I have received some concerned queries by some who have read Leo's posting below about the CD Race to Block Island. On that list, Second Chance is shown as "did not finish--equipment failure." Here is what happened, perhaps more appropriately called a "suspected" equipment failure.
We left Napatree with the fleet and rounded the mark just after Carina and a little ahead of Heather Ann. The wind was directly against us, literally blowing from the waypoint I had set at the entrance of Great Salt Pond. As we pursued a port tack, we managed to end up the furthest downwind from the fleet. With three young kids aboard I was a bit distracted and fell even further downwind and decided to tack before everyone else. At that point I knew I was not a contender. After about 2.5 hours of sailing we were only 1/3 of the way along the rhumb line to Block, and were clearly way behind. I decided that in order to get the kids to the beach, and to at least be able to join the crowd at dinner I would quit the race and motor dead against the wind right into Block. Since a prior owner had repowered with an 18 hp Yanmar I figured we could punch through the swells (4 to 6 ft.)at about 5 knots, get a little wet, and get there by midafternoon.
When I turned on the engine there was a loud scraping sound. I took off the top companionway step and saw the alternator belt pulley scraping the inside of the companionway stairs.
My initial reaction was to assume the worst--that the motor mounts had loosened and the engine had shifted forward. It was a bit too rough for me to go below and thoroughly check the mounts without getting ill. Also I had no tools to check the engine alignment. Not wanting to risk breaking the prop shaft in BI Sound, I shut the engine and started a broad reach back to Stonington. Unfortunately, the current was ebbing through Watch Hill passage and I decided it would be foolhardy to sail against the current through the passage with a suspected engine problem. So I called BOAT.US and they came and towed us in to Stonington.
By the way, if you don't belong to BOAT/US, join. They were great, and the tow was covered under my plan.
In Stonington, I left the boat at Dodson's to check the engine. Amy immediately made reservations at the Mystic Marriott. After six nights on a CD27 with 3 kids, it was a great break.
Next day (while everyone else was enjoying Block) we took the kids to the Mystic Aquarium and the Seaport. I called Dodson's about 2pm and they said there was **no problem** with the mounts or the alignment.
My final diagnosis is that the stairs had shifted in the Block Island Sound swells and caused the scraping.
(Even when properly set, there is only about 1/8" clearance between the alternator pulley and the inside of the stairs. When the repower took place, some of the fiberglass flange that the stairs hook on to was cut away presumably to fit the new engine in. This probably allows the stairs to shift. I am working on a plan to beef up that area so this does not recur.)
Once I reset the stairs everything was fine and we started our journey home.
We really missed seeing everyone at Block, but the Mystic Marriott was a bit of a consolation (VERY NICE).
What I did was very cautious. If I had had the opportunity to evaluate the problem better at sea, and if I had not had children on board I might have chanced motoring or sailing to Block and had someone check it out there. But we were 5 miles from Stonington and 10 miles from Block and that made the decision obvious. In aviation they call this a "precautionary landing." Fortunately everything checked out, so there was in fact no equipment failure.
Thanks,
Bill
goldy@bestweb.net
Not really an equipment failure
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Nautical Traditions Offic
Re: Comendations to you, Sir...
Captain Goldsmith,
You acted according to the finest traditions of the fleet. There is no point in putting yourself or your crew at risk for a simple race. I am sorry that we didn't get to meet each other at Block Island, but we will do something similiar next year.
We heard you on the radio when you announced that you were heading to Dodson's. All we heard was that you had equipment failure, no ID of what exactly happened. I for one am happy that it turned out to be minor. You never know what will happen when you put to sea, you must be ready for anything!
Good job Sir, my hat is off to you....a glass of wine with you next time we meet...
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30 "1"
Nautical Traditions Officer
NE Fleet CDSOA
You acted according to the finest traditions of the fleet. There is no point in putting yourself or your crew at risk for a simple race. I am sorry that we didn't get to meet each other at Block Island, but we will do something similiar next year.
We heard you on the radio when you announced that you were heading to Dodson's. All we heard was that you had equipment failure, no ID of what exactly happened. I for one am happy that it turned out to be minor. You never know what will happen when you put to sea, you must be ready for anything!
Good job Sir, my hat is off to you....a glass of wine with you next time we meet...
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30 "1"
Nautical Traditions Officer
NE Fleet CDSOA
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Michael Heintz
Good to hear from you !!!!!!
Bill,
Glad to hear from you, and that all was well. To tell you the truth, I had my money on you!!!!!!Thought you would kick some bu__, after all you had a crack crew!!!!!! Got some nice shots of Second Chance and the kids, if you e mail me your adress I'll send them along. Maybe with a few water ballons.
The race was fun, and we would have done great if it wern't for the bum rating
We all missed you at the dinner, but there is always next year !!!
Say hi to the kids, they were great, reminded me of my youth!!!
Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II
mzenith@aol.com
Glad to hear from you, and that all was well. To tell you the truth, I had my money on you!!!!!!Thought you would kick some bu__, after all you had a crack crew!!!!!! Got some nice shots of Second Chance and the kids, if you e mail me your adress I'll send them along. Maybe with a few water ballons.
The race was fun, and we would have done great if it wern't for the bum rating
We all missed you at the dinner, but there is always next year !!!
Say hi to the kids, they were great, reminded me of my youth!!!
Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II
mzenith@aol.com
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Catherine Monaghan
Re: 2nd place isn't bad
Michael,
Machts Nichts and her crew didn't perform badly during the race, heck you guys came in 2nd place in the spinnaker division:-)
Send me your photos too so that I can add some of them to the rendezvous photo gallery.
Thanks,
Cathy
catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay
catherine_monaghan@merck.com
Machts Nichts and her crew didn't perform badly during the race, heck you guys came in 2nd place in the spinnaker division:-)
Send me your photos too so that I can add some of them to the rendezvous photo gallery.
Thanks,
Cathy
catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay
Michael Heintz wrote: Bill,
Glad to hear from you, and that all was well. To tell you the truth, I had my money on you!!!!!!Thought you would kick some bu__, after all you had a crack crew!!!!!! Got some nice shots of Second Chance and the kids, if you e mail me your adress I'll send them along. Maybe with a few water ballons.
The race was fun, and we would have done great if it wern't for the bum rating
We all missed you at the dinner, but there is always next year !!!
Say hi to the kids, they were great, reminded me of my youth!!!
Michael Heintz
s/v Macht Nichts
CD 30 MK II
catherine_monaghan@merck.com
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Leo MacDonald CD30K
Comendations to you - absolutly correct
Capt. Bill,
Captain Commanding Dave Stump is right on! With three children on board, seas building and indications of mechanical failure your action was prudent. A good skipper was making the correct decisions.
Fair Winds,
Leo MacDonald
Heather Ann CD30K #57
NE Fleet Captain, CDSOA Inc.
macdore@aol.com
Captain Commanding Dave Stump is right on! With three children on board, seas building and indications of mechanical failure your action was prudent. A good skipper was making the correct decisions.
Fair Winds,
Leo MacDonald
Heather Ann CD30K #57
NE Fleet Captain, CDSOA Inc.
macdore@aol.com
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Hanalei
Re: Agree...and....
Captain Heintz,
It really wasn't a bad PHRF! After all, you only gave Hanalei something like 2 minutes and 28 seconds for the entire 16.3 NM race! Hey, Michael, it was a really fun, interesting race. I look foward to calling you out again next year for a REAL battle!
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30 "1"
It really wasn't a bad PHRF! After all, you only gave Hanalei something like 2 minutes and 28 seconds for the entire 16.3 NM race! Hey, Michael, it was a really fun, interesting race. I look foward to calling you out again next year for a REAL battle!
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30 "1"
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Chris Scheck
Re: Not really an equipment failure
Bill -
a very interesting account of the real story behind a DNF. Glad you had the Boat/US plan.
Your account and your observation that "I assumed the worst" reminds me of similar things that have happened to me over the years. If I can suggest a lesson from these things, it is this ...
whenever a problem occurs in the vicinity of
recent repairs/modifications, investigate the
repairs first... before you investigate a fundamental
(and possibly unrelated) failure as the cause.
It is more likely that the modification of the stairs caused your problem than that your mounts had failed. And certainly a lot easier to inspect and diagnose. Better to start with the easier/more likely and work your way up to the harder/catastrophic than the other way around!
As I said, I have had many similar experiences over the years with boats, cars, stereos and computers. A similar experience with my computer printer is a good example. After moving the printer and reconnecting the cables, the printer immediately started printing garbage. Now what is the likelihood that I had just had a software crash, right after moving the printer? Nevertheless, I started reloading software. Only to finally discover that it was the recent "repairs/modifications" (not plugging the cable connector back in correctly after moving the printer) that caused the problem. I guess it's a modern variation on moving the TV and forgetting to plug it back in.
Maybe this advice seems obvious, but this kind of problem/mistaken diagnosis situation has happened to me and my friends so many times, it reminds me of the old saying that "common sense ain't that common." I think it's human nature to assume the worst, and people with some mechanical knowledge are good at imagining "worst case" scenarios.
Glad you enjoyed your time in Mystic. Did you go to the Seaport? I love 90' sailboats without engines ... those people really knew how to sail!
Chris Scheck
Ragtime
CD33 #117
cscheck@aol.com
a very interesting account of the real story behind a DNF. Glad you had the Boat/US plan.
Your account and your observation that "I assumed the worst" reminds me of similar things that have happened to me over the years. If I can suggest a lesson from these things, it is this ...
whenever a problem occurs in the vicinity of
recent repairs/modifications, investigate the
repairs first... before you investigate a fundamental
(and possibly unrelated) failure as the cause.
It is more likely that the modification of the stairs caused your problem than that your mounts had failed. And certainly a lot easier to inspect and diagnose. Better to start with the easier/more likely and work your way up to the harder/catastrophic than the other way around!
As I said, I have had many similar experiences over the years with boats, cars, stereos and computers. A similar experience with my computer printer is a good example. After moving the printer and reconnecting the cables, the printer immediately started printing garbage. Now what is the likelihood that I had just had a software crash, right after moving the printer? Nevertheless, I started reloading software. Only to finally discover that it was the recent "repairs/modifications" (not plugging the cable connector back in correctly after moving the printer) that caused the problem. I guess it's a modern variation on moving the TV and forgetting to plug it back in.
Maybe this advice seems obvious, but this kind of problem/mistaken diagnosis situation has happened to me and my friends so many times, it reminds me of the old saying that "common sense ain't that common." I think it's human nature to assume the worst, and people with some mechanical knowledge are good at imagining "worst case" scenarios.
Glad you enjoyed your time in Mystic. Did you go to the Seaport? I love 90' sailboats without engines ... those people really knew how to sail!
Chris Scheck
Ragtime
CD33 #117
cscheck@aol.com
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BIll Goldsmith
Re: Not really an equipment failure
Chris,
Your comments are well taken.
My brother the internist has a similar outlook that is taught to budding physicians in medical school: When there are several known causes for a particular symptom, it is usually the more common, less serious cause as opposed to the dire one. Such as chest pains that are assumed to be a heart attack, when they are really a muscle ache, etc.
But the physician still needs to rule out the heart attack before calling it a muscle ache.
In my situation it did occur to me that the problem was not the mounts. But I took into account the downside risk of self-diagnosis and decided not to risk a prop shaft failure.
Bill Goldsmith
goldy@bestweb.net
Your comments are well taken.
My brother the internist has a similar outlook that is taught to budding physicians in medical school: When there are several known causes for a particular symptom, it is usually the more common, less serious cause as opposed to the dire one. Such as chest pains that are assumed to be a heart attack, when they are really a muscle ache, etc.
But the physician still needs to rule out the heart attack before calling it a muscle ache.
In my situation it did occur to me that the problem was not the mounts. But I took into account the downside risk of self-diagnosis and decided not to risk a prop shaft failure.
Bill Goldsmith
Chris Scheck wrote: Bill -
a very interesting account of the real story behind a DNF. Glad you had the Boat/US plan.
Your account and your observation that "I assumed the worst" reminds me of similar things that have happened to me over the years. If I can suggest a lesson from these things, it is this ...
whenever a problem occurs in the vicinity of
recent repairs/modifications, investigate the
repairs first... before you investigate a fundamental
(and possibly unrelated) failure as the cause.
It is more likely that the modification of the stairs caused your problem than that your mounts had failed. And certainly a lot easier to inspect and diagnose. Better to start with the easier/more likely and work your way up to the harder/catastrophic than the other way around!
As I said, I have had many similar experiences over the years with boats, cars, stereos and computers. A similar experience with my computer printer is a good example. After moving the printer and reconnecting the cables, the printer immediately started printing garbage. Now what is the likelihood that I had just had a software crash, right after moving the printer? Nevertheless, I started reloading software. Only to finally discover that it was the recent "repairs/modifications" (not plugging the cable connector back in correctly after moving the printer) that caused the problem. I guess it's a modern variation on moving the TV and forgetting to plug it back in.
Maybe this advice seems obvious, but this kind of problem/mistaken diagnosis situation has happened to me and my friends so many times, it reminds me of the old saying that "common sense ain't that common." I think it's human nature to assume the worst, and people with some mechanical knowledge are good at imagining "worst case" scenarios.
Glad you enjoyed your time in Mystic. Did you go to the Seaport? I love 90' sailboats without engines ... those people really knew how to sail!
Chris Scheck
Ragtime
CD33 #117
goldy@bestweb.net