New Boat 4 Sled

[Dazzler]

Max, Great story! It's amazing to look back on those kinds of adventures and wonder, what were our parents thinking?

Regarding the close relative to the FJ, BobJ and AllanH are correct, but it's Sled (even to my surprise) that had the rest of the Banshee story. I briefly worked for Dick Reid on a few Saturdays. My job was to demonstrate the Banshee at waterfront locations while he made a sales pitch.

I PM'd Sled about Tom McCarthy. I recognized him right away, as he was a friend from high school. I knew that he had been Chief of Staff at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, but did not know that he had died.

Tom

 

[sleddog]

As seen on recent post #1863, our local beach has been reconfigured by recent storms and runoff from Soquel Creek.



This evening, during a minus low tide of grand proportions, all was revealed. The missing beach was there, now extending seawards several hundred yards.

 

[sleddog]

Seeking information from any who have sailed/cruised Lake Havasu on Colorado River. Launch sites/vehicle security, Topock Gorge, nighttime lowering of water level. contact 831-four seven five-0278 or skipallanatsbcglobal.net

 

[sleddog]

On another thread it was queried [I]Anyone have experience with wind generators? [/I]

I have, but likely not in the manner needed. My Ham Ferris water generator converted to a wind generator with the addition of a 4' diameter wood airplane prop and bridle. Once it got spinning in about 12 knots of wind, it really pumped out the amps. And became dangerous to lower from its position hoisted in front of the mast.

Dangerous was not an overstatement. The Freya next door at Partida had one. One night in a building northerly, their wind generator got going so fast the housing was glowing orange. It sounded like an airplane taking off until it self destructed.

In Moorea I accidently got my windsurfer mast hit by a wind generator blade. It lopped off the top 2 feet of fiberglas mast clean as you please, with no damage to the wind generator.

 

[AlanH]

Don't most modern wind generators have "overload protection"....or at least a clampthingy to stop the prop from turning?

BTW, my debit card has an automatic "overload protection" feature, too.

i remember Rob McF at a SHTP forum saying that his wind generator was pretty much useless while going to Hawaii because there was never enough wind velocity over the boat to make it worthwhile. In the anchorage, though, it's great. I recently read a compendium of wisdom-bytes from some puddle-jumpers who wrote the same thing.

 

[sleddog]

AlanH has given us a great new idea: "Antique Boatshow." Step right up for your appraisal. We know DAZZLER has an SSS T-shirt from last century. Can only imagine what MikeJ has outback. On second thought, maybe the show should be called "American Boat Pickers."

 

[Philpott]

AlanH has given us a great new idea: "Antique Boatshow." Step right up for your appraisal. We know DAZZLER has an SSS T-shirt from last century. Can only imagine what MikeJ has outback. On second thought, maybe the show should be called "American Boat Pickers."

I love games. What are the rules?

 

[mike cunningham]

 

[sleddog]

A sobering story in our local newspaper this morning. This event happened in early November of 2016.



By Dan Haifley, Our Ocean Backyard

Posted: 01/14/17, 8:00 PM PST | Updated: 3 days ago

Ed Grant, a photographer who’s chronicled surfing at the Maverick’s surf break near Half Moon Bay since 2003 and produced a photo book called Piers of the California Coast, is lucky to be alive today. Doing business in the ocean as he does, even (and sometimes especially) in near shore waters, can be dangerous.

Grant and his colleague, Joel Gringorten, headed out of the Pillar Point Harbor on the morning of Nov. 9. It wasn’t a Mavericks contest day, but the swell was big. Many professional surfers were at Jaws at Maui, but there were a number of local surfers at what Grant called “an epic surf day” at Maverick’s.

Maverick’s is well known for being rough and even the most skilled among them face deadly danger there. The same is true for those who venture out into the water to support them, or to photograph or video the action.

Heading out of the harbor mouth in Grant’s 17-foot Boston Whaler and traveling south for three quarters of a mile, he and Gringorten passed the inland side of Buoy No. 3. They subsequently took a right turn to head west toward the reef that produces the waves that Maverick’s is famous for. They were in about 60 feet of water, traveling a route Grant had done more than 30 times.

South of the reef, Grant suddenly saw a wall of water, coming from the deeper waters to his west and heading toward his boat. “Instead of a rolling wave, this one started to break in 60 feet of water,” he said. “It jacked up, peaked, and broke. It was a 30 foot wall of water.”

Grant was about 50 feet from the wave when he saw it coming, so he pointed his boat toward it. The wave broke right in front of his boat and up to 15 feet of rushing whitewater capsized the whaler. “We were turned broadside then the boat flipped, and we were capsized over the side,” Grant said.

The upside-down boat took two more waves and then a third. He was in the water, with a lifejacket on, but with the last wave he ran out of breath. It would be an hour before they were rescued. Although the water is usually cold, in the mid to high 40 degree range, on this day it was at least 55 degrees.

The two photographers, who had lost around $10,000 worth of gear, got separated a few times while waves rolled in from the open ocean to the west. While Gringorten was able to scramble atop the boat’s overturned hull, Grant clung to the side. Joel used an air horn to try and gain the attention of distant boaters. An hour after the small boat was capsized, the two were rescued by a fishing boat.

That day had a high surf advisory, which is not a good time to take a 17-foot vessel offshore. But Grant, who is in the business of surf photography, said that despite the dangers, he would go out again. But not in the same, intense conditions he experienced on Nov. 9.

The boat was carried by currents to Redondo Beach south of the harbor, where it washed ashore. The oil and gasoline was safely removed, and Monte Ashe of TowBoatUS Santa Cruz is waiting for the right conditions to tow it off the beach, and back into the sea in route to the harbor. That may take weeks given the rough winter conditions. “The power and mystery of the ocean and our fascination with it is why were explore it, despite the risks,” Grant told me. He’ll continue to do that, though a bit more cautiously, from now on.

Dan Haifley is executive director of O’Neill Sea Odyssey. He can be reached at [email protected]

 

[AlanH]

I still have a sweatshirt from my very first Farallones race, which was also in the last century. Somehow, it's kind of too tight, now. Must've shrunk.

 

[H Spruit]

For the record The trivia prize luncheon And interesting company at the Capatola Sailing Center was Excellent.
Thank you MR. Sled

 

[Philpott]

I still have a sweatshirt from my very first Farallones race, which was also in the last century. Somehow, it's kind of too tight, now. Must've shrunk.

Maybe you will wear it to the Fiasco skippers mtg?

 

[sleddog]

Maybe not a good afternoon to go sailing off Eureka (CA).?

01 18 1:50 pm S 35.0 knots gusting 46.6 knots
01 18 12:50 pm S 42.7 52.4
01 18 11:50 am S 42.7 54.4
01 18 10:50 am S 42.7 52.4
01 18 9:50 am SSE 38.9 52.4

That would be Force 9 on the Beaufort Scale. Small pets and chickens should be tethered.



Here's WILDFLOWER in Force 8-low 9, happy to have a 1,063 foot ship, 10 stories high, as a windbreak.

 

[sleddog]

AlanH perusings are much appreciated: To the point, experience based, and colorfully descriptive. "Bumptillion gallons, snortzillion boats." Thanks, Alan, come by anytime.

Alan recently mentioned a SCAMPI-30 as a good possibility for the SHTP.

there are two great boats currently for sale on Craigslist... the Scampi 30 and the Albin Cumulus.
But honestly, that Scampi 30? The boat has a working diesel. It's a great design, they made about a bazillion of the mark iii's and they're still cruising all over the Baltic, not to mention probably 50+ on the East coast of the US. I've been beaten by Scampi 30's.

Peter Norlin nailed it on that boat's design. Look at YouTube, there are umpty-ump Scampi 30 videos on there. The Scampi 30 has a big cabin and a dinky little cockpit. That's great for singlehanding and doublehanding, everything is within reach. Offshore, if you take a wave in the cockpit, you're not filling up a bumptillion gallons of water. There's a nice bridgedeck to put the traveler on...the primary winches are right there...it's a tiller boat. Sure it's an IOR boat with big headsails and a little main, but you don't HAVE to fly that 155% every time.


I second the SCAMPI-30. I first met Peter Norlin, the SCAMPI designer, in the 1971 Florida SORC series. He and a crew of 4 big Swedes were sailing SCAMPI #1. And living aboard. Their SCAMPI was kicking butt, even though they were new to Florida waters. It was hard not to like these guys and their little boat.

The SCAMPI has two good things to my eye. The rudder is hung on a small skeg, protecting from damage as well as adding tracking capabilities. I added that idea when I built WILDFLOWER in 1975. In addition, Norlin was ahead of his time and designed the SCAMPI with an aft chine, making the boat stiff, and a good "break loose" surfer downwind.

For the 2018 SHTP and beyond, a SCAMPI would be a good little boat. Hans Vielhauer raced one, MACH SCHNELL, in 1978 SHTP. And had nothing but praise. Capable of a 12.5-13 day passage, with a PHRF 186 rating, finishing inside 15 days, competitive to win.

 

[AlanH]

Here's WILDFLOWER in Force 8-low 9, happy to have a 1,063 foot ship, 10 stories high, as a windbreak.

View attachment 2073

View attachment 2074

I remember....I mean, obviously I wasn't there but I sure remember reading about it all, later. Maybe not your happiest day on the water, hmm?

 

[AlanH]

Peter Norlin is one of my favorite designers from the previous generation. Peter worked within that "Nordic" tradition that Hannes Groop (International H-Boat, my first "racing" boat), Hakan Sodergren, and even Paul Elvstron designed in. Yet, like all of those, he sometimes blew up that usual "long, skinny, and light" tradition. The Scampi 30 was apparently one of his first successful designs. Talk about hitting it out of the park on your first pitch!

Just for giggles....the post that Sleddog references points to two good boats that would be just great singlehanders...the Scampi and the Albin Cumulus. Heh...they're both designed by Peter Norlin. Other boats to his credit inclue..."maybe", 'cause Yamaha isn't talking... the Yamaha 30 and 33, a mess of boats for Sweden Yachts, a mess of boats for Albin, including the Cumulus, which I think is outrageously handsome.

Personally, with the exception of the Sparkman and Stevens boats of that era...Tartan 30 and Yankee 30, the Scampi 30 is probably THE boat I would choose from that time for a long offshore passage. If I recall correctly, "Red Dragon" raced in the SSS for quite a few years in the late 1990's and early 2000's and did very well. I certainly remember looking at that red transom from the cockpit of my H-Boat.

 

[AlanH]

Since we're on the subject of older half-tonners....

When I got started in this whole sailing-shorthanded thing, I did a lot of reading. A book that was extremely influential in my "mental development" (no comments, please!) was "Blue Water, Green Skipper" by Stuart Woods.

It's the story of Stuart, now an extremely successful pulp mystery-crime novel writer, and his preparation for the 1972 OSTAR. He starts out racing mirrors, then gets enamoured of the idea of crossing the Atlantic in the OSTAR. The book is not *that* well-written, but it's not bad and it certainly clicked with me at the time. It's worth the read, if you can find a used copy.

The boat he took across was a Ron Holland half-tonner, a Golden Shamrock. The Golden Shamrock was one of Rons first forays into custom racing boats...he was a young unknown back then. The Golden Shamrock was the production version of the custom boat. An evolution of the Golden Shamrock became the Silver Shamrock; the hull shape forward is similar but aft of the cockpit there are some huge differences between Silver and Gold. It's pretty typical of the IOR boats of it's time, and it looks *Very* different from a Scampi.

A lot of Silver Shamrocks were made in Ireland...not as many Golden Shamrocks,but still probably 50+ boats. The overwhelming majority are sailing out of the UK.

So...about eight years ago I was boatless and looking around various listings and I came across this...

http://www.sailingtexas.com/sgoldenshamrock30100.html

I did a double-take and finally called the guy. Yup, it was Stuart Woods boat..."Golden Harp" that had done the OSTAR. He'd sold it on the East Coast after the race and it had banged around the Northeast for 30 years. I thought hard about buying it, in fact if you search way back on this forum, you'll find posts by me about doing just that. It probably wouldn't have been a good choice for me, it needed a ton of work and I would have had to ship it out here, but the emotional tug was hard to resist. I still have the owners e-mails from back then. If a megadump of money fell out of the sky on me, I could see getting it out here, closing my eyes, and returning her to her past glory, just "because". She'd still be a fun boat to knock around the Bay in.


What books and boats influenced you, as you were coming along?

 

[Critter]

I can't say this was an influence, because I only heard of it about 15 years ago. But another half-tonner that floats my boat, also built in Ireland I think, is the Achilles 9 meter. The designer Chris Butler did an OSTAR in it. Nice cosy cockpit, not too beamy, nice looking ... but I've never heard of one in the US.

 

[sleddog]

1/21/17

Storm surf locally. Monterey Bay Buoy reporting 30 foot swells (estimated average height of the highest one-third of the swells.)

Breakers about as far offshore as can be seen in the reduced visibility. At least half a mile, maybe more. That puts the water depth between 25-35 feet. 3rd Reef is breaking frequently. This morning, spray was being tossed upward to the top of the Santa Cruz Lighthouse, 60 feet above the waterline.



It's a rare morning when no surfers are in the water at Santa Cruz. This is one of those days.

 

[sleddog]

Consider this: At one time San Francisco Bay had an estimated 300 near one-designs, varying in length from 55-70 feet. These heavily canvased sailing craft had adjustable sprits and centerboards, They were usually sailed, even raced, Double-Handed, although Singlehanded was not unusual.

A most unusual thing about these boats was they were rigged with traditional slab reefing (shortening sail from the top down and tying in reef points.) But in addition, they were frequently reefed from the bottom up. Yup. The main was raised and the main boom went higher up the mast.

What was this class of boat, and why "reefing from the bottom up?"

(Unfortunately, DAZZLER is DSQ from this Quiz, 'cause he knows the answer. But doubt he's reading, as Tom and Sue are off to dive Bonaire. No 3BF for them.)