Sailing?

[trysail]

...Sumitra was a very strong sea boat.

It was the first time I'd been out of sight of the harbour - sailing from Bangor to Fleetwood - and with enough reefing for me to feel comfortable (yes that's another understatement - I did feed the fish uncounted times ) she wouldn't make anything at all against the wind; leeway took care of all the progress her heading might have suggested. That meant I could sail back and forth off Blackpool tower (and did - for hours) but couldn't make any port for which I had charts. After something over 24 hours, Sumitra was still perfectly happy, but I was getting 'tired', so we radioed the coast guard and a couple of hours later they sent out a lifeboat. With local knowledge, the chap they put aboard us shook out a reef and took us into the Ribble, south of Lytham. Once responsibility for the lives of my wife and young son had been taken on more experienced shoulders, I really enjoyed that part of the voyage!

Force 7 (once you're acclimated and assuming you have confidence in the vessel and her sail trim) is exhilarating-- IF you're on a reach! There's little in this world that's as glorious as a romping sleigh-ride. Going to windward (or, I should say, attempting to go to windward in a strong breeze or a near gale), however, is another matter entirely. It gives meaning to the expression, "Gentlemen don't go to windward!"

 

[jomar]

We only won one race with me as crew. On a tack we cut a corner across some drying mud. We had hauled the centreboard right up, unshipped the tiller from its pintles and were making considerable leeway which didn't matter because the deeper water was to leeward.
Og

I once won a race in a similar manner; cut across shallower water where others feared to go.

Beautiful boats, jomar. There was one at the club I belonged to before I got the cruiser and I used to drool. I loved my old Enterprise, but I was still jealous.

Thanks, fifty. It was light, fast and pretty exhilarating for a 15 foot day sailer. They are (or used to be) big on the east coast of America, especially around the Washington, DC area.

I googled your Trident and it looks like a great cruiser.

 

[fifty5]

I learned to sail in RN 14-foot dinghies in Portsmouth Harbour. That harbour dries out considerably and at the time was cluttered with the Reserve Fleet including an Aircraft Carrier and a large Monitor (HMS Roberts).

The Reserve Fleet obstructed the wind. The drying harbour and the variable tidal streams made sailing interesting. I was used as crew in strong winds because we could heel the dinghy further.

We only won one race with me as crew. On a tack we cut a corner across some drying mud. We had hauled the centreboard right up, unshipped the tiller from its pintles and were making considerable leeway which didn't matter because the deeper water was to leeward. The other competitors followed us but with their centreboards down. Six stuck until the tide rose again...

Og

Wonderful - straight out of Ransome! One of the great features of Sumitra was a lifting centre plate (as well as a lead keel) - 6 foot something draught with it down, less that 3 foot with it up. Not only did it get us off the shifting mud in the Ribble, but it let me take her up the Leeds-Liverpool canal, so I could work on her with a 15 minute, instead of 2 hour drive.

My first sailing club had some similar complications because the reservoir was Y shaped. The promontory in between gave different wind shadows and eddies according to the wind direction. When we first bought Y-Not (an Enterprise dinghy that replaced fantasies and models) we spent our holiday that year on the reservoir, sailing all day, every day and got to know those quirks quite well. At the weekend, the club had a race. It would be nice to say we won, but we sure as hell did better than a single week's sailing experience might suggest.

 

[fifty5]

I googled your Trident and it looks like a great cruiser.

It was. They came in a few different keel configurations, but the real plus is that they were designed before marine engineers really knew how strong glass-fibre really is. You can almost see through more modern hulls, but the Trident's hull was much thicker - immensely strong. You could bust it by grounding on rocks - or in collision with another vessel, but mere weather was never an issue. It was the crew that had weaknesses.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I don't know if I could be happy sailing on the Great Lakes. They have a different way there. Here it's all "High Aspect" boats with tall, narrow sales for light winds, say 8 to 15 knots. There it's "Low Aspect" rigs with short, squat wide sales for heavy winds.

The Center of Lateral Effort (CLE) is eight feet above the boom on my boat and the Center of Lateral Resistance (CLR) is down five feet below the water line. That makes it really stable going to weather and very leasuraly. I usually sit on the stern rail and steer with my foot. I really doubt you could do that on a wind boat on the Great Lakes. Sorta strikes me as "Survival of the Fittest Sailing."

My racing days are over. The last race I did was the TransPac ten years ago. twelve days on the open ocean from San Francisco to Honolulu. I flew home with a broken arm and various bruises. I looked like I'd just lost a prize fight.

 

[fifty5]

I don't know if I could be happy sailing on the Great Lakes. They have a different way there. Here it's all "High Aspect" boats with tall, narrow sales for light winds, say 8 to 15 knots. There it's "Low Aspect" rigs with short, squat wide sales for heavy winds.

The Center of Lateral Effort (CLE) is eight feet above the boom on my boat and the Center of Lateral Resistance (CLR) is down five feet below the water line. That makes it really stable going to weather and very leasuraly. I usually sit on the stern rail and steer with my foot. I really doubt you could do that on a wind boat on the Great Lakes. Sorta strikes me as "Survival of the Fittest Sailing."

My racing days are over. The last race I did was the TransPac ten years ago. twelve days on the open ocean from San Francisco to Honolulu. I flew home with a broken arm and various bruises. I looked like I'd just lost a prize fight.

Hey, Jenny, you don't need crew do you? I can take orders from the skipper...

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Hey, Jenny, you don't need crew do you? I can take orders from the skipper...

Nope. My boat is currently in the yards making final repairs then I will sell it. Later this summer Linny and I are planning to go back to Ireland for good. There I will buy another one but maybe not until next year.

 

[cloudy]

I really doubt you could do that on a wind boat on the Great Lakes. Sorta strikes me as "Survival of the Fittest Sailing."

Yep, you got it right.

I know many people who make their living fishing Lake Huron, and many of them have lost boats before they even realized they were in trouble - storms blow up that damn fast...and these are people who have fished/sailed on that lake all their lives.

They're very, very different than an ocean, that's for sure.

 

[fifty5]

Nope. My boat is currently in the yards making final repairs then I will sell it. Later this summer Linny and I are planning to go back to Ireland for good. There I will buy another one but maybe not until next year.

I thought not. When you do get the next one, remember I'll only be a few hours drive and a ferry away if you ever do need an extra hand.

 

[fifty5]

Yep, you got it right.

I know many people who make their living fishing Lake Huron, and many of them have lost boats before they even realized they were in trouble - storms blow up that damn fast...and these are people who have fished/sailed on that lake all their lives.

They're very, very different than an ocean, that's for sure.

So, not Superior or Huron, but maybe Lake Michigan. I don't remember seeing anything about Erie or Ontario. Anybody know anything?

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

There are interesting storm patterns in the Great Lakes. I'm told they can be as scary as the Bay of Biscay or the Great Australian Bight. I've been in storms in the latter two but not the Great Lakes. If they are comparable I'd prefer to be in something like 40,000 tonnes or larger.

I used to like sailing but being cold and wet doesn't mix with my medical complaints.

Og

The Edmund Fitzgerald was 26,000 tons.

The Bay of Biscay is probably a good comparison in terms of potential nastiness, from what I've read about it.

 

[oggbashan]

It's a NNE Force 8 gusting 9 outside my house now.

High tide, a fairly low one, is due in 40 minutes.

All my North-facing windows are splattered with sea spray. The window-cleaner came yesterday.

Og

 

[fifty5]

So does anyone have anything to report about about Lakes Erie or Ontario?

 

[trysail]

Experts mystified by loss of sailboat and 2 aboard

Two days after a 31-foot sailboat was lost at sea a few miles outside
the Golden Gate in an offshore charity race, what caused the boat's
disappearance and the loss of both crewmen mystified sailing experts.

While the Coast Guard could not say Monday exactly what happened, the
missing boat was among the slowest-rated sailboats in the 40-boat
regatta. It had fallen significantly behind the others in the 25-mile
race - before disappearing on the homeward leg Saturday afternoon.

One sailor at the trailing end of the fleet told a Sausalito-based
sailing magazine that he occasionally looked back at Matthew Kirby
Gale's boat but lost sight of the vessel when its sails vanished beyond
the steep swells. He figured the boat, Daisy, had merely fallen further
behind.

The Coast Guard began searching for the vessel Saturday night after it
failed to respond to radio calls. Sunday morning boat debris was found
near where Daisy was last seen. The search was suspended late Sunday,
when authorities concluded that the boat's skipper, Gale, 68, of Mill
Valley, could not have survived hypothermia from prolonged exposure at
sea.

Earlier on Sunday, the body of his crew member, 72-year-old Anthony
Harrow, had been found washed ashore near Half Moon Bay.

Some sailors focused on Saturday's blustery conditions as the culprit
of Saturday's accident, capricious weather that produced radical wind
shifts inside the bay and high winds, steep swells and at least some
breaking waves outside the Golden Gate.

Others wondered about the condition of Gale's boat, a Cheoy Lee
Offshore 31 that had recently undergone upgrades but carried only minimal safety equipment for offshore use.

Still others wondered whether Gale and Harrow had sufficient skills to
participate in the offshore race. Both were experienced recreational
sailors but not hard-core racers.

Gale and Harrow set out in Daisy on Saturday morning for the 27th
Annual Doublehanded Lightship Race - a 25-mile course from a starting line
beside the Golden Gate Yacht Club's race deck on San Francisco's Marina
Green to a navigation buoy about 12 miles offshore and back.

For veteran racers, Saturday's offshore conditions were exhilarating,
producing big seas that the faster, lighter boats could surf back
toward the Golden Gate.

"I considered it to be windy and somewhat steep but regular seas," said
Lucy Mewes, the commodore of the Island Yacht Club of Alameda, who
participated in Saturday's race. "It was sunny. It wasn't flat water,
but it wasn't terrifying water. The seas were regular and well spaced.
... We saw a few breaking waves on the way out. We had a lot of fun. It
was a great, surfing ride."

But it was also rough enough for a large wave to temporarily swamp one
22-foot sailboat. That boat, sailed by Stephen Buckingham, a
highly-skilled ocean racer, recovered quickly and won its division of
slower-rated boats.

Buckingham who skippered a Santana 22, said in an e-mail that he did
not recall seeing Daisy. "It was pretty bumpy, and we were surprised by one
wave on the way back in that swamped the cockpit," he wrote. "I don't
remember seeing this boat."

The National Weather Service had broadcast a warning of rough seas
outside the Golden Gate in the area of the regatta on Saturday. The
forecast, which called for seas 10 to 12 feet with waves at 12 second
intervals also called for occasional breakers to 16 feet during maximum
ebb tidal conditions.

The warning, which included a small craft advisory for northwesterly
winds up to 25 knots, was broadcast continually on the marine weather
channel.

Racers said the breeze was more severe - generally 20 to 25 knots, and
gusting into the 30s.

"It was a nasty day. I wouldn't have gone out in it," said Tex Hax, the
owner of a 45-foot sailboat who did not participate in the race. "My
first thought is that they could have called the race."

Race organizers at the Island Yacht Club, which sponsored the charity
event to raise money for cerebral palsy, said the conditions were
challenging but favorable.

"As far as I know, it was a normal day outside the gate," said race
manager Joanne McFee. "I don't think it was bad out there at all for
expert sailors, and these were all experts."

All but two of the boats that set out on the race finished it. One
small sailboat abandoned the race early, deciding after passing under the
Golden Gate Bridge that the sea conditions were too rough.

Daisy managed to round the "Lightbucket" navigation buoy before running
into trouble.

According to the Latitude 38 magazine Web site, the last sighting of
Daisy was from competitors aboard a similarly rated boat who glimpsed
back now and then to see if a sail behind them was getting closer.

"About six or seven miles out, we looked and the sail was gone," Rob
Tryon, skipper of a 32-foot sailboat, Feolena, was quoted as saying.
"We thought it was because we were sailing faster."

David Kuettel's Serena, an ultra-fast monohull, returned to the bay in
first place with a winning time of 3 hours, 8 minutes. Feolena, the
last boat to finish, arrived at about 2:45 p.m.

By 5 p.m., Daisy was unaccounted for. There had been no mayday by
radio, no 911 cell phone call to the Coast Guard, no distress beacon
activated.

Race organizers tried to hail Daisy via marine radio, but there was no
response. Gale's family alerted the Coast Guard, which began a search
for the vessel Saturday night that continued into Sunday.

Just last week, Gale had paid about $1,200 for a new VHF marine radio
and Global Positioning System - with a wireless, remote control device
and mic that could activate those units from the cockpit.

"He was in good spirits. He was excited about the upcoming race," said
Ari Castano, owner of Advanced Marine Electronics in Sausalito, whose
firm installed and tested the new radio and GPS device on Daisy.

Castano said that the vessel still needed work and could have used more
safety equipment.

"It's an older boat, and it needed to be rewired," said Castano, adding
that Gale planned to soon have that electrical work done.

The boat was not equipped with radar, and workers did not recall seeing
an inflatable life raft stowed on the deck. Some offshore sailors carry
a spare marine battery well above the water line to reduce the chance
of electrical failure; Daisy did not. Gale also did not have an EPIRB,
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, which sends a distress
signal for rescuers.

Gale had spent about $14,000 in the last six weeks on repairs at
Anderson's Boat Yard in Sausalito - mainly for cosmetic repairs, but
also for plumbing, fuel tanks, interior woodwork and rigging.

Race organizers required competitors to carry safety harnesses aboard,
which enable sailors to tether their bodies to the boat to avoid being
swept overboard. Prudent sailors use these devices offshore, but it can
still be tricky and dangerous for a two-person crew to tether and
re-tether to different spots of the boat in big seas.

Harrow, whose body was found Sunday morning a few miles south of the
Golden Gate Bridge, was still wearing a life vest.

Searchers also found bits of debris on Sunday, including a rudder, an
icebox and wooden planks believed to have come from Gale's sailboat.
"The Cheoy Lee 31 is a good, sturdy boat. People have gone cruising in
them across oceans," said Pat Broderick, president of the Yacht Racing
Association of San Francisco Bay. "If the rudder or tiller broke off,
they would have had trouble. It's a longshot, but they could've
collided with one of those navigation buoys ... The shipping channel is dredged to about 55 feet, but in a lot of places it isn't that deep. Boats have
hit shallow spots."

A small craft advisory is not unusual on San Francisco Bay and its
approaches. However, warnings of rough conditions at the bar channel 11
miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge had been posted all week. The
maximum current was at four knots, a fairly strong current, about 11:45
a.m. Saturday. The forecast of occasional 16- foot breakers would mean
waves more than half the length of the missing boat.

The Coast Guard granted a permit for the race, but does not warn race
organizers of dangerous conditions. "Unless the Coast Guard closes the
bar channel because of hazardous conditions, it is up to mariners to
make their own assessment," said Dan Dewell, a Coast Guard information
officer.

 

[fifty5]

Experts mystified by loss of sailboat and 2 aboard.

I can empathise with everyone but the jounalist - whose account was at the same time partial and repetitive.

The type of boat in question is described in post 4, here, with some pictures here. The article doesn't say whether the one that foundered was a wood or fibre boat - but I've certainly seen rudder mountings torn out of wood.

The moral to me is that you need far better safety gear when racing than cruising. (Compare rally cars and ordinary ones.) On a cruise, there's no issue with reefing heavily, heaving to, or even lying to a sea anchor (assuming sufficient sea room in all cases). In a race, the clock ticks on and there's a temptation to push on.

In my little drama, despite significantly worse weather, (unexpected I may point out - we HAD checked the forcast before setting off), because we had no racing pressures, the challenge was to stay safe, which wasn't that difficult. My problem was that I was almost single handed (my wife and son were prostrate with seasickness) and after 24 hours on watch, I was knackered. The boat was safe, but I would soon be incapable of handling her - hence the call for assistance.

We monitored the radio conversation between the lifeboat and the shore station and I do recall with pleasure the message when they first sighted us: "They are doing fine!"

If we could only have made a charted port, we'd never have needed the help, but effectively we were 'bayed' - couldn't get far enough North to make Fleetwood, or far enough West to make the North Wales harbours. The Ribble was the only place we could go, but since Preston closed as a commercial port, the authorities had stopped dredging the river and keeping the charts up to date. Useful charts were photocopied sketches, only available from the local yacht club, who re-sketched when they found the shoals had moved.