Life-saving tips from today's Lat.38

Some life-saving tips from today's Lat.38, based on the experiences from a catamaran tip-over in San Francisco bay a few days ago: .... some important lessons. The life you save might be your own. a.. First, always, always, always wear a PFD. The water is cold, waves that look small when on a boat are huge when in the water, and even the strongest swimmers find it nearly impossible to swim for very long in foul weather gear. b.. Carry a waterproof handheld VHF in your foulie pocket. Communications are key to safety and the wind makes it impossible to hear voices and very hard to see swimmers from more than 20-feet away. c.. Stay with the boat. Swimmers and boats move at dramatically different speeds, so catching a boat once you're separated from it is very difficult. Hang on "for your life." d.. Don't wear cotton. One of our strongest guys went hypothermic very quickly because he had jeans and a cotton T-shirt under his foulies. Quality, high-tech synthetic gear is worth its weight in gold when wet and cold. e.. Carry a fixed blade knife, whistle and light where it can be easily reached. A line wrapped around my foot, and I never could have gotten my Leatherman open to cut away if the boat had gone under. Strap a fixed blade knife several places around the boat where they can be easily reached. f.. Carry an EPIRB and consider the new personal EPIRBs for all crew. They are cheap life insurance. g.. Next time you see the Coast Guard, the police boats or a volunteer race committee boat, give them a friendly wave. Some people may not like their policies prohibiting assistance to try to save personal property, but they are a MOST welcome sight when needed, and they are more than willing to risk their lives to save yours. I'd rather lose my boat than have the Coasties busy saving my replaceable boat while someone else's irreplaceable life was in danger.

Fin Beven wrote: > > > * Next time you see the Coast Guard, the police boats or a > volunteer race committee boat, give them a friendly wave. > We gave the Coasties a plate of brownies when they came into a harbor on our recent schooner trip. They were out practicing skills in their patrol boat. Our boat is on the Lakes a lot in the summer and they are our friends. Let the drunk powerboaters be their enemies. Chris Campbell

I was there. We were in the DH Div in Rambler Cal 20 # 1114 Shadow was given a finish time so she had finished. The waves were square and very close together. Wind speed was reported 29k with gusts to 34K. by the national weather service at 2pm at Point Blunt about 1.5 miles away. When I saw Shadow she was pinned to the bottom by her mast with the starboard hull 10 feet or more out of the water. The Encinal YC inflatible was standing by as was the USCG We kept on course and finished the race in 2nd place in our division. I was quite wet under my weathers from what came on board and went down my neck. We did not set the spinnaker but hit 10.2 thru the water with a poled up jib. This is with a boat with an 18 foot WL. My Best, Mike Farrell From: Fin Beven <fi… [at] msn.com> To: 1-Alan_J_Johnson <al… [at] verizon.net>; 1-AndyMacDonald <AB… [at] aol.com>; 1-Carole_McCullough <ca… [at] afsolutionsllc.com>; 1-CharlieBeven08 <ch… [at] gmail.com>; 1--ColePinkham <Co… [at] GMail.com>; 1-ColeSurfCity <co… [at] surfcitygourmet.com>; 1-DavidGriffith <Da… [at] GMail.com>; 1-DougJorg <do… [at] MetrexValve.com>; 1-EllenHunt <El… [at] rcc.edu>; 1-GuyDoran <ho… [at] earthlink.net>; 1-HenryThomas_work <He… [at] ME.com>; 1-IanPinkham <Ia… [at] GMail.com>; 1-Jack_Buffa <ja… [at] Verizon.net>; 1-JimModisette <ji… [at] AOL.com>; 1-JimRobinson <Ja… [at] AOL.com>; 1-KerryDeaver <KA… [at] AOL.com>; 1-KevinFitzpatrick <Ke… [at] sbcglobal.net>; 1-KimballLivingston <Ki… [at] comcast.net>; 1-KurtFord <Fo… [at] Yahoo.com>; 1-LewWhitney <Le… [at] AOL.com>; 1-MartinWilson <Ma… [at] GMail.com>; 1-Mary_Menninger06 <mm… [at] ca.rr..com>; 1-Odin <Od… [at] MSN.com>; 1-RicSanders <rs… [at] heery.com>; 1-Stephen_Washburn <sp… [at] GMail.com>; 1-Steven_R__Van_Sicklen <SV… [at] LASuperiorCourt.org>; 1-TommyJ <wt… [at] aol.com>; Billy_Wright <ww… [at] chapman.edu>; Boat_Alan_Peterson08 <ap… [at] go4tpg.com>; Boat_BillLee <wi… [at] fastisfun.com>; Boat_ArtieMeans <Ar… [at] aol.com>; Boat_BillPeterson <Bi… [at] GMail.com>; Boat_BobKettenhoffen <Bo… [at] Sales.NorthSails.com>; Boat_BobPerry10 <RH… [at] PerryBoat.com>; Boat_BobWilliamson <Bo… [at] AOL.com>; Boat_Brad_Avery <ba… [at] mail.occ.cccd.edu>; Boat_Chris_Ericksen <ch… [at] earthlink.net>; Boat_ChrisBoome <bo… [at] aol.com>; Boat_ChrisEricson <Ch… [at] AOL.com>; Boat_DickDeaver <Ou… [at] AOL.com>; Boat_DonTrask <in… [at] sailcal.com>; Boat_DuffyDuffield <du… [at] duffyboats.com>; Boat_JerryMontgomery <MM… [at] aol.com>; Boat_JIBKELLY <JI… [at] aol.com>; Boat_JohnRousmaniere <Jr… [at] aol.com>; Boat_JonAndron <An… [at] Pacbell.net>; Boat_NickWhite08 <iE… [at] xtra.co.nz>; Boat_PeterIsler <in… [at] islersailing.com>; Boat_RobbieHaines <ro… [at] nasa.northsails.com>; boat_SkipAllan <Sk… [at] SBCGlobal.net>; Boat_SteveDavis <Da… [at] Olympus.net>; Boat_SteveReed2005 <sg… [at] yahoo.com>; "Boat-Randy,Forespar" <ra… [at] forespar.com>; Boat-Robert_Kinney <ro… [at] alcommarine.com>; Bob McNeil <RM… [at] Sanderling.com>; Cal_1-List-Yahoo <Ca… [at] YahooGroups.com>; Deborah Norum <dn… [at] moscow.com> Sent: Wed, July 28, 2010 12:56:38 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Life-saving tips from today's Lat.38 Some life-saving tips from today's Lat.38, based on the experiences from a catamaran tip-over in San Francisco bay a few days ago: .... some important lessons. The life you save might be your own. * First, always, always, always wear a PFD. The water is cold, waves that look small when on a boat are huge when in the water, and even the strongest swimmers find it nearly impossible to swim for very long in foul weather gear. * Carry a waterproof handheld VHF in your foulie pocket. Communications are key to safety and the wind makes it impossible to hear voices and very hard to see swimmers from more than 20-feet away. * Stay with the boat. Swimmers and boats move at dramatically different speeds, so catching a boat once you're separated from it is very difficult. Hang on "for your life." * Don't wear cotton. One of our strongest guys went hypothermic very quickly because he had jeans and a cotton T-shirt under his foulies. Quality, high-tech synthetic gear is worth its weight in gold when wet and cold. * Carry a fixed blade knife, whistle and light where it can be easily reached. A line wrapped around my foot, and I never could have gotten my Leatherman open to cut away if the boat had gone under. Strap a fixed blade knife several places around the boat where they can be easily reached. * Carry an EPIRB and consider the new personal EPIRBs for all crew. They are cheap life insurance. * Next time you see the Coast Guard, the police boats or a volunteer race committee boat, give them a friendly wave. Some people may not like their policies prohibiting assistance to try to save personal property, but they are a MOST welcome sight when needed, and they are more than willing to risk their lives to save yours. I'd rather lose my boat than have the Coasties busy saving my replaceable boat while someone else's irreplaceable life was in danger.

mike farrell wrote: > > I was there. We were in the DH Div in Rambler Cal 20 # 1114 > Shadow was given a finish time so she had finished. The waves were > square and very close together. Wind speed was reported 29k with > gusts to 34K. by the national weather service at 2pm at Point Blunt > about 1.5 miles away. When I saw Shadow she was pinned to the bottom > by her mast with the starboard hull 10 feet or more out of the water. > The Encinal YC inflatible was standing by as was the USCG We kept on > course and finished the race in 2nd place in our division. I was > quite wet under my weathers from what came on board and went down my > neck. We did not set the spinnaker but hit 10.2 thru the water with a > poled up jib. This is with a boat with an 18 foot WL. OK, I'm impressed with 10.2 knots. My Cal 20 was only managing 6 knots +/- (depending on wave action) last night and I felt like the boat was cookin'. I was single-handing in a good breeze, and because of sore ribs from a fall on the schooner's companionway ladder on Sat., I had hanked on the storm jib. It was a choice between reefed main and working jib, or full main and storm jib. The choice was good because I tried heaving to, and found that the Cal 20 heaves to very nicely under storm jib and main. She was jogging to weather with ample leeway at about 2.1 knots with a very nice motion and no need to tend the tiller. We had a north wind, which gives us some seas on our bay, but most of the water stayed on the foredeck and off of me. My sore abdomen made mainsail trimming harder than usual. On my boat, the pull on the sheet is horizontal at cockpit seat level and that was the wrong angle for comfort, but it was such a nice night for sailing that I put up with it. What surprised me was that (apart from the Wed. night race fleet) all the other sailors were poking along under main and no jib. My Cal 20 with her 18' WL zoomed past a cruising hull of about 28 feet, one with at least two crew in the cockpit. That boat was making mostly vertical motion, hobby-horsing dramatically. If they'd deployed a jib, they could have had the boat moving forward instead of bouncing. I've never figured out this main-only or jib-only sailing. I only sail under main alone when I'm approaching my mooring. Getting the jib down first keeps the bow from falling off as I secure a mooring line. There was a guy out in a sport catamaran of some kind, hanging from his trapeze, getting battered by the waves and really flying along. Looked like fun. Chris Campbell >

Hi Chris, I have changed the mainsheet lead so it goes to a cheek block and then to a ratchet block secured to the port cockpit well side. I trim by pulling up. I play the main at times like a dinghy with 3 on board in a race or when my spousal unit sails with me and the heeling is more than she is pleased with. Ted Rust and I used this system first in 1974. Steve Seal was selling barney posts that mounted in the cockpit center and took the sheet to there. I will be glad to gift one to you. It does add weight and clutter the cockpit. Hope your ribs are feeling better! My Best, Mike From: Chris Campbell <cl… [at] charterinternet.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Thu, July 29, 2010 6:56:49 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Life-saving tips from today's Lat.38 mike farrell wrote: > I was there. We were in the DH Div in Rambler Cal 20 # 1114 Shadow was >given a finish time so she had finished. The waves were square and very close >together. Wind speed was reported 29k with gusts to 34K. by the national >weather service at 2pm at Point Blunt about 1.5 miles away. When I saw Shadow >she was pinned to the bottom by her mast with the starboard hull 10 feet or more >out of the water. The Encinal YC inflatible was standing by as was the USCG We >kept on course and finished the race in 2nd place in our division. I was quite >wet under my weathers from what came on board and went down my neck. We did not >set the spinnaker but hit 10.2 thru the water with a poled up jib. This is with >a boat with an 18 foot WL. OK, I'm impressed with 10.2 knots. My Cal 20 was only managing 6 knots +/- (depending on wave action) last night and I felt like the boat was cookin'. I was single-handing in a good breeze, and because of sore ribs from a fall on the schooner's companionway ladder on Sat., I had hanked on the storm jib. It was a choice between reefed main and working jib, or full main and storm jib. The choice was good because I tried heaving to, and found that the Cal 20 heaves to very nicely under storm jib and main. She was jogging to weather with ample leeway at about 2.1 knots with a very nice motion and no need to tend the tiller. We had a north wind, which gives us some seas on our bay, but most of the water stayed on the foredeck and off of me. My sore abdomen made mainsail trimming harder than usual. On my boat, the pull on the sheet is horizontal at cockpit seat level and that was the wrong angle for comfort, but it was such a nice night for sailing that I put up with it. What surprised me was that (apart from the Wed. night race fleet) all the other sailors were poking along under main and no jib. My Cal 20 with her 18' WL zoomed past a cruising hull of about 28 feet, one with at least two crew in the cockpit. That boat was making mostly vertical motion, hobby-horsing dramatically. If they'd deployed a jib, they could have had the boat moving forward instead of bouncing. I've never figured out this main-only or jib-only sailing. I only sail under main alone when I'm approaching my mooring. Getting the jib down first keeps the bow from falling off as I secure a mooring line. There was a guy out in a sport catamaran of some kind, hanging from his trapeze, getting battered by the waves and really flying along. Looked like fun. Chris Campbell

mike farrell wrote: > > Hi Chris, > I have changed the mainsheet lead so it goes to a cheek > block and then to a ratchet block secured to the port cockpit well > side. I trim by pulling up. I play the main at times like a dinghy > with 3 on board in a race or when my spousal unit sails with me and > the heeling is more than she is pleased with. Ted Rust and I used > this system first in 1974. Steve Seal was selling barney posts that > mounted in the cockpit center and took the sheet to there. I will be > glad to gift one to you. It does add weight and clutter the cockpit. I'll hold off on mainsheet modifications until I get around to replacing the original blocks. For some reason, my mainsheet (standard Sta-set double braid) twists in service, and the port-side block twists on its swivel, letting the two parallel parts of the sheet twist around each other. There's something causing the line to twist. I coil it carefully in figure-8s after sailing. It's a puzzlement. The ratchet block idea is a good one. My old iceboat did not have one originally, and when I was a kid, the limiting factor on sailing time was how long you could grasp the sheet before your hand strength failed. I finally felt prosperous enough to buy a nice Harken ratchet block and oh!, life is easier! Do you have a photo of your set-up? I seem to remember seeing one of yours or a similar version and it seemed like a good idea. The ribs are healing and today I can cough and laugh. The Cal 20 was doing light-air sailing exercises last night. She moves nicely if you attend to sail shape and trim. A Cal-list guy found a used mainsail for me a couple years back and it has a pretty good shape except that the battens (sewn in, of course) are too stiff at the forward ends, making a hard turn in the sail. This winter's projects will include shaping those so the sail has a nicer curve. I might even do it sooner if we ever have any weather that's not suitable for sailing. In my book, that means winds over 30 mph or lightning hitting the mast on the next boat in the mooring field, so there aren't many chances for mid-season projects. Summer is sweet in Michigan and I already waste too much of it sitting indoors in a stupid office. The only real boat problem last night was a nasty swan that swam over to beg and starting hissing at me when I wouldn't feed it. After 15 minutes of stand-off I was ready to swat its neck with the boat hook so I could hop in the dinghy and row to shore. I'll take a pocket full of stones from shore to fling at the beats next time. Chris Campbell >

Hello All, During our trip to the Bahamas, our "old" Navico WP 5000 died. It worked one day. The next time I tried to power it up... nada! We ended up helming the 15 hours to get back to FL... bummer. Googling for a replacement seems futile. It looks like the only thing out there now is Raymarine. Any other sources or recommendations? Thanks, Michael s/v Magic, Cal 2-27 Pompano Beach, FL

Simrad as well. On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 10:15 AM, Michael D <md… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Hello All, > > During our trip to the Bahamas, our "old" Navico WP 5000 died. It worked > one > day. The next time I tried to power it up... nada! We ended up helming the > 15 > hours to get back to FL... bummer. > > Googling for a replacement seems futile. It looks like the only thing out > there > now is Raymarine. Any other sources or recommendations? > > Thanks, > Michael > s/v Magic, Cal 2-27 > Pompano Beach, FL > > >

Simrad is very good however I dont know if they make a unit for boats "under 30" or not anymore. The thing to check is how much power their unit uses, otherwise have heard nothing but good things about them. /ch

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|344|302025|296563|321072|1018466&id=29316 for boats up to 33 feet On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 1:09 PM, chris123 <ch… [at] gmail.com>wrote: > > > Simrad is very good however I dont know if they make a unit for boats > "under 30" or not anymore. The thing to check is how much power their unit > uses, otherwise have heard nothing but good things about them. > > /ch > >

i think the best autopilots today are may by will hamm in washington state great for sailboats check out his website gene sv Ramblin Rose CC 46 From: Michael D <md… [at] yahoo.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Fri, August 6, 2010 1:15:28 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Autopilot (All) Hello All, During our trip to the Bahamas, our "old" Navico WP 5000 died. It worked one day. The next time I tried to power it up... nada! We ended up helming the 15 hours to get back to FL... bummer. Googling for a replacement seems futile. It looks like the only thing out there now is Raymarine. Any other sources or recommendations? Thanks, Michael s/v Magic, Cal 2-27 Pompano Beach, FL

I agree totally. WH autopilots are the best for boats our size, Cal Cruising 46. I installed mine in 2000 after a lot of research. It has worked perfectly under all conditions. I take my boat to my slip with the WH, steering with my thumb. I have tried backing up with the WH and it will do it. Will Hamm is the best IMHO. Tom Vandiver, Cal Cruising 46 Hull #3, mine since 1982 From: gene ulmer <ca… [at] yahoo.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Fri, August 6, 2010 6:56:11 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Autopilot (All) i think the best autopilots today are may by will hamm in washington state great for sailboats check out his website gene sv Ramblin Rose CC 46 From: Michael D <mddfl@yahoo. com> To: Cal_Boats@yahoogrou ps.com Sent: Fri, August 6, 2010 1:15:28 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Autopilot (All) Hello All, During our trip to the Bahamas, our "old" Navico WP 5000 died. It worked one day. The next time I tried to power it up... nada! We ended up helming the 15 hours to get back to FL... bummer. Googling for a replacement seems futile. It looks like the only thing out there now is Raymarine. Any other sources or recommendations? Thanks, Michael s/v Magic, Cal 2-27 Pompano Beach, FL

Just a heads up. the defender add reads as follows: "No navigation, steer to wind or remote capability" which is quite different then the add at simrad: see: http://www.simrad-yachting.com/Products/Leisure/Autosteering/Tillerpilots/TP10-Tillerpilots/Specifications/ If there is a need to integrate instruments, which I assume would be at min a gps output then check the specs as it seems there may be different versions of this unit. Im looking as well for for a proejct so passing on the info. /ch

All good information. I was following up on the link from defender. /ch

I have an Alpha Marine System. Company is out of Washington (State). Unit connects onto the steering quadrant and performs great. My unit came with the boat and is the older version (4404). Love the auto pilot! Good Luck Greg P36-2 ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael D To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 1:15 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Autopilot (All) Hello All, During our trip to the Bahamas, our "old" Navico WP 5000 died. It worked one day. The next time I tried to power it up... nada! We ended up helming the 15 hours to get back to FL... bummer. Googling for a replacement seems futile. It looks like the only thing out there now is Raymarine. Any other sources or recommendations? Thanks, Michael s/v Magic, Cal 2-27 Pompano Beach, FL