>First, "Always" was simply unbeatable.... AT THE RAMP. My average time to
>park, rig, launch, load gear and personnel, secure car/trailer, and then be
>sailing away was less than 5 minutes and usually under 3 minutes. THREE
>MINUTES! It is that simple to set up.
Wow! You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! I must have a more
complicated setup on my lateen Potter because it still takes me about a
half hour to get in the water, or maybe I have it down to about 20 minutes
now. Maybe not.
It will be a helpful exercise for me to list all the things I normally have
to do. I can use it as a checklist and try to find ways to simplify the
process. Here is what I would normally go through to launch at Redwood
City, only about 20 minutes drive from my home:
1. I stop by the launch ramp and pick up the envelope for the launch fee.
2. I fill out the form on the envelope, which asks the date, my vehicle
license number, my boat registration number, and the amount I'm paying,
which of course is always the required $3.50. I made sure I had $3.50 in
change before I left home; otherwise I have to find someone with change.
3. I deposit the envelope in the pipe by the ramp.
4. I get back in the vehicle, put the envelope stub on my dashboard, and
drive across the street to the parking lot.
5. I untie and unwind the bow line that I have wrapped around the trailer
tongue, not wanting to depend only on the winch strap to hold the bow on
the trailer.
6. I coil the bow line and secure it on the foredeck.
7. I remove the gunwale strap and put it in my tow vehicle.
8. I untie and unwind the stern line that I've wrapped around the lower end
of the outboard to keep the motor from bouncing on the highway.
9. I remove the rudder blade from wherever it is stowed, remove the rusty
carriage bolt and nut, slip the blade into the cheeks of the rudder stock,
and align the hole in the blade with the hole in the cheeks. I insert the
bolt and tighten the square, rusty nut finger tight. I dig out the toolbox,
usually secured in the lazarette, and get out a wrench to tighten the
rusty rudder nut to just the right tension. I return the wrench to the
toolbox and stow the toolbox.
10. I remove the rudder push-pull tube from the cabin, remove the circle
pin from the clevis pin, drop the tube through the eye on the back of the
rudder stock, and attach it to the trailing edge of the rudder with the
clevis pin and circle pin.
11. I make sure there is fuel in the outboard if I'm using the Seagull, or
make sure the power cable is connected if I'm using the MinnKota. Then I
put the motor and rudder in the up position. I switch on the MinnKota
momentarily to make sure it is working, after checking, of course, that no
one has his nose or other appendage in the propeller.
12. I verify the tiller tamer is still properly rigged and ready for use. I
set it with the rudder to starboard so the boat will swing away from the
dock when launched instead of crashing into the dock.
13. I remove the sail rig, in its 14-foot-long zipper spar bag, from the
cabin and cockpit and lay it on the cabintop.
14. I unzip the spar bag, revealing the mast, spars, sail, and assorted
lines confined within.
15. I swing the 10 ft mast to vertical, after clearing any fouling lines,
and drop the mast into its socket. (This can be done either from on top of
the boat or standing alongside.)
16. I rotate the mast to get a fair lead of the halyard.
17. I untangle the two small lines that lead to an eyebolt at the top of
the mast, routing one on each side of the spars, through an eyestrap on the
boom and tie the two lines together to form a simple lazy jack that
supports the spars above my head and confines the sail when lowered. (I
need to improve this.)
18. The mainsheet is already rigged on the boom, and I only have to connect
a carabiner to the traveler wire. A bungee along the boom is keeping the
two spars and sail neatly bundled. I pull the mainsheet tight and cleat it
at the headknocker cleat so the boom is held amidship.
19. The Potter Yachter burgee is on a stick and is stowed in the spar bag.
The stick goes through a hose clamp and cable strap already on the end of
the upper spar. I have to get the toolbox out again because I now need a
screwdriver to tighten the hose clamp that secures the "pigstick" to the
spar.
20. I remove the empty spar bag and put it in the tow vehicle.
21. I route the halyard through a block next to the mast socket and back to
a cleat near the cockpit.
22. The vang line is already attached on the cabintop. I route it over the
gooseneck and back down through a fairlead and aft to a cleat near the
cockpit.
23. I stow everything that I'm taking with me - food, fuel, clothing,
camera, GPS (which is attached by Velcro to the cabin bulkhead), etc. I
make sure a paddle is accessible, and I throw a flotation cushion on top of
the lazarette.
24. I check that the centerboard is in the full-up position and the lanyard
is cleated.
25. I secure the lazarette with a bungee and verify the cockpit drain
stopper is dangling by the drain hole ready for use. (I normally leave the
drain open.)
26. I do a final walkaround to make sure I'm ready to launch, put on a PFD,
drive across the street to the ramp, and back down until the water level is
just below the trailer hubs. (That's assuming there is not someone else
using the ramp at the time, in which case I will have to wait.)
27. If there is a helper on the dock I hand the helper the bow line. If
not, I tie the line to the dock.
28. I warn the helper that the boat launches very suddenly, unhook the
winch strap, give the boat a gentle push, the trailer tilts, and the boat
shoots off the trailer into the water (unless I skipped step 24). I turn
the boat around so it is headed out, walk it out along the dock as far as I
can and secure bow and stern lines to the dock. I may or may not rig
fenders, depending on conditions. I lower the centerboard and rudder.
29. I get back in the tow vehicle and drive it back to the parking lot and
lock it, after making sure I have everything out of the vehicle that I want
to take with me.
30. I walk back to the boat, untie the lines and get them onboard, get
myself on board, and sail or motor away from the dock.
That's about the way it goes on a good day and doesn't include untangling
fouled or misrouted lines, responding to "That's a cute boat" and other
conversational distractions, waiting for space at the ramp, fixing things
that break, finding things that are lost, etc.
Five minutes? I don't think so Tim.
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA