A Three Hour Tour

[rwdsr]

Ok, Bob23, here's one that's longer than a couple of your posts.

Sit right back and I'll tell to you,
A tale of a fateful trip................. Three Hour Tour

Yesterday (Saturday) the Admiral (wife) says to me, "Honey, why don't you take Punkin (my 7 year old grandaughter) and the kids out on the sailboat"?  "She hasn't had the chance to be on it yet, and you know you've been wanting to take her up to that little beach she spotted on that sail last summer when we were out on a sail, to collect shells".  So I said, "Ok if I have to, I suppose I can squeeze in the time for a sail".  So the kids came out early, had breakfast, then we packed up the boat with water, cold drinks and makings for sandwiches and took off.  3 different times I thought to myself, "I need to go down in the camper trailer and get out the little stove I carried on the little boat, but each time I got sidetracked on something else and didn't get it.  I did have plenty of food on board in a kitchen box that I transferred over from the Compac and coffee, but pulled the stove out to use in the camper one weekend while we were out camping.  I did think to take a heavy shirt, and a hooded sweat shirt, my light gloves and my Columbia foul weather shirt.  In the truck when we left the house with the boat in tow were a pair of neoprene dive gloves that I had intended to go on the boat as they were really warm, even when wet.  A quick check of the weather showed a 30% chance of rain, with a front going through, and mid 70's for temps.  Usually a 30% chance of rain doesn't deter me from doing anything outdoors because 30% usually means that we aren't going to see anything.  I looked at the weather map, and the weather map showed a line of showers crossing in from the west, but it was a narrow vband and I figured if anything, we would get a few sprinkles and that is it.  Because this was the 2d time out, I really don't have the stuff in the cabin that you would have to spend the night, I do have a few pillows and a couple of blankets, but no sheets or anything else.  I do have my yellow water proof seabag with extra clothes, towel and washrag, and toiletries.  We passed through a band of showers while traveling to the lake, and I thought that was it, we wouldn't be bothered by the rain anymore today.  Once at the marina, we quickly launched the boat and got her rigged and ready, and cast off.  Right out side the break wall,  we hoisted the sails and discovered by the windex that the wind was coming straight out of the south, and we wanted to go north - perfect!  Winds were steady 5 - 7 and we opened the sails out wing on wing, and up the lake we went.  I sure am happy with the way this Catalina goes in light airs.  That's also where most of these pictures were taken, while I had enough time to relax and enjoy the trip.  I was able for a little while to turn the tiller over to Marie, and take some pictures and some film clips ( they are attached).  We got to the beach in about an hour and a half.  Every year at this time the drop the level of the lakes in this area about 4-5 feet to allow for high water early in the spring.  So as I got to the beach, the alarm in the back of my head started screaming not to try a beaching because I didn't know exactly where the shoal areas are at this time of year and I was afraid of grounding.  After trying a couple of different anchor points, we gave up (and because I was looking increasingly bad off to our south) and headed back.  It didn't take me long to see that we were in trouble.  The winds picked up, which normally I would welcome, but along with that came the rain, so I sent everyone below and battened down the hatches, got on my foul weather top, and turned to face the weather.  For whatever reason, I could not point high enough into the wind to make any headway south back toward the marina, I was just basically running back and forth across the lake.  After a couple of passes like that , I dropped the sails and fired up the engine, but headed into that wind, and fighting those seas, the forward motion was dreadfully slow.  We finally came up abreast of Piney Campground which is about 2 miles by the lake, about 2 1/2 hours later.  The wind is still up, and it's raining intermittantly, and now it's getting dark.  The lighting on the boat is non existant - the electical circuitry is intact, but the wiring is a birds nest, and non of the mast lights work.  But hey, I'm not going to be out after dark - right?  Down below, in a little tackle box I have one of those D cell bow lights that clamp on, and I thought I had one of those white led lanterns from WalMart that I used on the Compac for an anchor light.  I had them brought up on deck and got the bow light on, but couldnt find the little lantern to use as a running light.  In the meantime Marie (the daughter) was on the phone with the Admiral discussing options.  She suggested that we put in to Piney Campground and let the Admiral pick up the little one while we got the boat back to the marina.  Piney campground is 4 1/2 miles by the charts from the marina.  I forgot to mention that as we came abreast of the campground, the motor quit.  So we hoisted sails and went back to trying to tack.  About the time I was telling Marie ok, we'll put in to Piney to offload the little one, the wind shifted from the south, to coming at us directly from the west, and now it's up to 15 - 20.  It was real freaky, we rolled over on a good heel and shot off south down the lake like a scalded dog.  I yelled below and told Marie to tell the Admiral that we would meet her at the marina, and away we went.  I gotta tell ya, that was some experience, running down that lake in the dark, under full sail.  We made the bridge in 35 minutes.  At the bridge, you make a right turn into the channel leading into the harbor, and off in the distance, I could see the beacons showing the edges of the breakwater.  Those lights never looked so good.  I called the first mate (Justin) out on deck, we doused the sails, and thankfully the little engine started right up and purred like a kitten all the way in to the harbor.  About the time we got the sails down the sky opened up and it poured all the way into the harbor.  The scuppers were clogged, Or so I thought, and I was standing in about 3 inches of water with a pair of those cheap reef runner beach shoes on and I couldn't feel my toes.  I had to take my glasses off earlier because of the rain, I couldn't see anything, but the surprising thig was, that I was able to see every one of thos buoys in the dark with out a light!  By the time we pulled up to the area where the gas pumps and slips are I was froze, and wet, and exhausted, and hungary and, it was still pouring rain.  I knew that I was not going to break that boat down last night and load it on the trailer, so I pulled the boat into one of the overnight slips, and got it tied off.  The area is real secure, if you don't have a key, once the gate closes behind you, you are locked out.  So I went and disconnected the trailer and locked it to a light post, loaded up everybody and we went home.  Boy did that heater in the truck feel good!  Today after church, Marie and Justin were waiting when we got home, and we went to the marina to pick up the  boat.  I walked in to the marina office and plunked my credit card down on the counter and told the guy there that we sailed in last night cold and wet and tired and knew we would find a secure anchorage there so we tied off the boat and went home.  He handed my card back to me and said, "Son, you sound like you got clobbered enough, last night was on the house".  I am truly blessed.  The last funny part of that story is that - down under the cockpit deck is a little valve that is attached to the scuppers (cockpit drains) guess what happens when you turn it?  Right, all the water drains out of the cockpit!  I could hear it draining out into the lake, and motored the boat over to the ramp to pull her out.
Lessons learned -
1.  If you are going to sail this time of the year, have a full set of waterproof foul weather gear and warm dry water proof boots on board for such occasions. (Don't for get the gloves)
2.  Make sure your equipment is in good repair and readily at hand before you start out, That three hour tour can go south rapidly.
3.  Equip yourself like you are going to stay overnight, you may just have to. (If I had put that stove on board andthe blankets I was planning to, we had enough food on board to have fed us a good meal last night and breakfast this morning.  Plus hot coffee, tea, and chocolate.)  I just needed a couple of sleeping bags and a couple more blankets and we could have pulled into some sheltered anchorage and spent an reasonable comfortable night.
I am proud of the way the crew responded and feel like I've gained some experience that only comes of being out there doing it.  And outside of being cold and tired for a little while last night, being out there doing it sure beats watching it on TV anyday.

[adifferentdrummer]

Good story, Bob, and a good lesson. Even if it's just an afternoon sail, 'a three hour tour,' I always have enough food and gear on board for two or three days. It stays on the boat so I don't have to pack it each time. I just have to replenish what gets used each time. Better to be over prepared than under prepared, cause ya just never know what mother nature may throw your way...

Milt  CP16  #635

[rwdsr]

Good to hear from you Milt, I'm going to be headed up your way here in a couple of weeks.  Going to be bringing my Catalina up to my brother in law for a hull job.  How did you summer sailing go?  Any overnighters?

[rsahlender]

So I said, "Ok if I have to, I suppose I can squeeze in the time for a sail".

HAHAHAHA! Such a tough decision! Good Story.

Rich

[mrb]

Hmm,  guess all that extra room below decks was real welcome.  While I love the way my 16 handles when I single hand It is for those times when you have guests aboard that the larger boat is really appreciated.

Good ending to what could have been a bad experience for the little one.

Fair winds

[brackish]

Great story Bob, and the best kind of learning experience.  The kind where, even though you will never forget that particular trip, everyone came home safe and sound.

[rwdsr]

LOL, when they came out to the house yesterday to go with me to pick up the boat, the daughter told me that when they got home, the little one said, "Oh Mommy, just put something on me quick so I can get in bed".  Now this kid is the hyper go 90 miles an hour from the time she gets up till the time she goes to bed and then you usually have to fight her to get her there.  Marie said she was out like a light in about 10 minutes.  The last chapter of that little story is that, today I went out and loaded the stove back into the boat and then hooked the battery to the boat wiring and with very little wiggling, got all the lights to work.  Of course then I cut it all out and rewired and labeled it so I know which wire is which and that the correct switch works it.  Now I'm going to clean it up real good for the next adventure.  Stay tuned....................

[adifferentdrummer]

Just a handfull of overnighters, but a bunch of wonderful, warm late nighters during the heat of the summer, and a lot of good day sails. I got a nice but chilly one in about a week ago. You should give me a call when you get up this way. Send me an email and I'll send you my phone number. If you've got enough time and the weather is good, maybe we can get my little boat out on Douglas for an afternoon.

[curtisv]

Nice story.  Its good that the kids seemed to be OK with the experience.  Who knows - they might have enjoyed the adventure while you got soaked.

You might want to look into why you couldn't make progress to windward.  I changed my CP23 setup a bit and she sails much better in strong winds for it.  Maybe you needed to reef a bit deeper.  Reefed sails sheeted to keep them flat is best when the wind picks up.  Some extra sail twist for the waves.

I keep a 5 degree rated sleeping bag, some sleeping bag liners (fleece shaped like a sleeping bag, good for summer by themselves), and water and/or gatoraid on board.  Also full foul weather gear, extra warm clothes, boots, and a shortie wet suit.  And ... about 330 feet of ground tackle, but you won't be needing that on a lake.  I don't usually keep any emergency food but it would be good to have with kids.

BTW- There are two C22s in nearby moorings but I don't know either of the owners.  There was a C25 but the owner is having health problems and couldn't handle her anymore and has a powerboat.  I think he has the C25 in storage but I doubt he will ever sail her again.  Nice boats.  I've sail along side both the C22 and C25 at different times.

The important thing is the grandkids seems to have an OK time and maybe a good time out there.

Curtis

[rwdsr]

You know Curtis, I wasn't reefed at all - Maybe I need to play with that.........I didn't think the wind was blowing that strong, but then again, who knows?  Good suggestions all.  I did get the lights all wired after I got her home, and the scupper drains are clear and working.  Oh yeah, the grandson is going to be a real sailor, we have weathered some pretty good blows together out sailing this past summer and he handled the whole thing like a trooper.  This was the granddaughter's I think third time out, and she did a whole lot better than I thought she would.

[kickingbug1]

    i started reading the story and i got to the word "catalina" and was inspired to go out into the garage and work on the 52. by the way does anyone know where i can get a 3 speed syncronized top loader for my truck? hey just kidding about the catalina but i do need the transmission.

[rwdsr]

LOL, kickinbug, you just ain't right - so how far did you get with the 52?

[kickingbug1]

  come to our next compac rendezvous at carlyle lake and have a look. that bugger better be done by then. i drive it arround the neighborhood a little. no fenders, no bed, no hood, no runningboards and no sense. the kids seem to like it i get a few "thumbs up" at least i think they were thumbs. great story by the way. never could get my girl into sailing but ill have another chance with the granddaughter "knucklehead". be safe on the lakes water is a little cold to go for a swim.

[curtisv]

Bob,

You know Curtis, I wasn't reefed at all - Maybe I need to play with that.........I didn't think the wind was blowing that strong, but then again, who knows? 

On the Yahoo list when it was real active years ago, usually when people reported that they couldn't make progress to windward they had to much sail up for the conditions and had them sheeted out too far so as not to heel too far.  Its easy to make that mistake.  Less sail, sheeted down hard works best.

Either that or blown out sails (baggy) will do it and the only fix for that is new sails.  Hope its not that.

I take it that you have jiffy reefing and not the roll-on-the-boom reefing that came with older CP16s and maybe others.  The boom reefing wasn't very good.  I think now all small Compacs come with jiffy reefing and one reef point.  A second is nice to have.

Too big a headsail also makes it hard to go to windward when the wind picks up.  That may have been my biggest problem in the first year or two of CP23 ownership but solved that by replacing the 150 with a 110 (and some other related changes).

Seems like lake sailing in TN strong winds would be more rare than coastal sailing but its nice to be able to handle whatever comes by.

Once again.  Great story.  Please let us know how you and the grandkids do next time out.

Curtis

[rwdsr]

I used the jiffy reefing just once on the Compac this past summer, and it worked like a charm once I got the 110 jib up.  I had the 155 up, and was way overpowered.  I've got 1 set of reef points on the main on the Catalina, but need to do my homework and figure out how to rig them.  I did well in the wind during the first sail a couple of weeks ago, and was able to point a lot higher than I did last Saturday, and that was with full sails up.  I suppose I'll get on to it with a little more experience.