Dog Island adventure

[RECESS]

There were many things that could have gone wrong, but at every turn they all seemed to go right on this trip. We had such good luck thanks to much of the advice we received about provisioning for a three day trip in our Catalina 22. We still managed to WAY over pack and brought back 80% of the food we took with us. The idea of freezing two liters got us three days of keeping things cold.

My son was very excited about this trip.

We had to do a little running around before getting underway. We had the rope break on the return for the starting clutch on the outboard and one of the barrels in a turnbuckle had a crack. I wanted to make sure we were safe so we had to make a trip to Tallahassee, 1 1/2 hours each way to get a 1'4" turnbuckle. Bu once we got underway it was gold! We got out on the Carabelle River about 4:15 pm and the wind had died so we motored to Dog Island to make anchorage for the night.

Once we got there it was just getting to be sundown and the colors on the water were beautiful.

We made good use of the boom tent and it was also rather special for the kid to have a tent on board.

We had some pita sandwiches for dinner and settled in for the night. With a six year old aboard, that means a couple hours of chatter. It was worth it as two hours in we were attacked by a pod of dolphins. The were just off the side of the boat and stayed for at least 15 minutes. I never thought to stop sharing the moment with my wife and son to grab the camera. It was a bright full moon night, or perhaps on night passed it.

The next morning the sunrise was awesome!

Next we went to the east part of the island to Spencer's Landing and went exploring.

It would seem someone compromised on their ground tackle. Not really sure what happened here but it made me wince.

After returning to The Moorings at Carabelle, which was very nice, we headed out and finally got in some sailing on the trip back to Dog Island. Top speed was only about 2.2 knots but we were no in a hurry.

We stayed in the cove farthest west so we could get up early and sail to St. George Island. The sunset was spectacular, we had two boats anchored near us.

A nice night on the anchor was followed by pea soup thick fog that burned off by 8 am.

That morning was a long three hours sail from where we were at across East Pass and to the west tip of St. George. Only 2 - 3 foot swells in the pass. and we were sailing dead down wind.

This was my favorite sailing position on the trip.

The only thing left after that was a sail back to Carabelle and time to take apart the boat. We even got up to 4.2 knots on the way back, which was screaming fast compared to the rest of the sailing on this trip. Overall it was a great trip. We look forward to many more to come.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and have a great Thanksgiving day.

 

[Andy1237]

Great pictures, and it looks like you are raising the child properly,

 

[r.oril]

Nice! Lov'in the "Nap Time Sailing"!

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

Very Nice! Would love to hear a description of the difference in feel between your two boats.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Dave, way cool, made me feel like I was there. That bird shot is a winner. Nice boat,we used to have one and do those trips on weekends. Great times. Best, Stu

 

[Ross]

I am so glad you had such a grand experience. You had the opportunity to try all of the things that you will need for the next trip and the next after that.
Nancy and I always discuss after we get home what we did right and what we should do differently on the next trip.
Good camera work.

 

[LooseDiamond]

Sweet!

 

[RECESS]

Thanks Andy and R. It was a great time.

Very Nice! Would love to hear a description of the difference in feel between your two boats.

I have only had the Catalina for a few weeks and the O'Day for 3 years. My observations may be influenced by being a noob on the Catalina. I have noticed some differences though. The O'Day is much heavier (and three feet longer and much wider) so it plows through chop. The Catalina gets beat a little more. The O'Day has a huge rudder in comparison and it is much more responsive at very slow speeds...under 1 knot. The O'Day points much truer. The Catalina points great bit at some wind angles I do have to make slight course changes.

Now to where the Catalina excels. The Cat picks up speed fast, and I mean really fast. There is no building speed like with the O'Day. She almost pops out of a tack to full speed. She also heels a lot less at the same speeds and wind angles than the O'Day. She hits her fastest speed she is going to achieve on any reach at less of a heeling angle than the O'Day. I hit my optimum speeds on the O'Day 25 heeled at about 26 degrees. Often I hit my best speed with the Cat at about 20 degrees or less. I have to reef with a 100 jib at less winds than I think I will need to reef with the Cat, I have yet to need to reef with her. I can also fly more sail with less heel with the Cat.

Overall comfort and sea worthiness goes to the O'Day, much roomier and the companionway sits much higher, so less chance of water coming in. The O'Day also has a much better cockpit drain design than the Catalina. She also has a dedicated fuel locker with no chance of fumes coming from it to the cabin.



Speed and less heeling goes to the Catalina. Also ease of launching and retrieving much much easier. I wanted a 22 because the mast on the O'Day is a bit stout for quick setting up and taking down.

I have never sailed an O'Day 22 or 222 which would probably be a better comparison. I do think the Catalina makes good use of a limited cabin space. The V-berth in the Catalina 22 has more leg room than my O'Day 25 does and at 6', I notice. The ability for the Cat to come to speed and handle the speed cannot be understated. It does lack as good of control at very slow speed though, but it does not have the same keel design or beefy rudder the O'Day does.

Again, I am very green with the Cat so take it with a grain of salt.

Dave, way cool, made me feel like I was there. That bird shot is a winner. Nice boat,we used to have one and do those trips on weekends. Great times. Best, Stu

So far I am very impressed with the possibilities with this boat for making short trips and long trailering to destinations. I get about 13 to 14 mpg towing the Cat and only 9 mpg towing the O'Day. This will be our short stay boat.

I am so glad you had such a grand experience. You had the opportunity to try all of the things that you will need for the next trip and the next after that.
Nancy and I always discuss after we get home what we did right and what we should do differently on the next trip.
Good camera work.

We have learned to completely pack the boat before leaving the house. We finished the packing at the dock and used too much time moving things out of our way when lockers set empty. I was going to do a mod to enclose the fuel and have it vent outside. After this trip the fuel is fine to sit on the back of the cockpit floor. It does not get in the way of anything and that leaves me more storage ofr other items. Also learned a bunch about trim control and setting the boat up for sailing from motoring.

 

[RECESS]

Youtube

Put together a youtube. It is a 14 minute time waster with some cool music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFglczImwX8