John answered:
Ft. Lauderdale-Bermuda-Azores-Villamoura, Portugal. Possibly. Will get a
better idea as to the probability next Tuesday.

Wow, John...looks like yo've landed in sailing gravy....I'm
impressed...you're doing well for a Lake St Claire guy....
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

"katysails" wrote in message
...
John answered:
Ft. Lauderdale-Bermuda-Azores-Villamoura, Portugal. Possibly. Will get a
better idea as to the probability next Tuesday.

Wow, John...looks like yo've landed in sailing gravy....I'm
impressed...you're doing well for a Lake St Claire guy....
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

Even better for a Lake Erie guy.................

John admitted:
Even better for a Lake Erie guy.................

eeewwwww....Lake Erie......you're right....
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

Yes Marty.. you are correct..
I erred.. 46 degrees North.. is correct..
and we still have ice on the rivers and lakes.

Thanks.. I realized my error.. but thought no one
would really read the detail.. you are the sharp-eyed
sailor.

Best Regards
JWB

--
Longing to be closer to to the sun, the wind and the sea!
Spiritually at: Latitude 21 degrees 19' 9" North. _!_
Longtitude 157 degrees 56' 31" West. Aloha! ___o_(_)_o___
q

"katysails" wrote in message
...
John admitted:
Even better for a Lake Erie guy.................

eeewwwww....Lake Erie......you're right....
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

Whoooooooa there. The lake is a LOT cleaner than it used to be. I remember
when I was a kid, we would go to the northern shore in Ontario and you'ld
see nothing but dead fish on the beaches. Looks like the efforts of the
federal government have finally paid off. It's clean enough where I don't
feel uncomfortable letting the kids swim in it, though I wouldn't recommend
eating fish out of ANY of the Great Lakes.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...82224353xopmod
Funny, this picture made me think of this little factoid. Visiting one of
the few legitimate tourist attractions at PIB, "Perry's Cave", the guide
mentioned that Commodore Perry's men filled their water barrels from the
springs in the cave, it seems that even then, long before the industrial
age, the water in Lake Erie wasn't fit for human consumption, probably had
something to with naturally occurring organisms in the water.
John Cairns

Points to you John. Best reply so far.

I turned down two deliveries to focus on working
on my big boat. I really wanted to do both of
them but decided to set a serious goal of getting
the big one in the water by Memorial Day. So it
will be a boring spring for me.

Have fun and take lots of pictures.

Bart

"John Cairns" wrote

"N1EE" wrote in message
om...

What exciting things are the rest of you doing this
spring?


Bart Senior

Ft. Lauderdale-Bermuda-Azores-Villamoura, Portugal. Possibly. Will get a
better idea as to the probability next Tuesday.
John Cairns

the boat I sailed on a pond in Ottawa on 2nd April this year is a home
built (aka "hand crafted") one-sheeter of my own design called a Loonie.
There are photos on my website under Boats. A one sheeter is a boat made
out of one sheet of plywood. There are half a dozen different one-sheeter
designs that I'm aware of. Anybody is welcome to use the Loonie design for
free. Usually I'm not able to sail in Ottawa until mid-April. I don't read
this newsgroup but I do read rec.boats.building daily and regconize some
of the names in this newsgroup from there.

tomorrow I hope to enter the other one-sheeter I designed, also on my
website, the Delta, in a local canoe race. the ice has been off that river
(Jock River, Ottawa) for one week. my goal is not to win, only to survive.


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

William R. Watt ) writes:

tomorrow I hope to enter the other one-sheeter I designed, also on my
website, the Delta, in a local canoe race. the ice has been off that river
(Jock River, Ottawa) for one week. my goal is not to win, only to survive.

just thought I'd mention, although the Delta has not been rigged for
sailing, I was paddling it on 27 March this year, the earliest I've ever
been on the water in Ottawa, flat water at that.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

HOOT was the first boat in the club sailing this year.
grin And HOOT is getting a good reputation and lots
of complements--which pleases me, despite her many flaws.
Next year I'll redo the deck and I can feel proud.

The sailing was awesome today. 100 mile visibility.
Winds 10-15 and shifty. Of course, the winds picked
up to about 20-22, and went forward as I was flying the
chute up the river in a narrow channel!

Also, the horse flies are not out yet. We have horse
flies--when the weather is warmer in July and August,
in our club parking lot, that are so bad, I run to my
truck when I leave the club house. Their sting is the
worst sort of bite. So a day like today is wonderful
for many reasons. Fortunately, there are not so many
flies on the river, and no bother when under way.

At the mouth of the river, we caught a lift from a
wave train moving up the river at just above our speed
that gave us a nice little ride. We were not surfing, but
we could feel the added velocity. It was fun.

As we came up the channel, I had to ease the after guy
several times. It's not uncommon to see a 45 to 90
degree shifts in this one spot. Soon we were on a beam
reach and the wind started gusting mush higher. I had
the spinnaker pole right up an inch off the forestay
--hoping the wind would move aft. Twice I had to dump
some air to keep the boat from broaching in the channel
--the main was already eased. We were somewhat overpowered
and flying! Another body, or two, on the rail would have
been perfect.

I was hoping I could carry the chute up to the bend of
the river and the bear off a bit on to the boat club,
for an easy take down in the wide part of the river--
no luck.

It was low tide and there was little margin for error.
I did the take down by myself, with a bit of help from
my pick-up crew Don, a Star sailor. Don did a super
job driving HOOT. Don had never sailed with a spinnaker
before. Rather than get risky, which I might have done
with another crew in the boat, I decided to pull the
chute as it got gusty, and we became more and more
overpowered. I didn't want to chance a further wind
shift which might have forced us out of the channel
and put us aground.

It was a beam reach, which is, of course the hardest
sort of takedown. I couldn't get the chute behind the
main, so it was not a simple job. And, I didn't want it
flogging to pieces either. Twinged in on both sides,
and sheeted in, I eased the halyard 4-5 feet, the after
guy, and managed to gather in the foot and then Don
helped by steadily dropping it the rest of the way. It
reminded me of some of the hairy San Francisco takedowns
I've experienced. Don did a perfect job feeding it to me.
Don was impressed with the spinnaker take down. I hope
he doesn't get the idea they always look that good. I
guess you always remember the horror takedowns and never
the smooth ones. I was glad it went without incident.

As a bonus, the docks will be empty for the next two
weeks, so I am in the water, tied up right up front of
the club. IU'm going to try and sail every sunny day
until lauch day--May 1st. I won't have to dry sail HOOT
and manuever a trailer around all the masts at the hoist
for a while. After that it will be no sweat to store
HOOT back on the trailer.

More good news, I might have found some newer used sails
for the boat--99 vintage. My sails look ok, but date
from 78 to 81. They have shrunk! Oz will appreciate
that I can't hoist high enough to engage the lock at
the top of the mast. Nor can I attach the foot to the
outhaul without two carbiners to make up the extra
length. These are not competitive racing sails--even
though the sail shape is better than most sails you
will see in service on other boats. They are also
heavy compared to newer sails.

OZ what do you think some 99 vintage Etchells sails are
worth?

I am looking forward to throwing out all the older sails!
I'd like to get a new suit of new sails, but can't afford
it at the moment.

Don told me the local Etchells "fleet" starts after the Star
Fleet. The local Etchells fleet fields only 3-4 boats
in a given race. It is a "******* fleet" compared with
the other Connecticut Etchells fleets which put a 12-16
on the line for fleet racing.

If I can get a crew trained and some new sails I may
start racing HOOT. Since I have what will probably be a
slow boat, I need to at least get a respectable trained
crew together, with new sails, before I make an
appearance. Perhaps later in the season, or next year,
My sail card is entirely open right now.

Has anyone else been sailing in the Northeast yet? Am I
the first?

Bart Senior

You can pole back a bit to depower the sail if it's getting hairy but an
attentive sheet trimmer is the best way to avoid a broach. Once the boom
end hits water it's all you've got!

Cheers MC

N1EE wrote:

HOOT was the first boat in the club sailing this year.
grin And HOOT is getting a good reputation and lots
of complements--which pleases me, despite her many flaws.
Next year I'll redo the deck and I can feel proud.

The sailing was awesome today. 100 mile visibility.
Winds 10-15 and shifty. Of course, the winds picked
up to about 20-22, and went forward as I was flying the
chute up the river in a narrow channel!

Also, the horse flies are not out yet. We have horse
flies--when the weather is warmer in July and August,
in our club parking lot, that are so bad, I run to my
truck when I leave the club house. Their sting is the
worst sort of bite. So a day like today is wonderful
for many reasons. Fortunately, there are not so many
flies on the river, and no bother when under way.

At the mouth of the river, we caught a lift from a
wave train moving up the river at just above our speed
that gave us a nice little ride. We were not surfing, but
we could feel the added velocity. It was fun.

As we came up the channel, I had to ease the after guy
several times. It's not uncommon to see a 45 to 90
degree shifts in this one spot. Soon we were on a beam
reach and the wind started gusting mush higher. I had
the spinnaker pole right up an inch off the forestay
--hoping the wind would move aft. Twice I had to dump
some air to keep the boat from broaching in the channel
--the main was already eased. We were somewhat overpowered
and flying! Another body, or two, on the rail would have
been perfect.

I was hoping I could carry the chute up to the bend of
the river and the bear off a bit on to the boat club,
for an easy take down in the wide part of the river--
no luck.

It was low tide and there was little margin for error.
I did the take down by myself, with a bit of help from
my pick-up crew Don, a Star sailor. Don did a super
job driving HOOT. Don had never sailed with a spinnaker
before. Rather than get risky, which I might have done
with another crew in the boat, I decided to pull the
chute as it got gusty, and we became more and more
overpowered. I didn't want to chance a further wind
shift which might have forced us out of the channel
and put us aground.

It was a beam reach, which is, of course the hardest
sort of takedown. I couldn't get the chute behind the
main, so it was not a simple job. And, I didn't want it
flogging to pieces either. Twinged in on both sides,
and sheeted in, I eased the halyard 4-5 feet, the after
guy, and managed to gather in the foot and then Don
helped by steadily dropping it the rest of the way. It
reminded me of some of the hairy San Francisco takedowns
I've experienced. Don did a perfect job feeding it to me.
Don was impressed with the spinnaker take down. I hope
he doesn't get the idea they always look that good. I
guess you always remember the horror takedowns and never
the smooth ones. I was glad it went without incident.

As a bonus, the docks will be empty for the next two
weeks, so I am in the water, tied up right up front of
the club. IU'm going to try and sail every sunny day
until lauch day--May 1st. I won't have to dry sail HOOT
and manuever a trailer around all the masts at the hoist
for a while. After that it will be no sweat to store
HOOT back on the trailer.

More good news, I might have found some newer used sails
for the boat--99 vintage. My sails look ok, but date
from 78 to 81. They have shrunk! Oz will appreciate
that I can't hoist high enough to engage the lock at
the top of the mast. Nor can I attach the foot to the
outhaul without two carbiners to make up the extra
length. These are not competitive racing sails--even
though the sail shape is better than most sails you
will see in service on other boats. They are also
heavy compared to newer sails.

OZ what do you think some 99 vintage Etchells sails are
worth?

I am looking forward to throwing out all the older sails!
I'd like to get a new suit of new sails, but can't afford
it at the moment.

Don told me the local Etchells "fleet" starts after the Star
Fleet. The local Etchells fleet fields only 3-4 boats
in a given race. It is a "******* fleet" compared with
the other Connecticut Etchells fleets which put a 12-16
on the line for fleet racing.

If I can get a crew trained and some new sails I may
start racing HOOT. Since I have what will probably be a
slow boat, I need to at least get a respectable trained
crew together, with new sails, before I make an
appearance. Perhaps later in the season, or next year,
My sail card is entirely open right now.

Has anyone else been sailing in the Northeast yet? Am I
the first?

Bart Senior