Month: October 2003

  • WWPs

    West Wight Potter people crack me up. They are usually pretty good-natured folks. In a boat this tiny, you have to leave your ego on the shore. (Or back in your garage, where you store the boat trailer.)

    This guy posted some suggestions for trailer sailoring, which, although he wrote them for West Wight Potter owners, can actually apply to a number of different pocket cruisers with centerboards.


    Potter P-14 and P-15 Safety Tips

    1. Keep the centerboard lashed down so that in the event of a capsize, the centerboard will stay down.
    2. Don’t go on the foredeck when sailing alone.
    3. If you are not comfortable with the weather, return to shore or stay ashore.
    4. Keep the main sheet free unless you are very sure of the conditions.
    5. Keep weight forward.
    6. Have proper safety equipment – life jackets with whistles, flares, VHF radio.
    7. Reef before you need to.
    8. Have enough gas to return under power.
    9. Let someone know where you will be sailing and when you will return.
    10. Do not heel over beyond about 10 degrees. Nothing will be gained in terms of performance.
    11. Watch out for other boats and navigational hazards.

    Sometimes the best map will not guide you
    You can’t see what’s round the bend
    Sometimes the road leads through dark places
    Sometimes the darkness is your friend

    Jimmy Buffett

    from http://home.att.net/~e.zeiser/sailing/sosmall.htm

    (Although I don’t know if I agree with the not going up on foredeck suggestion. Sometimes you don’t have a choice. I mean, I’m not gonna leave the helm just to go sun myself. But sometimes you don’t have a choice. ex. jib sheets get stuck on shrouds or lifelines, etc. etc.)

    One of the cool things about the West Wight Potter is its incredibly shallow draft. Since the centerboard can be raised, you can basically park this baby on the beach. (Not that it would stay there, with the tides and all, anyway.)

    However, many people argue the retractable keel is not best for blue water sailing.

    I totally admire this one family who refitted their Potter with a removable solar panel over the hatch.

    solarpanel
    Solar panel on the Pedersons’ WWP Necessity
    from http://www.nutfarm.org/boatmods/solar.html

    They made a bunch of other modifications which allowed them to cruise the Great Lakes in relative comfort.

    beached
    Eric L. Pederson’s Necessity
    Beached at the Apostle Islands
    on Lake Superior
    http://www.nutfarm.org/boat.html

  • Cleft Lips

    I admire surgeons. I absolutely loved my surgery rotation, but the 5 year committment is something I would not love. For great pictures of a cleft lip surgery, visit hkydd’s site.



    LIPSTICK

    According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back.

    Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

    To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

    from hkydd’s xanga

  • Guppy 13

    Shorty Pen’s got a mailing list for any Guppies and Sparrows that are on the market. Neither of these two boats are being manufactured anymore, so finding one is difficult. Aside from the Minuet, the Guppy and the Sparrow are the smallest cabin boats available that were once mass-produced (if any kind of boat-building can be considered mass-production).


    Guppy (13′) for sale in California

  • Running Rigging

    If you’re looking for some cheap new rigging, I’m bookmarking the site for Mike’s Marine Supply.

    Mike’s Marine Supply

    Last year, our treasurer bought 400 feet of new deck lines for about $0.39/foot. Quality stuff, too. Not the stuff you get at Farm and Fleet (100 feet of dog poop for $0.10/foot).

    West Marine is such a rip-off. $0.59 for the same thing you can get at Mike’s Marine for $0.29. What the heck is that about?

  • Blocks

    When I went up to Northwestern University’s boathouse for one of the MCSA regattas, I was delighted to find some creative ways to use blocks.


    The contraption made to keep the door between
    the main office and the storage area closed.

    The yellow thing is a 5-lb weight, I believe. That’s a row of windsurfing booms hanging in the background.

    Northwestern was a very good host. We were invited to one of their places for the welcoming party. One thing I wasn’t able to get a picture of was another contraption made with blocks and some lengths of PVC pipe that made a handy pot holder that you could raise and lower from the ceiling. Now that’s creative!

    Here’s a rough sketch of what it looked like:


    Obviously a sailor’s potholder

  • Fall Sailing

    Today I went sailing with one the interns I worked with last winter. Having just moved here from India last year, he finds the Midwest a little boring.

    I invited him hiking at the nearby state park, and he had a lot of fun. So, when I saw him in the library a few weeks ago, I invited him to go sailing after my rotation ended.

    He said, “Sure!”

    So, I packed up the dinghy in record time, scooted over to his apartment, and we headed out to the lake. Luckily it wasn’t too windy, because I think that would have scared him.

    He got the hang of it pretty quick. I gave him a quick sailing lesson, and taught him a few knots.

    And then, sometime in the middle of lunch, he goes, “Is this proper?” I go, “Huh?” “In India this wouldn’t be proper.” I was still clueless at this point.

    And he says, “Does your husband mind that you are sailing with me?”

    And I said, “Well, as long as you’re not making a pass at me, no, he doesn’t mind. He works weekends. Otherwise he’d like to come sailing too. He doesn’t mind that there’s at least someone with me.”

    And then he goes on to explain all the cultural problems he’s had since coming to America. Poor thing.

    Well, all in all it was a fine day sailing, aside from the ladybugs-from-hell. The wind was pretty light, so we ended up rowing quite a bit, but at least he wasn’t scared. He doesn’t swim well, so he was happy to have a lifejacket.

    We both brought food. I made turkey and cheese sandwiches, and he brought something his mom made. Indian pancakes, basically, with potato and curry filling. Yummy!

    And lemon pickles. Lemon. Pickled. It was pretty good. It tasted like Chinese plum candy. Sweet, salty, and sour, with a huge kick.

    After sailing, he invited me up to meet his mom. And I got to try some really yummy “dal”, or lentil soup.

    It looks pretty easy to make, and very yummy too. Boil lentils. Then pressure cook them with garlic, tamarind sauce (which makes it sweet and sour), chopped onions, fresh ground ginger, cumin, and tumeric. Spoon over rice. Dee-lish! ‘Probably easily made in a crock pot as well.

  • The Cruising Life

    Matt said on the news today (cuz I don’t watch TV except for baseball games. If there’s anything important I need to know about the world, http://www.xanga.com/dingus5 is bound to let us know) they mentioned a couple who stopped at a group of islands in the Pacific. The islands are part of some kind of government testing thing.

    Apparently, this couple sold their house, all their belongings, quit their jobs, packed up the kids, and bought a sailboat. They launched from the Mississippi Delta area, and haven’t been seen since.

    Well, until a few days ago, when they stopped by these islands.

    And I was like, “What? What happened? Did they moor and start cooking dinner and then BLAMMO, the island exploded??? What happened?”

    And Matt said, “No, the island didn’t explode. They just test guidance systems there.”

    I dunno. Any testing of guidance systems, I would think would involve explosions!

    But I’m glad to know they’re okay. Ah, the cruising lifestyle!

  • “Extreme” Sailing

    Thanks to timestep29, I found out that someone has broken the world’s sailing record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean. In 6 days and 18 hours, Robert Miller’s brand-spanking-new 140-ft nearly flat-bottom schooner Mari-Cha IV swept from New York to Plymouth, England, beating Bernard Stamm’s old record by 2 days and 3 hours. The Mari-Cha IV has also broken the record in terms of number of nautical miles sailed in 24 hours — 525 miles. ‘Beats my mileage with my Corolla!

    So now he’s gonna compete in the West Marine Pacific Cup course from San Francisco to Hawaii in under 5 days. At the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley, I met a guy who sailed to Hawaii in about 2 weeks in a 14 foot boat. Solo, even! So 5 days should be no problem for this Miller Guy. Look at all those crew!


    The Mari-Cha IV
    Photo by Thierry Martinez
    from
    http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2003/1003/Oct10/Oct10.html#anchor1085433

    Sailors can be silly too. It’s not all racing and cut-throat competition by million-dollar syndicates.


    Buccaneer Days at Catalina Island
    October 2003


    She gives depth to the title “Winch Wench”

    from http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2003/1003/Oct10/Oct10.html#anchor1085433

  • Die Boote

    Topher moved out to Carmel, after having been Commodore of the Southern Illinois University Sailing Club for a couple of years. I visited him last December after my wedding, and he showed me around. Carmel is gorgeous, but there’s something kind of sad and dreary about the Monterey area, maybe because I have read too much John Steinbeck.

    He loves it though, and I think Carmel loves him.

    He sends me pictures of the coast where he takes pictures after his lunch breaks. Sailboats anchored off the beach! Yum!


    Topher’s picture from the beach during an after-lunch walk

    Shorty Pen went out sailing/camping at Palacios Beach in Texas in September and posted some pictures of a West Wight Potter 15 and a Sparrow 12, an unbelievably small cruising sailboat that is no longer being manufactured.


    A picture of the beach campsite from one of the sailboats

    And some enterprising soul (Thomas E. Lisco) converted a Sunfish into a miniature “coastal cruiser” with storage space for up to 120 lbs of camping gear.

    I’m in the middle of applying to residencies, and I have a weirdly long stretch of time in Houston. I’m planning to stay at a hostel and spend my time and money sailing around the Gulf as everyone tells me the winds on the coast are excellent, not only for sailing, but especially for windsurfing.

    On a truly spectacular note, here’s a woman who also sails without her husband. She purchased a 32 foot Westsail, and plans to spend time sailing solo around the Florida coast.


    Debra’s ship, Jessie
    Look at that shiny waxed hull!


    Pointless Devotion

    I’ve said all that I know to say
    I feel her pain from far away
    She exploits her freedom every day
    Resolute in her conviction

    She cuts herself to calm her fears
    Her blood will wash away her tears
    I censure her, she never hears
    Her sorrow is my affliction

    She writes her story on the net
    She writes so she will not forget
    She knows it makes me so upset
    Yet I give her benediction

    – bodiddly

  • The World’s Smallest Cruising Yacht

    It’s too cute! It’s the world’s smallest cabin sailboat. This pocket yacht comes complete with main and jib. It’s the Minuet. . . .

    minuet1

    minuet2

    Oh! It’s too cute!

    References:
    1. pictures from http://www.minuetyachts.com