Month: November 2003

  • Sailing Survivor

    By Cindy Porterfield and Randy Russell

     Flying Dolphin

    Mark Twain said “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
    things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
    Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
    Dream. Discover.” Ahhhh Discover!! I discovered sailing on Galveston Bay aboard the popular
    sailing vessel, Flying Dolphin, and I am grateful for the experience. 
    Thanks to the TMCA cruising group.

    But I don’t know if I will ever figure out my knots and nauticals??

    In fact, this weekend’s adventure with the group to Steve’s Landing was more
    than I bargained for!  Though I am a native Galvestonion, I had never
    in my 44 years, had the adventure of sailing until February 1st 2003.

    Our sail started with fog so thick that the words “pea soup” was echoed on
    radio channel 16 from boat captain to boat captain.  Personally, as
    the boat moved from it’s Kemah Boardwalk Marina dock to the open water and

    the fog dropped upon us like a blanket on our boat, an eerie but dreamlike
    calm danced around me as if to cast a magical spell.  I would have hypnotically
    dozed into a light sleep but the blaring horns of the invisible boats nearby
    kept me on guard.  Twenty feet of visibility allowed us to see the front
    of the boat and nothing else.  Innocently I said, “Randy, you were right,
    your boat sails so smoothly.  I’m impressed”.  He laughed, “Cindy,
    the water is as still as glass and we are barely moving”.  Suddenly
    I heard a deep bellowing foghorn that made the water quiver around us. 

    It was a mammoth tanker in the ship channel.  Far off in the distance
    we could see only the stacks sailing in the sky across the clouds, across
    the fog.

    The following day the real excitement began, crashing waves and high winds…He
    did he say 27 knots?… He couldn’t be talking about wind….if he could only
    feel the knots in my stomach as the water began crashing over the front of
    the boat.  The front of the boat, I later learned, is correctly termed
    “the bow” and bow I did as the ocean came aboard hitting me square in the
    face.  You should have seen the look I gave Randy as I stood there soak’n
    wet after just fixing my hair!!  

    Wait a minute, I thought a sailing cruise meant a weekend of relaxation,
    sun bathing, sight seeing, “a cruizzzzzz”…You know…. Jimmy Buffet told me
    in a song …Sailing away in Margaritaville.  Did you ever hear Jimmy
    mention sailing sideways?? What happened to romantic dining in the cabin,
    snoozing peacefully on the deck.    Master Helmsman Randy
    Russell had a quite a chuckle “showing me” the ropes.  I just wish he
    had explained them also.  

    Proudly he gave me control of the helm, patiently telling me that the boat
    will always stay afloat.  That was when we were sailing west down the
    ICW.  “Not to worry, I was safe”, he said turning us in a northerly
    direction with the south winds upon us.  Suddenly I began using muscles
    I never knew I had.  Only moments earlier I was standing there grinning
    ear to ear.  My last words were, “Sailing is easy”.  I had spoken
    too soon.  According to Randy, “All hell had broken loose”.  Now
    that was a sailing term I was familiar with.  I was fiercely holding
    on to the steering wheel as Randy yelled, “Go into the wind”.  Now I’m
    supposed to know the direction of the wind and how do I go into it?  

    Of course I didn’t want to look stupid so when Randy wasn’t looking I used
    the only method I knew…I held my wet finger in the wind. Wait that wind was
    going in every direction. Now what?   

    Little did HE know that the last thing you should tell a novice as you hand
    her the wheel is “fall off”.  What?  How could I “fall off, fall
    off” when I just got on.  Was I being voted off like a member of Survivor? 

    I wasn’t about to go into that water, even though I felt like this beautiful
    sailboat,  Flying Dolphin, wanted me “off!”, soaring sideways
    in the wind.  I must say seeing Randy take that wheel from me as he
    tried to harness the wind and sails, was exhilarating, powerful and inspiring. 
    The soaring speed of the Flying Dolphin with full sails taking
    on the power of the winds, was an adrenaline rush I had never experienced. 
    Much like riding a wild stallion, I saw the beauty of the Flying Dolphin

    riding on the sea.  It was 15000 pounds buckling in the wind and Randy
    was masterfully holding on to the reins.  After a while I forgot about
    the noise of my makeup and hairdryer crashing to the floor in the cabin below
    and I just enjoyed the power, the majesty of Galveston Bay.

    On the way home I heard a song on the radio called “I Hope you Dance”. 
    The lyrics went like this:

                “I hope you always
    feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

                When one door closes,
    I hope another one opens”

    Yes, my first experience sailing in Galveston Bay with 27 knot winds was
    humbling and I will always feel small when I stand ON the ocean.  I
    learned that both a sailboat and the elements have a mind of their own. My
    “land limited” days are the door I have closed forever and I have opened
    another…sailing and friends at TMCA.  I will never be the same and I
    am sure you can relate.  The experience has had a piercing effect on
    a soul.  I am sure you can remember why you continue to sail or have
    I reminded you? “Explore, Dream, Discover”.  Mark Twain understood the
    powerful impact of a sail on the ocean.  It can even awaken a naive
    soul like mine.  

     

    Oh, by the way, no need to worry about being on the same waters with me and
    my sailing inexperience.  Randy promised me, the next time I am at the
    helm, they’ll be a sign on the side of his boat…“Student Driver”.   

    from http://www.tmca.nu/cruises/Steves03/Survivor.html
    images from http://www.tmca.nu/cruises/Steves03/StevesLanding.html

  • Women Sailors

    Vickie Parrish

    Vickie holds a Yachtmasters License from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency of Southampton, England. She has two trans Atlantic crossings, 15,000 miles of cruising and 20 years boating experience.

    Vickie homeschooled her children while cruising the Med and the Caribbean and is particularly aware of the needs of cruising families. Now she is back in Texas, she enjoys singlehandling her Pacific Seacraft Flicka and sailing a Sabre 362 with her husband and teenage boys.
    Janet Grobe Hood

    Janet coordinates new boat sales, manages the bookstore, and teaches navigation and women’s cruising classes, as well as filling in for Jeremy when he is out of the office.

    Since starting to sail at the age of 5 on a dinghy on Clear Lake, she has owned boats ranging from 14 to 44 ft., lived aboard with her 2 kids, worked as a yacht broker, and completed several offshore passages both as skipper and crew. She took her 32 foot sailboat single-handed from Florida to Bermuda and back and is always ready to do more cruising.

    from http://www.bluewatercruising.com/brokers.html

  • Portsmouth Number

    The higher a boat’s D-PN rating, the slower it is. D-PN ratings are used to calculate a boat’s handicap when boats of different classes are raced against each other.

    That’s why, when you’re in a regatta and sailing in a West Wight Potter coming over the finish line a whole hour after an E-Scow whizzed past your ass with its skipper blowing you a raspberry, you can still finish in 1st place, and have the last laugh.

    A West Wight Potter has a D-PN rating of 135.8, which probably puts it in place for being one of the slowest boats in existence.

    wwp
    West Wight Potter

    An E-Scow has a D-PN rating of 73.2, which means that if it took the E-Scow 73.2 minutes to run a course, then a West Wight Potter that was sailed with the same skill would come in 62.6 minutes later (135.8 – 73.2).

    e-scow
    E-Scow

    laser
    One of the first Lasers, originally called a “Weekender”!
    (from http://www.lasersailboat.com/history.php)

    Lasers are pretty popular cartoppable boats. And it’s no wonder. If you like speed, a traditional Laser has a D-PN of 91.3. (A Laser M has a D-PN of 93.2. I don’t know about Laser IIs. . . .)

    My Banshee has a D-PN of 94.3, which is plenty fast enough for me.

    Both the Laser and Banshee have loose-footed sails, which I personally think allows the sail to achieve a better shape. Improved sail-shape probably explains the unusually low D-PN for boats of their small size and light weight.

    The One-Design 14 is a fast, small boat with a proud D-PN of 88.2. However, the fact that it weighs > 200 lbs. makes it a little less than ideal for cartopping with a compact car.

    It’s amazing to me how even in sailing, people fall into class-design cliques. Every design has it’s own purpose, drawbacks, and advantages. Each class attracts its own personality of people.

    But no matter what class of boat, I really admire women who’ve worked hard to buy the boat of their dreams, and who don’t sail for money or love.

    More on Portsmouth Numbers1
    (at http://offshore.ussailing.org/Portsmouth_Yardstick/Portsmouth_Yardstick_Index.htm)

    References:
    1 Updated 08/06/11, as http://www.ussailing.org/portsmouth/ no longer works and has been changed to http://offshore.ussailing.org/Portsmouth_Yardstick/Portsmouth_Yardstick_Index.htm

  • Ooh, Baby! It’s COLD outside!

    I am making my quarterly payment to the storage place where I keep my sailboat. It sucks, because I don’t like paying for it. I’d rather be using my sailboat. It sucks even worse because, my sailboat isn’t even docked anywhere cool, like a marina. It’s in dry storage.

    I really can’t wait to move somewhere where it’s warm year round. Keeping my boat outside isn’t in an option in the Midwest, because no tarp keeps out water well. Or if it does keep the water from contacting the the boat, it still collects on top and freezes into a solid block of ice which expands and cracks the hull anyway.

    So, my investment goes into dry storage.

    I’d really like to move someplace where I can buy a cabin boat, and just dock it at the Marina nearly year-round. Even if I can’t go sailing, I’d totally like to be able to just go there to hang out and study occasionally when the house gets too frantic.

    Not too far from us is a nuclear power plant reservoir, and the Marina there is full of houseboats. My clubmates used to call them “Mobile Homes on Pontoons.”

    I don’t make fun of houseboat owners. I think they’re cool people. I met one of them once, and he invited us in to see his houseboat which he named “Sanctuary.” And what a sanctuary it was! Microwave, TV, sofa, 3 balconies to fish from (top, front, and back), and best of all, (according to him) no wife! :)

    “The cabin of a small yacht is a wonderful thing;
    for it not only may shelter you from the tempest,
    but also from the other storms of life.”
    — L. Francis Herreschoff.

    Since it is a nuclear power plant reservoir, when September 11th came around, there were National Guard patrols on the water. They got upset at him because he had mounted a sculpture of a gun on the rail of his houseboat. He was told to take down the gun (even though it was fake).

    In fact, for a while, no one could go sailing on the reservoir, because all traffic close to the plant was restricted. So my sailing partner and I went on roadtrips to other lakes in the area, which was really exciting, because I didn’t know there were so many other lakes nearby! The most exciting find was the little agricultural pond that was only 15 minutes away, and I never knew that! It took the collapse of two skyscrapers and the death of thousands of people in order for me to discover a nearby drainage pond.


    Dry docked till next season!

  • Iolite

    Iolite — Gem of the Vikings. When legendary Viking explorers ventured far out into the Atlantic Ocean, far away from any coastline, they had a secret gem weapon: iolite. The Viking mariners used thin pieces of iolite as the world’s first polarizing filter. Looking through an iolite lens, they could determine the exact position of the sun, and navigate safely to the new world and back.

    The property that made iolite so valuable to the Vikings is extreme pleochroism. Iolite has different colors in different directions in the crystal. A cube cut from iolite will look a violetish blue almost like sapphire from one side, clear as water from the other, and a honey yellow from the top. This property led some people to call iolite “water sapphire” in the past, a name that is now obsolete.

    Pleochroism may have been helpful in navigation but it makes things difficult for a gem cutter. If iolite is not cut from exactly the right direction, no matter the shape of the rough, its color will not show to its best advantage.

    The name iolite comes from the Greek ios, which means violet. Iolite is usually a purplish blue when cut properly, with a softness to the color that can be quite attractive.

    Iolite is readily available and surprisingly affordable. The better and richer the blue, the better. It is mined in India, Sri Lanka, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Brazil. The Vikings probably mined iolite from deposits in Norway and Greenland.

    Iolite is relatively hard but should be protected from blows.

    (from http://www.jewelrycentral.com/Target_Iolite.html)

  • James DeWitt

    Born in Oakland, California, in 1930, Jim DeWitt’s career has never veered from his two loves — sailing and art. . . .

    As a five-year-old, he drew pictures of the sailboat his father was building in their backyard — and dreamed of someday being her skipper. After high school, he studied art for six years at the California College of Arts and Crafts and Los Angeles Art Center — learning sailmaking and racing sailboats in his spare time.

    In the busy years since, Jim has gained international renown as both an artist and a winning yachtsman. Racing in everything from eight foot El Toro dinghies to blue-water yachts, he has won an impressive array of national and international trophies. In 1963, he was the first West Coast skipper to capture the coveted Mallory Cup in the US Men’s Sailing Championship. In 1992, at age 62, he took first place in the International Master’s Regatta, sailed in J 24s in San Francisco, California. He continues to race his El Toro dinghy regularly.

    from www.jimdewitt.com


    Farr 40 Worlds

    Good Vision

    Great Fun


    Upwind Downwind

    WigWags in Point Richmond

    (Wigwags are moving warning lights for railroads. They wig and wag.)

    Island Abstract: Wader

    (A different kind of “wig wag.”)


    Original animation by Ted Weldon
    re-edited by Joe Stachler

    More about WigWags

    (from http://www.trainweb.org/dansrailpix/WIG_WAG_new.htm)

  • Neo-Swashbucklers

    Survivalists are people who think the world is going to end sometime pretty soon and are thinking of ways to prepare for it. Y2K brought a lot of survivalists out of the woodwork.

    There’s a group of survivalists called the Neo-Swashbucklers. One of their plans, after the great World Collapse, is to steal the tallship Elissa from its location on Galveston Island and sail off into the nuclear sunset.

    Here’s their credo:

    We, the Neo-Swashbucklers, are a heroic group of individuals who have a dark view of the future of Western Civilization, but a determined spirit and light hearted vision of our role after the Great Collapse. Some say we are a dangerous cult. Well, we are a little dangerous, I guess, and we are a little cult-like, but we still resent being called a dangerous cult. We fight at the slightest provocation, we ride bikes, we like to mountain hike, we love Texas and South Louisiana and we believe that Jean Lafitte was the greatest man in American history. We intend to closely watch world affairs and anticipate exactly when the Great Collapse will occur. When it happens we will seize a tallship and sail away, hoping to find a suitable island on which we will establish a new homeland which we will call New Atlantis. We plan occasional get-togethers for canoe trips, Risk games, Kite Dogfighting, frozen drink swilling, camping, attending music festivals and picking fights with bureaucrats. We harbor no ill will against any race, religious group, nationality or members of other message boards. We do have a strong dislike for the US Coast Guard, however, because we think they unnecessarily interfere with ocean-going activities. We are adventurers, boar hunters and listeners to Zydeco, Texas Music, Bob Marley, Jimmy Buffett and the great Lucinda Williams. We are usually non-violent while on land unless an objectionable CD is played. In international waters we can become aggressive and extremely violent. Its just our way. Our principal reason for being is to ensure that we will have great merriment in the coming dark age. Aye, mateys! While the common citizen is planted in front of the TV, watching the Great Collapse on CNN, you will be receiving a signal. We will then converge on a harbour under the cover of darkness, the exact location of which will be revealed at a future date; and we will fulfill our destiny. Aaarrrggghhh!