New Boat 4 Sled

[BobJ]

I can't help it Sled - I like to accumulate and redistribute sailboat stuff!

The pole has some SSS history which Jackie has been charged to perpetuate. First used on Dan Benjamin's Olson 30 WHITE KNUCKLES, the pole went to Hawaii in 1992. Though fully rigged with bridles for spinnaker work, its almost unused condition suggests it was the second whisker pole for the pair of colorful twin headsails Dan also bought for the Olson.

Alan Hebert equipped his Santana 30-30 WISDOM for the 2004 SHTP, and he bought the pole and twins from Dan.

As I prepped RAGTIME! for the 2006 race, I kept hearing I needed twins so I bought the pole and twins from Alan.

After the 2008 race the pole and twins parted company. Scott Prusso was gearing up for the 2012 race and the twins would fit his Cal 29, so he bought them. I kept the pole to use as a whisker pole with my 125% genoa, but never did.

Then Jackie posted and now the pole, aboard DURA MATER, and the twins, aboard ROSALITA are destined for yet another run to Hanalei Bay.

Sled and 'Zia were looking good as they sailed WILDFLOWER at hot angles back into Berkeley yesterday. As expected, Sled backed the little cat into her just-wide-enough slip with precision.

[sleddog]

Latitude 38 will not publish poems. Seems poetic. No restrictions here. Here's another from Ogden Nash, posted locally by "Blighbaum."

How pleasant to gaze on the sailors
As their sailboats they manfully sail
With the vigor of the vikings or whalers
In the days of the vikings and whales
They sport on the brink of the shad and the shark
If it's windy they sink, if it isn't they park
How pleasant to gaze on the sailors
To gaze, without having to sail!

[sleddog]

Later tonight, we are about to get our first real SE gale of the season on Monterey Bay. Though South Easterlies only blow 5-7% of the winter season November through March, they have played an overriding influence on discovery and development of the Monterey Bay area.

In Dec. 1602, the Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino was attempting to navigate his three boat expeditionary fleet northward along the Pacific Coast. His objective was to survey and map potential ports of refuge for Manila galleons on their yearly voyages from the Phillipines to Acapulco.

Luckily for Vizcaino and his unweatherly fleet, a SE gale sprung up on Dec. 13, and they were able to sail from the Channel Islands northward along the usually rowdy Big Sur Coast. When they reached the latitude of Monterey, they took shelter in "an all weather port, sheltered from all winds" (Monterey.) Vizcaino's glowing descriptions of his find were reproduced on Spanish charts and spurred overland Spanish exploration.

In October, 1769, Gaspar Portola led an overland expedition northward from Baja in an attempt to find Vizcaino's all weather port of refuge. But Portola was not a sailor, and we can presume the Monterey Peninsula was hidden under its usual shroud of fog. Whatever, Portola did not recognize Vizcaino's perfect shelter, bypassed his elusive goal ("overstood the mark," I'd call it.) and continued north until they became the first non-natives to sight San Francisco Bay a month later.

[sleddog]

As the Monterey Bay area grew in population, its many resources needed to be exported. Because there were only a few dirt trails over the coast mountains, local redwood logs, tanbark, potatoes, smokeless gun powder, lime, sugar beets, tallow and hides all needed to be shipped by sea. Wharves sprang up from Watsonville clear up to Pigeon Point to accommodate small schooners and steam powered ships.

But SE gales created a major log jam. Most of Monterey Bay is a lee shore in a SE gale, with a long fetch of open water to windward. The wharves were regularly damaged or destroyed each winter, and venturesome ships driven ashore. Some wharves were rebuilt, others left to disappear.

Even today, the Capitola Wharf gets raked each winter by SE gales and swell, losing parts and piles. A clamor grew for a solution to fighting the SE gales that took away the coastal wharves.. The answer came in the mid-1880s in the form of railroads, linking both Santa Cruz and Monterey to inland destinations and markets, especially the growing Bay Area.

When you live on the coast, SE gales take on a very real personality. I suspect this one will shoal the Santa Cruz Harbor entrance with hundreds of cubic yards of sand deposited overnight. And that big catamaran, CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION, (55') still anchored off the Santa Cruz wharf, will likely be driven ashore, just like it was last year. Who are those guys and what aren't they thinking?

[Hugsatthebeach]

Hi Sleddog,
I was reading a friend's Small Craft Advisor from 2010 and saw a picture of this cool small catamaran. Traced it to you and this forum so I joined. I have really enjoyed your postings and photos on the building of your catamaran. Looks like it is a lot of fun and it's given me some inspiration. I mainly sail on the coast of North Carolina and some in upstate NY.

[Philpott]

I can't help it Sled - I like to accumulate and redistribute sailboat stuff!

The pole has some SSS history which Jackie has been charged to perpetuate. First used on Dan Benjamin's Olson 30 WHITE KNUCKLES, the pole went to Hawaii in 1992. Though fully rigged with bridles for spinnaker work, its almost unused condition suggests it was the second whisker pole for the pair of colorful twin headsails Dan also bought for the Olson.

Alan Hebert equipped his Santana 30-30 WISDOM for the 2004 SHTP, and he bought the pole and twins from Dan.

As I prepped RAGTIME! for the 2006 race, I kept hearing I needed twins so I bought the pole and twins from Alan.

After the 2008 race the pole and twins parted company. Scott Prusso was gearing up for the 2012 race and the twins would fit his Cal 29, so he bought them. I kept the pole to use as a whisker pole with my 125% genoa, but never did.

Then Jackie posted and now the pole, aboard DURA MATER, and the twins, aboard ROSALITA are destined for yet another run to Hanalei Bay.

Sled and 'Zia were looking good as they sailed WILDFLOWER at hot angles back into Berkeley yesterday. As expected, Sled backed the little cat into her just-wide-enough slip with precision.

Well, I take the charge seriously: hardware with a pedigree. It extends through my whole cabin. Bob says don't store it in deck, I'll trip over it and fall overboard. Any suggestions?

[Jonathan Gutoff]

Well, I take the charge seriously: hardware with a pedigree. It extends through my whole cabin. Bob says don't store it in deck, I'll trip over it and fall overboard. Any suggestions?

If it's short enough store it in a sleeve on the boom just like an Express 27 (or Laser 28) The foreguy and topping lift stay out of the way of jib sheets and such...

[sleddog]

I would disagree with my friends, and say a 12' pole belongs on the foredeck, Off to one side (stbd), in chocks, with the aft end outside the chainplates as far aft as it can go and not overhang outside the rail. In this position, it is not a tripping menace. It does the opposite and provides a foot brace when working on the foredeck and heeled over on port tack.

The topping lift should be led to a cam cleat, chest high, on starboard side of mast. To raise pole, untie the pole from the chocks, affix topping lift, face forward standing on deck abeam the mast, and hoist the outer end of the pole with your left arm while grabbing the butt end with your right arm and swinging it to the mast slider.

This is likely a pretty beefy pole to be stowed on the boom. Not to say it can't. But I consider boom stowage a good around the buoys technique. Offshore, less so, with the pole likely longer than the boom and waiting to snag sheets and clew reef lines.

The new Commodore of SSS, if he is reading this, would likely recommend the pole be well secured to the boat when stowed on the foredeck. He may less than fondly remember, on one of his early races to Hawaii, waking up the first morning after a rough first night and finding TB's only pole had disappeared over the side during the night. To their credit, TB's crew turned around, sailed back to SF, found another pole, and continued on in the race.

For the SHTP, RUSHMOORE, like myself, would recommend two poles.

All this, and poetry too? Singlehanders untie.

[Critter]

Jackie, there are pole brackets that you can attach halfway up the stanchions to get the pole off the deck. But they're kind of bulky and ugly.

I agree with Skip; I don't think a pole stowed on deck is a tripping hazard if it's close to the rail. I carried the spinnaker and whisker poles that way to Hawaii and back and didn't have a problem.

That reminds me: I need to get my whisker pole back from Scott Prusso someday. Scott, are you out there?

[sleddog]

My (Virtual) Vendee Globe race continues as SLEDCAT beam reaches in the SE Trades down the South Atlantic at 14 knots. With over 360K, mostly French, racers, competition is fierce. The wind is freeing as we approach the St. Helena High, and I suspect tonight after the 11 pm wind update, I will have to switch my jib (sheeted outboard) for the spinny.

It is similar, weather wise, as racing around the Pacific High to get to Hawaii. Except the winds blow opposite direction around pressure systems in the Southern Hemisphere. I tried inverting my laptop screen, but that didn't work. It is kinda like learning to drive on the left when you visit UK or NZ.

Soon we will enter the sleighride of the Roaring 40's. That is except for the Virtual Boats, the "Vagabonds" the French Vendee website calls them. These boats, several hundred or more, have chosen to race through both the North West and North East Passages. I am guessing ice is not an issue for a virtual boat, as they seem to be progressing just fine over the top of the world, under virtual sail, with virtual wind.

There even appear to be some virtual boats going "cruising" into the Med. Leave it to the French seeking women, wine, and cheese instead of icebergs and freezing cabin temps.

To see a satellite view of this amazing fleet, go to http://vr-annexe.akroweb.fr/vagabond.php The leading purple boats are the paying "pros" with 10 sail options forward of the mast. The yellow is "sans options" (one jib, one spinny) sailing free, like me. And if you want to see SLEDCAT's position, type her name in at the bottom of that screen view under "Bateau," and click on "Chercher."