Todays most popular posts Sep 29, 2013,
A Dinghy On The French Canals. Part 2 from D.A on Vimeo.
"In the name of uncomfortable fun!"R2AK, the Race to Alaska, a 750 mile jumbo version of the Everglades Challenge, started the 2nd and final leg yesterday. The first leg, raced last Thursday, was a 40 mile sprint from Port Townshend, Washington to Victoria. The rules are simple; no engines, no outside assistance. Unlike the Everglades Challenge, the R2AK racetrack is open water, very cold and some of the entries are sensible, full out cruising craft. I expect once the dust has settled, the racier catamarans and trimarans will fill the top spots. I dont envy those hardy kayakers in their kayak-trimaran hybrids who will spend the entire race ensconced in their dry suits. For those who like to get their online jollies by watching the R2AK unfold, the organizers have got that covered - just click here for the race tracker. There is at least one large open dinghy racing (editors correction: There are two - a Mirror 16 is also competing). Team Barefoot is the product of Barefoot Wooden Boats and is a Tad Roberts design, a 5.8 meter (19 foot) plywood dinghy playing in the same design space for long distance small boats as the i550 mini-sportboat. In looking at the video, the Barefoot dinghy appears to be more in the realm of a high freeboard Classic International 14 from the 1980s. Team Barefoot put this interesting video up on their dinghy and the thoughts behind designing for this race. Team Barefoot Wooden Boats | Race to Alaska 2015 from Vancouver Maritime Museum on Vimeo. Designer Tad Roberts has the sideview and sailplan of the Barefoot Dinghy over here. Some photos of the Barefoot Dinghy I pulled from the InterWebs. It turns out that Classic Mothist, Jeff Linton, is pursuing the same direction for the next Everglades Challenge. He has scrapped his modified Flying Scot (which won the monohull class in 2014) and is home-building a new 6.7 meter, O.H. Rogers designed, large dinghy for next years Challenge. Boatbuilding details with lots of photos are over at Amy Lintons blog. - Part 1 here
- Part 2 here
- Part 3 here
- Part 4 here
- Part 5 here
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Yes, a long day -- underway at 6:15 and put anchor down at 3:45 -- 9.5 hours of motoring in the ICW. Today and yesterday we traveled on sections of the ICW that Ive never traversed before, having been outside at these latitudes on past trips. And I noticed how almost exclusively, and less so than in the spring of 2012, the ICW is in fact a one way street - southbound only - and seems devoid of commercial traffic. It is a road dedicated to snowbirds migrating south. Our depth sounder is perhaps our most valuable piece of navigation equipment in the ditch and we watch it like hawks. When it starts to go from lets say 14 feet of water to 13.9. 13.8, etc, it means one of two things: either we have moved to a section of the ICW with shallower water, or we have started coming closer to one of the sides. We assume it is the later, try to guess which side we are too close to and go gently toward the other side, watching to see it the water deepens under us. We noticed two potential mechanical problems that have to be thought through. One, the autopilot seems less responsive and more likely to roam a few degrees to either side instead of staying on the straight and narrow,Perhaps it is only a perceptual problem in that we notice the situation more when we are in a narrow path as compared to when there is nothing but horizon in front of us. Two, the voltage on the starting battery is getting low. Both batteries are charged together in the normal course of events, by the solar panel and by running the engine. The third method is by turning on the battery charger when we are attached to shore power. My current theory on this problem is that the battery charger is somehow decreasing rather than increasing the voltage of the starting battery. It seems to have done this last winter when I replaced the battery, and now again in Deatons, where again we had shore power. Yesterday I replaced the broken off lifting stem of the galley sink trap with a bolt and nut from I LENEs collection of them and cleaned out the filter leading to the fresh water pump, thereby restoring a healthy flow of hot and cold water. Well today: The first thing occurred as we were getting underway in less than full light. About 30 small fishing boats, each with two warmly clad people were milling about. Lene had to pick our way through them while I secure the anchor.Then a siren sounded and they all took off at breakneck speed overtaking us on both sides, motors roaring and wakes a making.Wild! Some sort of race or fishing contest perhaps. We saw dolphins again, the third day in a row; they seem to love to play in the inlets and finally Lene got a shot of one, albeit not the greatest. Why did our passage take so much time? Blame part of it on the bridges. There were four low ones on todays route, for which one has to hurry to be there on time and then to wait with other boats for their appointed opening times. Waiting, keeping a boat stationary in close proximity to others, can be quite a challenging task if there is strong wind and or tidal current. But today there was no wind. Actually we did get a knot from the Genoa for about an hour but after that the wind Gods took a break. By dumb luck we made the first bridge on time. The second required us to push I LENEs Yanmar diesel harder than I have ever pushed her --3000 rpms. In addition, we made it because the kindly bridge tender asked the waiting motor boats whether they would mind a five minute delay in the opening so the three sailboats could catch up. They graciously agreed. But the third and fourth bridges could not be made by speeding up so we had to make the appointed times by slowing down. Wrightsboro is a college town for nearby UNC Wilmington, which city is far by boat but near by car. The anchorage is easily reached by small boats who take a left turn almost immediately after passing under the last bridge. But this route is not recommended for boats with deeper drafts like I LENE. We had to continue down the ICW for another 1.5 miles, then take the left, leading to Masonboro Inlet with its protective seawalls extending arms out to sea (through which we plan to depart tomorrow for an overnight jaunt to Charleston SC), and another left along the inside of the barrier island and another mile and a half to the sheltered anchorage area. We lowered (and later raised and secured) the dink for a ride in to town, checked out the beach and brought a few groceries. It is not supposed to be as cold tonight, or tomorrow, as it was last night and today. No, it is not shorts and tee shirts weather yet. And have I mentioned how much I have enjoyed and depended on Lene; without her company and help this trip would be no fun and very difficult. After anchoring we learned that our friends, Dean and Susan on "Autumn Borne" pulled in here after us, at the end of an ocean sail from Beaufort. They have been chasing us since they left Catskill New York, We had a headstart. But while we are going outside tomorrow for 162 miles, overnight to Charlestown SC, they are going inside and visiting friends for a few days. So for now, we are still just two boats whose wakes have crossed.
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The Optimist Inception:In 1947, the Clearwater Florida version of the “Soapbox Derby” called the "Orange Crate Derby" was sponsored by the Clearwater Optimist Club. There had been talk of creating a waterborne version of the Soapbox Derby racer. An Optimist Club member named Major Clifford McKay promoted the idea, and it finally made some headway with other members. He was in contact with boat builder Clark Mills about the idea and proposed a small sailboat that could be made for under $50. | Don Krippendorf, in 1952,
sails Sharkey |
From the USODA Manual:Mills started sketching and soon ran into a basic limitation. "Plywood was the problem. It comes in eight foot sheets. I could special order it ten feet long, but that cost a fortune, so I knew the boat had to be less than eight feet. Since it was hard to put a pointed bow in an eight foot boat, I made it a pram." So the size and shape of the worlds largest class was dictated by the dimensions of a sheet of plywood and by McKays $50 budget. Mills chose a sprit rig, to allow some shape in the poorly designed, often homesewn sails of the era. Mills vividly recalls the very first Optimist hull. "It wasnt pretty, because Major McKay wanted it fast, for the next Optimist Club meeting. I hammered it together in a day and a half with 10 penny galvanized nails, slapped on a coat of paint, and called her an Optimist Pram. We rigged her up in the hotel lobby where the Optimist Club met." | | Clark Mills in 2000 |
The Decline of the Pram:The Optimist was mainly a Florida phenomenon until 1958, when Axel Damgaard, the captain of a Danish tall ship, visited the United States and was inspired by the design. With Mills permission, he took an Optimist back to Europe, modified it, and renamed it the International Optimist Dinghy. The IOD had a battened sail and much simplified running rigging. The new design spread quickly, first through Europe then all around the world.  | | 1948 Optimist Pram / International Optimist Dinghy |
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We actually sailed, genoa only, on a jibing course that took us first to the entrance to the Dinner Key Channel and then to the red buoy just south of the first high bridge, after which it was motoring again. A delay for about fifteen minutes just before the last bridge was caused by a huge cruise liner turning in her own length just north of that bridge in a turning basin; no way I want to get too close to her. At Belle Island, we anchored even further out, far from anyone, still ten feet of water and 100 feet of snubbed chain. Our guests thought it best to stay in a hotel on their last night in Miami Beach so I took them and their luggage (appropriately very light) ashore to the Collins Canal where they called a cab. Two problems: The blocks holding the aft end of the dink were jammed against each other with a twist. No way to unsnarl that knot. And we had to lower the dink to disembark our guests. What to do? A stout line from a bowline through the dinks lifting strap, over the davit bar and forward to a winch. Then cut the snarled line right at the inside of the knot (I only lost six inches of its length) and lower the dink with the stout line. Second problem: on the way in, the outboard died. But while scary, I just squeezed the black bulb in the fuel line and she started right up again and has run fine ever since. Pray let this continue. Nothing fazes these guys; first a boxed set: Back at I LENE, I picked up Lene, flashlight, picnic dinner and two folding chairs and we went to a free screening of the Oscar winning (for special effects) "Interstellar" projected on the outside wall of the New World Symphony where we met up with Jerry and Louise and others of their friends. It was much warmer than when we had viewed the Sinatra film during our southbound stay here. But the film was a mess of confusing plots and name brand actors who mumbled their lines -- and long. I had a nap during part of it; a good film is defined as one that keeps me awake. We did laundry, shopped for replacement things for the new dink (strong coated wire with loops at both ends for locking it, nav lights, shammy, spare fuel tank, small mushroom anchor, hand powered bailing pump and trim tabs. And during the boat cleaning, we couldnt get the shop vac to turn on. Finally Lene called over our friend Nick (with the two huskies) and we kept thinking. The problem was that when we had disconnected from shore power at Coconut Grove, we had not turned on the "Ships Power" switch. Our lights, navigation equipment, engine, water pump etc. operated with this switch off, but for applications of 110 volts (the outlets that we use for some device charging and the vacuum cleaner) we needed to turn on the inverter and it wouldnt turn on until we turned "ships power" on. Nick asked where the toggle for the inverter was on the breaker panel, which caused me to realize that ships power had not been turned on yet. Nick came over the next morning for mango- peach-sweet potato pancakes. I whipped a lot of ends of lines: both the various pieces of "short stuff" the new, thinner diameter lifting strap lines of the dink and the new end of the line through the blocks at the aft end of the dink. And I assembled the oar locks onto the oars of the dink so it will be ready to be rowed if that is needed.  One evening Jerry and Louise picked us up and took us to the north Miami Beach amphitheater which had a fascinating lecture about the history of Miami Beach by its official historian on the occasion of the citys 100th anniversary, followed by a concert by the big band of Cab Calloways grandson. all free. Then dinner at a good Cuban restaurant next door. We were a party of seven with David, Ilana and Sam. Rain had threatened all night and there was a brief strong downpour for the five minutes that we were dinking home; but it was clean rain water and clothes do dry. Another day it rained, pretty hard for long hours (lots of bailing from the dink in the evening) but we were high and dry at Jerry and Louses with Sam, whose daughter, Rachel also joined us for a while. A good home cooked dinner to which everyone contributed to the making of one or more dishes. I read "The Gun Ketch" by Dewey Lambdin, about a naval officer before the Napoleonic wars. It is like Hornblower and the OBrian books, but Lambdin is "R" rated and his characters curse like, well... sailors. No this is not another book review, though I write such for all the books I read. Ill only add that this one was particularly pleasurable because it was set in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, where we sailed in 2012 and had experience of the waters in question. I sent my review with thanks to Steve, a member of my Book Group who lent the book to me before our voyage. He sails a Hobie Cat style beach boat from Fire Island. His reply revealed that he and his wife, Belinda, who have sailed with us on our Tartan 34, were in South Beach. So we got together for dinner at Sardinia, located a block from the dinghy dock. They invited us to join them for a ride on the power boat they had rented so we joined the dark side for two hours at speeds that I LENE cannot attain. Another electrical problem was solved and fixed. I had turned off the Spectra Ventura water maker at its switch/breaker on the inside of the anchor locker following a series of alarms, and it would not turn back on. The anchor locker is an uncomfortable place to work, made easier by Lene getting me the many tools and supplies needed for the job. Calls to Brian of Headsync, the vendor/ installer and to Dean of s/v Autumn Born confirmed that the problem was probably not in the water maker itself, but in the power leading to it. There is a switch and fuse above my left shoulder on the inside of the locker but they seemed OK. (Lene took this candid picture, not of me, but of my curious assistant, at my left elbow!) The problem was found at the junction box, mounted where my flashlight illuminated hands are.  An occasional drip from the deck port access through which the salt water anchor chain wash-down pumps hose is located was the cause. Though protected by a smear of Vaseline and a flimsy plastic cover, this salt water had turned the old block into a gooey green mass of corrosion. When that was cleaned off, I saw that one of the four wires had totally corroded away, and provided no electrical connection. I had to drill the old block out and the holes of the boxes I had as spares (lower right) were too small in diameter for the heavy gauge wire involved. A long dinghy ride to the marine store to get a new block but then I had to hack off the piece needed, and the remainder of the block, (the black rectangle in the upper right) is now a spare. The old block was installed in August 2010 so not many years had passed to turn it into junk, and the damp nature of the place cannot be eliminated. I mounted the block so the wires run into it horizontally, rather than vertically, and with a "U" shaped loop in the way the wire is wire-wrapped to the bulkhead from above. Thus water that drips from above, along the wire will hopefully drop off the bottom of that "U", rather than run to the terminals of the block itself. Also I attached a piece of heavy gauge Zip-lock bag material behind and over the top of the block to deflect water. It works for now, power being restored to the machine. Lets see how long this will last. I am not a handy or mechanically inclined person so I get a big thrill from being able to accomplish such a repair myself. Sailing presents a never ending series of such challenges your way, which will become more frequent as I LENE, now a sweet sixteen, ages further. On our last day here we returned the rented SUP and saw "Leviathan at the nearby cinema. A long thought provoking subtitled Russian film. Our plan is for an Atlantic passage to Fort Lauderdale on March 4, when good wind (10 to 20 from behind us) is predicted, and about two weeks there at Cooleys Landing Marina for visits with friends, etc. followed by another Atlantic passage to the Lake Worth Inlet for more friends.
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His 28 S2 sloop, "Hearts Content" passed its survey the day before with flying colors. "The best maintained 35 year old S2 I have ever surveyed" said the surveyor. She was Johns friend for the last 25 years, but he also has a 22 foot power boat, "Dixie," and he was not using the sloop and has found her a good home. Second happiest bittersweet day in a mans life: when he sells his boat.
No, just an optical illusion with the arch further away and the pretty suspension bridge that Lene drove over the day before in the foreground.
As the day wore on, the wind came up strongly, with about 35 knots and gusts to 45 showing on our meter, (though I sense that it reads about five knots too fast). So we had only the small jib and were beating down the Bay. The tricky part was rounding Cape May. The outer passage is a long way around some shoals, which would have added about the miles to our trip in rough weather toward the end of the day. The inner passage saves those miles but put ILENEs port side only about .2 miles from the beach with those big winds and the big waves they created trying to push her onto the beach. We had furled the small jib to gain control over safety for this part of the passage. John wanted the more cautious longer passage, as had part of my crew in 2006 when we did this in calmer weather. We have pictures of the beach with its lighthouse taken from this in close route on this blog in June 2012, on a rather calm day and had done the trip in the opposite direction last fall. Today we were too busy for pictures. it was a two person operation. John steered or to be more precise, controlled the autopilot and watched the waves. One of them sent a spray of water up over the boat soaking him completely. My job wasq operate the InavX on Lenes Ipad, while crouched in the companionway, to protect it from the spray and shade it from the sun. I directed, for example: "Turn right ten degrees." It was like instrument flight rules or sailing in thick fog. I directed our course from the electronic chart, around shoals charted as little as nine feet deep, keeping us in water at least 13 feet deep, without looking up to see where we actually were or where we were going. It was scary but we made it.
