My first boat was a Snowbird, a 12' catboat with a boom the length of the boat..It weighed near 400 pounds. The Egyptian duck cotton mainsail smelled delicious.
In 1978 I upgraded to a different 12 footer that became WILDFLOWER's tender. It could be stowed below decks and made multiple passages to Hawaii and the S. Pacific. Here we are in Tonga.
The stock Windsurfer, as well as sailing, could be used as a stand up paddleboard, good for ferrying supplies from the beach as well as giving rides to kids, including DOLFIN's 8 year old Kelly.
Eventually the 60 pound Windsurfer grew heavier, more unwieldy, and God forbid, slower.
Yesterday, after one last sail and 45 odd years, I took a Skillsaw to the trusty Windsurfer. To make room for the new boat.
The new boat is smaller than the Snowbird, and 1/3 the weight of the Windsurfer. No moving parts and can be launched and underway in 2 minutes. Can be carried in a backpack. Is good exercise for most body parts as well as balance. Can carry 320 pounds and draws 6". As well, 90% of the local fleet are women. Did I mention $399 complete at Costco?
BobJ will have to paddle solo..But Jackie and I can paddle DH. What's there not to like?
PS: part of the reason for visiting the Coast Guard 45 was to ask if they enforced the "carry a PFD aboard a kayak or SUP, whether in harbor or at sea. The answer was "No."
Last edited by sleddog; 09-08-2020 at 09:53 AM.
Well, okay. That's a purty ... vessel. And a good price for it. Do I sit in front or back of the skipper? Will we leave the harbor? Since you'll be gone camping with Annie next week I'll call ahead for my ride upon a later date (surely I've won some competition and not collected?). And yes, I see the weight limit, so you'll need to lose some weight. Save the ice cream for me.
Last edited by Philpott; 09-08-2020 at 10:18 AM.
Racing in Bermuda in 1935, Corny Shields, then commodore of the New York Yacht Club, saw the 6 meter SAGA and fell in love with the Bjarne Aas design. After some negotiations, Shields and Aas reached agreement that a new One Design class, called the "International One Design" (IOD) would be designed and built by Aas based on his SAGA.
Under Corny Shield's direction, Aas reduced the length of SAGA slightly to 33' 5" and increased the beam for the IOD.
By 1937, the entire first run of 25 boats was racing on Long Island Sound. Between 1936 and 1970, nearly 300 wooden IOD's were delivered by Aas in Norway and approximately 150 still race in a dozen fleets around the world including 11 once in the SF Bay fleet, founded in 1954.
Despite many outstanding skippers in the IOD fleet, the undisputed king of the heavy hitters was San Francisco Bay's own Jake Wosser. Jake sailed IOD's from 1945 until the late 1980's and won 3 World Championships as well as many fleet championships during his 5 decades in the class. His dominance was so complete that rivals called San Francisco Bay "Jake's Lake."
Jake did not confine his winnings to just IOD's. But was super competitive in any class he chose to sail. At home in Tiburon, Jake built a Starboat in Ruth's garage in 1955 and named it RUTHLESS after his dear wife. As well, his IOD RUTSAN was an amalgamation of his family's name for wife RUT(h) and daughter S(us)AN
Last edited by sleddog; 09-08-2020 at 01:42 PM.
With so many good memories on the Windsurfer, you must have delayed chopping as long as possible!
I bid farewell to my 40 lbs Bic last year and sawed it in three for bulk pickup. I still retain my large planning green board. It's hilarious to ride when the wind pipes 18 knots.
JB
“At home in Tiburon, Jake built a Starboat in Ruth's garage in 1955 and named it RUTHLESS after his dear wife.”
My ex-wife CAB and Susie Wosser were childhood best friends. I met Susie in high school, before meeting my future (later ex-) wife. The Starboat name came about because Ruth liked to go sailing, but as she told it her role was mostly to pass out sandwiches and beers. So as the Starboats (yes plural, another story...) were being built in the garage, it was clear that Ruth would not be sailing on that boat. Hence the name RUTHLESS (without Ruth).
Another story: It used to be that no races were scheduled in July. That was when racing boats (Birds, Bears and even IOD’s) cruised to the Delta. Steamboat Slough was a popular local and often boats were left there for the month with the family while the men commuted. CAB, as a little girl, had cruised with the Wossers on RUTSAN to the Delta. She remembered sleeping in the forepeak with the spinnaker pole.
I had heard stories of how those engineless boats would sail back from the Delta on a less than direct path through Middle Ground. I should post that route.
Tom P.
At 9:20 a.m., after 2 days local sojourn and under clear skies, Jackie on DURA MATER departed Santa Cruz Harbor for Monterey, San Simeon, Morro Bay, and points south. Fair winds, Jackie!
DM's tracker seems to work, but only within cellular range, which is likely not along the Big Sur coast.
https://www.jibeset.net/daysail.php
Last edited by sleddog; 09-18-2020 at 11:01 AM.
On another SSS Forum thread DAZZLER mentions Schmieder Bank: [ ~3 nm West-Southwest of Point Sur is the relatively shallow Schmieder Bank, with the top at about 20 fathoms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmieder_Bank. My Sue was one of the Cordell Expedition divers who originally explored Schmieder Bank resulting it it being included in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. ]
For Marianne's Macapuno icecream with blackberry topping, 2 history questions, both of which must be answered correctly to win the prize: what famous wreck, the length of the TITANIC, lies just seaward of Schmieder bank? And where in San Francisco Bay area is the monumental homeport for this ill-fated ship?
I'm sorry, but DAZZLER is excluded from winning the prize.
Last edited by sleddog; 09-18-2020 at 03:44 PM.