Any other sailors here?

[bunyip]

Mentioned in another post, we both enjoy sailing and have a 23' trailer sailer, Cole 23 (a local craft) fibreglass hull.
Claimed to be a 6 berth but you would either need the cast from Snow White or be very friendly, we find it accommodates the two of us nicely although we do sometimes take another couple but they bring a tent.
We used to keep it at home but became a nuisance taking 3 hours to rig and launch so we now keep it in mast up storage about 250km away, a phone call and it is in the water for us when we arrive.
We spend most of our sailing time on the Gippsland Lakes which has lots of inlets and rivers to hide in if it gets rough, some of you may know the area as it is a popular tourist area with locals and overseas visitors.
Started sailing when I was about 15 on Mirrors and graduated to the Flying Dutchman, competed in two Sydney Hobart classics (1968-69) with the Air Force entry, that was about the time the Maxi yachts made an appearance and Anaconda was one of the first.
Used to take us about 5 days but times change and some are now completing the race in 2 days.
We are also (speaking as a country now) plotting on retaking the Americas Cup
Be interested to hear what you sail and where.

 

[Garandman]

We live walking distance to Boston Harbor and our mooring. My wife and I met at Marblehead Race Week, and we’ve owned a 23’ Sonar, 21’ Viper 640, 24’ Melges 24, And my wife just got her first boat to race on her own, a Thunderbird 26.

 

[dmccarty]

Would not consider myself a sailor though my dad FINALLY got a boat when we moved back to Florida in my late teens. Twas a 33 foot sailboat with 4 foot draft to help get around in the shallow waters in south Florida. Twas on a trawler in Washington state a few years back and was agog at the depth of the water. I am used to having only a few feet under the keel but out there the depth sounder would sometimes find no bottom! Could not believe how deep the water is out there. At one point we were kinda close to shore due to the currents and other boat traffic and some people were a bit nervous but we had 25 feet under the keel!

Spent two weeks on a trawler in Scotland and Ireland a couple of summers back. Might meet up with the boat in Mexico to help bring the boat north to the US this summer.

Being in the Sydney Hobart race is pretty cool. Not sure I would want to do the race but we would love to visit Syndey, Hobart, and other places in Australia and New Zealand. Would love to circumnavigate Australia. :thumbsup:

The wifey and I really want to buy a boat and see as much of the world as we can at 5-7 knots.

Later,
Dan

 

[bunyip]

Shallow water claims a few lives in one of our lakes, when there is a storm you get a short sharp chop which the boat falls off and swamps, give me a big rolling swell anytime, uncomfortable as it is.
As an aside I was watching a doco on Venice and the fishermen, they row out for a mile or so then jump overboard and dredge the bottom for shellfish, I never realised that it was so shallow, about 4' on average.
If you do get to circumnavigate Australia beware of the North West, has huge tides (tides can go out about 3-5km) and the reefs literally drain into a huge vortex that you wouldn't want to get caught in, also the West Coast of Tasmania can be brutal and there is nowhere to go for cover to wait it out, I have sailed down there and lucky to have relatively calm conditions, it is the route for another race called the West Coaster which is Melbourne to Hobart, Sydney to Hobart run down the East Coast of Tasmania and is far more forgiving although it still claims a few lives when you get a big blow.

 

[RobertN]

Spent time on 22-32' sailboats on San Francisco Bay. Tons of fun! Have not done much lately(doing Elder care for parents). Hope to get back in to it. Have had opportunity to crew 45' boats for day sails.

Have also played with RC sailboats. 1m Seawinds and Victor Solings. They were fun to build, and are fun to sail. The Seawind is much faster than the Soling.

 

[bunyip]

Wild Oats XI took Sydney Hobart line honours with a time of one day, eight hours, 48 minutes and 50 seconds, compared to the 5 days we used to take in the late 60's that is absolutely amazing, you could just about waterski behine them.
Watching them on TV yesterday with their huge kevlar sails and three jibs grabbing every bit of wind there was.
Wild Oats XI - Wikipedia

 

[Garandman]

This is a friend of mine at the helm of the Ericsson 80 Nicolette on their record breaking transatlantic run.

To give you a sense of how fast they are going, count how long it takes spray hitting the bow to fly back and hit the helmsman. That is 60-65’.

 

[dmccarty]

Shallow water claims a few lives in one of our lakes, when there is a storm you get a short sharp chop which the boat falls off and swamps, give me a big rolling swell anytime, uncomfortable as it is.
As an aside I was watching a doco on Venice and the fishermen, they row out for a mile or so then jump overboard and dredge the bottom for shellfish, I never realised that it was so shallow, about 4' on average.
If you do get to circumnavigate Australia beware of the North West, has huge tides (tides can go out about 3-5km) and the reefs literally drain into a huge vortex that you wouldn't want to get caught in, also the West Coast of Tasmania can be brutal and there is nowhere to go for cover to wait it out, I have sailed down there and lucky to have relatively calm conditions, it is the route for another race called the West Coaster which is Melbourne to Hobart, Sydney to Hobart run down the East Coast of Tasmania and is far more forgiving although it still claims a few lives when you get a big blow.

There is a surprising amount of "water" in south Florida and in North Carolina where the depths are 4 feet or less. Big expanses of area that one would think would be deep water but they are really shallow. Short steep waves are no fun, especially wind against current. Worse in shallow water.

Yeah, Australia has some interesting and scary coast line. I was reading a blog from a couple who built a 33 foot Badger in their back yard near Perth. The boat is made from epoxied plywood and has a junk rig. Some of these boats have some serious sea miles on them. Anywho, they went up the west coast of Australia, across the top, and started down the east coast when the blog went silent. Afraid they had a health issue. They had a little outboard motor but even with decent winds the boat is not very fast. With the tides in the north much patience was required.

You left out watching for crocs. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Australia has some very pretty areas. Unique and not like anywhere else in the world.

We are not old but not young either. Not sure we have enough time left to see what we want to see. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[kittyhawk]

Ha Ha, Here I was thinking fellow Navy men....
Spent 6 years as a Sailor with five Cruises under my belt.

 

[bunyip]

Crocs are not really a problem unless you leave the boat, a bigger problem is whales and barely submerged shipping containers, we have hit a whale and you do stop rather quickly, they also can cause major keel damage and negate rule number one, 'keep the ocean on the outside'.
What are annoying are prawns tapping on the hull all night when you are trying to sleep, no idea what the attraction is but there is the constant tap tap tap tap when they are about.
Good eating if you can catch them but they are pretty smart and evasive.

 

[dmccarty]

Crocs are not really a problem unless you leave the boat, a bigger problem is whales and barely submerged shipping containers, we have hit a whale and you do stop rather quickly, they also can cause major keel damage and negate rule number one, 'keep the ocean on the outside'.
What are annoying are prawns tapping on the hull all night when you are trying to sleep, no idea what the attraction is but there is the constant tap tap tap tap when they are about.
Good eating if you can catch them but they are pretty smart and evasive.

I think whale strikes are far more common than people think. There was self reported "study" a few years ago regarding sail boats hitting whales. Twas a very small number of boats hitting whales, about 10 a year, and of those 10, 1 or 2 boats would sink as a result. Now, the problem with the "study" was that the whale strikes were self reported. If you did not know about the "study" how would you report a whale strike? I think there are far more hits per year than is reported or known. If one reads a bit, there are a surprising number of small boats and whales hitting each other at sea. I find it mentioned in passing quite a bit.

One hears about shipping containers, and they certainly are scary, but I don't think I have read of anyone hitting one. Flip side is that if a boat hits a shipping container the crew might not survive to report the collision. :shocked: There are plenty of boats that have gone missing without a trace. I just read of a boat that hit a big ship mooring ball that was floating around the ocean. They were lucky the crew and boat escaped injury since the boat stopped immediately after hitting the ball. I have read of several boats hitting huge logs near Australia. Hitting logs and dead heads is a big concern in the Pacific North West of the US and Canada. I know of a boat that ran up on a log raft at speed at night in that area. No damage to the boat because she was built of aluminum but the crew's pride might have been dinged a bit. :laughing:

I have heard about those prawns. One guy thought he was loosing his mind when he first heard them tapping on his boat. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Kept looking over the side of his boat to see the diver tapping on his hull but nobody was there yet the tap, tap, tap kept on going. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Seems like I remember a woman, I think it was a woman, who disappeared from her boat in northern Australia. They think she went to the swim platform for some reason and a croc snached her of the boat. I have heard and/or read that in the croc areas one should not use a inflatable dingy, that only hard sided dingy's are "safe." Seems that any small boat, soft sided are hard, would be a bit vulnerable given the size of some of those crocs. I grew up in Florida and did more swimming and canoeing around gators than was smart but crocs seems to be a whole different critter. Crocs seem to grow much bigger than our gators.

Later,
Dan

 

[ultrarunner]

I've owned two sailboats on the SF Bay.

The first was a trailerable San Juan 21... fun boat and cheap to keep as the mast was not fixed and it had a retractable keel.

Second was a Pearson Renegade 27... also a nice boat that I was given... the Atomic 4 engine had issues but I was able to get it purring like a kitten... also had room inside... kept it at Alameda.

I sold it two days before I went to Europe... otherwise would probably still have it...

 

[bunyip]

Seems like I remember a woman, I think it was a woman, who disappeared from her boat in northern Australia. They think she went to the swim platform for some reason and a croc snached her of the boat. I have heard and/or read that in the croc areas one should not use a inflatable dingy, that only hard sided dingy's are "safe." Seems that any small boat, soft sided are hard, would be a bit vulnerable given the size of some of those crocs. I grew up in Florida and did more swimming and canoeing around gators than was smart but crocs seems to be a whole different critter. Crocs seem to grow much bigger than our gators.

Later,
Dan

I do recall the female tourist being taken by a croc, as I recall it was in the Northern Territory around December to March when it is hot and humid and generally unbearable, she was told not to leave the boat but as she didn't see any crocs (you never do) she elected to dive in to cool off and was taken within seconds.
Up there it is not uncommon to find big 'mud lizards' up to about 20', a big ferocious creature that will lurk around boats and campsites unnoticed until an opportunity presents itself.
Whilst it was a tragic even it was avoidable and she was told NOT to swim but elected to ignore the warnings of the experienced crew.
Further inland you get Johnson River Crocodiles, a freshwater variety which are fairly timid and not that big, long skinny snout but can inflict a very nasty bite if you want to play silly buggers with them, they generally get to about 4' long.
One was found roaming the streets in Melbourne a few days ago (you don't get them down here, too cold) and three people have laid claim to it which has authorities wondering if there are another two wandering around somewhere.

 

[ultrarunner]

Speaking of Sailors...

Anyone remember the tune "Sailor" that went to the top of the charts worldwide back in the 1960's?

English with Petula Clark

Petula Clark - Sailor - YouTube

Modern German with Melanie Oesh

I remember my Grandmother singing this song often and also heard it frequently at the Alameda Naval Air Station... a lot of my friends had Dad's/Uncles in the Navy back then.

Seemann-Medley - YouTube