What a wonderful tale (all except the truck radiator). thanks for sharing it! You did fabulously well for your very first time out!!!
Judy B
1985 WWP #266 "Redwing"
SF Bay, CA
In a message dated Mon, 13 Sep 1999 9:32:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Rich Duffy" <duffy@maui.com> writes:
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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> After interminable lollygagging, and much wonderful help from the
> members of this group, I finally completed restoration of P-14 #362,
> and sailed her..
>
> I'd never sailed before, but I'd read a lot (including everything on
> this list for 9 months). A sailor friend -- another self-reliant type
> -- suggested that I just take the boat out by myself, in good
> conditions, under reefed mainsail. No jib.
>
> His theory was that the boat was sound, the canvas short and the
> water warm. And, absent an instructor, i wouldn't waste any energy
> worrying about looking stupid. Just do it.
>
> So I put the boat in at Ma'alaea Harbor Saturday here on Maui. Trade
> winds were light that day, but Ma'alaea sits at the leeward end of a
> valley between the island's huge mountains. so there's always a
> little zip.
>
> I managed to set up my gunter rig in about a half an hour, which
> pleased me, and launched without any help or mishap. I motored out of
> the harbor without looking (i think) like the utter novice that I am.
>
> I decided to motor a good ways out so I'd be at least a mile from
> shore in all directions. Lots of room for error, I figured.
>
> Keel tied down. Zero water in the bilge. Sunny, One-half to two-foot
> seas (the VHF says). Light trades. Some whitecaps. Occasional swells.
> Only one other boat anywhere in sight. Motor off.
>
> I hoist the sail. Uh-oh. It's an immense bag. Hmm.
>
> I hadn't tied the reefing tie-up points between tack and clew. I
> start to do so, but the old sail starts to tear, ever so slightly. (I
> hadn't reinforced these interim points when I put in my reefing
> points.)
>
> I stop. I look at the rig. It takes an embarrassingly long minute to
> realize that the sail is reefed at the tack, but not at the clew. No
> problem, I pull and cleat my reefing line. The sail looks better, but
> still baggy. Hmm, My reefed clew line is pulling almost straight
> back. Nothing like the desired 45-degree angle. I'll have to move the
> whole thing forward when I get home.
>
> Well, okay. I'd expected I'd discover stuff like this, and the weak
> points in the sail.
>
> I bumble for a while sailing with the wind on the beam, feeling my
> way along, fooling with the sheet and the tiller. All this time, I'm
> slowly moving further out to sea, since the harbor is in the eye of
> the wind.
>
> I try tacking but cannot. Once, twice, three times, four times. Good
> thing I've got all this sea room. Couple more failed attempts and I
> decide to shake out the reef. I figure I'll get more speed and better
> sail shape. Good idea. The boat tacks.
>
> I tack back and forth for a while, getting a better feel for the
> boat. The boat knows how to sail. All I have to do is listen.
>
> The wind picks up and is a little gusty, heeling the boat over. Sheet
> in hand, I watch my big Saturn bulkhead compass (which I love), and
> try to keep it at Jerry B's recommended 10 degrees, and I vigorously
> dump wind when gusts push the gunwale into the water. Exhilarating.
> The boat behaves in a wonderful, confidence-inspiring fashion. It[s a
> great boat.
>
> I'm very surprised that the boat points as well as it does with just
> the mainsheet, trimmed as badly as it is. I'm making progress beating
> back to the harbor.
>
> I turn and try a run before the wind. Oh, how glorious! What an idiot
> I was to *motor* out of the harbor before the wind!
>
> I reluctantly abort the run after a while, so as not to get too far
> out.
>
> I try beating back to the harbor again.
>
> I can get speed but little angle, or angle, but little speed. I
> choose to err in favor of angle. I find myself thinking about you
> folks lucky enough to have other Potters to race against and learn
> from. Gosh, I wish I could sail against (err, behind) you guys!
>
> Round about now, I see a sail round McGregor Point off my port beam,
> and I realize he's going to beat to the harbor. He's probably three
> times further out than I am, but I decide to take the situation as a
> challenge. It's a big boat and moving very fast.
>
> Maybe twenty minutes later, I can see the boat clearly. It's a big
> catamaran, fifty or sixty feet. One of those boats that takes ten to
> 20 tourists out on whale watches, snorkel tours. We end up both about
> a quarter of a mile from the narrow harbor entrance. It's a close
> reach for me to sail right into the harbor's mouth. He's on my port
> beam directly leeward of the harbor and can't sail in. He drops sail.
> He's going to motor in.
>
> That seems like the right idea, so I do likewise. I decide to refuel,
> since I absolutely don't want to run out of gas negotiating the
> harbor entrance. I'm also unsure about who should go first so I
> figure I'll dawdle and then follow him in.
>
> I bumble around long enough for him to come over and ask if
> everything is okay. "Looked like you were having trouble with your
> motor." No No problem.
>
> I motor in, and get to the empty ramp just as three boats materialize
> on land and at sea waiting to use the ramp. Naturally, I forget to
> haul up the keel and it gets knocked off its pivot pin as I try to
> winch the boat onto the trailer. My cover is blown, my idiocy
> apparent.
>
> I back the boat off the trailer, and manage to get the keel back on
> the pin in short order.
>
> I pull the boat, de-rig and head home.
>
> Alas, within ten minutes I blow a radiator hose on my truck.
>
> I will spare you the details of trying to get the boat home (I live
> 30 miles from the harbor, up 4,000 feet). But I will note: On Maui,
> on a Saturday night:
> *tow trucks won't pull boats;
> *they won't pull trucks pulling boats;
> *your buddy won't have a trailer ball;
> *you won't be able to get yours off;
> *when you finally secure a ball, it won't fit either the trailer or
> your buddy's truck.
> *you will -- for some bizarre almost disconnected reason -- spend
> time in a stranger's garage in the middle of the night trying to
> grind and chisel a weld off a strange bumper.
>
> And finally, while you *can* duct tape your blown radiator hose and
> keep adding water to the radiator, you *will* regret doing so.
>
>
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> -----------
> Rich Duffy
> P-14 #362, "Manele"
> Kula, Hawaii