This bulletin board, hosted by the CDSOA, Inc., is the on-line meeting place for all Cape Dory owners and groups. We welcome everyone's questions, answers and comments about Cape Dory sailboat
We've been dreaming about Toora Loora for a while, and can't sail or kayak out of Linekin Bay without circling her at least once. I'm sure Joe will agree that she is one beautiful boat!
She is beautiful. That has to be about the nicest head on anything I've seen other than a mega yacht. Do you have a mooring in Linekin Bay? I'm up in Lewis Cove about midway between the 24 and 17 on the chart. Stop by anytime it looks like some one is on board.
Joe
Better to find humility before humility finds you.
Joe CD MS 300 wrote:Do you have a mooring in Linekin Bay?
Yes, it's just off the Crooked Pine Float, about 150 yards from you. We used to own the Catalina 22 that is now owned by the Larrabees, and are now limited to our little Zuma for sailing around Linekin Bay. We're the ones that saw you over Labor Day week, and complimented you on your nice boat.
I remember you guys. That was a great weekend and a great summer. I'll be back up in a week or two to get her up to Rockland and have her pulled for the winter. We saw Toora Loora out on a sail either Sunday or Monday when we were out. Hope to see you again.
Better to find humility before humility finds you.
They must have changed the course since I took it just two years ago. We spent all of our time plotting courses, DR's, and fixes from bearings. The emphasis was on chartwork with GPS as one of the information sources. At the time I only had a basic GPS that shut off when it was set down too hard.
The advanced piloting class adds more info on radar, running fixes, set and drift, etc. It was really good altogether. Not sure why your squadron isn't having you do chartwork until you're crosseyed.
GPS is hardly neccessary for sailing by sight in home waters, but the charts are. I'd use their materials and focus yor time on the plotting skills. GPS is primarily for fixes, get a hand bearing compass and get good at bearings. Lots of repitition pays off. It is a royal pain the ass to g o below and do chart work singlehanded. Man I love my chartplotter.
Leo, I really appreciate your taking the time to share your experiences. There is a lot there for many of us to learn from. It's great that you are honest and willing to admit your oversights.
From my own experience, my own goofs, in that same northwester, and now reading your tale, it has really hit home to me that for me, at least, my biggest enemy is complacency. We all have so many projects going on our boats, some of which are more fun or creative, that I think that sometime we ignore certain preventative things. We see potential issues, and say, "I'll get to that later." Mostly we sail in good weather, and we get used to it, not thinking so much about "what if." None of likes to be fearful, and over-anxious, and so a certain denial sets in.
A good example for us is that that day, we had no jacklines rigged, and they and our harnesses were in a mesh bag in a locker down below. I had had a wake-up call I should have heeded. When I went to do the first reef, as soon as we hit the Sheepscot, I realized I had never reefed that sail; they are all new sails this season. I quickly figured out its idiosynchrosies, but that did not translate into asking myself how else I might be unprepared.
So we came out around Small Point and got slammed. I knew I had to get the main reefed a second time, or down. In the heat of the moment, I think "s**t," now I have to do it without harness/jacklines. About that time, a huge gust came, I yelled to my wife to get down and we really got heeled over. We started motorsailing to an alternate destination (The Basin), and I crawled forward and wrapped my legs around the mast, and got the main down. We muddled through.
But I have to ask myself. Why were we in this bind? Complacency. The last forecast we had heard was 15-20, gusting to 30. We knew we would be beating. If that doesn't say "yoo-hoo, break out the harnesses," what does?
Once I realized (reminded strongly by that gust) that we were dumbly unprepared, I still could have donned the harness, and wrapped the tether around the mast while I reefed. But once I am in a tense situation and start beating myself up mentally, I don't always think clearly. Also, we may not have left after the dinner like Leo et al, but we had been partying heartily for a solid week and were tired.
My lessons learned are never to get complacent; and once you know you have screwed up, don't compound the problem with short-sighted decisions.
I should also note that we were still towing the inflatable. We should have stowed it. But worse, I had tied a line to the dinghy's stern which we used to help tie the dinghy across our stern when using our swim ladder for boarding. Well, the dinghy flipped several times, and then we had a line trailing in the water. I had Marvo watch the line while we started the engine, but that sucker was one extra worry we did not need! Once we got to some protection, I was able to snag the line with the boathook and secure an end to the main boat, but if we had had following seas, that could have been real trouble re the prop. Don't leave loose lines attached to your dink! At one point I was so pissed at myself, I almost cut the whole dinghy loose. Fortunately, we thought it thru, watched it, dealt with it, and saved the dink. But since we were getting set towards all kinds of bad stuff once we turned north, this was a huge aggravation when I really had my hands full sailing, and Marvo had hers full navigating.
To our credit, we did do a lot of things right. But there were some dicey moments, and it was a wake-up call we needed. And since then, I have made some safety improvements to the boat.
All in all, next time, I will be better prepared.
Dean
Dean Abramson
Cape Dory 31 "Loda May"
Falmouth, Maine
On that Saturday we headed east. We had a reach all the way . We did not but up the main at all as there was plenty of wind from the start . We motored sailed down the Sheepcot turned left between the islands and on to Isle de Haut. Once clear of the small islands the wind picked up.We put the Staysail up and a bit of the Jenny out. With this combo we maintained close to 6 knots for a long time. The wind was very constant. The sea state was good with some cross waves.
We were about 3 miles from the Isle de Haut when we were almost knocked down. A gust that was very very strong and lasted about thirty seconds. We put the wheel hard to the port and let off on the sails and she came into the wind. My friend was a little more nervous than I was. The jack lines had been rigged when we left Saint John . I thought it was a little over kill at the time but the Admiral and friends insisted . With the wind that day we wore harnesses . I was glad we had even though we did not need them. Made one feel safer.
This is a short video clip taken in the afternoon. I stopped quickly as I thought a wave was going to break over the side and get the camera wet
Bruce snapped ALOT of photos during our summer cruise. Rather than bore you with all of them, I've selected 61 photos that were snapped during the CDSOA Maine Cruise which took place Aug. 13-17. Enjoy!
For those with ALOT of time on their hands and highspeed internet access, you can view ALL of the photos (366 in total) snapped by Bruce during our summer cruise in Maine by clicking on any of the photos below.
Enjoyed all the pictures. Great job. As for your new cushions they look great. They add a lot of personality and charm to your boat. I saw BottomSiders cushions at the Annapolis Boat show last week. They sure are nice, but pricey. They listed the Typhoon cockpit cushions for around $435.
I see you couldn't help but notice that the first photo in the group of "Maine Cruise" photos is of our new BottomSiders (which you included in your post above). We took delivery of them while we were in Provincetown.
If you'd like to see the cardboard templates that I made (they were custom made, not from templates already on hand) and sent to BottomSiders along with some other photos of the new cushions, just click on the photo below:
Cathy, Karen Richardson who was hosting Bottomsiders booth at the show said I should cut templates for any cushions below for the Ty Weekender. They have patterns for the cockpit cushions. The thing I like about Bottomsiders is, they never loose their shape, and they clean up nice.
Your teak helmsman seat is just like the one I built for my 30 Catalina back when, however I did not have a nice cushion like you have.
I am just curious, is the cushion on the seat contoured, or is a flat piece laid over the top and held in place someway?
Lew Gresham wrote:Cathy, Karen Richardson who was hosting Bottomsiders booth at the show said I should cut templates for any cushions below for the Ty Weekender. They have patterns for the cockpit cushions. The thing I like about Bottomsiders is, they never loose their shape, and they clean up nice.
Your teak helmsman seat is just like the one I built for my 30 Catalina back when, however I did not have a nice cushion like you have.
I am just curious, is the cushion on the seat contoured, or is a flat piece laid over the top and held in place someway?
The cushion over the helmseat is flat and held in place with 4 snaps. The ends are also beveled to allow them to fit between the side cushions. The snaps were provide by the folks at BottomSiders as a kit and were very easy to install. There are 6 cushions total in Realization's cockpit -- 2 on each side (which are held together with a snap), 1 over the helmseat and 1 across the bridge deck.
You can see 2 of the tabs with snaps in the photo below. I installed 2 on the forward side of the helmseat and 2 on the aft side.
During this summer's cruise up in Maine, one of our stops was Warren Island off Ilesboro. The following day we sailed up the western side of Ilesboro, rounded the northern tip of the island then headed down the other side towards Castine.
Winds were light off our stern port quarter so up went our spinnaker. Rich Abato, aboard Mahalo, grabbed his camera and snapped away as Realization left them and the other boats in her wake. Anyway, here's a little slide show of Realization flying her spinnaker.
