Note on centerboard, visit to Moro Bay

Eric Zilbert (eezilbert@ucdavis.edu)
Wed, 23 Jun 1999 15:50:19 -0700


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For those of you contemplating different ways to raise your centerboard I
certainly saw something new yesterday. Was down to San Luis Obispo for a
conference, went to Moro Bay to look at the ramp and see if it would be
worth bringing down Riptide sometime for a sail. The place is gorgeous
and perfect for pottering. As I was walking around the State Park Marina
looking at boats I saw a P-19. The owner came by and we had a nice chat.
His name is James and he is not on the internet. His was a '95 with the
hold down clamps and a rubber gasket. He had disconnected his cable,
tossed the winch, added one more block to the CB and used a 5/8" rope to
haul it up and down. Seemed to work fine. So, it is possible to lift the
thing using a 4:1 purchase. He was older and not particularly burly, by
the way.

I told him about the Potter Yachters and this list. (Which, by the way, I
have always found to be generally very friendly. Hope we can continue to
disagree without resulting to personal attacks, or at least restrict these
to private messages.) Later in the afternoon I saw a p-15 come into the
marina.

Does anyone have experience in the ocean outside of Moro Bay? I was
thinking of perhaps trying to sail around point Buchon to San Luis Harbor.
When is the best time of year to attempt such a thing?

Looking forward to the Catalina sail, we will be at the Cabrillo ramp on
Saturday, June 10 at 6:00 a.m. unless we hear otherwise. Looks like Evan
and grandpa Ed are the crew for this trip. I have installed a new VHF
radio and antenna (top of the mast) for the trip. Oh, for any of you who
read my report about breaking the fuel coupling on my Nissan 5hp, I wound
up replacing it with a generic brass coupling and changed the coupling on
my fuel line to match. The new set up is superior in that there is no
danger of the coupling breaking should the motor mount slip with the motor
in the tilted up position. Ran it and it worked fine.

Also, as someone professionally involved in environmental education, I
found the discussion on pollution, engines and the like to be very
interesting. Your musings relate to a very real problem regarding costs
and benefits related to human activities that impact the environment . The
hidden hand can only work when all costs are realized by the
user/purchaser. When costs are externalized (there is no charge for
polluting the air etc.) people make decisions which are out of line with
the true costs of the activity. This was a problem in ancient Babylon
where the dyes used to dye cloth were being poured into the river.
Zoroaster put an end to this with his followers who sought to make nature
pure. Unfortuneately, purity is a myth, and nature can cause lots more
trouble than man, think of a typical volcano.

The only way to bring home the external costs of pollution is through
regulation and taxation, voluntary programs are typically ineffective. We
all can do better in minimizing waste. I tend to feel pretty good about
being a sailor and a cyclist for this reason. The water skiers and pwc
types certainly do more damage and are far more common. If you really
want to save the environment minimize your air travel, there are not many
common activities I know of that cause more environmental damage than
flying in a plane. I suspect that as pollution problems increase, we will
see new regulations and taxes increase the cost of engaging in polluting
activities.

Eric E. Zilbert
Agricultural & Environmental Education Program
Dept. of Agronomy and Range Science, UCD
Davis, CA 95616 (530) 752-5943
>