New Boat 4 Sled

[BobJ]

And for BOBJ, I worked for John Beery at the time you were messing with that Mercury.

Do you remember when John experimented with land sailers? He had to go to the hospital after running one into the back of a truck outside his office.

Pax Davis is still big into Mercuries. In 1969 my folks bought his father's 21' hard-chined sloop "SQUALI." Beery had the listing.
.

 

[sleddog]

How do you know we were unsuccessful? You might recall we successfully sank a submarine out there. Oh and the Mercury was red - about the color of Heintz ketchup...

 

[AlanH]

Col Woods plywood boat was red....which has nothing to do with the number 57.

Is there still a fleet launching off the Stillwater Cove pier?

Look a Mercury "project" for sale. - http://humboldt.craigslist.org/boa/5936645328.html
Looks like a plywood boat. There was a Clipper for sale out in Fresno, on CL for months upon months, maybe back in 2014.

The Moore mercuries that I've seen have watertight bulkheads under the foredeck and behind the helm. They're supposed to float if you dunk 'em. The Schock boats didn't.

Maybe 57 is the number of times Pax Davis won the National Championship? LOL

 

[Dazzler]

The Moore mercuries that I've seen have watertight bulkheads under the foredeck and behind the helm.

Ok, maybe AlanH is on to something about the (mysterious) number 57.
So, the Moore Mercuries have watertight bulkheads, making them unsinkable, and this feature is "singular to the [Moore built] Mercury design, and... important for sailing out of Monterey and Stillwater." In contrast, the Shields class boats, also popular in Monterey, do not have flotation.

The Mercury bulkheads are at stations 5 and 7. How about that!

 

[BobJ]

Sled wrote that "57" refers to something about the keel itself.

(Edit) Speculating it might be the angle of the keel's leading edge at the waterline (optimized to push kelp aside) I attempted, without success, to find a protractor in an accounting office. Finding one online, I measured every angle on the line drawing of the Mercury and nothing is close to 57 degrees. That's the bad news.

The good news is, now that I've been sacked for wasting the firm's time on this, I'll have more time to sail.
.

 

[H Spruit]

The only 57 I can think of has already be rejected!

Bal./Disp.: 57.72%

 

[AlanH]

Come to find out that in the early 70's a company called Clark made fiberglass Mercuries . I wonder if this is the same outfit that made San Juan sailboats

 

[H Spruit]

I give up, I have just read everything I can find on line about the Mercuries and found no reference to 57 other than "ballast ratio."

Ironically back before there was a Harbor in Santa Cruz, I had sailed with O'neill on his P CAT a few times but never sailed a monohull.
The Santa Cruz YC had a small building on the wharf and kept 2 Mercs on moorings a third one was owned by MR. Kinzie, he also owned the cement plant at Davenport.
Well, Bob, his son, & I surfed together so he invited me to sail with him, so it is a fact that first keel boat I ever sailed on was a Mercury.

 

[Philpott]

All this verbiage for a "winner, winner, chicken dinner"? These months in between singlehanded races are killing me! My attention is wandering.

BTW (that means By The Way - I looked it up), Howard spelled backwards is DRAWOH, image provided.

 

[sleddog]

It's raining cats and dogs here in Santa Cruz, with some street flooding deep enough to float Howard's little blue box (electric car)....

The National Weather Service is positively chatty tonight with their forecast for things to come: "Multiple Hazards in Effect." "Flash Flood Watch for Santa Cruz County." "Potent atmospheric river event this weekend." 1"-1.5" lurking off the coast, possible rumble of thunder. Wind gusts to 45 mph with Half Moon Bay Buoy reporting gusts to 37 knots. A wind advisory issued for entire Bay Area."

In the Small Craft Advisory Department, I'm not sure we were advised DURA MATER sports a shiny new tiller:

 

[Dazzler]

All this verbiage for a "winner, winner, chicken dinner"?

Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.... you must know by now that it's not about the prize, it's the journey.

BTW, have you looked up LOL. I'm laughing!

And, what a lovely new tiller. Please do tell us the story.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and DURA MATER.
Tom

 

[Philpott]

Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.... you must know by now that it's not about the prize, it's the journey. BTW, have you looked up LOL. I'm laughing! And, what a lovely new tiller. Please do tell us the story. HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and DURA MATER. Tom

Well, Okay. Since you're just sitting there drinking your coffee, Tom, and you can't come up with the answer anyway: Three years ago Skip told me I should replace my tiller. It had a crack up and down its length. I said I would but instead I wrapped it with fiberglass tape and it worked just fine. Then Bob started bragging about all the bling he was buying Ragtime! and I began to experience guilt. Did I not love DM as much as Bob loves Rags? Well, that did it. So I ordered the new tiller, which had to be sanded, shortened and re-varnished before I could install it. Sigh. Isn't that always the way? So there it is, and it required a slightly longer bolt to fit into my wonderful Pelagic. Now I am reading Christian Williams' book, given to me by Steve Hodges. He promised me something made of carbon fiber and I was expecting a new mast, but oh well, the book is very nice and I was able to drive home with it without opening up the sunroof, so that was good. Oh dear, I forgot this was the history channel. Sorry for the hijack. What is the answer, please?

 

[BobJ]

Very nice - an asset to the boat.

For the next step, don't forget Synthia can "cover your assets" (her own tag line). She made all of Rags' covers, except for the winch covers because she doesn't like to make those.

As for the answer, I suspect Sled is enjoying leaving us to dangle.

 

[sleddog]

Everybody likes red. Here's Jackie on the beach today in Monterey attempting to figure out how Monterey, despite being well charted by explorers Sir Francis Drake (1542) and Sebastian Vizcaino (1602), was "lost" for 168 years until being rediscovered on Gaspar Portola's second expedition of discovery up California.



Vizcaino, visiting Monterey with his 3 ship expeditionary fleet, had rightly described Monterey in glowing terms as being near 37 degrees latitude, an all weather port, "sheltered from all winds" and the best port north of San Diego. Vizcaino even named Point of Pines, today's Point Pinos, at the entrance to Monterey Harbor.

Portola and his "Sacred Expedition", were sent northwards in 1769 to rediscover Vizcaino's "Monte Rey" and establish a settlement. But Portola and his men were not sailors, and twice marched right by Monterey, once heading north, once returning south. In fact, they stood on top of Mulligan's Hill, just south of today's Moss Landing, and surveyed horizon to horizon, without recognizing Monterey and it's Peninsula of pines.

It wasn't until a year later, on his second expedition in 1770, that Portola rediscovered Monterey once and for all. For your trivia enjoyment, why was Monterey lost to explorers for 168 years? The answer is easy and a three letter word.

 

[BobJ]

In accounting we have various methods for valuing inventory. One of these methods also applies to Sled's trivia questions.

It's called "FIFO," which of course stands for "First-In, First-Out."

 

[H Spruit]

Fog?

 

[sleddog]

In accounting we have various methods for valuing inventory. One of these methods also applies to Sled's trivia questions. It's called "FIFO," which of course stands for "First-In, First-Out."

I'm sorry, "FIFO" is not the correct answer to why Monterey was lost...FIFO has 4 letters. But 2 letters in "FIFO" are correct in the three letter answer. All you need is the third.....

For anyone driving to/from Monterey on Hwy 1, I recommend a short hike to the top of Mulligan Hill (elevation 60 feet) to view what Portola didn't see. Mulligan Hill is a famous landmark from seaward, and sits above the artichoke fields, just north of the mouth of the Salinas River.

 

[sleddog]

Frog?

Would that be a question, or answer?

 

[H Spruit]

FROG has 4 letters!
FOG has 3 letters.
One describes a weather condition.
The other an object of WORSHIP!
The weather condition, that has 3 letters is why Monterey can't be seen from Santa Cruz most of the year.
I would never put a question mark after the word FROG!

 

[sleddog]

The weather condition, that has 3 letters is why Monterey can't be seen from Santa Cruz most of the year. FOG.

Holy Guacamole, H.Spruit is correct that FOG was likely the main weather event in 1769 that prevented the Portola "Sacred Expediton" from identifying the Monterey Peninsula and its "all weather port of refuge". Portola and 5 soldiers had stood on top of Mulligan Hill, 11 miles north of Monterey, to try and identify the Monterey Peninsula, but failed to see the prominent landmass hidden in the late summer fog.

Ironically, it was the coastal fog that allowed the Portola Expedition to "discover" San Francisco Bay. After missing Monterey, Portola kept tramping north up the coast, passing through what is now my hometown of Santa Cruz, before capturing a view of San Francisco Bay from the hills above.

Fog, as well as the prevailing northwesterly winds, had prevented passing ships from discovering San Francisco Bay, as the narrow Golden Gate is often shrouded in fog. Even knowing San Francisco Bay existed, Lt. Juan Ayala had a difficult time locating the Golden Gate and entering the Bay, the first to do so under sail, on August 5, 1775.

Ayala, like many modern day mariners, had not enjoyed his "Baja Bash" on his little ship SAN CARLOS. It took the SAN CARLOS 101 days to sail up the California coast to Monterey, then an additional 9 days to sail the 90 miles from Monterey to the Golden Gate.



Not only was the SAN CARLOS unweatherly, and an overloaded and near wreck of a ship, but the crew was scurvy ridden. It is to Ayala's great credit for allowing the SAN CARLOS to be flushed into uncharted San Francisco Bay on a flood tide by the light of a dim moon, before dropping anchor in today's Richardson Bay, off Sausalito. Ayala was a hurting puppy, having accidentally shot himself in the foot during the long voyage of the SAN CARLOS, and never did get to enjoy the discoveries his crew made of Angel and Yerba Buena Islands, the South Bay, and the Sacramento River at the mouth of the Delta

So yes, our prevailing coastal fog played a significant part in the discovery and charting of the California Coast.

Good thing Lt. Ayala only shot himself in the foot and not elsewhere, or we may not have had picturesque Ayala Cove on beautiful Angel Island to visit.