Road trip

This weekend Deb and I celebrated our anniversary by making an impromptu road trip to check out some sailboats. Such trips have been a staple of our 34 years married. Part of our family lore is having bags packed and at the ready, and nearly any excuse is good enough to get us out the door. This weekend we had a couple of excuses that were better than average; anniversary, nice weather, and a Gozzard 36 for sale at a place we had never visited. Green Turtle Bay is a very nice resort / marina a few miles south of Paducah, on the Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. It is deep in the area devastated by last winter's ice storm and we were stunned at the damage done. I have never seen anything quite like it; thousands of trees just knocked over by the weight; thousands more with limbs sheared or trunks simply splintered. For hundreds of square miles roads, rail roads, camping areas, homes, backyards, and fields were covered with uncounted millions of tons of debris. The songs of chain saws filled the day Saturday and will fill many, many more before the work is done. Even then it will be years before the forests recover.

The area around the lake, though equally damaged, is still a very pretty place. Pretty but a bit odd. It turns out Kentucky Dam lies in a dry county. (Two massive lakes in a "dry" county. Ours is a very strange language.) There is something fundamentally uncivilized about a place where you can't buy a Rum & Coke to go with dinner.

The Gozzard is (as regular readers here know) on our short list of mono-hulls. But we have never actually set foot on one so the chance to step aboard a real live example was not to be missed. As often happens with such trips serendipity played a part and the owner, (who actually lives only 5 miles or so from our house in St. Louis) was in KN this weekend as well. He was only too glad to give us the grand tour and share his stories of cruising the Gulf. It turns out he used to belong to the club in Boulder and one of his old boats, a 30' Catalina named Paradise, is tied to a slip not far from Nomad.

Details are details but the Gozzard may well be on a short-short list, though Deb and I both agree that 36 feet is about as small a mono-hull as we would like to consider for full time living. Even though a tad short it was a very cool boat with a myriad of well thought out little details and first rate workmanship. And "tad short" applies to just the inside. With a 6 foot bow sprite and dingy divots the overall length of the Gozzard 36, stem to stern as they say, is just shy of 50 feet!

 

After a night in a very nice one-bedroom condo overlooking the marina we headed back to St. Louis via Boulder and some time spent on Nomad. (We didn't mention the Gozzard while on board.) The winds were howling today, at times gusting past 40 knots. All the boats still in slips heeled over in unison; leaned on by the enthusiastic breeze. Halyards were set to clanking all over the yard. A friend's home-made boat box lid proved no match as it was pried open, ripped from its hinges and sent spinning into the water between the docks. I fished it out with a boat hook as it floated by since it has some sharp metal edges and I'd hate to see it gouge another boat. I'll return it later.

Deb and I did the normal stuff to care for Nomad while being careful to keep hats (and bodies) from taking a similar dip. Working around a rolling boat with lines strung all over to hold on covers; it would be easy to miss a step or catch a toe and end up wet, cold and embarrassed (or worse). At the end of the afternoon we kind of crashed in the v-berth for a while. It was pleasant indeed to be curled up together, safe on board while the winds whipped overhead, feeling our little boat rock against her lines and bump her fenders against the dock. In fact it felt like home.

Short visit

I had a few hours after getting the truck estimate done so I headed out to the lake to check on little Nomad. (One bad thing about living in the city, the truck got broken into for the second time in about six months.) As the pictures in the previous post show, the lake looks like the frozen tundra; ice locked, snow covered, windswept and really cold! But in the marina, even with a cockpit full of snow, Nomad was nodding contently in her slip. The ice shelf was being held at bay just a few feet from her stern by the various bubblers around her.

As before, I checked the lines and the water line in the bilge, put a top charge on the batteries and just generally looked around to be sure there was no water where water shouldn't be. While the batteries were getting the last of the added electrons stuffed in them I stretched out on the port side settee. For a little while I just enjoyed being on the water, feeling the boat's gentle motions as she noodled between the bow and stern lines. Lying there I began to wonder if Nomad could be an ocean boat. After all, people uncounted had sailed boats as small and even smaller around the world. She would need new sails of course, and something would have to be done with the bitch of a engine she carries. (How can a tiny motor of two cylinders and 9 HP be such a constant pain in the ass?) All in all it could be done.

Of course it came time to head home and as I got ready to leave I had to admit that I could live on Nomad, in fact I would live on Nomad if the choice was between that and not making it to a boat at all. But I doubt that will be the path we take. The economy is a bad as most of us alive have ever seen. But the land isn't going anywhere, or the water, lakes and sea. People still need to live and we will figure out a way. The sun keeps rising, the moon goes though its phases, already there are hints that the birds know spring is near so they are getting ready to head north. This time of trouble shall pass like they all do. Then we will be onto the next thing, the next crisis, the next war. And maybe, someday, we will learn to build the next peace, the next bit of prosperity, take the next step toward a society that is good for the many and not just the few. One thing the future is sure to bring is warmer days and sailboats being on the wind yet again.

Winter (blacks &) blues

Some of the snow melted over the weekend but it is getting cold again this week. Instead of making it out to the boat Deb and I started the big floor project. Digging into a major project is both fun and helps the winter pass. It can also make for some sore limbs, torn callouses and bruised fingers. After all these years of swinging hammers and working with tools and I still manage to catch a finger once in a while. About 20% of the new floor is down, which, considering the prep work before and the trim work after, makes me guess about 30% of the job is done.

After working all day we have spent short evenings debating various mono-hulls. If we ever find the cash a Catamaran is definitely the boat of choice, a Leopard 38 being top dog at the moment. (Couldn't resist the play with words, sorry.) In the mono-hull, pretending that price doesn't matter debate, I've taken up the Dufour flag. The sleek deck and cabin have won me over. Deb is rooting for the Gozzard. She really likes the interior of that boat with its convertible V-berth / lounge / dining area. (I have to admit that it is pretty trick.) And back closer to the real world the Gozzard may actually be a viable option some day. A solid, well made boat with various models that have been around for a while...there are some really attractive Gozzards for sale at prices that don't quite take one's breath away.

If we were looking at cars this would be called, "tire kicking." I'm not sure what the proper slang is when referring to sailboats. "Hull gazing," or "sheet yanking" maybe? Whatever they call it there are a lot of nice boats out there. I think, when the time comes, we will certainly find the right boat for us. Deb disagrees. She thinks we are going to find the right boat long before we think the time has come.

The best bad idea...

...I've had in a while. Or maybe it was the worst good idea. Either way I spent a good chunk of the day sailing a 50 foot Cat in the ocean. I found one of those tourist-type party boat companies, the ones where they load up 50 or so, ply on the drinks, crank up the music, and pretend to go "sailing." In reality they spend most of their time motoring around the bay, peering at homes of the rich and famous, and hanging out at a beach.

But instead of 50 there were only 5 of us, and two of those were the crew; Captain Larry and new Captain Noah. When I arrived at the slip Larry, Noah and two other guys were welding up a broken stanchion in preparation for a Coast Guard inspection. Before you know it I was kind of a part of the gang just working on the boat. Work done and equipment put away, it was decided that we should go on a short sail anyway, even if it was just me. (Normally they don't go with less than 5 paying passengers on board.) At the last moment a woman and her daughter showed up but they were not really interested in the "tourist" thing either. So we slipped the lines and headed straight for the Atlantic.

Five minutes out of the slip, in the middle of the ICW with boats of all kinds going in all directions, Capt. Larry offered me the helm. He didn't get it back for nearly four hours. We timed our motoring to reach the 17th street draw bridge for the on-the-half-hour opening. I learned the procedure for checking in on the radio and got my first look at an open draw bridge from the helm of a boat. Going through we cozied up to a power boat in front of us. Working the helm with twin throttles under my right hand actually felt kind of natural and judging the energy state of the boat was the same as what I do in the jet. Things just happened a little slower. It got a little bouncy after we cleared the bridge and turned east into both the harbor channel and the breeze. Hoisting the main was a two man job; big freaking sail on a 50 foot Cat! The jib was on a roller so setting it was a matter of pulling on one rope.

Clear the channel we turned north on a broad reach, set the sails and watched the speed build to nearly 9 knots in the 12 - 15 knot ocean wind. The waves were running 3 to 4 feet and for the first time in my life I had the helm of a sailboat in saltwater. Impressions? I set the sails on the Cat just like we do on Nomad, the only real difference is the rigging being much more robust on the bigger boat. The self tacking head sail made changing headings mostly a matter of turning the helm. But leaving the head sale to its own devices when tacking though the wind meant giving away nearly all of our momentum. It helps if one backs the jib a little, letting it push the bow through the maneuver. We do the same on Nomad. Mind you, watch for the boom and main sail sheet while doing all this. Nomad's boom will put you in the water in a heartbeat. I think this big Cat could launch you into next week. The Cat certainly takes the waves with a different motion than the mono-hull; stiffer in some ways with a quicker lateral motion instead of an easy roll. But there is not a doubt in my mind, at least on this day with nearly perfect winds, Deb and I could have easily two-handed the big Cat out on the ocean.

I make no claim of doing so in 15 foot waves and 30 knot winds, or of getting in and out of Ft. Lauderdale's commercial harbor without some help. That place reminded me of Chicago's O'Hare on a busy afternoon. As the day was ending and I was working us back into the channel, winds and waves now squarely on the twin sterns, the Captain asked me how much ocean experience I had. "How long have we been out?" was all I could think to say. This morning I had none. Tonight I have some. That's a pretty good day and made this a good idea. But it was sure hard to step back on the dock knowing it might be a long, long time before I get to do such a thing again.

Warm!

I'm in boat country for the next day or so - Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Since I have to be here anyway checking out some marinas and trying to look at a few boats seems like a reasonable thing to do. Deb made me promise I would send her a picture before I put a down payment on anything. I'm pretty sure she was joking, not about the picture part but about the down payment part.

Winter blues

The winter blues have arrived along with temperatures in single digits last night and the wind howling today. So I have been reading about boats. (I really want to get to work on Deb's bike but it is too freaking cold in the garage!) I'm in a "mono-hull" mood at the moment and reviewing some of my current favorites helps keep the chill away. (Prices are not a consideration when dreaming in the winter.) I'll list them here for anyone else who is looking to think of warm things on a cold day.

The Island Packet 485 tops my list at the moment; 48 feet long, center cockpit, and a tick over 1/2 mil. (Told you price was no object.) The build and interior make up for the less than jaunty exterior lines. The fore cabin is a bit blocky looking and I have no experience with the rigging of its foresail. But the interior is nearly perfect and she has a reputation for sea keeping, safety and toughness that is hard to pass. We saw one at the boat show and the impression of quality lingers.

Next is the Dufour 525. I just love the fore deck on that boat and the interior is pretty cool as well. Also about 1/2 mil. (No problem, I'll just sell the house three times!) It has a sleek look and though not a center cockpit boat it is not open transom either. A following sea would still seem a bit spooky, at least to my lake locked senses. Also, the reviews indicate that it needs a little systems work to be a true, blue water live aboard. On looks alone it is by far my favorite and I am becoming a fan of the clean deck, low cabin profile.

Then maybe the Gozzard 44CC, another center cockpit boat...and another 1/2 mill. They have a really nice, open interior with some innovative features. To my eye the outside lines are a bit more attractive than the Island Packet.

Anyway, its fun to compare features, put pictures up side by side, and mull over what it would be like to be night sailing in a building wind, the destination still days away and land nowhere to be seen. Sounds like a good time to me.

Global warming

Last week it didn't seem like global warming was having much of an impact on this winter; cold, cold and more cold! This week is a different story with temperatures near 70 degrees, rain, thunderstorms and even a tornado warning. (Within a week of New Year's day!) Today was warm enough for me to take the GSXR out for a romp. A short romp as the wind chill at speed sucked some of the warmth out of the day.

The bad news is, with at least 2 and a half months to go, I got to thinking of spring. I have been spending a lot of time reading about sailboats trying to get through this winter. One fun present for me this Christmas was a subscription to "Good Old Boat, The Sailing magazine for the REST of us!" You can read that as "those of us with little money." It is a good read with lots of boats older than Nomad that look in their prime. Good articles about servicing and replacing older systems fill the pages and somehow they make most of it sound like fun. (That's a pretty good trick if you have spent any time working on boats.) I've also found some good places on the web to read boat reviews and have run across a make or two that I hope to learn more about, maybe look at when we get to the next boat show.  

Also, if plans hold, I'll be in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple of days at the end of January. That would be a good time to find a boat or two to look at, maybe pretend that I can actually buy one of these days. Maybe I should just look for a job down there? One of those boat reviews was on the Island Packet 460, close to the 465 that Deb and I looked at while in Annapolis. It sparked warm memories of a very good trip, and that's just the kind of thing a person needs to get through a winter.

Drumroll please.....

We took the plunge today and left a deposit on the Com-Pac 27. Here's a picture of the new member of our family, appropriately named "Nomad". Only those of you who know us well can appreciate the appropriateness of the name.

Tim crawling around Nomad

The Galley and Companionway. Head is on the left

This is the head. Lots of teak everywhere and

an incredible amount of storage in lockers, racks and hideaways. 

This is the V-berth in the front of the boat (for you non-sailboaters). We got in there to try out the size and it's much roomier than I thought. It also has a cool brass sign above the berth that says "Captain's Quarters". There's brass all over the place - around the portholes and lights and a cool brass oil lamp that's gimballed so it rocks with the boat and doesn't spill.

The boat's been on the hard (on land in a cradle for you non-boaters) for more than 2 years so when we first saw it a couple weeks ago it was shrink-wrapped in this blue plastic. It was great to cut it away today and see what a beautiful boat it was underneath!

This is a picture of the cockpit. It's kind of full of stuff since we were poking around, but soon it will be clean and orderly. You can't see it very well in the picture but there's a fantastic teak floor and in the middle of the picture you can see a teak table that folds up to put drinks on. We signed the slip contract today so Nomad has a home as soon as we get her in the water. Before we can do that, we have to paint the bottom of the boat and do a little cleaning. Not too much, fortunately. The previous owner of the boat took unbelievably good care of this boat. We're hoping to have the boat in the water by June the 14th. They're having a party at the marina and it would be fun to get to know everyone and celebrate the beginning of our nautical adventures. Ahoy Mate!