Now I know what the fuss is about inlets

[chase]

I've just finished sailing my boat from north of Wrightsville Beach to Charleston, SC -- what an adventure!! I won't bore you with the particulars but thought I'd list a couple of my experiences as a new sailor for your entertainment and hope for some response to some things I obviously don't have a handle on.

We sailed out of Masonboro Inlet the first day with 15-knot winds opposing the current. I know this is less than ideal from a prior exit but this time was for real. The steep waves just tossed us around. My thirty-foot boat felt very small and light as she shot over the tops of waves and crashed down into the troughs. Wow -- that can’t be good in the long run, even for a Cape Dory. And we thought we had everything secured -- ha! Both my first mate and I got to feeling pretty bad after getting out in the ocean and having never been seasick we weren't really expecting it. Just the short, incredibly intense ride out the inlet gave us both terrible headaches and left us wishing we hadn't had a big farm breakfast. It's really tough to bounce back, we discovered, even if the conditions out there were pretty mild. Seasickness is really different than what I expected -- it really fed on my attention and focus and made us both pretty miserable. We sailed laps out Masonboro, while I trained my first mate and AnneFreeman (my boat) and the ocean trained me. We simply had to wait until the tide changed to go through the angry inlet again. We sailed through a little squall under full main and staysail and felt pretty good about it.

After that little spanking, we came back in after the tide change and headed south to Carolina Beach and anchored. The next morning with a favorable forecast, we sailed out of the mighty Cape Fear River into the ocean under main and staysail.

Again, wind against current, lots and lots of current. The GPS showed we were making 8.5 knots. The waves were really big and with the commercial traffic it made for an exiting trip out to sea. It was not as bad as Masonboro, which seemed to beat us up a bit more.

We fell off the wind and set a course for Little River on a beam reach. We trailed bait all along but caught no fish. The waves were mostly four feet, some sixes, and a little disorganized. We took a couple over the bow and one came over the windward quarter of the cockpit but didn't wet the whole cockpit.

Little River inlet had the wind following the tide in. I cut the corner on the sea buoy just the slightest amount and as we approached the inlet found ourselves in relatively beefy following seas with some breaking waves. I think that the breakers were on the "edges" of the inlet, perhaps just backing up off the jetties. They were alarming and we set a "ferry angle" to more center. My first mate is a long time white water kayaker and he had a pretty good handle on wave/hull interactions. He could see "eddy lines" and stuff that I'm not real accustomed to noticing. Anyway, we came in the inlet under sail and made it just fine and anchored in Calabash Creek.

The rest of the sail was real relaxing compared to the first days. We sailed all the way down the ICW from there, down the Waccamaw River, to Cape Romain. The temps dropped to near freezing and it made for some cold sailing. We stopped in Cape Romain for a day so we could catch a low tide and do some Oystering. This completely undeveloped area has some great shellfish and some nice anchorages.

After that we sailed down the Intercoastal into Charleston harbor and up the Ashley/Wappoo Creek to the intersection with the Stono River where my boat will live for a couple of months this winter. One last final experience was taking the Elliot Cut down Wappoo Creek, which connects the Stono River there. I encountered more current than I have ever seen. It was all we could do to make 1.5 to 2 knots up that cut with a falling tide. I recommend all southbound travelers out of Charleston Harbor catch that cut on a favorable current. Coming down it on a falling tide would be downright scary, especially with the drawbridge at the bottom.

BTW, my boat has a two-year-old Yanmar 18hp motor and it really struggled in that cut.

A few observations:

1) Neither me or my boat are really ready for lots of offshore sailing. Time on the boat gets you in good routines and teaches you a lot. I have so much to learn and need to do it when possible in ideal conditions. Heading down the Cape Fear out to sea, the main halyard got way from my first mate and became an "issue". He finally retrieved it, all the while it whipping a stainless projectile around the boat, wrapping backstay, etc. He could have easily been tossed from one side of the boat over the lifelines and in the drink in those conditions

2) I really need roller furling with a Genoa. Headsail work in heavy seas is pretty dangerous as far as I can tell. The damned staysail boom has the potential to open your face and there's just too much going on. For a new sailor, with adrenaline and all, it’s just too easy to make mistakes with all the different lines and such.

We sailed large portions of the ICW with a tailing wind and some kind of big headsail seemed like the way to go. Having the main up is a bit of a pain when the wind shifts slightly or you wind around a bend. I've never flown a spinnaker, is this conditions to do that? I have an old sail, called a Gennaker, of very light cloth in rough condition. Perhaps I can have that re-conditioned for the time being?

3) Nine out of ten southbound ICW sailors didn’t even bother raising a sail. I don't really care what they do but all of them had roller furling and many had main furling too. It's easy, saves money and makes it a bit quieter. It was cold, but there was very little jibing involved and added something fun to do while threading markers on the waterway.

4) Weather helm was extraordinary running my full main and staysail. Is it more balanced running the Yankee jib as well? I was being conservative and really did not want my first mate up there while we were offshore so I just skipped it. We had plenty of wind anyway.

Lots more questions, I'll try to meter them out over time. Just thought some of ya'll would find this interesting and I'm really hoping to get some responses from some of you seasoned sailors.

Thanks to Andy for the advice prior to departure regarding night sailing, anchorages, etc. You may have saved my derriere. Looking forward to catching up some time in the neighborhood.

Hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving, please respond or comment if you have a chance.

Chase

[Neil Gordon]

Nine out of ten southbound ICW sailors didn’t even bother raising a sail.

Thanks for some great feedback.

As for the comment you made, it's not limited to southbound ICW sailors. We see coastal cruisers all the time with sail covers on and motors motoring, while we're comfortably sailing at about hull speed in moderate air. I really don't get it.

[slaume]

Neil and Chase, I have also noticed lots of nice sailboats motoring under ideal sailing conditions. I have come to the conclusion that it is just too much trouble for lots of people to deal with sailing their boats and some are just plain afraid of them. I mean think about it, you have to uncover, and raise the sails. Then you have to mess around with all those confusing ropes and strings. You can't go exactly where you want at full speed all the time. When you do get there you have to put all that stuff away again. The worst part of all is THE BOAT LEANS OVER! Now how fun can that be? I mostly feel like the biggest pain is that I have to start the engine sometimes, Steve.

[Neil Gordon]

The worst part of all is THE BOAT LEANS OVER!

Sure, but in moderate seas, with the sails down, first it leans <--- this way... then it leans ---> that way... then <---, --->, <---, --->, ...

Put the sails up and it more or less leans --->, and stays there.

I can see motoring into a headwind to save time, but sails should be up.

As for light air, shoot me when I go from "the wind will pick up any minute now" to "Don't bother because it probably won't last."

[chase]

Well put Neil. Didn't realize how much sails stabilize until recently. Fact is, the boat wants to be under sail and seems a bit crippled when motoring in any seaway.

Steve, I also cringe a little at that loud alarm when I start Annie's Yanny.

Thanks for your responses.

Cheers,

Chase

[fenixrises]

Hi Chase,

Welcome to the world of sailing in hairy conditions.

General recommendations based on your report.

You should start out in unsettled or unfamilar conditions with reduced sail area. When the wind is forward of the beam, the boat seems more managable and sail increase or reduction can be easier. When the wind is aft the beam things can get hairy real quick due to rolling and weather helm combining to overpower the boat. In either situation starting with a yankee and double reefed main will tend to give you better balance and handling. Once underway, if conditions are settled and light to moderate, it is easy to shake out a reef or raise the staysail.

A vang/preventer on the main boom should always be rigged even if not immediately needed. Something similar should be available on the staysail club as well. Personally I do not like the club and have removed mine from my CD28. It obscures the foredeck and if untamed can become a human club in short order.

If you do not have roller furling, you should rig a downhaul on the headsail. Idealy this will go from the stem, up through the reef clew cringle and then up to the next to the top hank on the luff. Slack the halyard, haul the downhaul. Done in concert this will help keep your headsail under control when lowering. If you do not have it, adding about a four foot reef to your yankee makes the sail more versatile. It is far easier to reef a sail than it is to remove it and replace it with another sail. This is especially true for headsails in deteriorating conditions.

Even if it seems like you are in the fast lane to hell, I find it advantageous to sit still for a moment or two in the cockpit. Spend this time considering the situation and your remedy, step by step. Sometimes immediate action is required, but often that moment or two of contemplation will increase your chance of safely handling the situation smoothly.

Happy sails to you,
Fred B.

[Guest]

Hi Chase:

Inlets have always been the sailors nemisis. Avoiding them when there are contrary tides and winds will serve you will. I have had some very scarry nights entering the Miami harbor with an east wind, outgoing tide, and freighter traffic. Likewise exiting this same harbor under those conditions is like sailing through a washing machine. Turning around and waiting a couple of hours is sometimes the wise choice. I have at times simply found some quieter water offshore, out of the freighter traffic and hove to till slack tide.

Slack tide is a wonderful time on rivers and harbor inlets. It really takes out the stress of a passage. I have been in several rivers along the Carolina coast that have tides in the 8' range which are virtually unmanagable in a single screw boat except for slack tide. One marina in particular, I would anchor in the river, call the dock master on VHF and enquire when slack was due. As basically land creatures who sail occasionally we tend to think in terms of schedules and not weather / tide conditions. This schedule thinking can get you in real trouble.

The previous advice about starting out with reefs in place is very good. No such thing as having too little sail for the conditions. Big penalty for having too much though.

As for downwind sailing. I use my 135 with NO main on a broad reach in light to moderate conditions up to 15kt. I use the 90 working Jib in conditions up to 24kts. My MKII runs like on rails under those conditions. Since I have roller furling reefing these to match the conditions is very easy. Without the main up the boat has almost no tendency to veer off course. Jibing is done by rolling in the headsail, turning the boat, and then unrolling the sail. Sometimes having the engine on for this is very helpful, especially in rougher conditions. Without the main up you have essentially no ability to point the boat, hence the boost from the engine. I suspect all CD's will respond similarly. I recently got a whisker pole to help in the fluky and light wind conditions we have in summer. Try it, I think you will really come to enjoy this type of sailing. With the roller furling, I feel almost decadent being that lazy. Its actually easier than motoring, you almost dont have to steer once you get things adjusted. Nothing like sailing downwind with your feet proped up and a drink in hand.

FWIW I never eat during the first 24 hours on a trip that promises to be a little rough. Sleeping on board at a rolly anchorage the night before helps me get used to the motion also.

~~~/)~~~
Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

[Didereaux]

Chase,
Well done account, really. I have only one thing to comment on as the others have pretty well covered the others. That weather helm you spoke of.
"Weather helm was extraordinary running my full main and staysail. Is it more balanced running the Yankee jib as well?"

You will reduce that by properly reefing that main<grin>

g'Luk 'n hang in there

[cbrenton]

Hi Chase,

Your observation about time on boats and developing routines is really right on the money. Deciding what works best for you and then doing the same thing, the same way every time goes along way towards preventing lash ups when things get tough. One of our routines is to always shackle the main halyard onto the sail before getting underway, even if just going for a short motor boat ride. We always keep a marlin spike and a knife in a sheath lashed to the mast. We heave the shackle pin up taut with the marlin spike just to make sure that it doesn't work loose. If going offshore or in strong winds we also wire the pin so that it cannot work loose.

No, you don't need roller furling, but it has advantages. The suggestion regarding a down haul on the jib is excellent. The debate about what is safer-hanked on sails vs. roller furling goes on and on. I hanked on jibs for many years, but got roller furling about 10 years ago and won't go back. I believe that the ability to set just the right amount of sail easily and change it easily to suit changing conditions is a wonderful safety factor. However, there is a caveat. If you think dealing with hanked on head sails on a pitching foredeck in a rising breeze is dangerous, I can tell you that dealing with a big Genoa jib and a jammed roller furler in similar conditions, is not a day at the beach either. Problems can be prevented by good maintenance-flush the salt from the bearings and lube according to the manufactures directions. I find that a good routine after setting the roller furler, is to go forward and inspect the drum for loose or fouled wraps, then go aft and take a little tension on the furling line to make sure that it is turning freely, and then belay with tension on the furling line to prevent loose wraps on the drum from forming.

Spinnakers and Gennakers are wonderful sails and are a joy in the right conditions. They have there own tricks about them however, and I would advise becoming very adept with your basic sails before moving on to these sails. I am really not very familiar with the intra-coastal waterway, but these sails are not for narrow waters requiring frequent course changes, or for spots which might require quick maneuvers for collision avoidance.

Happy sailing,

Charlie Brenton
"Carol Anne"
CD 33 #75

[Dan The Dory Fan]

is the make over complete?

[Olli Wendelin]

Welcome to Charleston. I'm docked on Wappoo Creek just 1/2 mile from Elliot Cut. Drop me a line if you need any info on the area.

[chase]

Thanks for all of your advise about sail management, rigging, routines, etc. I enjoy hearing how others manage situations that I've come across. The Main shackling seems like a sound new addition to my routine. So Charlie, you wire the bugger shut if your sailing longer trips or in rough conditions? IS that because it'd be such a disaster if your halyard got away from you way up the mast?

Fred, as far as the downhaul goes, let me see if I've got it strait:

Run a lighter line turned from a point near the tack of the sail and attach it to the no. 2 hank as you bend the sail on? The line is then led aft through whatever routing necessary to a small cleat so that one can yank that sail down in a blow?

Sounds like a simple modification with perhaps a small block attached to the bowsprit near the base of the forestay and a couple of other pieces of hardware.


Best,

Chase

[cbrenton]

Hi Chase,

If the main halyard shackle lets go while sailing, the main comes down and the halyard stays up! It means a trip up the mast to retrieve it. Under the wrong conditions, it can ruin the whole day. The sail doesn't even have to be up if you are unlucky. If you loose control of it, the bitter end of a halyard sometimes seems to defy gravity as up she goes!

Charlie

[fenixrises]

Hi Chase,

You've the right idea. Generally a jib downhaul can be rigged in different ways depending on what you want to accomplish.

Never attach the downhaul to the head of the jib. This attachment has the undesirable tendency to cause the sail to bunch up around the hanks when pulling the sail down.

A simple light line run through a block at the stem and hoisted with the sail a couple of hanks down from the head will make it easier to lower the sail. This can be done from the mast as the halyard is slacked.

Running the downhaul line from the stem up through the regular or reefing clew then up to a luff shackle gives the added advantage of bundling the sail as it is lowered. This helps keep the sail on deck and helps keep it from billowing out in gusty conditions.

I like to use 1/4" or 5/16" braided nylon for this and many other things. It is readily available at home depot type stores, is cheaper than dacron sheet or halyard line and it is stretchier. The last is sometiimes very desireable for some of the lines used aboard. The line will stretch rather than break itself or the thing to which it is attached. Obviously not good for halyards and normal sheets but surprisingly good for light air sheets on a cruising chute or spinnaker.

Hi Dan,

FeNIX nears completion. I just finished painting the non-skid today.

I have to sand the bottm for the new bottom paint. Launch is next week, if my truck driver can get here OK.

After launching I have quite a bit of rigging to do. Plus I have to get the new main sail.
Will need to install the bow pulpit, once it is made.

The FeNIX website has generated almost 1,000 hits so far, so I know there are watchers out there.

Newly painted non-skid. Also seen is the traveller track mounted on fabricated SS brackets. The boarding ladder is removable and will be stowed when sailing.


An interior shot. The Shipmate two burner LPG stove/oven can be seen in the galley. Under the starboard side deck near the main bulkhead is the bracket for the ham radio.


Take care all,
Fred B.

[Jim Lewis]

Well we sail in same area, and you will learn to sail with the tides and wind, after you watch the same buoy and are able to count all the rivets on it for a couple of hours. You will learn that when the wind in our area is blowing a gale from NW to NE nearshore and a lot of the inlets lie flat, where offshore will be uncomfortable. Other wind directions will create problems at inlet when against tide......so if time allows is much better to plan to arrive with the tide under these conditions.....enjoy your learning, and practice heaving to, so you won t make the mistake of coming thru and unfamiliar inlet at night......or during the day......course with storms and changing conditions all the inlets are unfamiliar, for where there was water a month ago you will find sand.....develope patients and when you see breakers you can always drop hook or heave to and they will gone in a couple of hours.......most of the time.....if they get worse find another inlet.........or don t go out....

Good luck with your learning