Re: [Cal_Boats] Mast Tuning for Cal 39 (Paul)

Donald - Thanks again for posting that story, lots of lessons in there for all of us. I was at the helm of our old boat for 9 hours downwind in 20-25kts at night and I know how fatigued I was after that and I had a full crew and it was warm so I can only imagine how exhausted you must have been and how your eyes must have been playing tricks on you. There is a guy in our club who was coming back from the Caribbean on his 36' Comar Comet and I don't remember why, (I seem to remember something about ripping a sail, throwing it overboard and it getting wrapped on the rudder but don't remember the details) but they all went below, strapped themselves in and laid a hull. He said that was the most terrifying time he'd spent on the water so after that, nothing much else scared him. He was also a Vietnam Vet and had some near death experiences over there as well so that had numbed him some as well. Thanks again - Paul West Adventure Kwest '80 Cal 39 In a message dated 12/9/2009 4:34:26 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, dn… [at] sbcglobal.net writes: I have always looked back on that experience with various reactions -- Pride, because I handled extreme conditions, never panicked, and my boat was solid as a rock! -- Gratitude, because I survived to tell the tale and the Coast Guard was there if we needed them -- and Appreciation -- that I took such a chance, had such an adventure and didn't hurt anyone else nor myself! We did not have a storm sail and I wish I had. I also wish that I had rigged one and tried it in lesser conditions during daylight hours so that I would have been familiar with sailing it. Pulling the roller furling jib out even a little bit was dangerous on several grounds. If the rig failed or the control line parted the whole jib would have come rushing out and endangered the rig and the boat. But, it held and the small bit of jib that we had to sail with made the whole storm much easier to manage. Especially flying that bit of jib made the ride down below for my crew far easier to take. We dodged two bullets other than the storm. One was the presence and direction of movement of large ships. We crossed the Beaumont, TX shipping lanes and several times I could see lights of a ship at the top of a wave, but not long enough to tell whether they were underway or which direction they were headed. I had my crew broadcast a Pan Pan notice with our location and heading every half hour. No one ever responded to those broadcasts and I definitely saw two ships. One almost certainly had to be the Texas A&M ship as they were having their own problems and later was abandoned. I would never do another crossing without one of the new AIS systems that tell you location and heading of shipping traffic. Of course, they weren't available then, but I could have purchased radar or a RDF to track the ships. The second bullet was no life raft. Our dinghy, which stayed firmly strapped to the bow of the boat, would have been almost impossible to stay in if we had to ditch. We had jack lines and harnesses, but a dinghy without a weighted keel would have been a tough vessel to use. The seas were breaking at the top and the wind was whipping 2 - 3 feet of spume on the surface of the water -- tough for a dinghy! Luckily we didn't use it. And then I am thankful for that angel. As a parent of two teenagers I still shudder at the thought that I had someone else's child out there with me on that trip. For his safe return I am always thankful to that angel. So, I do tell the story, and I am glad I had the experience, but I never gloat about it as I do believe I had a lot of luck to thank! Donald Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" PS My daughter is currently dating a young man who is enrolled in the marine academy Cal Maritime in Vallejo and he said that they use the loss of the Texas A&M research vessel as a teaching exercise in his classwork. "Twenty Years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ........Mark Twain From: "pwestla@aol. "pwestla<pw… [at] aol.pwe> To: Cal_Boats@yahoogrou C Sent: Mon, December 7, 2009 3:02:02 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Mast Tuning for Cal 39 (Wayne) Wow . . . .great job! LOL I guess nothing scares you anymore and probably the oft most repeated phrase on your boat is "Hell, that's nuthin' . . . you shoulda been with me . . . ." Did you have any storm sails on your boat at the time? If not, do you think they'd have been too much sail area? Thank God you had enough fuel and didn't get a clogged filter . . . so many things could have gone wrong. Essentially all it would have taken is one mistake in those waves . . . I'd say you had a guardian angel that trip. Thanks for taking the time to recount that story for us all. Paul In a message dated 12/7/2009 2:58:47 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, dnlddttn@sbcglobal. net writes: I made this trip across the Gulf of Mexico from St. Petersburg, FL to Houston, TX in October, 1993. I had one crew member -- a 17 year old former employee of my business in Houston -- The One Design Sailor. Sean was at the helm when he woke me from my break to tell me of the building winds and on-coming storm. We brought down all sails, I started the "iron genny" and sent Sean down below. He alerted me to conditions at 02:20 and the wind had built to 50 knots by 03:30. By 0:400 I thought that I would never see my wife and children again and that the whole journey was a bad idea. By 0:700 we were visited by the Coast Guard -- they were flying out to remove the crew from the 150' research vessel owned by Texas A & M as their ship was foundering in the seas. We gave the "international all's well" sign by crooking our arm over our head, but enquired by radio as to the center of the storm and it's direction of movement. This storm was forecast as a 10 knot norther that would move through overnight. A freak upper level low backed up and joined it and it turned into a cold cored Hurrricane with gusts to 110 knots and steady winds at 90 knots. We were crossing the shipping lanes into Beaumont Texas and were 150 miles offshore, so putting into port was not an option. The Coasties told us to keep heading westward as the storm was heading east. Later they flew over us with the rescued crew of the A&M ship and told us that the storm had stalled and we were in for man more hours of survival. They flew over us twice more later in the day and I have never, ever been more glad that we have the Coast Guard. Each time we spoke with them by radio and assured them that we were doing well. I spent 16 hours on the helm with the rigging sounding like a violin. Only after the "sunrise" was I willing to pull out some _jib.to_ (http://jib.to/) stabilize the boat. For 4 hours we had been whipping over the wave tops going from 30 degree heel to port to 20 degree heal to starboard in an instant. I could see the breaking tops of the waves because of the phosphorescence of the algae in the water. I steered the boat at 45 degrees to the waves and maintained 1.5 knots forward speed with the Yanmar to keep the helm working. I don't know what would have happened to us if the diesel had quit. I "aged" many years that night, yet, years later the story and experience invigorate me as well. After the sun "rose" ie the sky went from pitch black to grey, we pulled out 4 feet of jib -- this was enough sail to keep the boat heeled to port over the wave tops and the ride became much more bearable. Five times Sean handed me coffee mugs full of hot water from the heat exchange system to help me keep warm. Each time the cockpit was "breached" by a breaking wave I would sit in the floor of the cockpit and soak up the warmth from the water to fight off hypothermia. The cockpit took over ten minutes to drain even with the dual 1 1/2" scuppers that are at the back of the helm. Later in the day the wind subsided to 40 knots and we pulled out 40% of the jib and beam reached at 7 knots heading up when the waves were too steep to keep from broaching. Only then did I go below and lay down and let Sean take the helm. Later he would tell me that this was the most challenging and "fun" sail of his life for the rest of that afternoon. We put into Houston the next day after the folks to whom we were delivering the boat reported us "lost at sea" to the storm. Something about the storm kept our VHF from making contact until we were actually entering the Houston Ship Channel at Galveston Island. I am hoping that this ride was the "once in a lifetime" experience of riding a major storm and that further ventures to sea will be calm! Donald Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" PS The year was 1993 so the rig was 7 years old. However, I am still sailing with the same standing rigging. It has always been protected with a zinc attached at the backstay and hanging in the water at the slip.There is no rust or decay showing on the turnbuckles. "Twenty Years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ........Mark Twain From: "pwestla@aol. com" <pwestla@aol. com> To: Cal_Boats@yahoogrou _ps.com_ (http://ps.com/) Sent: Mon, December 7, 2009 10:56:03 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Mast Tuning for Cal 39 (Wayne) In a message dated 12/7/2009 12:32:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, dnlddttn@sbcglobal. net writes: The boat has sailed through a 16 hour storm at 90 + knots with 36 foot seas without harming the standing rigging while tuned this way. I would swear by the tuning method that Wayne and I have used. HOLY CRAP!! How old was your rig when you did this and how many years did you age during that storm? I have 22 year old rod rigging on my boat now that I hope to replace very soon. Would you apply those same standards to rod rigging? As a relative newbie to the list I'd like to hear that sea story . . . how did you end up in those seas, lessons learned, tactics used, how many on board and their experience level etc. Thanks - Paul West Adventure Kwest '80 Cal 39