I'm envious of your sail! I hate to admit it, but my boat is in the
repair shop. On Columbus Day weekend, I went sailing with a friend on
Great Bay, and had a glorious sail. It was drizzly, and the winds were
fluky, but breezy. We sailed with a reef in the main the whole time, and
the roller furling genoa was reefed to about 80% of its full size. The
tidal currents were terrific, we covered a lot of miles, and we even
practiced heaving-to. As we sailed further up into Great Bay, I...
um......... uhhh... hit a rock. It was about 2 feet underwater, and
brought the boat to a jarring halt. The wind spun us around, and we
continued on, but the damage was done.
As the keel hit, it tried to pivot around the forward bolt I use to lock
it down. This caused the rear bolt to pivot up. The fiberglass
centerboard trunk was damaged, and both bolts were bent about 20
degrees. In addition, the fiberglass collar around the top of the
centerboard cracked and tore free one of the bolts that hold it to the
centerboard. Amazingly, the hull wasn't damaged, and we developed no
leaks.
We sailed back to the boat ramp against incredible currents (thank god
the previous owners put on a 6 hp motor), and we took the boat out.
Later in the week I took it to Dion's Yacht Yard in Kittery, and am
still waiting for them to finish. They are going to replace the broken
fiberglass collar with one made of teak (they said it would be cheaper
than making one out of fiberglass), and they are also going to repair
the trunk, relay the centerboard cable, and touch up a crack in the
gelcoat at the bottom of the centerboard trunk. They said that the hull
was quite solid down in that area, and were surprised it didn't sustain
more damage.
Lessons learned? Plenty. I was outside of the channel when the collision
occurred. I was thinking, "I'm in a bay, it's midtide, and I'm in a
shallow draft boat." Nothing to worry about, eh...? Well, the chart
shows that the rock I hit is 2 feet ABOVE mean low water, so at midtide
(tidal range is about 7 feet)the rock is about 1.5 feet below the
surface. Lesson 1: Respect the charts. Learn that an underlined depth
sounding means that it is ABOVE the water level by that amount. Lesson
2: The WWP 19 is NOT a shallow draft boat. The advertised drafts of the
boat are 6" with the board up, and 3'7" with it down. I find that loaded
up we draw about 1' with it up, so that would put our draft at just over
4' with it down. Lesson 3: Don't be complacent. This whole incident was
such a drag, because I used to think of myself as a pretty good
navigator. Oh well - the lessons we learn the hard way often make the
strongest impact (no pun intended).
I'd like to get one more sail in before the snow flies, but as we'll be
storing the Potter in the garage, I suppose I could keep sailing right
on up until December, that is if it doesn't get TOO cold. I'd like to
get more experience before I go frostbiting.
I hope you can get a couple more good sail in this season. Next summer
we're already planning Isles of Shoals, Rye Harbor, Boston Harbor and
Block Island. Looks like it's going to be a busy summer!!! Take care.
Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: William Kevin Scanlon
[mailto:westwightpottersofne@starting-point.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 1998 10:09 AM
To: Krumpe, Andrew
Subject: Re: Sailing in NH
Hi Andy,
Well put from the man from the "live free or die" state, LOL. I agree
with you. There are (other) places on the internet for attitudes like
those.
Have you put your WWP away for the season? Did you read my LOOOOONg
tail .. We really had a blast .. I hope to get out again this coming
Sunday if it's warm enough, 60 and dry is acceptable ..
I was surprised to read about the WWP leakage problems, did you
encounter those too?
Bill
--On Thu, 29 Oct 1998 10:44:44 Krumpe, Andrew wrote: >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > West Wight Potter Website at URL > http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/ >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >All subscribers to this discussion group/mailing list signed on because >they had a common interest in West Wight Potters. The purpose and spirit >of this group is to enable discussion between people far removed from >each other. I believe I speak for most of us that I look forward to >reading my email from this group. I enjoy the experiences shared and >have even learned some things. I even enjoy the occasional barbs that >people launch around. After a while, though, I hope that discussion >topics return to those things pertaining to owning, sailing and >appreciating West Wight Potters. May we please try to keep that spirit >in mind when we post messages? Thank you. >-----Original Message----- >From: Forrest Brownell [mailto:forrest@slic.com] >Sent: Thursday, October 29, 1998 10:07 AM >To: wwpotter@tscnet.com >Subject: The Big Chill > > >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > West Wight Potter Website at URL > http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/ >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >With reference to Jerry Smith's recent admonitory note: "Chill"? I >thought I was cool enough to Mr. Costa as it was. In any case, I >found Mr. Costa's initial remarks boorish and his grasp of history >naive, and said so. Silence is often taken to denote agreement, after >all, and I wouldn't have Bruce Longstaff conclude that all Americans >are as bellicose as Mr. Costa. A very temperate aim, I should have >thought. > >Forrest Brownell > >South Colton NY >forrest@slic.com > >
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