Holiday cruising stories

[fox islander]

Holiday cruise

Sailed down to Swantown Marina in Olympia (WA)...had a great time there, lots of sun, nice folks and a great farmers market. Great sail back to Tacoma...only glitch was dead batteries from leaving on too much stuff in the "ALL" position. Sailed to a dock just outside our marina and dialed Vessel Assist for a jump...thanks Capt. Nick. Time to add that dedicated starter batt.

Steve
S/V Sonrisa

 

[Ross]

Re: Holiday cruise

Far less costly is a simple volt meter permanently connected accross you battery. Just don't allow it to drop below 11.5 volts.

 

[Guest]

Holiday

Hi Ross, 11.5 volts is too low; almost dead at that level. The lowest level I ever go on our boat is the low end of 12.0 volts before I recharge.

Now back to Phil's thread. The admiral and I set sail for Coupeville to spend a nice long weekend. Got a late start on Friday, sailed for about two hours to Strawberry Point, then nose to the wind across Saratoga Pass into Penn Cove.

It was '0' dark thirty when we arrived at Coupeville to pick up one of the four mooring balls. Where did the buggers go? Could not see a one with the spot light so dropped anchor and had a nice relaxing evening. The skipper prepared beef stroganoff for dinner, a movie (Captain Ron of course), then to bed.

Awoke late to all this commotion; a large helicopter fly over, then the parade with old cars, marching bands, bag pipes, etc. Must be some sort of celebration. Oh of course Memorial Day weekend. Come to find out they decided to remove the mooring balls being damaged by winter storms and reinstall them during the peak season.

Sunday we set sail for Hope Island. Nice wind across to Strawberry Point, then we're down to no wind. After an hour of bobbing we motor sail the rest of the way. Monday a short trip to the marina. Top off the house bank batteries and water tanks, pump out the holding tank; the usual stuff, then home. Bummer!

Terry Cox

 

[sailingdog]

Not only is 11.5 VDC too low, a voltmeter isn't going to be accurate under most conditions, at least for getting any sort of state of charge information.

Far less costly is a simple volt meter permanently connected accross you battery. Just don't allow it to drop below 11.5 volts.

 

[Ross]

My engine will start at 11.5 volts. If you watch the volt meter when you push the start button you can get a good sense of the state of the battery. For my purposes I don't use much power on the boat and avoid dropping below 11.9 volts. I can lay three days at anchor aand reduce battery voltage by a quarter volt.

 

[Dave D]

I smell a hijacking

 

[sinnettc]

Hijack smijack . . .

We had everything from no wind to almost too much wind (twice) this weekend. Saturday we took our first guest of the season out for an afternoon cruise. She showed up about an hour late but she brought mojitos to share with The Admiral so I guess that was ok. We headed out into moderate wind just right for a leisurely 3-4kts of boat speed -- perfection in The Admiral's eyes. We sailed about 6 miles down the lake and most of the way back before the wind died. We spent a while with just enough light air to steer when the wind came back up, from the south (a bit unusual) with gusto. Next thing we knew we were bombing down the lake, spray over the bow, and grins on our faces (well, on my face anyway). We had a bit of added excitement as we crossed about 100 feet in front of 2 larger boats that were flying up the lake on a port tack with their chutes full (I was on a starboard tack and held my course). The thistle that was about 40' to starboard of us took a bit of a dogleg and went between them - I suspect I'd have done the same thing if I'd been him - and maybe if I was where he was, too. After a bit we tacked and headed back up the lake. I eventually remembered my new hand-held wind guage and we pulled it out to see what it said - 17.4 mph fairly close hauled. I figure that's something in the neighborhood of 15-16 true wind. Whee!

We had a similar experience Monday morning - we spent Sunday night on the boat and headed out about 8:30 with light winds. A couple hours later I looked up the lake and saw whitecaps headed our way! Zoom, off we went. Wind guage didn't report as much wind but it was blowing hard for sure. A bit chilly too, as it hadn't really warmed up yet.

This is only our second season with the boat (we bought it at the end of July) so nearly every time out has been a learning experience. After this weekend I'm really much more comfortable with the stability of Verboten and can't wait to get out on another windy day.

Losses for the weekend:

4 pillows gone moldy despite dessicant in the boat - lesson - don't put your pillows in a plastic trash bag if there's even a chance they'll get damp. Everything else was in something that allowed some air to get in and came through fine.

1 batten gone flying on Monday, probably when we tacked too slowly in the heavy wind. No hole in the pocket so it must have popped up and out of the slit. Grrr!

1 that batten nearly took my foot off landing in the cockpit, probably at the same time as the other one decided to depart. That pocket has a hole that I'll need to fix. Grrrrrr!

We also managed to inadvertently drop the jib part way and the main completely on Saturday afternoon, luckily before the wind came up. I have a love/hate relationship with those spinlock cleats on the cabin top. Jib came loose when our guest bumped it with her hand coming out of the cabin. Main came loose when the Admiral sat on the main halyard which she'd dropped below instead of putting in the sheet bag like we usually do. Actually, I suspect she actually sat on the spinnaker halyard which was also hanging down in the cabin and was probably under the lip of the spinlock for the main and popped it up when it went tight.

Still, it was a GOOD weekend!

 

[Brian M H23]

My girlfriend and I took out my "brand-new" 1978 Rondar 505 dinghy. The little thing is a rocketship! I woudn't be surprised if we hit 8 or 9 knots going upwind - certainly going twice as fast as the other sailboats on Conesus Lake.

 

[Bill Bell]

Memorial Day is normally the end of our cruising season for the year. We finished our 4 month cruise of the Bahamas in wonderful anchorage 10 miles from home. Nice to be out for 4 months and not have any breakdowns or terrible weather.

 

[seadaddler]

Hi Bill

Glad to here you had a great cruise,I am at B-29 and some day we can meet and talk to you about the Yacht Club.
Nick

 

[Ross]

Re: Hi Bill

Bump.