New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

Congrats to my nephew Jeremy who yesterday completed a New York to New York round trip via the tip of South America on his KLR motorcycle. Brief understated stats are:
44,640 miles ( 1.8 laps around the Earth)
324 days.
33 border crossings.
16 countries.
12 capital cities.
10 oil changes.
8 motorcycle tires. (5 rear, 3 front)
4 flats. (2 frightening)
3 drive chains.
2 near arrests.
1 heroic spark plug.
& 1 Chilean hostage.

The "Chilean hostage" briefly mentioned is the beautiful Lorena from Santiago who rode the back of Jeremy's KLR on four crossings of the Andes, then up South and Central America, crossing to Baja, up the West Coast, then across the USA and Canada to Maine and back to NYC.

Well done Jeremy and Lorena! We're proud of you.

 

[sleddog]

Another Moore 24 epic was recently completed, this by Webb Chiles aboard GANNET. Here's the tale if you haven't already seen it:



At 5 a.m., Monday, August 22, our 53rd day at sea since leaving Darwin, Australia, the wind died, and GANNET, my Moore 24, was becalmed ten miles from Durban Harbor. Confident that the 6,000 mile passage would be over in a few hours, I took advantage of the smooth conditions to fit the outboard bracket and electric Torqeedo onto the stern. The Torqeedo had not been used in months, not since I powered the last half mile to the marina in Bundaberg, Australia. I was pleased when it started at the first push of a button. Then I removed what is called the tiller arm and tilted the Torqeedo from the water. It has a limited range and I would use it only after entering the port.
A few minutes later the wind, which had been light and behind us, returned with a rush, but from directly ahead. I raised a triple reefed main and partially unfurled the jib.
The wind continued to build and build. Had I not so wanted to get in, I would have stopped sailing by 6 a.m. But I did and kept on. GANNET was heeled 40°, thrashing through and under water. Lee rail buried. Activity below was impossible. One of the rules on GANNET is the same as in boxing: protect yourself at all times. Trying to heat water for coffee, momentarily I didn’t and was thrown across the cabin. This, of course isn’t far, but I lost a good piece of skin and got a good sized lump on my elbow. I drank the coffee with air temperature water and ate a protein bar for breakfast.
With the wind coming partially over the point of land to the south, I thought it possible the sea would be smoother closer to the coast. I was wrong. The wind there was as strong and the waves steeper. I threaded my way through a half dozen ships anchored waiting entrance to the harbor until I ran out of room and a mile offshore tried to come about. Despite moving at speed, GANNET didn’t have the weight to do it. The wind stopped and shook her like a dog a bone. I had to do what I didn’t want to and gybe. The power of the boom going over was immense. GANNET went to almost to 90°, but Moore 24s are self-correcting boats. They seem to want to do the right thing, and as I eased the sheet, she came up. Some. As I steered back past the anchored ships one of them gave a blast on her horn that I decided to interpret as applause. To the south I could see the breakwaters at Durban seven miles away.
Wave after wave swept over GANNET and me. While being flailed In the failed attempt to tack, the jib sheets had tied themselves in a Gordian knot. Once clear of the ships, I tied down the tiller and lowered and subdued the mainsail and went forward to untangle the jib sheets so I could furl it. All brutal and dangerous.
Finally under bare pole and being pushed north, I called on the handheld VHF to the anchored ships, asking for wind speed and forecast. One of them answered, giving wind speed of 45 knots, forecast to go to 50 with 6 meter/20’ waves, easing in 24 hours. GANNET’s cabin was as wet as it has ever been, but she felt safer and much less likely to be rolled. She had taken a beating. We both had.
I don’t think the waves ever reached 20’, perhaps 12’ to 14’, but I have always preferred to err on the low side rather than high. Whatever their height, they were steep walls of seething water and big enough.
After an unrelenting afternoon and night, the wind began to drop at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday almost as quickly as it rose. Even after all these years, I am sometimes amazed by how quickly waves decrease with the wind. By 1:00 p.m. GANNET was headed back toward Durban, now forty miles distant, making three and four knots under full sail across a mildly undulating sea on a sunny afternoon. Two whales spouted a few whale lengths away. Albatrosses glided above us.
We entered the harbor late the next morning and tied to the International Jetty at noon.
The passage that ended then was difficult and sometimes tested my limits. First with too little wind. A week out of Darwin we were becalmed for almost twenty-four hours on a glassy sea and GANNET had her slowest day’s run ever of only 28 miles. I went overboard for a swim, startling a fish that seemed to be living beneath us.
Then we had two weeks of too much wind, 25+ knots going to gale force twice. This was complicated by tiller pilot failure. I probably did 5,000 of the 6,000 miles using sheet to tiller steering. In strong wind this can result in accidental gybes. Twice I had to lie ahull because the risk of being rolled was too great. And GANNET’s interior was entirely wet, as was I. Every surface. Slime and mold. My sleeping bag intolerably sodden, so I slept in wet foul weather gear beneath a foil survival blanket.
Finally that ended and we again had mostly too light wind.
On a moderate day, with only six foot waves, one of them broke and caught us just right and rolled the masthead into the water. I know it went in because the masthead Windex is hanging off the side and the masthead Raymarine wind unit is gone. I somehow don’t think this will be covered under warranty.
GANNET is the fourth boat whose masthead I have put in the water. This is a club you probably don’t want to join.
GANNET has covered more than 9,000 miles since we sailed from Opua, New Zealand, less than four months ago. Despite being driven and tossed on the deep blue sea, I can’t see that she has suffered any structural damage.
We have done what we planned to do this year. We are both going to rest.
The photo of me was taken on the 39th day at sea.
I think GANNET looks as though she just came in from a daysail.

 

[H Spruit]

I have been told by Moore 24 owners on more than one occasion that they were very comforted during extreme conditions to be sailing on a boat that would float like a cork when they were cold wet and exhausted. It is obvious that Web has proven that true again.
Having done a little traveling on Motor cycles, I am also VERY impressed by sled's, Nephew's travels
And most of all, Frog and the Guys are pleased to see that Flippy is back safely, from the Hawaiian adventure.

 

[sleddog]

End of an era. Yesterday the wheelhouse, the last vestige of the rusty 30 year old Santa Cruz Harbor dredge SEABRIGHT, was hauled away for scrap metal, ending a meritorious service to the boating community in which an average of 250,000 cubic yards of sand was removed from the shoaled entrance yearly, usually between early November and April. 250,000 cubic yards equates to 25,000 dump truck loads yearly.

That's 750,000 dumptruck loads of sand moved by the SEABRIGHT over its lifetime. No wonder its machinery was worn out!

The SEABRIGHT, and tender DAUNTLESS, originally purchased for $3.5 million, were operated by a crew of 5 in their often futile attempts to maintain a 20 foot depth in the ill designed Harbor entrance throughout the winter. Two days of winter storm with the accompanying movement of sand could fill in the channel, precluding passage of all vessels, often for weeks at a time.

As the SEABRIGHT leaves the scene, the new, more modern dredge TWIN LAKES is having finishing touches added before taking over duty.

Farewell SEABRIGHT! Thank you for your hardwork.

 

[sleddog]

Never quite sure what solo-sailing adventure may be gleaned in this neck of the woods (Santa Cruz, CA).

It's a little OT, but the recent local escapades of "Buddy," aka Budweiser the Clydesdale horse, whose 1 ton self disappeared into thin air for 5 days is noteworthy for both audacity and ingenuity.

Kinda like having your J-92 go sailing without you.

It turns out Buddy didn't just wander out from his pen unaided: It was doublehanded. Buddy's best friend, a dwarf Nigerian billy goat named Lancelot, stealthily learned to unlatch and butt open the gate, and off they went, the Clydesdale and the escape goat.



Lancelot soon returned to the fold. But Buddy apparently was enjoying his freedom, staying well hidden and eluding volunteer searchers. They even trotted out Lancelot in an attempt to lure Buddy into the open. Nothing doing, Buddy remained on the lam for 5 days.

Finally a pair of searchers on horseback found Buddy hiding in some manzanita and led him back to his pen, where he was reported to be "extra frisky, playful, and happy to be back."

It's Tuesday, almost midweek. Do you know where your boat is? Did she seem to be a little "extra frisky and playful" in her moorage when last seen? Boats do have a life when we are not aboard you know. Just ask the solo sailors of the 2016 SHTP who anchored out in Hanalei Bay.



photos courtesy of Tamara Schmitz

 

[Philpott]

Never quite sure what solo-sailing adventure may be gleaned in this neck of the woods (Santa Cruz, CA).

It's a little OT, but the recent local escapades of "Buddy," aka Budweiser the Clydesdale horse, whose 1 ton self disappeared into thin air for 5 days is noteworthy for both audacity and ingenuity.

Kinda like having your J-92 go sailing without you.

It turns out Buddy didn't just wander out from his pen unaided: It was doublehanded. Buddy's best friend, a dwarf Nigerian billy goat named Lancelot, stealthily learned to unlatch and butt open the gate, and off they went, the Clydesdale and the escape goat.

View attachment 1746

Lancelot soon returned to the fold. But Buddy apparently was enjoying his freedom, staying well hidden and eluding volunteer searchers. They even trotted out Lancelot in an attempt to lure Buddy into the open. Nothing doing, Buddy remained on the lam for 5 days.

Finally a pair of searchers on horseback found Buddy hiding in some manzanita and led him back to his pen, where he was reported to be "extra frisky, playful, and happy to be back."

It's Tuesday, almost midweek. Do you know where your boat is? Did she seem to be a little "extra frisky and playful" in her moorage when last seen? Boats do have a life when we are not aboard you know. Just ask the solo sailors of the 2016 SHTP who anchored out in Hanalei Bay.
View attachment 1745photos courtesy of Tamara Schmitz

You kill me! Do you have a little stash of photographers doing your bidding, finding these little treasures of stories to unleash upon us when we least expect them? You are the Sailing AP (Associated Press) of the Northern California sailing scene. Thank you again, Skip. And what a lovely smile

 

[BobJ]

Do you know where your boat is? Did she seem to be a little "extra frisky and playful" in her moorage when last seen? Boats do have a life when we are not aboard you know.

A couple weeks ago I drove over to Sausalito and looked at a Hinckley (yes, I really did). Despite her weight she was doing just as you described - rocking around in her slip and pulling at her docklines. The boats on either side weren't - just her. It kind of freaked me out.

Her story is all too common. The owner spent well up into six figures having the best upgrades and gear installed to take a South Pacific cruise, but never went. She's ready to go and appeared to want me to know that.

On the other hand, when I returned to RYC, Rags seemed especially sluggish in her slip. Yeah, they know.

 

[Philpott]

On the other hand, when I returned to RYC, Rags seemed especially sluggish in her slip. Yeah, they know.

Sullen. Resentful. I don't blame her. She knows.

 

[mike cunningham]

Ha Ha, I often glance up at Jacqueline in her slip while I am surfing yachtworld or sailboatlistings. I feel a little guilty "don'i worry" says I, "I am only looking"...

 

[sleddog]

Fav quotes for the day:

Gary Burton: "How is it that 2 weeks ago, I would have abandoned my boat 200 miles offshore if someone had offered me a ride home, and now I wish I was back out there? I think I need therapy."

Peter Heiberg (in reply): "The absolute best, most necessary skill for a mariner is a shitty memory."

"We knew everything when we started. The rest we learned along the way." Unattributed.

"Listen to your boat. On day 2 indecision broke out whether to set the spinnaker. The boat decided for me: Just then the jib halyard broke and the jib fell to the deck." Dave Herrigel, 2016 SHTP Winner

"Bolt your socks on, it's gonna blow" John Rumsey, 1979 Fastnet Race

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." Antoine de St.Exupery

"Half the pleasure of owning a boat is being able to admire its beauty." (And having heads turn upon entering a harbor) Bill Lee

"Courage needs exercise too, just like fingers and biceps." Dan Arnold, Early Days in the Range of Light.

The hardest part of an extended voyage, as many sailors will attest, is finishing it. You think, feel, and act differently. Your internal clock, once set by the wind and the waves and the rhythm of shipboard life, is now governed by the uncontrollable, inconvenient, and external realities and pressures of a 9-5 schedule and rush hour traffic. You look at the world, and particularly its trials, travails, and trivialities, in an altered and bemused state. Or at least you try to. The trouble with all this, of course, is that society hasn't changed, even if you have. And if you can't deal with it, that's your problem, and nobody else's. Herb McCormick, after 55 weeks and 25,000 miles sailing around the Americas.

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

[WBChristie]

Good stuff!

Fav quotes for the day:

Gary Burton: "How is it that 2 weeks ago, I would have abandoned my boat 200 miles offshore if someone had offered me a ride home, and now I wish I was back out there? I think I need therapy."

Peter Heiberg (in reply): "The absolute best, most necessary skill for a mariner is a shitty memory."

"We knew everything when we started. The rest we learned along the way." Unattributed.

"Bolt your socks on, it's gonna blow" John Rumsey, 1979 Fastnet Race

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." Antoine de St.Exupery

"Half the pleasure of owning a boat is being able to admire its beauty." (And having heads turn upon entering a harbor) Bill Lee

"Courage needs exercise too, just like fingers and biceps." Dan Arnold, Early Days in the Range of Light.

The hardest part of an extended voyage, as many sailors will attest, is finishing it. You think, feel, and act differently. Your internal clock, once set by the wind and the waves and the rhythm of shipboard life, is now governed by the uncontrollable, inconvenient, and external realities and pressures of a 9-5 schedule and rush hour traffic. You look at the world, and particularly its trials, travails, and trivialities, in an altered and bemused state. Or at least you try to. The trouble with all this, of course, is that society hasn't changed, even if you have. And if you can't deal with it, that's your problem, and nobody else's. Herb McCormick, after 55 weeks and 25,000 miles sailing around the Americas.

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

[sleddog]

More from the walls of the Capitola Maritime Museum of Small Boats:

"The chance for mistakes equals the number of crew squared" ~ Ted Turner

"Maybe, when conditions are right, grace just happens" ~ Angus Phillips

I have finally arrived at the age at which things I remember most clearly never happened at all." ~Mark Twain

"I don't know where we've been, and I've just been there." ~Butch Cassidy

"Best laid plans are merely good ideas." ~ Gary Adams

"From Rocks and Sands And Every Ill, May God Preserve The Sailor Still."

"Si Dios Quiere."

"Serendipity - you can't push something towards you."

"Wildflowers dance with the Wind." ~ Victor Villa Senor

"She breathes sturdy, eager confidence, a living embodiment of the truth that the sea is for sailing." W.H. Tilman describing his small cutter "MISCHIEF."

 

[sleddog]

Onsite reports from Yelapa, near Cabo Corrientes, has strong winds and rain taking off parts of metal roofs as Hurricane Newton passes offshore, about 70 miles west.

Newton intensified quickly, from a tropical depression to a hurricane inside of 24 hours. Hurricane Newton is moving quickly north, 16 knots of forward speed, and will hit Cabo San Lucas late tonight as a Cat.1 with winds to 75 knots and a lot of moisture before moving up the Gulf of California and over Mainland Mexico.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_ep5.shtml?5-daynl#contents

 

[sleddog]

Cat.1 Hurricane Newton made landfall early this morning, Tuesday, along the southern tip of Baja. Reported windspeeds up to 80 knots. That's got to hurt.

Unlike last October's intense Hurricane Patricia, which was tightly wound with a small diameter eye and wind field, Hurricane Newton is huge, with a 45 mile diameter eye that covers all of Baja's tip. Tropical storm force winds were being felt as far as the Mexican mainland, 200 miles across the Gulf of California.

Newton is moving fast, directly up the spine of Baja and should enter the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) near Conception Bay and remain a hurricane until making landfall on the Mexican mainland.

Not a good time to be in the Baja area ...we wish the best to our Mexican neighbors

 

[sleddog]

Situational Awareness. Or unclear on the concept of sailing into kelp? Last weekend, during Capitola's Begonia Festival, this Beneteau 323 somehow managed to get beached "inside" at Pleasure Point.



Fortunately the surf was small, the bottom was sand, and Santa Cruz Harbor's rescue assets were able to pull the boat off with little external damage. But the expense for the insurance company has just begun, as the keel has to be removed to check structural integrity.

(photos compliment of Rainer)

According to dock talk, the engine wouldn't start when the "experienced" charter skipper realized he was in trouble. Likely the prop was wrapped in kelp, which will definitely stall a small diesel. The onshore breeze was good, and tacking offshore while sailing in kelp with little way on is tricky at best.

Been there, done that.

In July of 1994, while sailing WILDFLOWER down the outside of Vancouver Island south of Columbia Cove, my small BMW diesel died. It would only run in neutral. I knew the problem, doffed my layers of warm clothing, and jumped off the stern to disentangle the Martec folding prop from a tightly wound wad of kelp. The water temp was 48, the seas smooth, the wind light, and WF had a fold down transom boarding ladder.

That little engine, the first diesel made for exclusively for small sailboats, caused no end of cursing. But it did allow getting in and out of tight spots along Vancouver Island's rugged west coast and the voyage wouldn't have been possible without it.

That afternoon, after the disentanglement from the kelp, a distressed and immature storm petrel (aka "Mother Carey's Chicken") fluttered across the bow. I scooped it up with the net, wrapped it in a towel, and warmed it by WILDFLOWER's little 4hp engine. The bird recovered handsomely, and soon was able to fly off towards some rocky islets near the Bunsby Islands.

My Log notes translations for Canadian VHF weather for that vicinity:
"sunny breaks" = rain; "variable wind" = SE wind on the nose; "reduced visibility" = heavy fog; "visibility obscured" = can barely see the bow.

 

[sleddog]

1,000 miles south of the currently happening Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, my homeport of Capitola Village is having its own end of summer celebration, the Capitola Art and Wine Festival. 30 boats are moored just offshore, some at anchor, more on moorings that include shoreboat service to the Wharf.

Capitola Art and Wine. Good news is no cars in the area, foot traffic only. Art always seems to look better after a few glasses of wine.

Our favorite accordionist, the Great Moorgani, is holding court to appreciative onlookers.



At the Esplanade, local hula dancers are swaying to music from Polynesia.



Today is the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of Dennis and Rainy Bassano, co-designers of the Olson-30 in 1977. The Olson 30, along with the Santa Cruz 27, the Moore 24, and the Express 27, all were built locally during the heyday of Santa Cruz ultralight boat building.

 

[sleddog]

Never a happy sight to wake up to a boat on the Capitola beach. This morning about 3 a.m. the 42' cutter TROUBADOUR chafed thru and parted its large diameter bow line secured to a local mooring. The wind was onshore, easterly, about 15 knots, and there was a 3-4 foot wind chop.

Despite the best efforts of Ed, the wharfinger, to tow TROUBADOUR clear with his small outboard, TROUBADOUR ended up aground at the foot of the Capitola Wharf, its bowsprit under the wharf and headstay breaking off wooden railing above.


At 7:30 a.m the tip of the bowsprit broke off, releasing the headstay. The owner was aboard, running the engine in reverse as the boat rolled 45 degrees in the surfline. Things looked dire as a crowd assembled and speculation was rampant. One senior lady asked me, "will it attack us?"


A Capitola public official showed up, concerned about the Wharf pilings, several of which were flexing as TROUBADOUR's bow raked the wharf underpinnings. Muttered he, "those pilings cost us $30,000 to replace."

Next to arrive was a uniformed LEO, seemingly out of place on sand. He politely asked the lady who was concerned about being attacked by the boat to please remove her (leashed) dog from the beach.

Standing nearby, I could see TROUBADOUR's foredeck festooned with Tibetan prayer flags, a large wicker chair on the bow. I could also see the full keel as the boat heeled heavily to port.

More to come....

 

[sleddog]

Hanging about 5 feet from TROUBADOUR's forward hawse hole was a large diameter frayed and broken mooring line, likely the culprit in the early morning escape. The broken line looked to have parted in the vicinity of the wire bobstay connecting the bowsprit to the stem. While contemplating the old sailor's adage "chafe and rust never sleep," around the corner of the Wharf came an orange and white "TOW BOAT U.S.," red lights flashing.

The towboat captain backed his 28 footer as close as he dared to TROUBADOUR, and two swimmers, clad in wetsuits and fins, swam a spectra towline 50 feet to the stern of TROUBADOUR. The swimmers neatly climbed aboard, and quickly rigged a towing bridle through the two aft hawse holes. The TOW BOAT U.S. crew took up slack on the towline, and for the next 45 minutes pulled on TROUBADOUR while everyone onboard both the tow-er and the tow-ee took safety in their respective cabins. Good thing, because at one point the towline crossed the stern pulpit of TROUBADOUR, ripping it out by the roots.

Slowly, TROUBADOUR was seen to be making some progress astern, and the broken bowsprit emerged from under the Wharf. It was high tide at 9:30 a.m., and as if the pretty cutter said, "I've had enough of this abuse," she slid free of the beach stern first.


I compliment TOW BOAT U.S. for doing a professional job. Fortunately the surf was small. TROUBADOUR and the Wharf are repairable, but it's going to take some doing including a new bowsprit and stern pulpit.

I must add the wharfinger was adamant his heavy duty commercial mooring was not what broke, rather the TROUBADOUR owner's tie up system.

 

[Steevee]

I once made the mistake of looping my dock line through a mooring ball ring, the whole time thinking 'I shouldn't do it this way', but I was dog tired and needed a rest. I slept like a baby.
In the wee hours of morning I woke up free of the mooring ball but luckily floating out to sea. I took in my chafed dock line, started my motor and quietly sailed home. I never told anyone that story till now.
I could have easily been that dude in Capitola.

 

[skatzman]

An excellent report, as usual. Thanks Skip. And there is a funny word for you, "wharfinger". I like words. It makes one wonder. Why not wharf manager? Or wharf master? SDK