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Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #3291
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    Just when the saga of local shipwrecks was reaching denoument, who should appear but two lovely women I recognized from their SSS exploits. I asked what they were doing, and the story, varying at times, seemed to be there was a book and possible movie in the works about women pirates. And they were here to practice plundering to see how it feels.

    I agreed this was fertile ground, and we spent the next 45 minutes digging through a pile and several barrels of Cal 27 debris at our feet, about to be hauled to the dump. There were all sorts of treasures. Harken and Schaefer blocks, cams, shackles, bronze winches, a 12' spinnaker pole, Whale pumps...

    Attachment 4320

    We stuffed our pockets with all the usable booty we could carry, and made our own rat's nest for later collection.

    Then I hosted my pirate friends to coffee at Mr. Toots and we traded yarns about present and future expotitions under sail. Much is in the works. However, except for a new rudder for one of the women's ship, I am sworn to secrecy and can only reveal that between the two piratesses, 4 Pacific offshore voyages are in the offing, two of medium length and two longish.
    Philpott and Gamayun's Cal-27 treasure hunt was concluded yesterday with Synthia, Rreveur, and cousin Marilou from Essex, on the beach. The last evidence of the shipwreck was convincingly removed as we by-stood.

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    Capitola City and the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary demanded the Cal-27's 2,800 pound lead keel be removed from the beach, where it was covered by sand except for some sharp, ragged fiberglas edges of the fractured keel root.

    The salvage master hired a front hoe and crew, and in about 2 hours they had dug the keel out of its sand hole, picked it up, and loaded on a 4WD Ford 2500 truck. The fiberglas shell will be ground off, and likely the lead sold. All in an early morning walk on the Capitola Beach, home of the Capitola Boat Club.

    CBC garbage bosun Dave Wahle said, "I coulda done it in 30 minutes."

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    Last edited by sleddog; 06-21-2019 at 03:43 PM.

  2. #3292
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    Very sad. No picture of Rreveur?

  3. #3293
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    Very sad. No picture of Rreveur?
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  4. #3294
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    That's a nice photo of Synthia and Rreveur. Now tell us the story of the 1979 Fastnet race. Please?
    Last edited by Philpott; 06-21-2019 at 09:37 PM.

  5. #3295
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    Name:  Wanderbird Jack.jpg
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    Local denizen, schoonerman and musician Ramblin' Jack Elliot at WANDER BIRD's wheel, 1992, sailing engineless out of Sausalito after Harold Sommer and friends' restoration.

    WANDER BIRD, refloated after her recent sinking, being towed to Peters shipyard in Wewelsfleth, Germany, near Hamburg. Her incredible strength helped survive the T-bone from the containership ASTROSPRINTER on the Elbe two weeks earlier.

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    In the background is the P-Lines steel square rigger PEKING about to be relaunched. WANDER BIRD will likely be hauled for inspection and repairs after PEKING vacates the ways tomorrow.
    Last edited by sleddog; 06-23-2019 at 09:09 PM.

  6. #3296
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    Quote Originally Posted by no_ballast View Post
    Whoo! A prize story, and I feel well-rewarded. Thanks for the suggestion, sleddog.

    If you care to continue, Ants, I'd be curious how you liked the boat overall, or how it compares with other boats you've loved or loathed.

    Thanks,

    David
    I guess I am privileged since I have enjoyed every boat I owned for different reasons.

    When I got the Mair 28 it had basic day sail equipment, not for any serious racing. Basic sails included three jibs, one main, and the spinnaker, as well as depth sounder speedo, and two deck mounted compass that looked more like snow cones due to a lack of covers.

    Even with the minimal gear, the boat was always fun to sail. The build details were top notch (thanks to C & B Marine), so visually the boat always pleased. Performance wise it was hard to evaluate since the only races were SSS races, and the biggest limitation was the skipper (me).

    However, I remember having fun with the daggerboard in SF Bay races. On reaches, I would slowly raise the daggerboard and usually gain speed until the boat started falling off. Running with the spinnaker with the board up was a real treat. It seems the boat was suspended between the chute and the rudder - the sense of control was amazing. Of course, serious consideration would have been given to taking out retaining bolts during ocean racing.

    Over time, an Autohelm 800 was added as well as a Loran. I entered the 1989 Longpac, started, but decided I was not ready when I was in the vicinity of Drakes Bay, so I headed back.

    I would be happy to have the boat back and it reappeared in the local area a few years ago, but that is another story.

    Ants

  7. #3297
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    It is GOOD, that Wander Bird lives!

  8. #3298
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    Quote Originally Posted by Howard Spruit View Post
    It is GOOD, that Wander Bird lives!
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    "Man Proposes, God Disposes." Apologies if recent theme has been shipwrecks: Cal-27, MY SONG, WANDER BIRD...WANDER BIRD has been part of my DNA since first grade at Washington Elementary when we were marched single file into a darkened auditorium to see Warwick Tompkins Sr.'s documentary 50 South to 50 South. "Who's that 4 year kid and his 6 year old sister swinging in the rigging enroute to Cape Horn?" I thought.

    Little did I imagine WMT, Jr. and I would sail many ocean miles together over the next 50 years. We liked to call Commodore "Coach." You learned his way of seamanship, or didn't sail with him.

    WANDER BIRD, heavily damaged, will live. I can't imagine replacing those centuries old pickled planks. The copper sheathing was the bottom covering of choice back when WANDER BIRD was a North Sea pilot schooner. You don't see copper sheathing much these days of poisonous bottom paint.

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    Last edited by sleddog; 06-25-2019 at 08:29 AM.

  9. #3299
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    Santa Rosa
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    The picture of Jack Elliot steering Wander Bird with a wheel connects with my memories of her in Sausalito. Notice the "very nice varnish job" on the steering box! But the pre-collision video cleary shows the crew wrestling with a giant tiller. My guess is during one of its later restorations the "original" steering system was restored? A wheel would have been much simpler for an avoidance maneuver and any confusion about "port" might have been eliminated. I frequently sail my boat with non-sailors and getting notion of moving the tiller to starboard to come to port is probably the most difficult concept of the day.
    About the copper plating. Harold scrounged copper from a salvage yard as part of his "restoration" in Sausalito. The copper in this photo, however, looks brand new so must have been part of the most recent Danish restoration. I wonder of the white hull paint under the felt is from the Sausalito days?

  10. #3300
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wylieguy View Post
    The picture of Jack Elliot steering Wander Bird with a wheel connects with my memories of her in Sausalito. Notice the "very nice varnish job" on the steering box! But the pre-collision video cleary shows the crew wrestling with a giant tiller. My guess is during one of its later restorations the "original" steering system was restored? A wheel would have been much simpler for an avoidance maneuver and any confusion about "port" might have been eliminated. I frequently sail my boat with non-sailors and getting notion of moving the tiller to starboard to come to port is probably the most difficult concept of the day.
    About the copper plating. Harold scrounged copper from a salvage yard as part of his "restoration" in Sausalito. The copper in this photo, however, looks brand new so must have been part of the most recent Danish restoration. I wonder of the white hull paint under the felt is from the Sausalito days?
    Ann Tompkins, the 6 year in WANDER BIRD's rigging off Cape Horn recently passed, age 88. Her story, I AM ANN TOMPKINS, is fascinating. FBI file? https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/commen...woman_who_was/

    WMT, Jr. "Commodore," wrote a last week:

    Hi Skip,

    I believe the schooner VANDER VOGEL was fitted with a wheel when WMT Sr. purchased her in 1929, hence toward the end of her pilot service, or sometime during the proprietorship of the Vander Vogel organisation.

    The Vander Vogel operation was described to me as similar to Outward Bound and/or the Sea scouts. Apparently an attempt to deal with German youth after WW I.

    Presuming ELBE 5 would bear away to her port, all she needed to escape was about eighteen feet of water; her beam. Because the drawing foresail is close to the vessel’s center of lateral plane, I am of the opinion that she WOULD have borne off. She only needed about forty-five degrees of bearing off. Utilizing the video revelations showing the relative attitudes of the two vessels when the five blasts are heard and the actual collision photograph, it appears to me that the schooner turned at least that number of degrees to starboard: she was nearly at right angles to the bigger ship’s center line. As you note the schooner was going slowly, thus would be sliggish in any turn, but presuming that someone would (eventually) trim the head sail, bearing off would have been easier as well as faster. At worst, after bearing off would be a starboard to starboard scraping pass.

    You may be correct in that the two sets of five blasts emanated from ELBE 5. My interpretation was/is that what one hears is the distant horn of the ASTROSPRINTER: the video equipment is not likely equipped with faithful sound-reproduction capability.

    When XXXXXXX carried away her XXXXXXXX -carbon mast, I discovered internal construction flaws at the point of failure. Insurance/surveyor types advised that I keep this information to myself, as the insurance companies would not pay off on a failed part, they would pay off on human error. Perhaps the same principles apply in Germany. For sure there is human error in this case. I would not sleep well had I been master of ELBE 5 on that day.

    I attended a memorial service for my sister on Saturday. I spoke a few words and asked if there were any questions, thinking the throng, (about one hundred), might wish for some insight regarding the deceased. Instead, the only question was: “Would you tell us what happened to WANDER BIRD?” The incident has stirred a great deal of interest worldwide, apparently even among non-sailors.

    Onward and upward!
    wmt/FLASHGIRL
    Last edited by sleddog; 06-25-2019 at 05:10 PM.

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