Sailing

Guys, Had an absolutely perfect day today. Went to the club for breakfast, checked the wind, variable, but let's just go out and see. Winds east 3-16, swells under 2 feet, great wind for cruising the lakefront. We just had an awesome sailing day, mid 80s, sunshine, lots of boats around. I just got reminded why I have this boat. But Lake Michigan will begin to get cold soon and it's time to plan our exit. Sigh. If I don't get another day this year it's okay. Today was great Regards, David Dobbs Cal29 411 --------------------------------- Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids.

David, Sounds perfect! I wish I could get my boat out...but alas, I'm waiting for a fellow CAL 30'er to get dimensions for my rudder so I can get one built... But, I did spend another great weekend working on things around the boat...prepping the deck for paint, sanding down non-skid, rewiring electrical inside...list goes for a long, long time. Flip side though is that in 3 months, I can still go sailing and you'll be in a snow storm. ;) Gotta love Hawaii! (Sorry to rub that in...) Jonathan s/v Mañana, 1964 CAL 30 On 9/23/07, david dobbs <tm… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > > Guys, > Had an absolutely perfect day today. Went to the club for breakfast, > checked the wind, variable, but let's just go out and see. Winds east 3-16, > swells under 2 feet, great wind for cruising the lakefront. We just had an > awesome sailing day, mid 80s, sunshine, lots of boats around. I just > got reminded why I have this boat. But Lake Michigan will begin to get cold > soon and it's time to plan our exit. Sigh. If I don't get another day this > year it's okay. Today was great > > Regards, > David Dobbs Cal29 411 > > > ------------------------------ > Got a little couch potato? > Check out fun summer activities for kids.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48248/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz> > > >

Thanks for letting us live a little vicariously. I wish more of you would relate your adventures, too. If more of you would relate your good times messing around on your boats, past racing adventures, ocean crossings, cruises, etc., I wouldn't feel the need to pollute this list with my ramblings about sharks, etc! Think about it! Somebody help us out here! I am tired of watching recordings of the America's Cup races. Stuck in the desert 350 miles from my boat makes me jealous of those close to boats, who can actually work on them and get things done. Funny, though. If I worried 1/10th as much about my house as I do my old boat, things would be in great shape around here. For some reason, it's just not as much fun messing around the house as it is messing around a boat. Maybe the desert heat has something to do with it. Went outside at 4:30 a.m. and noticed for the first time that it was cooler outside than the A/C inside. After receiving an $800 electric bill the past two months, maybe it is time to leave for the coast afterall!!! I missed pressure spraying the boat so much, I took my sprayer out back to the guest house, emptied it out, turned off the electric, and then sprayed the hell out of it, walls, ceiling, tile floor, etc. Blew a little dry wall off (didn't tell Debbie), but it sure got rid of all of the dust and spider webs! Things dry out quickly here. I need to get out of here. . . . --- In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com, david dobbs <tmft567@...> wrote: > > Guys, > Had an absolutely perfect day today. Went to the club for breakfast, checked the wind, variable, but let's just go out and see. Winds east 3-16, swells under 2 feet, great wind for cruising the lakefront. We just had an awesome sailing day, mid 80s, sunshine, lots of boats around. I just got reminded why I have this boat. But Lake Michigan will begin to get cold soon and it's time to plan our exit. Sigh. If I don't get another day this year it's okay. Today was great > > Regards, > David Dobbs Cal29 411 > > > > --------------------------------- > Got a little couch potato? > Check out fun summer activities for kids. >

Jonathan Moening wrote: > Flip side though is that in 3 months, I can still go sailing and > you'll be in a snow storm. ;) Gotta love Hawaii! (Sorry to rub that > in...) > Well, not quite true. In three months, we can go iceboating. You're still stuck at displacement hull speeds while we can go 40 mph +/-. Gotta love the Great Lakes (sorry to rub it in). Chris Campbell changing sailing seasons

Just $1,625 - with the Honda motor! Just three more hours. <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3A B%3AWNA%3AMT%3A12&viewitem=&item=220151238014#ebayphotohosting>

Bruce Stirling wrote: > > Just $1,625 - with the Honda motor! > > Just three more hours. > > <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AWNA%3AMT%3A12&viewitem=&item=220151238014#ebayphotohosting > <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AWNA%3AMT%3A12&viewitem=&item=220151238014#ebayphotohosting>> > I note that the owner has been quite honest in the photos, including one showing discoloration from moisture damage in the deck core/overhead on the starboard side of the cabin. That's a good sign. Honest seller = fair purchase. By the way, Cal 25 owners, is the mid-boom sheeting shown for this boat the original arrangement? If the original arrangement was like the Cal 20's, it would make for better sail control, although I'm not fond of midboom sheeting because of strength issues. Chris Campbell

Mid boom sheeting is not original. To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.comFrom: cl… [at] charterinternet.comDate: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:47:45 -0400Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] 3 hours 27 mins Left - Ebay - Cal 25 with Nice HONDA O/B Motor Bruce Stirling wrote: Just $1,625 - with the Honda motor! Just three more hours. <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AWNA%3AMT%3A12&viewitem=&item=220151238014#ebayphotohosting>I note that the owner has been quite honest in the photos, including one showing discoloration from moisture damage in the deck core/overhead on the starboard side of the cabin. That's a good sign. Honest seller = fair purchase.By the way, Cal 25 owners, is the mid-boom sheeting shown for this boat the original arrangement? If the original arrangement was like the Cal 20's, it would make for better sail control, although I'm not fond of midboom sheeting because of strength issues. Chris Campbell Capture your memories in an online journal! http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us

On Mon, September 24, 2007 8:47 am, Chris Campbell wrote: > By the way, Cal 25 owners, is the mid-boom sheeting shown for this boat > the original arrangement? If the original arrangement was like the Cal > 20's, it would make for better sail control, although I'm not fond of > midboom sheeting because of strength issues. No, the standard config of the Cal 25 is end-boom sheeting with the traveler across the cockpit just aft of the tiller post. -- Matt Beland ma… [at] rearviewmirror.org

After one of those vaguely unsatisfactory days at work, I headed out for an evening sail last night on the Cal 20. The wind was from the north, blowing right down our Bay. On the mooring, I guessed that it was moderate, so I set my main outhaul and downhaul for a moderate sail shape. Well, wrong. It was actually blowing pretty well and I wished I had chosen a flatter mainsail shape. But it was still acceptable so onward I sailed. I looked up at the Windex and it was doing all sorts of odd things. What the...? Apparently a bird had sat on it and broke off the end of the vane, the downwind end, so all I had left was this little pointer, rotating wildly. The boat was pounding some. That was surprising; usually she pounds a lot less that I might expect. But then I got beyond the shallow water, and the wave period lengthened and the shape was less steep, and the pounding stopped. I still got the occasional spray, and one good drenching, from banging into a wave. Hey, it's summer and it's fresh water, so no harm. I beat northward, sails cracked off a bit for power into the waves, followed by a Catalina of 25 or 27 feet or so. It was hard sailing without the Windex, which I use for rough trimming of the mainsail, so I had to rely on the tell-tales on the main. They are a bit ragged because the new ones are yarn from a West Marine stick-on kit, a kind that tends to break easily when furling the sail. Trimming the jib is easy using jib tell tales, real knitting yarn ones that are much more durable. Note to self: bring some of that yarn to make new tell tales on the shrouds, because I won't be able to replace the Windex until the mast comes down this fall. As the sun got lower, I started broad reaching back again, and the wind started into its evening lull. It had enough velocity to sail me back onto the mooring. Sailing sure beats working.... And in late August, those of us in northern latitudes are really grateful for each remaining opportunity to be out there. Chris Campbell

--- In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com, Chris Campbell <clcampbell@...> wrote: > > After one of those vaguely unsatisfactory days at work, I headed out for > an evening sail last night on the Cal 20. The wind was from the north, > blowing right down our Bay. snipped It was > hard sailing without the Windex, which I use for rough trimming of the > mainsail, so I had to rely on the tell-tales on the main. They are a > bit ragged because the new ones are yarn from a West Marine stick-on > kit, a kind that tends to break easily when furling the sail. Trimming > the jib is easy using jib tell tales, real knitting yarn ones that are > much more durable. I have always used audio tape instead of yarn because it doesn't get wet. Wet yarn isn't much help. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 0 # 96

<I have always used audio tape instead of yarn because it doesn't get wet. Wet yarn isn't much help.> While it is a pain to worry about it, we spray ours with McClube to keep them from sticking.? The trouble with audio tape is you can't tell which one is flying and which one is drooping (important if you are racing or are anal about sail trim)? If you use the "plastic" tell tales that are red and green, the red always goes on the port side of the sail and the green on the stbd side that way you know how you need to steer or trim.? The problem I have with the plastic ones though is that they continually flutter and don't stream nicely like yarn will.? For those reasons we like red and green yarn. Paul West Cal 39 Adventure Kwest From: mtkennedy1 <mt… [at] cox.net> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:18 am Subject: [Cal_Boats] Re: sailing --- In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com, Chris Campbell <clcampbell@...> wrote: > > After one of those vaguely unsatisfactory days at work, I headed out for > an evening sail last night on the Cal 20. The wind was from the north, > blowing right down our Bay. snipped It was > hard sailing without the Windex, which I use for rough trimming of the > mainsail, so I had to rely on the tell-tales on the main. They are a > bit ragged because the new ones are yarn from a West Marine stick-on > kit, a kind that tends to break easily when furling the sail. Trimming > the jib is easy using jib tell tales, real knitting yarn ones that are > much more durable. I have always used audio tape instead of yarn because it doesn't get wet. Wet yarn isn't much help. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 0 # 96

mtkennedy1 wrote: > > > > I have always used audio tape instead of yarn because it doesn't get > wet. Wet yarn isn't much help. > Thanks for the reminder. I've read this before but forgot about it. I've got a big collection of old audio recording devices and the stuff that plays on them, and ought to be able to find some audio cassette tapes that could be sacrificed to the wind gods. Right in my desk drawer is a microcassette tape that's defunct. Tiny, thin stuff. I think Paul's comments about tape being hard to see is addressed to sail telltales, not shroud telltales. I can see his point there, but my yarn telltales have always been visible enough through the sail (except in bad sun conditions), and color doesn't matter to me as much. Maybe it would be worth trying to poke some audio tape through the sails with a big sail needle. Last night I went out sailing. It was race night and I was trying to sail around the fleet's course so as not to bother them. We had the strangest wind conditions I've ever seen on our Bay. Wind directions were about 180 degrees different in less than a mile, and those of us to the north had no wind when boats farther south were scooting along nicely. On my mooring, I had thought about reefing. A bit to the north, I thought about flying my genoa. I kept getting big shifts, headed or lifted and always wrong after retrimming the sails. In any event, the sail telltales helped to tell me that the wind I had just trimmed for was now in another direction, but I really needed my Windex to tell me what was happening (I think I'm addicted). On the schoolship, where we teach grade school kids about marine science and also about sailing, the kids have to identify the wind direction. I ask how they'll know. They always do the wet-finger thing and I explain how lubberly that is, how uncool. Real sailors just _know_ where the wind is, by feeling it on face, ears, and neck. Well, I've sailed long enough to think of myself as a real sailor, but I couldn't tell where the wind was last night. Eventually it settled in to the southeast, and just as we would expect, it's cloudy today with thunderstorms and rain possible. Chris Campbell > >

Chris, do you teach the kids the vector math that differentiates apparent wind (speed and direction) from true wind? In the winter, we do a lot of wing-on-wing driving in the races with a jenny. In the summer we sometimes go dead down with the chute (or cheat a few degrees past to dump main air onto chute). These are the times I live off the masthead fly. Cheers Charlie From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Chris Campbell Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 12:55 PM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Re: sailing mtkennedy1 wrote: I have always used audio tape instead of yarn because it doesn't get wet. Wet yarn isn't much help. Thanks for the reminder. I've read this before but forgot about it. I've got a big collection of old audio recording devices and the stuff that plays on them, and ought to be able to find some audio cassette tapes that could be sacrificed to the wind gods. Right in my desk drawer is a microcassette tape that's defunct. Tiny, thin stuff. I think Paul's comments about tape being hard to see is addressed to sail telltales, not shroud telltales. I can see his point there, but my yarn telltales have always been visible enough through the sail (except in bad sun conditions), and color doesn't matter to me as much. Maybe it would be worth trying to poke some audio tape through the sails with a big sail needle. Last night I went out sailing. It was race night and I was trying to sail around the fleet's course so as not to bother them. We had the strangest wind conditions I've ever seen on our Bay. Wind directions were about 180 degrees different in less than a mile, and those of us to the north had no wind when boats farther south were scooting along nicely. On my mooring, I had thought about reefing. A bit to the north, I thought about flying my genoa. I kept getting big shifts, headed or lifted and always wrong after retrimming the sails. In any event, the sail telltales helped to tell me that the wind I had just trimmed for was now in another direction, but I really needed my Windex to tell me what was happening (I think I'm addicted). On the schoolship, where we teach grade school kids about marine science and also about sailing, the kids have to identify the wind direction. I ask how they'll know. They always do the wet-finger thing and I explain how lubberly that is, how uncool. Real sailors just know where the wind is, by feeling it on face, ears, and neck. Well, I've sailed long enough to think of myself as a real sailor, but I couldn't tell where the wind was last night. Eventually it settled in to the southeast, and just as we would expect, it's cloudy today with thunderstorms and rain possible. Chris Campbell

Husar, Charlie [USA] wrote: > > Chris, do you teach the kids the vector math that differentiates > apparent wind (speed and direction) from true wind? No, no, no, you don't understand. Figuring out where the wind is coming from among the eight cardinal and intercardinal points is a major victory! These are 6th graders (usually). We do it at the dock or at anchor--we anchor for science sampling. I try to introduce the concept while underway by asking why we can't do the wind direction and speed thing then. "If you're in a car going 60 mph, and you put your hand out, what do you feel?" Besides, any two-word phrase of which one word is "math" has advanced beyond my meager understanding. I could do the parallelogram thing on paper, if we had one day instead of 1/2 day, but even if "vector math" were within my grasp, these are kids that come up with remarkably varied answers when you have them multiply 16 gals/vertical foot x 60 vertical feet to get the number of gallons filtered by the plankton net. Lessee, 16 x 60, not too tough, but even with their little pencils for recording data, the calculation is challenging. Maybe it's the excitement of being on a sailing schooner. When you were in the 6th grade, did you get to spend half a school day on a schooner? I went to the Coca-Cola bottling plant with the Boy Scouts. Chris Campbell >

Yeah, we get days like that on western LIS. Hey, I've just sailed through a course change of 100 degrees in 1 minute, and the apparent wind is STILL 3 knots at 60 degrees! This is what happens when your not going anywhere nor racing, just staring idly up at the sails. You _don't_ go anywhere :-) td From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com on behalf of Chris Campbell Sent: Thu 8/28/2008 12:54 PM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Re: sailing mtkennedy1 wrote: > > > > I have always used audio tape instead of yarn because it doesn't get > wet. Wet yarn isn't much help. > Thanks for the reminder. I've read this before but forgot about it. I've got a big collection of old audio recording devices and the stuff that plays on them, and ought to be able to find some audio cassette tapes that could be sacrificed to the wind gods. Right in my desk drawer is a microcassette tape that's defunct. Tiny, thin stuff. I think Paul's comments about tape being hard to see is addressed to sail telltales, not shroud telltales. I can see his point there, but my yarn telltales have always been visible enough through the sail (except in bad sun conditions), and color doesn't matter to me as much. Maybe it would be worth trying to poke some audio tape through the sails with a big sail needle. Last night I went out sailing. It was race night and I was trying to sail around the fleet's course so as not to bother them. We had the strangest wind conditions I've ever seen on our Bay. Wind directions were about 180 degrees different in less than a mile, and those of us to the north had no wind when boats farther south were scooting along nicely. On my mooring, I had thought about reefing. A bit to the north, I thought about flying my genoa. I kept getting big shifts, headed or lifted and always wrong after retrimming the sails. In any event, the sail telltales helped to tell me that the wind I had just trimmed for was now in another direction, but I really needed my Windex to tell me what was happening (I think I'm addicted). On the schoolship, where we teach grade school kids about marine science and also about sailing, the kids have to identify the wind direction. I ask how they'll know. They always do the wet-finger thing and I explain how lubberly that is, how uncool. Real sailors just _know_ where the wind is, by feeling it on face, ears, and neck. Well, I've sailed long enough to think of myself as a real sailor, but I couldn't tell where the wind was last night. Eventually it settled in to the southeast, and just as we would expect, it's cloudy today with thunderstorms and rain possible. Chris Campbell > > DISCLAIMER: Important Notice ************************************************* This e-mail may contain information that is confidential, privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, do not duplicate or redistribute it by any means. Please delete it and any attachments and notify the sender that you have received it in error. Unintended recipients are prohibited from taking action on the basis of information in this e-mail.E-mail messages may contain computer viruses or other defects, may not be accurately replicated on other systems, or may be intercepted, deleted or interfered with without the knowledge of the sender or the intended recipient. If you are not comfortable with the risks associated with e-mail messages, you may decide not to use e-mail to communicate with IPC. IPC reserves the right, to the extent and under circumstances permitted by applicable law, to retain, monitor and intercept e-mail messages to and from its systems.