River sailing question
 

I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?

River sailing question
 

On Tue, 1 Aug 2006 02:15:45 -0400, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?


Unfamiliar with this river. If it has a decent breadth, and if the
current is not too great, it would be as suitable as the many rivers
that are sailed by dinghies and small sailboats.

Brian Whatcott Altus OK

River sailing question
 

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?


Wonder where your predominate winds come from?
If they blow right down the river...that would be easy sailing half the
time and hard sloging the other half.
If the winds blow across the river, you have it made. A nice beam reach
coming & going. How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

River sailing question
 

"Don White" wrote
How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg

River sailing question
 

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


Ernest Scribbler wrote:
It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg


Looks like more than 200 yards to me, but it's a pretty
place. The one thing I'd say about sailing here is to expect
the wind to be flukey because of the hills... other than
that, go for it!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

River sailing question
 

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg



I'd sail a smaller boat there, assuming it's at least 4 feet deep most
places. With a small outboard you can just motor back against the wind
if you tire of tacking.

River sailing question
 

Don't bother.
G
"Don White" wrote in message
...
Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a
dozen words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking
upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg



I'd sail a smaller boat there, assuming it's at least 4 feet deep most
places. With a small outboard you can just motor back against the wind if
you tire of tacking.

River sailing question
 

Don't bother sailing the river, or don't bother motoring back? G
--
Mike Harris
Austin, TX

"G&G" wrote in message
...
Don't bother.
G
"Don White" wrote in message
...
Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At
my house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth
a dozen words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking
upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg



I'd sail a smaller boat there, assuming it's at least 4 feet deep most
places. With a small outboard you can just motor back against the wind if
you tire of tacking.

River sailing question
 

I sail a 29' bilge keeler sloop on the St. John river, in New
Brunswick. I keep it at my cottage in Evandale.

We are in the tidal estuary, so we get reversing tidal flows of 3-4 kt,
but water levels range only about 2' normally, thanks to the protection
offered by the reversing falls at the mouth of the river, in the port
city of St. John. I use a cable ferry to get out to the mooring, and
sail as often as I can, though this year I am recuperating from
pancreas surgurey, so the boat is on the back yard on it's trailer.

I use a self tending jib to make sailing easier and more efficient when
beating against the wind and current. The St. John is perhaps half a
mile wide in spots. The wind direction relative to the river varies
with location as the river winds a bit and it is turbulent near the
banks, all part of the fun.

We have not yet explored all that we might get to. We have spent weeks
at a time sailing our river and it's lakes. It is beautiful and
relaxing.

For day sails, we mostly go up current, and up wind to start, if
possible.

I look foreward to shooting the falls and going to the island of Grand
Manan, my wife's childhood home some time.

I hope you will enjoy sailing anywhere you go.

Terry K

River sailing question
 

"Ernest Scribbler" wrote in message
et...
"Don White" wrote
How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a
dozen words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking
upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg


Looks like fun sailing to me...

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

River sailing question
 

I have traveled the turnpike for over thirty years and enjoyed the
scenery and the tow boats. I am sure you know tow boats do not see
small boats very well. So the biggest problem you may have will be the
other traffic.

Just remember that a sail boat under sail does not maneuver as well as a
small motor boat.

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?

River sailing question
 

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote
How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg

I used to sail 23' Sonars in the Charles River tidal basin between
Boston and Cambridge. The tall buildings make the winds variable and
unpredictable, but there is no significant current or commercial traffic
(this was before the Duck Tours started). Not sure how wide it is in
the tidal basin, but it looks similar to your pictures. Lots of
beginners learn to sail there, so it can't be too hard.

Click on CBI CAM for pictures: http://www.community-boating.org

--
Chuck Cox - SynchroSystems - Synchro.com
,
my email is politician-proof, just remove the PORK

River sailing question
 

"keith_nuttle" wrote
I have traveled the turnpike for over thirty years and enjoyed the scenery
and the tow boats. I am sure you know tow boats do not see small boats
very well. So the biggest problem you may have will be the other traffic.

I'm familiar with barge traffic and the need to stay clear of it from
motorboating and canoeing on the river. I figure careless power boaters are
probably a greater safety concern. (Barges/tugs don't generally make a lot
of sudden moves.)

River sailing question
 

"Mike Harris" wrote
Don't bother sailing the river, or don't bother motoring back? G

If it's the latter, maybe I should think about a bigger boat ...

River sailing question
 

Terry,
I'm curious about your cable ferry to your mooring.
Can you describe ?

"Terry K" wrote in message
oups.com...
I sail a 29' bilge keeler sloop on the St. John river, in New
Brunswick. I keep it at my cottage in Evandale.

We are in the tidal estuary, so we get reversing tidal flows of 3-4 kt,
but water levels range only about 2' normally, thanks to the protection
offered by the reversing falls at the mouth of the river, in the port
city of St. John. I use a cable ferry to get out to the mooring, and
sail as often as I can, though this year I am recuperating from
pancreas surgurey, so the boat is on the back yard on it's trailer.

I use a self tending jib to make sailing easier and more efficient when
beating against the wind and current. The St. John is perhaps half a
mile wide in spots. The wind direction relative to the river varies
with location as the river winds a bit and it is turbulent near the
banks, all part of the fun.

We have not yet explored all that we might get to. We have spent weeks
at a time sailing our river and it's lakes. It is beautiful and
relaxing.

For day sails, we mostly go up current, and up wind to start, if
possible.

I look foreward to shooting the falls and going to the island of Grand
Manan, my wife's childhood home some time.

I hope you will enjoy sailing anywhere you go.

Terry K

River sailing question
 

Garland Gray II wrote:
Terry,
I'm curious about your cable ferry to your mooring.
Can you describe ?


The cable ferry I made consists of 6 oil barrels bound up with
champhered rough sawn cedar planks and steel strapping into two 10 foot
tubular floats hung together with figure of eight chains, topped with
each two 5X5 foot cedar plank decks, all dissassembled and retrieved
for wintering ashore and launched and assembled in the spring by two
people in gumboots. A steel clothesline is tied to a tree and the
mooring chain, to enable it's easy location and servicing after the
spring thaw, also serves to propel the floating dock between shore and
mooring, about 150 feet from shore. Rubber work gloves improve one's
grip on the wet cable.

I do not know how long the clothesline will last in fresh water, but we
do have clotheslines at home probably 25 years old and still ok. A
sinking nylon line serves as backup. It's year three, to date.

I do not know how long the unpainted plain black steel strapping wll
last, in fresh water and mud and acid rain ashore. I estimate at least
5 years, and will restrap early. Next time I will try some stainless
strapping. I used a borrowed (demo) strapping machine from Gerard Oval
Strapping. The tool is about 1200 bucks and uses no clips. Works a
treat. The planks are 5 inches wide, use each 13 - 10 footers (I
staggered 26 - 5 footers, they were on sale cheap) to encompass the
barrels, with one of about 3 inches, trimmed to make it all snug
together. Striking appearance.

Next, I anticipate another dock to be left at the mooring, possibly
with electricity from a shore cable, and possibly with a water turbine
hung below in the tidal flow, to send power ashore, made from a
differential axel and drive shaft to a generator on the raft. Maybe a
bunch, and commercial docking. Maybe a shape that doesn't need
wintering the ice ashore and commercial nets, even a fish farm?


"Terry K" wrote in message
oups.com...
I sail a 29' bilge keeler sloop on the St. John river, in New
Brunswick. I keep it at my cottage in Evandale.

We are in the tidal estuary, so we get reversing tidal flows of 3-4 kt,
but water levels range only about 2' normally, thanks to the protection
offered by the reversing falls at the mouth of the river, in the port
city of St. John. I use a cable ferry to get out to the mooring, and
sail as often as I can, though this year I am recuperating from
pancreas surgurey, so the boat is on the back yard on it's trailer.

I use a self tending jib to make sailing easier and more efficient when
beating against the wind and current. The St. John is perhaps half a
mile wide in spots. The wind direction relative to the river varies
with location as the river winds a bit and it is turbulent near the
banks, all part of the fun.

We have not yet explored all that we might get to. We have spent weeks
at a time sailing our river and it's lakes. It is beautiful and
relaxing.

For day sails, we mostly go up current, and up wind to start, if
possible.

I look foreward to shooting the falls and going to the island of Grand
Manan, my wife's childhood home some time.

I hope you will enjoy sailing anywhere you go.

Terry K

River sailing question
 

I saw your pictures. I race on the Columbia River here in Portland and
love it. The currant is sometimes a little challenging, but we are
usually in my Soling or in a Cal 20 and A 3 ½ horse motor does fine.
Looking at your pictures, and the fact that you have your own doc, it
seems a crime not to have some sort of sailboat. Do you see others
sailing? If yes, ask them what type of boat they would recommend. It
looks perfect for some sort of gaff rigged wooden boat and something
good to drink.

John
Pangea

River sailing question
 

Very good.
From time to time I have played w/ the idea of something similar. We have
little distance to go, so @ present just use a kayak to the mooring, then
bring the boat back.
I do want to build a floating dock that can be somewhat dismantled.

"Terry K" wrote in message
oups.com...

Garland Gray II wrote:
Terry,
I'm curious about your cable ferry to your mooring.
Can you describe ?


The cable ferry I made consists of 6 oil barrels bound up with
champhered rough sawn cedar planks and steel strapping into two 10 foot
tubular floats hung together with figure of eight chains, topped with
each two 5X5 foot cedar plank decks, all dissassembled and retrieved
for wintering ashore and launched and assembled in the spring by two
people in gumboots. A steel clothesline is tied to a tree and the
mooring chain, to enable it's easy location and servicing after the
spring thaw, also serves to propel the floating dock between shore and
mooring, about 150 feet from shore. Rubber work gloves improve one's
grip on the wet cable.

I do not know how long the clothesline will last in fresh water, but we
do have clotheslines at home probably 25 years old and still ok. A
sinking nylon line serves as backup. It's year three, to date.

I do not know how long the unpainted plain black steel strapping wll
last, in fresh water and mud and acid rain ashore. I estimate at least
5 years, and will restrap early. Next time I will try some stainless
strapping. I used a borrowed (demo) strapping machine from Gerard Oval
Strapping. The tool is about 1200 bucks and uses no clips. Works a
treat. The planks are 5 inches wide, use each 13 - 10 footers (I
staggered 26 - 5 footers, they were on sale cheap) to encompass the
barrels, with one of about 3 inches, trimmed to make it all snug
together. Striking appearance.

Next, I anticipate another dock to be left at the mooring, possibly
with electricity from a shore cable, and possibly with a water turbine
hung below in the tidal flow, to send power ashore, made from a
differential axel and drive shaft to a generator on the raft. Maybe a
bunch, and commercial docking. Maybe a shape that doesn't need
wintering the ice ashore and commercial nets, even a fish farm?


"Terry K" wrote in message
oups.com...
I sail a 29' bilge keeler sloop on the St. John river, in New
Brunswick. I keep it at my cottage in Evandale.

We are in the tidal estuary, so we get reversing tidal flows of 3-4 kt,
but water levels range only about 2' normally, thanks to the protection
offered by the reversing falls at the mouth of the river, in the port
city of St. John. I use a cable ferry to get out to the mooring, and
sail as often as I can, though this year I am recuperating from
pancreas surgurey, so the boat is on the back yard on it's trailer.

I use a self tending jib to make sailing easier and more efficient when
beating against the wind and current. The St. John is perhaps half a
mile wide in spots. The wind direction relative to the river varies
with location as the river winds a bit and it is turbulent near the
banks, all part of the fun.

We have not yet explored all that we might get to. We have spent weeks
at a time sailing our river and it's lakes. It is beautiful and
relaxing.

For day sails, we mostly go up current, and up wind to start, if
possible.

I look foreward to shooting the falls and going to the island of Grand
Manan, my wife's childhood home some time.

I hope you will enjoy sailing anywhere you go.

Terry K

River sailing question
 

In article ,
"Ernest Scribbler" wrote:

I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?

River sailing can be frustrating, but it's a fantastic learning
experience. Just about anyone can sail with steady breezes, you'll learn
to work the shifts. I'd say go for it.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/