New Boat 4 Sled

[Philpott]

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.

I'm having my boat re-rigged next week. So I should ask for a cam cleat to be added to the starboard side of my (soon to be sanded and repainted) mast? Chest high? Thank you.

[sleddog]

I don't know if your topping lift is internal or external, nor where it exits the mast. I do know, for solo sailing, having the topping lift controllable from the mast area is a good thing. It allows the pole to be more easily raised and lowered. I only said starboard side, because 75% of spinnaker sailing on the Eastern Pacific is on starboard tack. So the pole will more often be raised to starboard.

"Chest high" when you are standing on the cabin top is a good compromise for being both reachable and ergonomically being able to be pulled. On WILDFLOWER I then ran the topping lift tail down to a block on deck and aft to another cam reachable from the tiller. That way I could also adjust the pole height while steering. The foreguy was double ended, one cam each side of cockpit, also within reach of the tiller.

It might be good for you to go sailing on an Express 27, Laser 28, or Moore 24 and see their spinny setups. They use twingers in lieu of a foreguy. But otherwise things are similar.

A good look for your initial spinnaker sailing is tie your boat stern first to a buoy or dock. In true wind less than 8 knots, you can practice set, jibe, and douse your spinnaker without having to watch where you are going or running out of runway.

In '08 I spent several afternoons tied stern first to a CG mooring buoy off Santa Cruz Wharf practicing two pole jibes, and spin/ twin jib changeovers. Eventually, with sails going up and down, but the boat not moving, someone on shore thought I was in trouble, and called the CG. As the Coasties approached in the distance, I slipped my stern line and took off.

[Philpott]

That's a great idea. I'll do it!

[sleddog]

To Hugsatthe beach in N.C. Thankyou for the kind words. I just finished an article for Small Craft Advisor. And thankyou to all who check in here. You know who you are, including RAGTIME!, Critter, Cap'n Bob, Jonathan, ERGO, the Rubies, Synbad, SleddogSis, Jan, brianb, Travieso, Tom and Sue, Richard and Anne, alanH, Larry V, Howard, DIANNE, Knotbum, Rock Lobster, AJ (where are you?), Philpot ....

I love hearing from one and all, whatever you want to share, agree or disagree, or just tell a story. News tonight is they have apparently found evidence of life on Mars. Heck, we got evidence of life right here, and there are no expensive rockets or cameras in this group. Well, almost none. Travieso is gonna aim his sliver boat vertically, mount two JATO packs, torch them off. And then SSS will have reached the stars.

[BobJ]

Okay, with that bit of encouragement here are a couple more.


Jack London Square

Before Scott's and the Waterfront Hotel, the Seawolf and the Bow and Bell occupied those spots. The guest docks were between them, long fingers that jutted straight out towards the Estuary. At least one of the restaurants (I can't remember which) was far enough out on pilings that diners were treated to shenanigans comparable to those seen at boat ramps on a Summer weekend. A couple examples:

When racing out the Estuary you wanted to maximize the length of your tacks. As you approached the restaurant windows, you judged the timing of your tack based on the reaction of the diners. Simply wide-eyed wasn't quite close enough. When the guy placed his hands flat on the table to jump up, it was "Helm's a-Lee!" Then once on starboard, you seemed to get a bit of a lift from the wind deflecting off the windows.

Daysailing, we'd tie up SQUALI at the guest dock and walk up to Sambo's - that most politically-incorrect of restaurants. It was a family favorite, more for the boat ride than for the food. One of the first times we tied up there I was handling the stern line. I was backing up with the line, using the ends of the adjacent fingers as reference. What I'd failed to notice was the finger on which I was backing up was a few feet shorter than those on either side. Yep.

The pilings under the Bow and Bell were surrounded by bags of cement that looked just like punching bags. Yep.

Back then we had real chandleries. The small one down near the Stone Boat Yard was Proper-Tighes. The big one at Jack London Square was Johnson & Joseph - a wonderful place to pass the time.

Speaking of Stone's, Lester Stone kept his cutter "SCAMP" at Alameda Marina, a couple rows east of where SQUALI was berthed. He was a real gentleman. Svendsen's had a gas dock, alongside where the travel-lift launches boats now. One day a gas-engined cutter blew out his transom and sank on the spot there. But that's another story.

[BobJ]

When we were cleaning out Bill's ERGO a couple weeks ago, I noticed a Santana 27 named QUETZAL just a few slips over. Assuming it's the same boat, I experienced my first ocean race on that very boat about 40 years ago. Back then it was owned and raced aggressively by Dick Heckman, a member of the newly-formed Island Yacht Club. As a member of IYC's Jr. Program, I was invited to crew for Dick for some YRA races. At first I was on the traveler but before long he had me releasing the genoa sheet on tacks. When Dick would get wound up he did what too many skippers do - he yelled. But he knew it and would encourage us to simply yell back at him. We rarely did.

After a few races Dick invited me to join him and a one other crew for a night race in the ocean - I think it was called the Waterhouse. It started off the St. Fancy at 1800, went up to the Duxbury buoy, around the Farallones and back in the Gate, finishing the next afternoon up in Vallejo.

The beat up to Duxbury was an honest upwind leg and it was blowing, and it didn't ease up as the night wore on. The reach out to SE Farallon was downright scary. After rounding the island, Dick announced he was going to sleep. Sometime later we saw a seagoing tug approaching and decided after some hand-wringing to take his stern. I guess our conversation woke up Dick - he came on deck just in time to tell us to change course. In the darkness we hadn't noticed the tug was towing a barge.

I don't remember how we finished but it was a great introduction to ocean racing.

[sleddog]

I drove Capitola to Berkeley Marina early this morning. WILDFLOWER's slip expires today, and I planned to haul her on the hoist and trailer home.

Best laid plans don't always happen. The Berkeley hoist is on the SE side of the Marina, where the Cal Sailing Club has its boats. There is no protection from the SE, and it was blowing from the SE at 15-18 knts., making a lee shore where I had planned to tie up.

The 2' wind waves were smacking the seawall right under the hoist, and reflecting upwind. In a good example of Physics 101, there were 3' standing waves popping up all over the place. It would have been nearly impossible to get WILDFLOWER anywhere near the hoist without damage. The Berkeley Marina staff was most accommodating, and found me a well protected end tie. I closed the boat up good, and retreated to Bette's for breakfast with my sister and family, and will return next week when the weather moderates.

[Philpott]

I'm going down to the marina tomorrow and again for sure on Sunday, when I will bring Dura Mater over to chat with and spend the night with Wildflower. She's so small: my big fat girl will keep an eye on her, not let any of the other boats bully her.

[sleddog]

The SE winds, gusting 30-40 knots in Monterey Bay, have shoaled the Santa Cruz Harbor Entrance extensively. Not much "channel" remains. Yesterday morning (Saturday), the surf was breaking the whole way across during sets.
http://www.santacruzharbor.org/harbo...rEntrance.html

More impressive is what is happening offshore. Third Reef, about a mile seaward off Lighthouse Point, is also breaking "burgers." The localized depth at Third Reef is only 18-20' at low tide. But so far offshore, surfers can't get there short of jet skis.

Yesterday, at "Coffee Club" at the Harbor Kind Grind, we chuckled at the original paint job on the Santa Cruz Breakwater boutique light house. Costing nearly $3/4 million, the lighthouse was supposed to look like romantic New England, something Santa Cruz certainly is not.

I guess the architects never got the word. The new lighthouse sits on the end of the West breakwater, on your port side when entering. It's original paint job, lasting at least a year, featured a nice broad red stripe around its white tower.

[sleddog]

Getting a break in the weather, I departed Capitola at 0500 this morning for Berkeley Marina. With help from brother-in-law Tom we hauled the boat on the 2 ton hoist. It then took two hours to unrig and tie down.

Not sure what is more challenging: rounding Pt. Sur northbound. Or towing a trailer down the 880 corridor with faded lane lines and 18 wheelers only inches away. Today, the latter had my full attention.

Arrived safely back at Capitola at 1:30 p.m. and backed WILDFLOWER into the driveway.