Re: [Cal_Boats] Chris, Hard Questions

Chris, You point out our willingness to be on the water in dangerous conditions, because we are sailors. You have no idea how much I have thought about that. I have agreed to be a watch captain on a Chicago- Mackinac Race boat this year. I've done the race 3 times as crew, but this is a new responsilibity. This is an off-shore race, 330 miles, and you have to be ready for anything. Besides that we intend to win our division. I'm sorry it's not a Cal. If this race goes well I may think about entering my Cal next year. Regards, David Dobbs From: Chris Campbell <cl… [at] charterinternet.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 2:22:41 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 headsail question (Brad) Fred Haas wrote: As Fiver points out, I do most of my sailing solo, so often wind up with more sail on than I really should have. On a fairly close reach home after a race last weekend I wound up with 25-35kts on Commencement Bay with a reef and an almost full headsail. The boat became difficult to manage, but stood up and was much more pleasant when I got down to "three numbers." Car placement is important, but that day I was reluctant to leave the cockpit to make changes. In retrospect, I should have rolled up that sail immediately after finishing the final downwind leg of the race, but then hindsight is always 20-20. It was still a great sail! I was just thinking about why a lot of us end up sailing by ourselves frequently. Most sailors aren't really antisocial or reclusive. But our non-sailing friends don't understand that you don't schedule a sailing event two weeks in advance. It's so weather-dependent. You can schedule races on fixed dates, because racers are expected to be able to deal with weather and they have experience. They expect to get wet & cold and think it's fun. But if you get a non-sailor or two or three and there are big waves and lots of wind and the crew is wet & cold, nobody is happy. The skipper is least happy perhaps because he spends the entire trip worried that the crew will puke all over or be terrified or hate him forever. So I wait for good sailing weather that's pleasant and I call my friends. They are (a) not home or (b) previously engaged or (c) offended that I didn't call two weeks ago. And since it's a lovely day, I go out sailing alone and have a great time. I've been out on those days with a good north blow when my little Cal 20 and I are all alone on the Bay except for the big schooners. I get wet & cold and have a lot of fun. And you're right about the reefing problem. When it's windier out there than I expect from my perch on the mooring, there's a tendency to just luff the main a lot, head up as necessary, and sail with too much canvas. It would be easier, more comfortable, and faster to have a reef, but the execution of the maneuver just takes too much time & work & anxiety, at least when you don't have an autopilot. It tends not to get done unless the boat's on her ear all the time. Meanwhile, my friends are out playing golf. (I always think of H.L. Mencken's comment about Al Smith, a politician of his day and opponent of FDR: "His association with the rich has apparently wobbled him and changed him. He has become a golf player." What a succinct put-down.) They would think I'm insane for engaging in such an activity. Yet sailing is one of those activities that requires us to take much greater responsibility for our personal safety and security than almost any other. The water, usually cold, is a great enemy of human beings. It's not our environment. Think of the Inuits living in the inhospitable northern latitudes, and then compounding the danger by getting into a frail kayak in frigid water to hunt walruses. Whew. Sailing our boats is a lot safer, but still presents challenges to personal safety that we are responsible for surviving. It's a much lesser problems on those lovely summer evenings with a happy sun and a nice 10-knot breeze, but even then, if you go over the side, there will be difficulties. And pursuing this activity safely and with skill gives pleasure. Don't we tend to remember most distinctly those times when we were presented with a special challenge afloat, like pulling off a single-handed reef in a tight place? We can picture those times when the nice summer evenings have all faded together into a composite image. Chris Campbell ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

david dobbs wrote: > Chris, > You point out our willingness to be on the water in dangerous > conditions, because we are sailors. You have no idea how much I have > thought about that. I have agreed to be a watch captain on a > Chicago- Mackinac Race boat this year. I've done the race 3 times as > crew, but this is a new responsilibity. This is an off-shore race, > 330 miles, and you have to be ready for anything. In the latest issue of /Sailing/ magazine, Bill Schanen has another column about the three sailors lost near Chicago last fall, _right at the harbor_, when they were sailing to a harbor for haul-out in lumpy conditions. They decided to drop sail and power in. One guy went forward to douse the jib and went overboard (no harness/tether), and the boat went onto the rocks during the attempted rescue. Only one crew survived. The column was a follow-up to his first column on the event. The incident and the articles generated a lot of controversy. Were the guys stupid, or just unlucky? Should they have sailed into the harbor then doused the jib or were they wise to drop sail and power in? Etc. I suppose the point of it is that we all need to think carefully about our actions in bad conditions. And we all need to be extra cautious--jackline, tether, harness--when conditions are bad. We were doing new-crew training for the schooner last night and we kept talking about safety and dangers. For sailors, it's understood. For newbies, it could be construed as evidence that this is a highly dangerous activity that rational people would avoid. We kept telling them that we worry about these things so they _don't_ happen, and that we have an excellent safety history over the boat's 17 years of sailing. Chris Campbell

Chris, We in the Chicago sailing community have asked those same questions. I go through that breakwall twice a year. With a NE wind over 30 that opening would be a real challange. What they did was to go to the south end of the wall, and for some reason decided to take down the sail instead of tacking and going for the inside. The waves were reported to be around 8-10 feet. From the NE, with 30 feet of water. I can tell you that I wouldn't have made that trip. There is always another day. It's almost hubris, and the lake/ocean will sometimes get sailors who make bad decisions. I am somewhat overly cautious, because I decided to do a trip early in my sailing life that I should not have. It ended up okay, but I will tell you that I have a great respect for certain powerboaters, and the water and weather. Regards, David Dobbs, Cal29 411 From: Chris Campbell <cl… [at] charterinternet.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 9:11:50 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Chris, Hard Questions david dobbs wrote: Chris, You point out our willingness to be on the water in dangerous conditions, because we are sailors. You have no idea how much I have thought about that. I have agreed to be a watch captain on a Chicago- Mackinac Race boat this year. I've done the race 3 times as crew, but this is a new responsilibity. This is an off-shore race, 330 miles, and you have to be ready for anything. In the latest issue of Sailing magazine, Bill Schanen has another column about the three sailors lost near Chicago last fall, right at the harbor, when they were sailing to a harbor for haul-out in lumpy conditions. They decided to drop sail and power in. One guy went forward to douse the jib and went overboard (no harness/tether) , and the boat went onto the rocks during the attempted rescue. Only one crew survived. The column was a follow-up to his first column on the event. The incident and the articles generated a lot of controversy. Were the guys stupid, or just unlucky? Should they have sailed into the harbor then doused the jib or were they wise to drop sail and power in? Etc. I suppose the point of it is that we all need to think carefully about our actions in bad conditions. And we all need to be extra cautious--jackline, tether, harness--when conditions are bad. We were doing new-crew training for the schooner last night and we kept talking about safety and dangers. For sailors, it's understood. For newbies, it could be construed as evidence that this is a highly dangerous activity that rational people would avoid. We kept telling them that we worry about these things so they don't happen, and that we have an excellent safety history over the boat's 17 years of sailing. Chris Campbell ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping