New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

For connoisseurs of clouds, yesterday's rain squalls and thunderheads made Monterey Bay look positively tropical. Sunrise began with a double rainbow off Lighthouse Point. Thanks to Rainer for the pic taken on O'Neill's Beach at Santa Cruz Harbor.

After a winter in the Sea Of Cortez, friends are sailing the 108 year old, 68' schooner MARTHA up Baja. MARTHA, built at Stones in SF, is now totally restored after loving attention. http://www.schoonermartha.org/history-of-martha/
If all goes according to plan, MARTHA will participate in the Master Mariners, then to LA for the TransPac to Honolulu. If it's windy reaching, MARTHA could be a TransPac sleeper, and possibly emulate DORADE's popular win in 2013.

But first MARTHA has to get north. BLUENOSE aside, even big schooners like MARTHA don't much like to go to windward. The ascent of Baja in the Spring is mostly against prevailing wind and current. Not for the faint of heart or weak of boat.

MARTHA is getting the job done, thanks to a weather window that is allowing her crew to rhumbline from Magdalena Bay 240 miles north to Turtle Bay, where she will make a brief pit stop for fuel. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0mWebdTvRMrkTJicpJAZnhIe2b0pIhI7q

I'm no longer in the yacht delivery business. But have done the northbound Baja voyage a dozen times or more, twice in WILDFLOWER. And once in an old VW Bus with Dave Wahle. We drove along the beach more than 100 miles, the entire way from Abreojos to Turtle Bay, then to seldom visited Malarimmo Beach, and across 50 miles of sand to Scammons Lagoon. Dave and I sometimes had to get out and push...VW buses aren't 4WD.

Schooner MARTHA won't have to let air out of her tires to get past Scammons Lagoon. She will be in good company near shore with the northbound migration of grey and humpback whales. I'm offering encouragement via e-mail and weather forecasts primarily using https://www.windyty.com/?surface,wind,now,37.272,-121.844,4

Go the MARTHA!

 

[sleddog]

Over a lifetime of sailing, I've seen many dozens of ways to get in trouble during a windy jibe. My first experience as a kid was getting bonked in the head with my dinghy boom, luckily with no lasting damage.

Once, during a windy jibe, I was launched from a Laser, and it took off downwind, unmanned.

Heavy air jibing, probably the most dangerous maneuver in sailing, is not to be taken lightly. Many of the big, Around-the-World racers, start a heavy air jibe by reefing. This allows the leeward running backstay to be taken up and secured before the main starts across.

Reefing downwind, especially with a full batten main, is not easy and rarely practiced. There's often too much friction of the sail against the mast, rigging, and spreaders to pull the main down.

I look forward to hearing Gamayun's experiments using a boom brake on her Freedom 38 KYNTANNA's large mainsail.

Yesterday, off Santa Cruz, a friend had a near miss during a jibe. I hadn't thought of this happening before. But the unexpected happened. My friend bore his 20 foot catamaran off to jibe. It was blowing about 15, the cat, MOKU, was doing 7-8, and he had a single reefed main and jib.

As the main boom and traveler were centered, and the boat jibed, the main sheet would not run out. Fortunately, my friend is a highly experienced catamaran sailor, remained calm, and kept the boat aimed dead down wind (DDW) while he surveyed the problem.

What had happened, and could happen to anyone, is the hanging reef tie tail got sucked into and jammed inside the main sheet block on the boom, preventing release of the main sheet.

Had the boat been turned up into the wind without the main being quickly released, a capsize might have resulted.

The lesson is if reef ties are used to secure the bundle of extra sail along the boom, to make sure the hanging tail is shortened, tucked away, or otherwise secured out of harm's way from catching in the main sheet system.

 

[Harrier]

Good chat on gybing, Skip. Being fractionally rigged, Harrier has a rather large main compared to many other modern 30 footers. I have had excellent luck with the Dutch Boom Brakes that have been on the market for many years. The first one depended upon the friction of several turns of 3/8th" line around an aluminum drum of abt 6" diameter. After some years of ocean spray, the aluminum became so corroded, that the gizmo's performance varied a lot...too much for safe operation, in my opinion. I did try burnishing the drum, but the surface damage was such that degradation came back quickly. I finally replaced it with their later model in which the drum turned against an internal brake which was adjusted with a knob on the outside of the device. Been fine for 10 years or so. Another, simpler device on the market (looks like the number "8") depends on friction of the brake's lines passing thru a series of turns in and around the device.
I have no experience with this on, altho I suspect aluminum corrosion would eventually degrade its performance. Singlehanded racing to Hawaii under self-steering devices can often put us in situations that can result in accidental gybes in high winds. The boom brake is good insurance. and even when it allows an accidental gybe, it will make such a loud screeching noise, that you are certain to wake up and attend to the problem!!!

 

[Gamayun]

For connoisseurs of clouds, yesterday's rain squalls and thunderheads made Monterey Bay look positively tropical. Sunrise began with a double rainbow off Lighthouse Point. Thanks to Rainer for the pic taken on O'Neill's Beach at Santa Cruz Harbor.

Having grown up in Florida, I miss those big thunder boomers that'll rattle your teeth. I often wonder why that rarely happens here in California. On Saturday, after about 30 minutes post docking, a small but fierce-looking cloud moved over the Bay Bridge and started thundering. It seemed pretty contained and didn't move very fast. So different from Florida storms!

As to Kynntana's boom brake, it's still very much on my mind and now that Harrier has also given high praise to the Dutchman system, that's probably what I'll get. I still look every time I'm in Blue Pelican and still kick myself every time because I didn't buy the one that was (briefly) there last year. I've learned to never let a good deal pass in Blue Pelican. Too many people wander through and know what things are worth.

 

[sleddog]

Next Saturday a gang of us will gather at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Harbor to pay tribute to as fine of shipmate and human being as graced this Earth: Swede Johnson, 95, Crossed the Bar recently, leaving his many friends to reflect not only on Swede's lifetime accomplishments, but on the character of a man who gave of himself to help others.

Swede was a sailmaker by trade and worked at the Baxter and Cicero loft in Newport for more than 30 years making winning sails for Sabots, Starboat World's Champions (Bill Ficker and Don Edler), TransPac winners (KITTEN, LEGEND, NALU II, PSYCHE, HOLIDAY Too), and numerous Radio Controlled models. Swede also encouraged youngsters, including Dave Ullman and Scott Allan, to become sailmakers and mentored them in early years.

Swede loved to tinker, and created the first commercially available tiller pilot for small boats in 1960, well before the better known TillerMaster. Swede also built dozens of model boats for friends world-wide, usually at no charge. If you look closely, you can see a model of Swede steering this cool little Pinky schooner he built for "Fred." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0ozFgTKSg

One of the little pleasures of being an aficionado of maritime history is running across a good mystery. And Swede Johnson left us with one.

In the mid-1940's, actor Humphrey Bogart bought the beautiful, 55' Sparkman and Stephens yawl SANTANA, and berthed her at Newport Harbor Yacht Club as a retreat from his Hollywood stresses. It was onboard SANTANA that Bogie courted rising star, actress Lauren Bacall. Bacall was only 19, barely half Bogart's age, but she could hold her own on the silver screen with Bogart as well as in real life. The conservative NHYC members were upset that there were potential illicit goings-on aboard SANTANA with an unmarried woman moored at their docks.

NHYC demanded Bogart, a good sailor since his youth, set things right or vacate the Club.

So Bogie and Bacall got married in 1945 to make things legal. As a present to Bogie, Lauren Bacall commissioned Swede Johnson to build her new husband a full model (1/2" scale) of Bogie's favorite boat, SANTANA. Bacall and Bogie knew Swede, as he'd built sails for their Lehman 10, 26' Albatross, and SANTANA.

Swede completed the SANTANA model in 1951, about the same time Bogie won the Oscar for Best Actor in "African Queen." He gave it to Bacall at no charge.

During recent weeks of sleuthing, we discovered a black and white photo of Bogart, and his two year old son Stephen, admiring Swede's model of SANTANA in early 1952. Bogie's Oscar sits on top of the glass case.

Humphrey Bogart, a heavy smoker, died in 1957. His wife and co-star, Lauren Bacall, decreed the only thing to be on the altar at Bogie's funeral at All Saints Church was to be the model of SANTANA, the one that our friend Swede had made. Most of Hollywood attended Bogie's Funeral. Director John Huston delivered the eulogy. No cameras were allowed inside the church. But in the quest to find what became of Swede's model of SANTANA, we discovered a 3 second movie clip taken inside the church of SANTANA on the altar.

Swede's SANTANA model on the All Saints Church altar can be briefly seen at 13-15 seconds here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPUtrB4CYRc

The SANTANA model then disappeared. Swede believed his model had been buried with Bogart. But that couldn't be true, as Bogart was cremated.

I contacted as many of the later owners of big SANTANA as possible. For many years SANTANA graced the docks of the St.Francis Yacht Club. In 1982, with guest skipper Tom Blackaller at the helm, SANTANA came from behind to beat the famous DORADE in a 12 mile grudge match race off the City Front. There was also a 3/8" scale model of SANTANA donated to St.Francis YC by the wife of her W.L.Stewart, her original owner. But that model has the original schooner rig of 1935, and is smaller than Swede Johnson's model.

Nobody knew where the SANTANA model was.

The location of the model finally surfaced this week, in time for Swede Johnson's tribute at Balboa. Swede's beautiful model belongs to Humphrey Bogart's son Stephen, the then 2 year old in the 1952 photo. In reply to my query I received this answer:

Hi Skip:
Condolences on the loss of your dear friend. That beautiful model of the Santana is one of Stephen's proudest possessions and dearest memories of his father, and it is prominently displayed in his home. Wishing you all the best, The Humphrey Bogart Estate

Thanks to SSS Forum members "chautauqua" and "red roo" for their assistance in this maritime mystery. Swede would be happy to know his model lives on. I'm sorry I can't post photos of Swede Johnson's model at this time. The SSS Forum appears to have a technical glitch.

 

[Philpott]

Next Saturday a gang of us will gather at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Harbor to pay tribute to as fine of shipmate and human being as graced this Earth: Swede Johnson, 95, Crossed the Bar recently, leaving his many friends to reflect not only on Swede's lifetime accomplishments, but on the character of a man who gave of himself to help others.

Swede was a sailmaker by trade and worked at the Baxter and Cicero loft in Newport for more than 30 years making winning sails for Sabots, Starboat World's Champions (Bill Ficker and Don Edler), TransPac winners (KITTEN, LEGEND, NALU II, PSYCHE, HOLIDAY Too), and numerous Radio Controlled models. Swede also encouraged youngsters, including Dave Ullman and Scott Allan, to become sailmakers and mentored them in early years.

Swede loved to tinker, and created the first commercially available tiller pilot for small boats in 1960, well before the better known TillerMaster. Swede also built dozens of model boats for friends world-wide, usually at no charge. If you look closely, you can see a model of Swede steering this cool little Pinky schooner he built for "Fred." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0ozFgTKSg

One of the little pleasures of being an aficionado of maritime history is running across a good mystery. And Swede Johnson left us with one.

In the mid-1940's, actor Humphrey Bogart bought the beautiful, 55' Sparkman and Stephens yawl SANTANA, and berthed her at Newport Harbor Yacht Club as a retreat from his Hollywood stresses. It was onboard SANTANA that Bogie courted rising star, actress Lauren Bacall. Bacall was only 19, barely half Bogart's age, but she could hold her own on the silver screen with Bogart as well as in real life. The conservative NHYC members were upset that there potential illicit goings on aboard SANTANA with an unmarried woman involved at their docks.

NHYC demanded Bogart, a good sailor since his youth, set things right or vacate the Club.

So Bogie and Bacall got married in 1945 to make things legal. As a present to Bogie, Lauren Bacall commissioned Swede Johnson to build her new husband a full model (1/2" scale) of Bogie's favorite boat, SANTANA. Swede completed the SANTANA model in 1951, about the same time Bogie won the Oscar for Best Actor in "African Queen." He gave it to Bacall at no charge.

During recent weeks of sleuthing, we discovered a black and white photo of Bogart, and his two year old son Stephen, admiring Swede's model of SANTANA in early 1952. Bogie's Oscar sits on top of the glass case.

Humphrey Bogart, a heavy smoker, died in 1957. His wife and co-star, Lauren Bacall, decreed the only thing to be on the alter at Bogie's funeral at All Saints Church was to be the model of SANTANA, the one that our friend Swede had made. Most of Hollywood attended Bogie's Funeral. No cameras were allowed inside the church. But in the quest to find what became of Swede's model of SANTANA, we discovered a 3 second movie clip taken inside the church of SANTANA on the alter.

Swede's SANTANA model on the All Saints Church alter can be briefly seen at 13-15 seconds here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPUtrB4CYRc

The SANTANA model then disappeared. Swede believed his model had been buried with Bogart. But that couldn't be true, as Bogart was cremated.

I contacted as many of the later owners of big SANTANA as possible. For many years SANTANA graced the docks of the St.Francis Yacht Club. In 1982, with guest skipper Tom Blackaller at the helm, SANTANA came from behind to beat the famous DORADE in a 12 mile grudge match race off the City Front. There was also a 3/8" scale model of SANTANA donated to St.Francis YC by the wife of her W.L.Stewart, her original owner. But that model has the original schooner rig of 1935, and is smaller than Swede Johnson's model.

Nobody knew where the SANTANA model was.

It finally surfaced this week, in time for Swede Johnson's tribute at Balboa. Swede's beautiful model belongs to Humphrey Bogart's son Stephen, the then 2 year old in the 1952 photo. In reply to my query I received this answer:

Hi Skip:
Condolences on the loss of your dear friend. That beautiful model of the Santana is one of Stephen's proudest possessions and dearest memories of his father, and it is prominently displayed in his home. Wishing you all the best, The Humphrey Bogart Estate

Thanks to SSS Forum members "chautauqua" and "red roo" for their assistance. Swede would be happy to know his model lives on. I'm sorry I can't post photos of Swede Johnson's models at this time, but the Forum appears to have a technical glitch.

What a very fine tribute, Skip. What a good friend you are.

 

[sleddog]

Here is Swede's model of SANTANA he built for Lauren Bacall. The blurry photo is taken from the 3 second movie clip inside All Saints Church at Bogie's funeral in 1957. The SANTANA model was the only thing on the altar as director John Huston read the eulogy.

Thanks, Jackie. Hope to see you at our friend's 50th.

 

[Gamayun]

What a very fine tribute, Skip. What a good friend you are.

^^^ What she said!!

Wow. That's an incredibly moving story and such fantabulous sleuthing. Well done by all, well done. Bogie and Bacall would likely have been so proud.

Hope to see you soon ;-)

 

[sleddog]

The Green Flash is an illusive quarry. A clear atmosphere, sharply delineated horizon, wearing sunglasses, and binoculars all help to catch this atmospheric phenomena that sometimes happens at the exact moment of sunrise or sunset.

A friend caught this GF last evening from the beach near Asilomar. He'd never heard of the GF until we met recently on the Santa Cruz Harbor Breakwater at dawn on New Years.

 

[Mewes]

Ha ha! Mr Wonderful doubts the existence of the GF too. It didn't stop any of us aboard GEORGIA from watching for it the sunset over Banderas Bay Tuesday March 10. We'd gone to Yelapa for the day and a gentle breeze carried us back to Marina Vallarta. Sadly, no flash.

 

[sleddog]

For those who remember, like I do, Norton Smith is hard core. Norton won the first Single Handed Transpac in 1978 in his Santa Cruz 27 SOLITAIRE. Hand steering, no autopilot, which broke the first night.

A year later, Norton also won the Mini-TransAtlantic Race on AMERICAN EXPRESS, his Tom Wylie, water ballasted, 20 footer. The only American ever to do so.

You wouldn't know it, because he is so quiet and unassuming. But I used to think Norton eats nails for breakfast. Now I'm sure of it: Norton has entered the Race2Alaska, with co-skipper Piper Dunlap, on a pedal assisted Hobie 20 catamaran. 800 miles from Port Townsend to Ketchikan, AK, on a Beach Cat, going 24/7.

Piper Dunlap practices acupuncture as a profession. Needles and Nails. This is going to be an interesting team to watch. (all R2AK competitors will have SPOT Trackers.) http://r2ak.com/registered-participants/

 

[Philpott]

This is going to be an interesting team to watch.

Go, Team Huan! I'll be watching. What can we send those wackos to show our appreciation? Do you have an address?

 

[sleddog]

Compared to some of the other R2AK teams, and solo entrants (one is paddling a SUP), Norton Smith's Hobie 20 Team seems fairly grounded. Perhaps "grounded" is the wrong term for a sailing/pedaling race crew that may practice acupuncture while on the trapeze wire, and will flavor their freeze dried food with an assortment of healthy herbs from Piper's herb business in Port Townsend.

But Team Huan deserves serious consideration to take the $10,000 R2AK First Prize despite the fact they were asked to leave last summer's Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival for staging an unauthorized drum circle.

As it's the "Year of the Sheep," I'm sending Team Huan a water activated, inflatable sheep for their masthead. This flotation, available online at Toys-R-Us, may come in handy should they go over in one of the Grenville Channel's downslope williwaws.

Happy St. Paddy's.

 

[Sleddog_sis]

A water-activated, inflatable sheep? Really? How do you find this stuff, bro? I am impressed. My kitty would like one, please.
Sail on. . .

 

[sleddog]

Making my way from Capitola to Tiburon yesterday, my first stop was at Blue Pelican Marine at Grand Marina in Alameda. For those who, like myself, are into recycled marine equipment, Blue Pelican is a gem of a consignment nautical hardware store. Tom and crew are boat savvy and run a shipshape business with fair prices. Fun and treasures can be found perusing Blue Pelican's aisles of gear, rope, plumbing, propellers, foul weather gear, books, charts, and pretty much whatever you might need. http://www.bluepelicanmarine.com/

From Blue Pelican I wandered to the nearby launch ramp to see what was happening. There was an 18' runabout outboard that had been out cruising the Bay for two hours. The owner was in distress, and I inquired as to the problem. Apparently, he had launched without fitting the drain plug, and his boat had pretty much filled with water before he could make it back to the ramp.

Beyond the sinking runabout was a colorful fleet of San Francisco Bay's oldest class: the 12 foot, 400 pound, San Francisco Pelican. The Pelican design is said to have originally descended from Joshua Slocum's LIBERDADE of about 1880, a "cross between a dory and a Japanese sampan http://www.wavetrain.net/lit-bits/331-joshua-slocums-liberdade-where-is-she-now.

The first SF Pelican was built in 1958 and immediately dubbed a "floating bathtub." But the lug rig and ample bow sprit, sampan bow, healthy freeboard, stability, and being unsinkable proved a winning combination for sailing SF Bay. Many plans were subsequently sold nationwide to home builders, and this "ugly duckling" design became an icon of small boat seaworthiness.

Pelicans, with their flat bottom, centerboard, and kickup rudder also proved well suited for beach launching and camping, yacht club programs, even racing. The Pelican fleet I had stumbled upon at Alameda had come from as far as Winters and Stockton. Their "low stress" approach to racing was being directed by solo race chairman "Howard," who told me he'd been around Pelicans since 1972. Howard's start line was between and orange flag on the dock, and the stern of the large CG cutter across the Estuary. Easy Peazy.

 

[H Spruit]

Ah yes the Pelican, curious lot indeed. I have often wondered if the Pelican boats attract character or build character?
Because I have never met a Pelican sailor that was not a character.

 

[Pelicangirl]

Yes, the Pelican both attracts and builds character. The Fleet 1 association of the Bay Area Pelicans is like a big extended family and fosters multigenerational crews. Grandparents, children and their kids taking turns. In my 20+ years as a Pelicaneer, I've watched as the kids learning to walk in marinas, campgrounds and beaches now bring their kids. We are an active racing fleet also. We race monthly from Half Moon bay, lake Merritt, Benicia, Stockton, redwood city, del Valle reservoir, Rio Vista, Tomales bay, whiskey town, and more.

 

[sleddog]

A singlehander friend, Mick, has a boat with a dozen bilge pumps, give or take a few. Electric pumps, manual pumps, engine driven mechanical pumps, portable canoe pumps. Even Mick's head pump converts to a bilge pump. His biggest manual pump is a massive, one gallon/stroke, affair.

Mick is afraid of water in his boat. Rightly so, after experiencing two traumatic events. The first on a previous boat when the keel began to detach. The second on his current boat, reaching in heavy weather, when a deck locker began draining into the boat on a dark night. Both times he found himself, adrenalin pumping, with water well above the floorboards.

Mick is the best of seamen, highly experienced. Our approaches differ. I particularly dislike the NorCal ORC Offshore and LongPac 2.51 required "on-deck" pumps that, with their long intake and exhaust hoses, and short handles on a lanyard, take minutes to prime, if at all. In a previous life as a safety inspector, I would ask to see the bilge partially filled with a dock hose, and the on-deck pump work. It rarely would.

I want buckets, lots of buckets.

Mick and I do agree. When sailing offshore, single or shorthanded, if our boat is filling with water, the last thing we want to be doing is manually pumping. There are more important things. Like locating the leak.

Mick's argument for a high volume electric bilge pump is a good one. They pump automatically, while you take care of business elsewhere. At least until the batteries submerge.

 

[BobJ]

When I set up my boat to do the 2011 OYRA series (after having done two SHTPs, the LongPac, etc.), I ended up with four bilge pumps to meet everyone's rules. I've thought about how a singlehander might operate four pumps simultaneously but haven't yet solved that puzzle.

I have the unenviable perspective of looking at these offshore regulations through the eyes of one who attempts to decipher the Internal Revenue Code. There are many similarities, few of the rules are based on logic or common sense and both sets appear to be designed to stifle growth and redistribute money.

The latest twist: To enter yesterday's Doublehanded Farallones Race, racers were required to have read or viewed the following materials:

1. At least pages 1 through 23 of the US Sailing Independent Review Panel report on 2013 Islands Race.
2. PFD selection guides.
3. Rudder loss:
a. 1992 DHF Rudder Loss by Joe Siudzinski, 5/8/99
b. 1993 SHF - Lose a Rudder at the Farallones? No Problem! by Joe Siudzinski, 4/11/93
4. DSC Calling: Who’s Gonna Answer?
5. At least pages 1 through 17 of the US Sailing Independent Review Panel report on 2012 Fully Crewed Farallones race.
6. Rescue of the crew of “Pterodactyl”
7. Rescue of the crew of “Heat Wave”
8. USCG “Rescue 21: Digital Selective Calling”
9. Watch at least Chapters 5-7 of the BoatUS “Radio Communication for the Recreational Mariner”
10. USCG instructions for “How to obtain an MMSI number”

(This was on top of 31 specific equipment requirements and 8 additional recommendations.)

I'll get right on that, since next year's DHF R/C will be equipped with brain scanners to insure compliance.

Edit: Some things don't change though. Moore 24s finished 1,2,4 and 5 overall, and the Cal 20 "Can 'O Whoopass" will finish next Tuesday but has already corrected out to first in its division.

 

[sleddog]

In yesterday's DH Farallone's Race, Synthia and Liz on EYRIE laid the Farallones from Point Bonita, in a lane just north of shipping channel. Even had to crack sheets for the last few miles. 18 knots at the Lightbucket, 20-24 knots at the Rock Pile, they stuck with the #2 on their battlewagon, and tucked in a single reef.

Breeze held from the NW all the way in to Bonita. Beam reaching home EYRIE couldn't hoist their spinny until after Bonita. They eventually set on port jibe, jibed to starboard after passing through mid-span. With a clear lane to the finish off GGYC, a tour boat nearly ran them down. The shock of the 4' wake hitting EYRIE broke the spinny afterguy connection and they had to drop and finish under jib.

Everyone safely back in the Bay before dark.