Sailing to Boston Harbor on 6/27/09

We launched on Friday afternoon and had a nice evening sailing session near Olympia. We found out later that we probably had the best breeze of the day for our evening sail. We ended up back at the dock at about 8:00 PM and got one of the last open berths at Swantown for the night. We met up with Tom and Jan Salzer who had sailed down from Shelton earlier that day and enjoyed some nice conversation.

On Saturday morning we met up with a third Pottering couple who came to launch a beautiful Potter 15. They heard about our sailing plans from the online discussion and came to join us. There were three Potters in Budd Inlet for a while on Saturday morning. Tom and Jan went north to drop Jan off so Tom could continue a solo trip, and Dee Ann and I started our trek to Boston Harbor. I was in the Potter 19 (Dare) and she was in her 14 foot kayak.

The day started out with very light wind that sometimes dropped to almost nothing. It changed direction constantly until it made a 180 degree switch and blew me downwind to my goal. We took some pictures of the kayak floating in front of Boston Harbor as proof that she made it, then headed back.

I ran into the same shifting winds in Central Budd Inlet, but as I made it south things picked up a lot. I soon discovered I was catching up and passing Dee Ann and the ride was getting a little wild. I used some of my recently learned skills to put the boat in a Heave To maneuver and I reefed the main down to the first reef point. I was able to maintain the same boat speed and have a much more comfortable ride.

I was amazed at how calm things became the instant I did the Heave To maneuver. I went instantly from over-powered sailing to quiet calm bliss. Reefing went real quick because this time I had the reefing line installed before I needed it. The boat behaved much better with a reef in the sail.

In my many years of windsurfing I would change sails quite often during the day. So I wonder why it had never occurred to me that I would do the same thing in a bigger boat? Now that I have done it once, I will be much more likely to adjust my sails to match the changing wind conditions.

I am lucky to be tall. I can stand with one foot on the keel trunk and one in the companionway and do my reefing without having to go forward. I don't have enough experience to say for sure, but it might be easier to do that with the halyards on the mast rather than run to the cockpit. It was sure handy to have all the reefing lines in close proximity when making a quick sail adjustment. I am giving some thought to manufacturing a companionway table that is sturdy enough to stand on when sailing solo. It would make those trips to the mast feel a lot safer.

I rigged a lifeline and a jib downhaul for this trip, and was real glad to have the downhaul. The P19 lapper will not drop without it, and I wish to avoid trips to the foredeck whenever I can, even when not sailing alone. My downhaul was an old halyard that was simply run through the bow pulpit and tied to the top jib hank. It worked great for me. I will add this to my list for winter boat enhancements.

My lifeline was just a piece of line tied around my waist and cleated off to the boat. If I fell in, they would at least find the body. :-) I am giving some thought to how I might improve that arrangement a little. I found that I would step on my own line and make it hard to stand up!

Lessons Learned:

1. Always wear a lifeline when sailing alone. If you ever need it and don't have it, you will really wish you had adopted this plan! (Thanks Tom)

2. Always sail with your Jiffy Reefing lines installed. Jiffy Reefing is for the unexpected sail change. If you don't expect you are going to need it today, that should be your first clue.

3. Lashing a boat hook to the tiller lets you step into the cabin to get a pop without losing control of the boat.

4. Heave-To is a great maneuver. When things start getting a little out of control, heave-to and make a plan. The boat settles down immediately.

5. If you ever heave-to so you can start your engine and drop your sails, make sure the engine is idling in neutral. If not, you will begin to spin in circles like a tired mutt as soon as your jib comes down!

I will attach a short video I took that commemorates my first successful mainsail reef attempt.

Our New Boat!

On 6/7/2009 we launched and sailed our new (well, new to us) West Wight Potter 19 sailboat. We bought the boat from WIlliam Dooley of Wolf Creek Montana. Bill was kind enough to meet us in Spokane to finalize the sale. He and his wife had trailered the boat to Florida for several years and lived on it down there in the winter. Our plans are not quite that ambitious, but we are happy to have the boat. This larger model Potter will allow us to stretch our boundaries a little and do some camping on the water and cruising around Puget Sound.

We don't have any big trips planned yet, but we have had our first overnight stay on the boat. We attended the Olympia Potter Rig and Sail Event on Friday and Saturday June 12 & 13, 2009. We got to sail with about a dozen other West Wight Potters and had a great time getting better acquainted with the NW Potter group.

getting a bigger boat is making us re-evaluate our ground transportation alternatives. I am presently borrowing my Dad's truck to get the boat in and out of the water because this boat is just a little too heavy for my little pickup, though I am sersiously thinking about trying it to see if it will work.

We managed to sell our Potter 15 about 3 hours after getting home with the new boat. It was purchased by a local sailor, Raymond Smythe. Ray is an old salt at the local marina in Olympia and seems to be pretty well known in these parts. Ray is 89 years young! He is down-sizing from a 28 foot pilot house sailboat. Ray joined us at the Rig and Sail event and elected to ride along with one of our boats as his crew bailed out on him at the last minute. Ray's was riding with a new skipper and probably provided lots of help in the afternoon when the wind picked up enough to scare most the boats back to the marina.

The name is probalby going to change. If for no other reason, I think it will be prettier if it doesn't have the large letters on the side like that. I have a short list of possible names so far that includes: Mistress, eTime, iBoat, iSailboat, Blues Traveler, Gust Buster, and Longboard. I recently stated that windsurfing had been my mistress for almost 30 years. Now I have a new mistress! "Longboard" also comes from my windsurfing experience. A longboard is something you can sail and have a nice relaxing time. I'll keep you posted on the progress. Feel free to offer your comments about boat names.

Potter Spotter

I caught sight of a West Wight Potter 15 in downtown Olympia recently.  I snapped a few pictures of the boat.  I don't know who the owner is, but maybe we will meet sometime.  The boat is very close to mine in age.  It is always a nice sight to see a couple of Potters out on the bay together.

The weather looks like we might have a break in the rain this weekend.  I am hoping I get the chance to take our little yellow Potter out for some sailing.

Finished Calf Stretchers

Here is a look at the finished calf stretchers.  These are the ones mentioned in an earlier post.  They are made from Lacewood and Curly Lyptus.  It is a hand rubbed finish of wipe-on polyurethane finish.  These are now for sale for $70 each.  I have prospective buyer for each one, and I am always making more.  I believe I have now made 17 of these.  I especially like this combination of woods and think these are the best I have made so far.

Engine #2 is Up and Running!

I accepted the challenge some time back that I would design and build a Stirling Engine that would run from the heat of your hand, and could be built without a machine shop.  The first engine I made did all that, but it didn't have any spinning parts.  The man offering to publish the book wanted an engine with a rotating flywheel, as this is more appealing to our potential audience for a book.  

I sketched out two more designs that were modifications of my first working model.  But then I got side tracked with more back surgery and both new designs (#2 and #3) were partially assembled for over a year.

This week I took two days off work and made a commitment to get them up and running.  At 1:00 PM today my second design (with a rotating flywheel of sorts) started running, and it has been going strong for most of the last 8 hours.  It has not run from the heat of the hand yet, but it has run on sunshine with no ice, and when inside it runs with ice when sitting next to a 60 watt light bulb.  I have a high level of confidence that this engine will run from the heat of the hand after some minor adjustment to the crank shaft and the addition of a little helium.

I believe the last of the three designs will be the most efficient.  It uses the same ultra-low friction design of the first engine with the addition of a rotating flywheel.  It should be also up and running by the end of the weekend.  After that I then have to get back to the text and finish up all the assembly instructions and organize all the pictures and illustrations.  The end of this project is in sight.

I don't know if I still have a publication deal or not.  I would not be surprised to learn that the offer has expired.  If I have to start over finding a publisher I will be looking into self publication with print on demand.

Calf Stretcher Progress

It was a nice rainy day today, so I spent part of my Easter in the garage making sawdust.  The picture shows my progress on two calf stretchers I am making.  I am long overdue on this order, so it is nice to see them start to come together.

The dark wood is Lace Wood.  The light wood is Curly Lyptus.  Curly Lyptus is a hybrid of the eucalyptus tree and is a product grown by Weyerhaeuser.

The joint is a dovetail, but because those tend to be a little loose I will also add some braces on the back side.  The pieces are currently a little over sized and will be cut down to their final dimensions before they are finished.  

The wood will remain unstained and will be finished with a wipe-on poly finish.

Fixing Genoa Sheet Binding Problem

Last Sunday was my first trip out in the boat for the 2009 season.  I was alone on this trip, and I didn't have a lot of time, so I only spent a couple of hours on the water.  The trip quickly reminded me of some of the other little issues that I wanted to fix this winter.  One of them was the way that the Genoa sheet gets cleated.  The standard installation of Genoa tracks and blocks on a Potter 15 uses the same cleat that is used for the smaller head sail.  This causes the jib sheet to have to traverse a sharp Z pattern through the blocks and cleats.  This sharp Z pattern causes a great deal of drag on the lines and it is hard to come about.  Wind alone is often not enough to get the Genoa to change sides.  I repeatedly had to pull rope through the windward side pulley because it was binding in the cleat.

I addressed the problem by mounting a second set of cleats aft of the Genoa tracks.  I looked at lots of options in the marine store and finally settled on a simple clam cleat.  It fits well in the confined space, was pretty cheap, and has a proven track record of working well.

The pictures posted here show the patterns the lines followed both before and after my modification.  This should make the lines release freely and simplify tacking when using the Genoa.