Two weeks ago I bought a 1979 Cape Dory Typhoon Weekender. The weekend that I purchased it, I went out on one of the local lakes with the PO to learn the ropes.
Last Saturday, my wife and I took it out for the first time by ourselves on Folsom Lake, above Sacramento, CA. Setup and launching took about 40 minutes, which we can probably get down to 30 minutes with practice. While we were rigging her, a beautiful wooden ketch was being pulled out of the lake. It looked a bit like an Oeun Mara (by the same designer who did the Grey Seal--forget his name). I meant to go talk to the owner, but by the time we were done rigging, he was gone. The CD Ty drafts 2'7", but with our trailer's 8' tongue extension, launching was easy on a 15% ramp. If anyone is thinking of getting a Ty and wondering how "trailerable" it is, I'd say "do it". With a modest tongue extension, trailering is very easy.
Well, we got out onto the lake with very slight breezes, motoring away from the dock aways. The weather report had called for 15 knots of wind, but that certainly wasn't happening. The biggest mishap of the day happened as we attempted to raise the main. Sometime during the launching and motoring the main halyard shackle had worked it's way loose, and when I yanked on the halyard to raise the main, the line shot to the top of the mast. After much swearing and throwing of hats, we returned to the dock where we tied up, dropped the mast (a bit challenging while on the water), and retrieved the halyard. The halyard shackle appeared to have gotten "squeezed" so that the pin just spun freely without catching, so I bent it out a bit which put tension back on the pin.
After reconnecting it to the main, we were back out on the lake, still with little wind, but we did get the sails up and the motor shut off. We drifted slowly towards the middle of the lake while a catamaran (not a Hobie nor a Prindle)proceeded to sail circles around us in the 1-2 knot winds. Finally getting tired of baking in the sun, we fired up the old Evinrude and motored over towards the dam where we thought there might be more wind. We got excited at one point as we watched a wind-riffled lake surface travel towards us and engulf us...only to find NO WIND. I was really confused about that. We were in the middle of a riffled patch of water, without a breeze.
We finally found some wind over by the dam, probably 5-10 knots, though at one point it gusted enough that my wife moved from the leeward to the windward side of the boat. We did a nice close-haul across the lake and a broad reach back, and even got the whisker pole rigged for a run towards the dock before we lost all wind again as we got close. There were only two other sailboats out during our time on the lake -- the catamaran and a Victor 17. Of course, there were a lot of powerboats and PWCs, but Folsom is big enough to absorb a lot of traffic, and it didn't feel crowded.
All in all we had a good day. I'm relearning what I've forgotten in 10+ years of not sailing, and I'm sure my sails were in terrible trim most of the time (on Monday I installed telltales), but we're having fun. Later this month we're enrolled in a keelboat course at OSCS in the Bay Area, so I'll have a chance to polish my skills.
Thanks for listening. Glad to be joining the CD community. The Ty is a great little boat!
ed.armstrong@globalstar.com
first sale in new/old CD Typhoon (long post)
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Ed Armstrong
Re: Oops, err...should have read "...first sail..." heh heh
No pun intended 
ed.armstrong@globalstar.com
Ed Armstrong wrote: Two weeks ago I bought a 1979 Cape Dory Typhoon Weekender. The weekend that I purchased it, I went out on one of the local lakes with the PO to learn the ropes.
Last Saturday, my wife and I took it out for the first time by ourselves on Folsom Lake, above Sacramento, CA. Setup and launching took about 40 minutes, which we can probably get down to 30 minutes with practice. While we were rigging her, a beautiful wooden ketch was being pulled out of the lake. It looked a bit like an Oeun Mara (by the same designer who did the Grey Seal--forget his name). I meant to go talk to the owner, but by the time we were done rigging, he was gone. The CD Ty drafts 2'7", but with our trailer's 8' tongue extension, launching was easy on a 15% ramp. If anyone is thinking of getting a Ty and wondering how "trailerable" it is, I'd say "do it". With a modest tongue extension, trailering is very easy.
Well, we got out onto the lake with very slight breezes, motoring away from the dock aways. The weather report had called for 15 knots of wind, but that certainly wasn't happening. The biggest mishap of the day happened as we attempted to raise the main. Sometime during the launching and motoring the main halyard shackle had worked it's way loose, and when I yanked on the halyard to raise the main, the line shot to the top of the mast. After much swearing and throwing of hats, we returned to the dock where we tied up, dropped the mast (a bit challenging while on the water), and retrieved the halyard. The halyard shackle appeared to have gotten "squeezed" so that the pin just spun freely without catching, so I bent it out a bit which put tension back on the pin.
After reconnecting it to the main, we were back out on the lake, still with little wind, but we did get the sails up and the motor shut off. We drifted slowly towards the middle of the lake while a catamaran (not a Hobie nor a Prindle)proceeded to sail circles around us in the 1-2 knot winds. Finally getting tired of baking in the sun, we fired up the old Evinrude and motored over towards the dam where we thought there might be more wind. We got excited at one point as we watched a wind-riffled lake surface travel towards us and engulf us...only to find NO WIND. I was really confused about that. We were in the middle of a riffled patch of water, without a breeze.
We finally found some wind over by the dam, probably 5-10 knots, though at one point it gusted enough that my wife moved from the leeward to the windward side of the boat. We did a nice close-haul across the lake and a broad reach back, and even got the whisker pole rigged for a run towards the dock before we lost all wind again as we got close. There were only two other sailboats out during our time on the lake -- the catamaran and a Victor 17. Of course, there were a lot of powerboats and PWCs, but Folsom is big enough to absorb a lot of traffic, and it didn't feel crowded.
All in all we had a good day. I'm relearning what I've forgotten in 10+ years of not sailing, and I'm sure my sails were in terrible trim most of the time (on Monday I installed telltales), but we're having fun. Later this month we're enrolled in a keelboat course at OSCS in the Bay Area, so I'll have a chance to polish my skills.
Thanks for listening. Glad to be joining the CD community. The Ty is a great little boat!
ed.armstrong@globalstar.com