What a ride!

[HeaveToo]

So I transported my boat to Deltaville from Colonial Beach the past few days.  My continuing saga of trying to sell my Catalina 30 and downsize to a Compac 23 is still going on.

Saturday was uneventful but Sunday was nuts.  I saw 25 knots from the North East with huge waves.  I almost took a breaker into my cockpit.  I was going fast and I was frequently seeing 9 knots on the GPS.  The fastest speed I saw was 9.7 knots (this was while surfing down the big waves).  I have never seen more than 7.5 knots out of this boat before.

None the less, she held together like a champ and she did great.  She is on the hard at Deltaville listed with a broker in that area.  I hope that she sells quickly now that she is in a better place for sales.

[peterg]

Glad you made it safely to DVL- great place to buy or sell a sailboat. Your ride sounds like a copy of the one we had bringing our 23 down to DVL from Horn Harbor on the Wicomico, only our rudder snapped off after rounding Windmill Point. We had 25-30 out of the north and spent a downwind trip surfing at  seven knots before the little equipment failure. Good luck selling the Catalina 30- they are great boats and it should sell fast.

[thomeng55]

I just have to ask.. what did you do when your rudder snapped off?

[peterg]

With no steering capability, the boat hunted around some, seeming to prefer beam to the waves which was not fun or preferable, then we hauled in the broken rudder blade (it was tethered by the uphaul line) and furled the genoa, dropped and started the outboard and turned into the wind and dropped and secured the main. None of this was real easy, as the wind was still about 25-30 and big waves, so the outboard had a tough time getting the boat to respond- even with the long shaft, the prop would come out of the water as the boat was tossed about by the waves making it difficult to maintain course. Rudders steer much better than outboards in these conditions, but we slowly made our way a couple miles to a marina on Broad Creek where we had the boat hauled and put in our trailer a week later. Beagle 3 is now better than new and returning to the water in about a week. Every trip has the potential to morph into a major adventure. Years ago, I did a presentation at our sailing club on the "what ifs" of sailing- good thing I listened to myself...........it came in handy!

[skip1930]

Lost rudder ... ?

On graduation day at The Sail Training Foundation Center in my town, students are sent out on a triangle course in their little 8 foot Optimist Pram sail boats without their rudders.  And expected to return to the dock.

Without additional bloviating I'll allow sailors here to imagine that!

skip.

[Craig]

Lost the rudder on my old Seidelmann 25 north of Rock Hall MD some years ago. Started the OB and continued to sail into Haven Harbor using the motor for steering. Worked surprisingly well and the boat was a lot more stable in the chop.

[peterg]

Lost rudder ... ?

On graduation day at The Sail Training Foundation Center in my town, students are sent out on a triangle course in their little 8 foot Optimist Pram sail boats without their rudders.  And expected to return to the dock.

Without additional bloviating I'll allow sailors here to imagine that!

skip.

Steering with the sails occurred to me, as it was a technique we practiced in sail instructor school, but the sea and wind conditions were such as to preclude that approach for reasons of securing quicker safety for vessel and crew. Glad to see that the STFC includes this in their required skills- anyone out on the water cannot have too many options!