the video, you get to see how it looks from the bridge of a PostPanamax ship coming into SF Bay and down the estuary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhS4ImOtzSg

If you encounter a big ship, best to ascertain her movements and intentions, and then give way. Professional singlehander Thomas Colville forgot this mantra and his SODEBO paid dearly.

 

[sleddog]

Commodore Fred Hughes of New York was a yacht racer and betting man. In the 1880's in New York, those two recreations, sailing and gambling were not mutually exclusive .

Fred Hughes had “drunk the catamaran Kool-Aid” when he bought Nathanael Herreshoff's legendary pioneering catamaran AMARYLLIS. Soon enough, Hughes wanted something faster than the revolutionary AMARYLLIS. Hughes had the 41' catamaran JESSIE built with the intention of racing JESSIE against a horse from New York to Stony Creek, Connecticut, 90 miles, for a $1,000 bet, winner take all.

Hughes catamaran JESSIE, favored with strong tail winds, won that initial race. The horse, “Boston,” came second. The owner of the horse, wealthy New York sportsman, Dr. Ezra P. Daggett, was dissatisfied and wanted a rematch.

Commodore Hughes readily agreed to Daggett's terms for a rematch. For the rematch, Hughes again had a new catamaran built, the 40' CYCLONE, designed by Thomas Fearon, a disciple of Nathanael Herreshoff. Daggett again challenged with his horse “Boston.” A third entry, a dark horse, was an unnamed man on a bicycle, who bet $500 he could out pedal the horse and the catamaran, and take the $1,500 prize.

The start of the catamaran/ horse/ bicycle race was scheduled to leave New York 4:30 a.m. on morning of August 15, 1883. There was a problem. 4 detectives from the Humane Society were hunting for “Boston” the horse, ready to arrest Daggett the owner on animal cruelty charges.

At the 24th St starting line, Daggett cunningly disguised another horse as “Boston,” and the Humane Society detectives tried to arrest the wrong horse. Meanwhile, Daggett and “Boston” rode away at a 12 mph gate up Central Ave.

By the Boston Road, “Boston's” pace had increased to 20 mph with Daggett wearing oilskin foul weather gear and a Southwester hat pulled over his eyes to protect them from the driving rain.

Down on the water, Hughes CYCLONE was encountering difficulty starting the race. Leaving New York's East River through Hells Gate, the wind was strong and from the East, making it a dead muzzler, not a good point of sail for a catamaran. We can only guess the conversation onboard CYCLONE was not optimistic.

Meanwhile, the third starter, the bicyclist, failed to appear. Whether because of the foul weather, or because he hadn't secured the necessary $500 entry bet, the reason for the bicyclist's “no show” is unknown.

By 6 a.m., “Boston” and Daggett had reached New Rochelle, and the rain was beginning to let up. Stamford, Connecticut was reached at 8:15 a.m. In Stamford, “Boston” was given a swallow of brandy, a rubdown, and 45 minute rest.

At 11:30 a.m., “Boston” trotted briskly into Bridgeport, where the big boned gelding was given a well deserved hour's rest. At 12: 30 p.m. Dr. Daggett picked up “Boston's” reins, gave a chirp, and “Boston” responded by breaking into “a spanking gate” which they held all the way to New Haven.

At 2:45 pm “Boston” and Daggett entered New Haven, where “Boston” was again rested, rubbed down, and given oatmeal porridge flavored with a dose of brandy. It was here in New Haven that Daggett fully expected to be arrested by the Humane Society officers. But none appeared.

At 4:34 p.m, after covering the final 11 miles from New Haven, “Boston” and Daggett crossed the finish line at Frank's Hotel to the applause of 50 welcomers. But the race wasn't over. Where was Hughes on CYCLONE? Nothing had been seen of the catamaran since the start. In addition, Daggett realized that in his ruse to escape the Humane Society detectives in New York, he had started the race five miles closer to the finish than CYCLONE.

To make up the five mile advantage, a very tired “Boston” was driven 5 miles up and down the road in front of Frank's Hotel until the requisite makeup distance had been covered. Still no CYCLONE in sight as “Boston” was stabled, rubbed down, given another round of oatmeal, and snugged down for the night.

Whatever became of the catamaran CYCLONE? Apparently, Hughes and crew gave up the race at Bridgeport, 20 miles short of the finish.

It was reported in the NY Times the next day that “Dr. Daggett boasted he was ready to put up $2,000 that his horse could beat the catamaran two out of three.”

“Dr. Daggett versus the Catamaran” certainly sounds like a more interesting contest than the proposed 35th America's Cup, likely to be held in light air San Diego in 2017.

And remember, if you are going to race a horse against a catamaran, give the horse some brandy for optimum results.

 

[chautauqua]

Skip, love these interesting tidbits of info, and agree that Brandy might bring out the optimum results in almost any contest if administered at the right intervals. I believe that my famiy's voyages or races on RENEGADE, LIVELY and FRAM were usually optimized with Jack Daniels. Your story begs to be condensed into an additional verse to Lyle Lovet's "Pony on a Boat" song.

 

[sleddog]

CHATAUQUA: Break out your mandolin. Better to sing about a horse than sail with one.

I sailed with a horse, once. "Risky" had to be delivered from the Quadra Island stable back to his home on Maurelle Island, distance 15 miles.

Laurie led "Risky" down the steep gangway at Heriot Bay and onto the Government Float. Rob placed a sheet of thick plywood over QUINTANO's cockpit well for RISKY to stand on. (QUINTANO was Rob and Laurie Wood's 30' home built catamaran.)

"Risky" stepped aboard QUINTANO, we untied, and shoved off.

Nice sailing breeze, west at 12-15. QUINTANO was making knots. Each time we tacked, Laurie topped the boom over the horse's back.

Hoskyn Channel narrowed as we closed on Beazely Pass and tacks became more frequent. I was trimming for Rob. As we approached the Read Island shore on port tack, Rob called "ready about."

I dove for the starboard side jib winch, only to have "Risky" dump a steaming pile of poop on the winch before I could uncleat. I called back to Rob "hold the tack, I can't find the winch."

No shit.

I have a suspicion Lyle Lovett was no cowboy, nor sailor. But his "If I Had a Boat" is a classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpM8FjO4Vko

 

[sleddog]

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, aka “Capt. Nat,” the “Wizard of Bristol, and “NGH” was the most innovative yacht designer of all time. His revolutionary designs, sail craft, rowing boats, steam yachts, and naval torpedo boats, were notably graceful, elegantly engineered, and Fast. So dominant were NGH's designs that his fame spread world wide. During the "Herreshoff Era," Capt. Nat designed a record six winning America's Cup yachts. His company, Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, built every winning America's Cup yacht from 1893 to 1934.

Less well known is Herreshoff's romance with catamarans. As Capt. Nat wrote in 1875, "For actual sailing I enjoyed these craft more than any other I have owned." NGH's first catamaran, the 25' AMARYLLIS (1875) was based on iceboats that NGH sailed around a frozen Bristol Harbor in the winters of 1874-75 and '75-76. When completed, AMARYLLIS, planked with half inch cedar, competed in the Centennial Regatta on June 22, 1876, off the New York Yacht Club's Staten Island station. In that race, AMARYLLIS raced against 34 entries including the best of the local large schooners, "sandbaggers" and "skimming dishes". The attendant press, tongue-in-cheek, described AMARYLLIS as a "life raft," a "cigar boat," "nondescript," the "experiment," and ultimately as the "sea monster."

Initially, in the light winds, AMARYLLIS did poorly. Then a nice southwest sea breeze built and AMARYLLIS sailed merrily through the fleet to win, surviving a near "pitchpole" in the process. AMARYLLIS, cheered by hundreds of onlookers, won by more than twenty minutes over the famous sandbagger PLUCK & LUCK. Some in AMARYLLIS's Class 3 were 40 or more minutes behind.

AMARYLLIS's win in the Centennial Regatta's competition was so eye opening to New York Yacht Club members that AMARYLLIS was protested and later "excused" from her inaugural race. 1st Place prize was awarded to PLUCK & LUCK. Herreshoff and AMARYLLIS were given a separate "consolation" trophy, and told catamarans were not welcome to race again against the local fleet. http://www.runningtideyachts.com/multihull/Amaryllis.html

Though ocean going double-hulled canoes had been around for centuries in Oceania, AMARYLLIS was an engineering wonder and her design led to a patent awarded to NGH in April, 1877. Herreshoff's catamaran patent focused on double hulls being independent of mast and rigging by using a trussed backbone that was attached to the hulls with a flexible and elastic system of ball joints and rubber washers. The forestay, shrouds, and mainsheet tensions were transferred not into the hulls, but into this backbone. The cat's hulls flexed independently of the rig, and of each other. http://www.google.com/patents/US189459

After NGH sold AMARYLLIS to Fred Hughes, (the same gentleman who twice raced catamaran against horse), NGH continued to experiment, design, and build catamarans. As well as capitalizing on his patent, NGH's goal was to offer three sizes of catamarans to the public. The cat lengths were to be 20' for three to four crew, 25' for four to five persons, and 32' for six to seven. "These to be furnished complete with anchors and cables, storm jibs, built of the best material, and guaranteed." Though records are incomplete, it is believed NGH designed and built at least 7 of these "guaranteed" catamarans before "business reasons" and lack of orders turned his attention elsewhere.

The Herreshoff cats, after AMARYLLIS, were the JOHN GILPIN, TEASER, TARANTELLA, ARION , GOODY TWO SHOES, DUPLEX, LODALA, AMARYLLIS II, and SEA SPIDER.

All these cats were built in Bristol, R.I. Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, the shipbuilding company formed by NGH and his brother John B. Herreshoff, was just opening its doors in Bristol in 1877. The above listed cats, except the 25' AMARYLLIS (1875), AMARYLLIS II (1933), and the 25' SEA SPIDER (1944-45), were built within a period of three years (1877-1880) and all were pretty much the same length (32'). Except for SEA SPIDER, which had a rigid structure and was designed by Nat's son, Sidney Herreshoff, it is likely all the early Herreshoff cats were of similar design, of the same construction, and built as sisterships in rapid fashion, using interchangeable rigging and spars, gear, and wrought iron structures. We do know each cat “package,” as it came out of the Herreshoff yard, had small improvements, especially in the rig and sails.

Below is a pic of SEA SPIDER, built in 1944-45, one of the last boats to come out of Herreshoff Manufacturing Company before it closed its doors. It was hoped that SEA SPIDER would lead to a class of similar boats, but nothing came of it. As mentioned above, SEA SPIDER had rigid hull connections. A cool detail about SEA SPIDER was its cockpit, which was a dinghy that could be lowered into the water and rowed away. Not sure why we didn't think of something like that when we built WILDFLOWER.

 

[sleddog]

The Herreshoff catamaran revolution happened in the northeast United States. Across the country, San Francisco, then, as now, was the sailing center of the West Coast. And in San Francisco, catamarans were also built and raced in the late 19th century. Little remains of their stories except the odd newspaper clipping, and three lovely photographs by William Letts Oliver, an inventor, sailor, and amateur photographer from Oakland.

The first modern catamaran in California was likely the EXPERIMENT. Although we do not know EXPERIMENT's designer or builder, she could well have been from Nathanael Herreshoff's drawing board. EXPERIMENT was mentioned at least five times between June 17 and August 5, 1877, in California's first newspaper, the Daily Alta California. The reporter on scene called himself “Yachtsman,” and liked to poke fun at the EXPERIMENT as a “what-do-you-call-it?” On August 5, 1877 “Yachtsman” headlined that EXPERIMENT had capsized in a San Francisco Yacht Club regatta and broken up.

Here is what “Yachtsman” sardonically wrote: "The catamaran EXPERIMENT also distinguished herself by capsizing near Goat Island (today's Yerba Buena). All hands were rescued from her bottoms by the crew of an English ship. Yachtsmen should note this advantage off having two bottoms to cling to in case of accident."

The end of the EXPERIMENT may have been the beginning of ZARIFA. Robert Hall, a San Francisco loan officer, ordered a cat from Nathanael Herreshoff in late 1877 or early 1878. In August, 1878, Hall's new cat was disassembled in Bristol and loaded on the square rigger ABNER BENYON bound around Cape Horn for San Francisco. This cat, ultimately named ZARIFA, arrived in San Francisco in January of 1879. It is unknown if Robert Hall owned EXPERIMENT before ZARIFA as the San Francisco Yacht Club burned in 1897, and many records were lost. But it is likely to have been, as the same professional skipper, Capt. Peter Stofen of California City in Marin, crewed both EXPERIMENT and ZARIFA, and both were based out of California City.

ZARIFA quickly began sailing on San Francisco Bay and her great speed soon made her well known. On February 1, 1879, the Sacramento Daily Union reported Zarifa "has been doing some fast sailing recently, running from California City to Red Rock in 5 minutes. On Sunday last she came up and passed the steamer SAN RAPHAEL."

California City to Red Rock in 5 minutes? ZARIFA was truckin'. California City is where Paradise Cay is now located, on Marin's Tiburon Peninsula. The distance to Red Rock is 2.45 miles. Even allowing for favorable tide and exaggeration, that is still an average speed near 30 knots.

In April, 1879, ZARIFA participated in the San Francisco Yacht Club's cruise from Sausalito to Vallejo, but had to be run ashore near Point Pinole when a centerboard case started leaking. She was bailed out, and continued sailing. Watertight bulkheads were installed, but ZARIFA was built for the more gentle conditions of Long Island Sound. On San Francisco Bay ZARIFA was overpowered for sailing in the boisterous summer conditions. On June 8, 1879 she broke her mast when returning from Martinez and had to be towed home where she was again repaired. Meanwhile SFYC club members continued to puzzle how to class her and came up with the wise solution of putting her in her own catamaran class. Which led to ZARIFA "winning" her class in the August 9, 1879 regatta of the San Francisco Yacht Club ... where she was the only competitor. After this regatta ZARIFA dropped out of the public limelight.

The third and most interesting cat on SF Bay was DUSTER. DUSTER first came to the public's attention in a newspaper clipping from the Sacramento Daily Union on Sept 26, 1877. The clipping described the building of a 20' x 8' catamaran at the Monadnock Yard in Vallejo.

Though there is no definitive proof the small cat built in Vallejo was DUSTER, it seems likely. Who designed DUSTER? From the three photographs below, she looks very similar to what Nat Herreshoff was designing, right down to the centerline tiller connected by the patented cross linkage to twin rudders. The only noticeable difference between DUSTER and the bigger Herreshoff cat designs was DUSTER had a centerline centerboard rather than boards in each hull.

DUSTER certainly came to the public's attention when in 1894 she attempted to participate in the San Francisco YC's annual regatta off Sausalito. Here is what was described in the San Francisco Chronicle of Sept. 24, 1894 "... One of the most peculiar accidents ever witnessed occurred shortly after noon. The catamaran DUSTER was cavorting about the harbor having a real enjoyable time when a squall struck her opposite Hurricane gulch and turned her over. The captain who is a rare sport was out on the leeward boat with a friend of his and their united weight made the craft top heavy and over she went. The funniest part of the accident was that the men on board did not even get their feet wet. As the catamaran turned they walked up and were on the bottom when the DUSTER settled down wrong side up with care. A number of boats put out to the scene of disaster and the ROVER's dinghy was first to reach the inverted DUSTER. It only required a few minutes to right the catamaran and her sporty skipper was soon wiling away as if nothing had happened. ..."

“Sporty skipper” is right. The photograph taken off Sausalito, available through UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, shows DUSTER in front of a crowd on the anchored motor yacht in the near background and the San Francisco Yacht Club in the far background.

Close examination of William Letts Oliver's other photos of DUSTER show that by scaling the height of the helmsman's upper body (about 3 feet) to the length of DUSTER, one can measure the overall hull length at about 20 feet. Also, you can see Angel Island in the background, as well as San Francisco's City Front and the Sausalito Ferry.

One can also see (and scale) in the third photograph of DUSTER (on display at San Francisco's Maritime Museum, that her gaff and boom lengths, and mainsail area have been increased significantly, and she is sporting a new mainsail.

Good stuff, these early catamarans. Capsizes and controversy is nothing new.

 

[sleddog]

On the Central California coast, not much in the way of fair weather anchorages south of Monterey Bay.

Stillwater Cove, in Carmel Bay, is one pretty place. Pastoral, protected, with white sand patches between the kelp making for a secure anchorage.

Except when its not. On a day like today, when the surf along the Monterey Peninsula's 17 Mile Drive is "double-overhead" in surfing parlance, Stillwater is less than tranquil.

1/2 mile west of Stillwater, off Pescadero Point, is a 1 fathom reef, covered by kelp. It shows on the attached chart as "breakers," and "The Pinnacles." This break is called "Ghost Trees," named after the photogenic "Scenic View" on 17 Mile Drive. The surf break just offshore is like a ghost. An entire year can go by, and you would not be able to tell there is a wave there at all. "Ghost Trees" has been dubbed a "mystery wave."

Very occasionally, in winter, when offshore buoys are reporting 20 foot swells, "Ghost Trees" goes off. When it does, it produces what is one of the largest and most dangerous swells in the world, bigger than even Mavericks. 50-60 foot high swells are not uncommon. http://www.surfline.com/video/featured-clips/ghost-tree-december-4th_12714

To surf "Ghost Trees'" giant waves requires exceptional skill, strength, and courage. And a jet ski tow-in. Since 2009, jet skis are no longer legal in the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. "Ghost Trees" has resumed its solitary status as a truly large and unrideable wave.

 

[chautauqua]

Back in the 1970's when I was selling Hobie 16's in Big Bear Lake, the first mandatory sailing lesson, and one that came with the purchase price of the boat, was to pitchpole it and then right it again. That capsizing earned the new owners the rest of their lessons on right of ways, and finer points of sail trim. Racing was the last bit as it was illegal to race on the lake. We called out the time and had jackrabbit starts, quickly dispersing whenever the lake patrol approached. Our course chart was a board with a long string on a tree at the beachhead where we launched... it had a crude outline of the lake, and nails for each of the patrol's 5 mile markers. The race captain wound the string around the markers to show which we'd round and in what direction. Now that the lake is no longer owned by the Orange Growers below the dam, big cat regattas are a regular summer feature. The controversy part still today is who has right of way, a fisherman towing a line or a catamaran.

 

[sleddog]

I highly recommend to all SSS sailors, potential SHTP entrants and anyone interested in ocean weather: its history, patterns, instruments, and forecasting, the free MOOC online course, listed below, opening today. MOOC stands for "Massive Open Online Course"

Enrollment is easy, and this weather class is self paced and can be followed at one's own speed. Recommended is some prior basic familiarity with meteorology and five hours/week of study. But anyone with some sailing skills will already be "hands on". The course, even though taught by professional sailors, routers, and weathermen, is NOT intimidating. I wish I would have had this material so readily available as a kid.

I have begun the class, and must say the instructors, material, and visuals are most excellent, fun, and easy to follow. Grading is optional. But passing a multiple choice, 15 question, quiz is required to advance to the next "module." (6)

The MOOC class is called "STRATEGIES FOR WINNING. Meteorology in a Round-The-World Regatta." It is offered by the Canvas Network. (http:canvas.net) and registration and class info can be found here: https://www.canvas.net/courses/strategies-for-winning-meteorology-in-a-round-the-world-regatta

 

[sleddog]

8th of August, 1996, about 1015, near position 05-03 S x 165-42 W, WILDFLOWER and I were southbound Palmyra to Vava'u, Tonga, under #4, staysail, and one reef in the main. Pleasant conditions, beam reaching at 6 knots in 15-20 knot Easterly trades.

I'd been messing below with the SSB, loading a wx fax, and decided to stick my head topsides for some air. Looking aft, I didn't see it at first. But there to port, less than 1/4 mile away, was an all white ship, about 150 feet long, steaming towards us at about 15 knots.

No numbers, no name, no flags, no crew visible. I jumped for the windvane release and began handsteering, trying to figure if the ship was changing course, and if we would pass ahead, astern, or not at all. I threw off the preventer and made sure the the jib sheets were ready to run.

The ship didn't seem to alter, and was now about 100 yards abeam, closing quickly. I luffed to close hauled to pass astern. The ship, likely an Asian fishboat, still with no identifiable crew, on deck or on the bridge, swept by about 50 yards ahead and continued due West.

Two vessels on an otherwise empty horizon on collision course. It's the ones you don't see will get ya.

Sobering story about 4 fold increase in shipping in the last 20 years below. Interesting to note on attached satellite photo that almost all shipping to/from Panama to Asia commutes on the Great Circle Route, not too far west of the California Coast.
http://gcaptain.com/new-satellite-d...ed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Gcaptain+(gCaptain.com)

Meanwhile, last Saturday, in our own Oakland Estuary, 3 containers were dropped overboard while being unloaded, and floated around for a while before being corraled. For the ambitious, you too could tie up to a container for a nap, ala Robert Redford.
http://gcaptain.com/nyk-ship-loses-containers-offloading-mishap/

 

[sleddog]

Problem: WILDFLOWER's Camp Chef 2 burner propane stove uses disposable, 1 pound, screw on propane cylinders. They last about 5-6 hours, always seem to run out at dinner time, rust in the bilge, and can't be recycled.

Solution: Buy a refillable, 20 pound propane tank and hook it up to the stove. The 20 pound tank holds enough fuel for a summer's worth of cooking. A new tank cost $30 at Home Depot. I also bought a 10 gallon, Rubbermaid, water cooler for $45. The 20 pound propane tank sits snugly inside the water cooler for airtight stowage below decks. (I don't want to stow the propane tank on deck).

To adapt the 20 pound tank to the camp stove, I bought a 5' conversion hose for $25 at Outdoor World. Also a 1/4" mini-ball valve with On/Off lever; two 1/4" hose barbs for the ball valve; and hose clamps at Orchard Supply, all for $19.

I spray painted the orange water cooler brown, and drilled a 1/2" hole through the side for the 1/2" propane hose. I cut the hose 2' feet from the tank, inserted it through the hole in the water cooler, then installed the hose barbs into the cut ends of the hose, attached hose clamps, and connected them to the ball valve.

The 20 pound propane tank now stows inside the watercooler, lashed about 6 feet aft of the stove. The propane can be turned On/Off at both the stove and the nearby ball valve. The propane tank is insulated from the interior of the boat. The installation took about 4 hours. Of further benefit is the water cooler's spigot, with which I can check to see if there is any propane accumulation.

The whole set up cost about $120. West Marine sells a similar enclosure for $1,619.

 

[Philpott]

Yaaaay! Skip! You have the BEST ideas!

 

[sleddog]

Just when I'd thought all local Monterey Bay flora and fauna has been cataloged, along comes first ever video of the deep sea "Black Seadevil," or Anglerfish, 2,000 feet down, recently caught on camera by scientists with the Monterey Bay Area Research Institute.

Female Anglerfish can eat fish of a larger size. To lure prey in the ocean's darkness, she dangles a luminescent orb of enticing shapes from a “fishing rod” on her forehead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-BbpaNXbxg

 

[sleddog]

End of an era at Santa Cruz Harbor. R.I.P. Mustafa, the "Turk." Friend to all, especially children, travelers, and the underdog.

Mustafa lived an adventuresome life and had a lifelong love of the Sea. He was born 1928 on the Island of Biga off the Dardanell Straights between Greece & Turkey. He was a boat builder, fisherman, hard hat sponge diver in the Black Sea, soldier in the Turkish Calvary, and traveled the World as a seaman on merchant ships.

Settling in Santa Cruz more than 50 years ago, Mustafa worked for the Harbor and could fix about anything. Despite his small stature, Mustafa was an "enforcer" of what was right, and you didn't mess with him.

Mustafa's story telling is legendary, especially spinning yarns about his childhood near Istanbul.

In fair weather, you could see Mustafa sailing his red sailed, lateen rigged, dory FATIMA out beyond the Santa Cruz surfline, then rowing home as the Easterly dropped away. FATIMA was named after his late, beloved wife.

They don't make many Mustafas anymore. Sail on, Our Friend.

 

[sleddog]

It is ironic, in a way, that an ill advised and under prepared trans-ocean voyage ultimately led to Thanksgiving, the most festive of American of holidays.

When the 100' MAYFLOWER left Plymouth, England, Sept. 6, 1620, 394 years ago, she would never have passed a Singlehanded TransPac inspection. Certainly there were 10 heavy cannon, muskets and powder aboard, as well as dogs and cats, sheep, pigs, and chickens. There was a compass and hourglass for navigation. But basically MAYFLOWER was a leaky, ill provisioned, unweatherly, and worn out 3-masted, square rigged ship.

Aboard MAYFLOWER were 102 passengers and 30 crew. The passengers, mostly English religious Separatists called Pilgrims, had chartered MAYFLOWER to escape religious persecution and begin new lives in the New World. Among the passengers were many children and their parents.

Leaving England in early September to sail west across the Atlantic against prevailing winds and autumnal gales would have modern day weather routers cross eyed. That MAYFLOWER was able to successfully cross the Atlantic in 66 days with only two lives lost (and one birth) is a minor miracle for a ship that could barely sail a beam reach and whose remaining structural integrity had begun to fail.

MAYFLOWER's voyage was only the beginning of an iconic story of survival in Early American history as well as a symbol of early European colonization of the future United States.

MAYFLOWER was bound for the Hudson River. On her northerly crossing (no downwind, tradewind route for this crew) MAYFLOWER made a brief stop in Newfoundland to resupply. Sailing down the East Coast, MAYFLOWER fetched up at Cape Cod in a southerly gale. On November 11, 1620, with mutinous crew and passengers, captain Christopher Jones diverted into a protected anchorage inside Provincetown Hook, on the NW corner of Cape Cod.

Deprivation was only just beginning for the MAYFLOWER complement. On November 27, Jones and 33 crew set off in MAYFLOWER's small boat to explore southward on Cape Cod for a suitable settlement site. They were unprepared for freezing temperatures and snow on the ground.

To survive, MAYFLOWER's expeditionary force looted Native American storage sites of corn and beans. The locals were not happy, and a meeting between the MAYFLOWER crew and the local Nauset tribe at First Encounter Beach went badly. In early December it was decided to set sail from Cape Cod and seek more habitable country, 20 miles across Cape Cod Bay, near today's Plymouth.

On December 19, 1620, a haggered landing party first set foot on Clark's Island (not Plymouth Rock) in Plymouth Harbor. Illness and death were beginning to overtake members of MAYFLOWER's crew. Being so late in the year, with snow on the ground, and uncertain relations with the local Native Americans, MAYFLOWER's crew remained onboard through a harsh and miserable winter. Half the total complement of 130 died, most of scurvy, pneumonia, tuberculosis, or just plain freezing to death. Many of the children became orphans.

In late March, 1621, huts were built on the mainland shore, cannon disembarked, and the survivors began to move ashore. On April 6, captain Jones, with a skeleton crew, set sail on MAYFLOWER to return to England, leaving the remaining Pilgrims to fend for themselves in their little fortress.

The tradition of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving is steeped in myth and legend. To celebrate their first harvest, sometime between September and October, 1621, the Pilgrims invited at least 90 members of local Native American tribes, and held a five day celebratory feast of the now traditional Thanksgiving menu of corn, turkey and duck, venison, squash, pumpkin pie, and fruits and vegetables. Mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes had not yet arrived from Europe, and were to come later.

It wasn't until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln finally made Thanksgiving a national holiday in late November, possibly to correlate with the date of the first anchoring of MAYFLOWER at Cape Cod.

Happy Thanksgiving, All, and may your families and little ships be blessed with Goodwill..





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[Philpott]

As always, beautifully written and with a unique perspective. Comparing the provisioning of the Mayflower with NORC/SSS requirements! That is very amusing. Thank you, Skip. Best wishes to you during this quintessential American holiday.

 

[hodgmo]

Thank you Skip. I enjoy reading your 'blog' entries. Interesting subjects, and I always learn something. In the case of the Mayflower tale, I’ll refrain from projecting my senses; I doubt it was a pleasant environment. But the story does make me more thankful for my particular slice of life’s turkey. Steve