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Sailing the CS17


Sandy Dancer

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There are literally hundreds of quips about sailing these puppies, of course in an equal number of separate threads. Yeah, it would be nice to have an archive for them all in one location, though I wouldn't want to be the one that compiles them. A new "sailing attributes" thread will work, for a while, though eventually it'll get buried in the dozens of other threads that get added, monthly.

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Well until a new "sailing attributes" thread comes along I will keep on posting my sailing adventures. All comments will be appriciated and hopefully, to those who have not finished there build, the posts will add encouragement to finish by next sailing season. I'm not a big cold water enthusiast but i think we have some more good sailing days comming. The weather is forcast to improve.

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Wind blew hard again all day from the NE. I decided to give it a go and double reefed the main and left the Mizzen full. The first big gust made me turn around and head back into the cove. There I hove to just like ya'll said and put a reef in the mizzen. That was a pretty good set up except that both sails very loose and sheeting in was not a good idea. I am guessing the wind was 20 to 30 and honestly I I felt that I was not prepaired for sailing in wind over 20. Comments for sailing the cat ketch in these higher winds would be great.

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I case you haven't already been doing this - I liked to sail with the mizzen sheet cleated and the main sheet in my hand.  Having the sheet in my hand allows very quick sheet adjustments and (for me, anyway) greater confidence.

I wouldn't recommend sailing in wind that you don't enjoy.  It's supposed to be fun and with experience you'll find that you are comfortable in more and more varied conditions.  And towards that end, when you find a comfortable day with a moderate, steady breeze, play around with angles of heel.  Sit up on one rail and see how close you can get the other rail to the water before you get uncomfortable.  Don't go so far that you feel like you're going to roll the boat, just lay the boat over a bit.  I found that my CS17 seemed to sail best when it was pretty upright but I was surprised how far I could heel the boat without bringing water over the coaming.  I actually did get the coaming under water a few times without rolling the boat (and once I did roll the boat but that's a different story).

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  • 2 weeks later...

For higher winds, and assuming you mean sailing upwind:  Reef, of course. Then try to sail the boat flat rather than heeled up on its ear. So head up into the puffs, rather than trying to drive through them.  And don't pull the main in too far.  Keep the main sprit out at about the coaming edge or a little inboard.  The mizzen can be tight.  It takes some concentration to keep the boat from getting caught by a puff but it's so responsive you can head up a bit into the puff if you're paying attention.

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So far, with the caveat being that I haven't had enough on water time as I would like with my boat, I have discovered that going from full sail to 1st reef isn't too bad as I set up the reefing lines to the downhauls prior to leaving the dock.  I do the main first by loosening the snotter, lowering the sail a bit, pull the new downhaul tight, move the sprit to the new tab, raise sail.  Tack, then repeat with the mizzen on the opposite tack.  The biggest issue is for when I need to go to that 2nd reef.  By the time it's needed, it's usually getting pretty wild and moving the sprits to the 2nd tab on the main involves some skipper footwork and balance, as well as moving the downhaul to the third position on the sail.  I have only done this in practice of winds between 15-20 in anticipation of increasing winds (reef before you need to learned from sailing Cape Cod catboats), but not when it is actually needed.  When sailing with crew, this isn't too bad, but sailing solo I have found it challenging, yet doable.  I still have some lines to move around on the mizzen to make it more practical.  

My Off season project is to install slab reefing on the sprits, and add 2nd reef hooks for downhauls.  More spaghetti, but this would make the process safer and quicker.  

 

Love these boats with all the spaghetti.  There is nothing like looking at the smiling faces of the crew as I blast across a 2' deep sandbar going full blast under reefed sail with the board up.  Paul is right, keep the boat flat.  Flat is fast.  Nantucket sleigh rides rule.  

 

Any suggestions for making this easier are welcome.  Photos coming.  

 

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 I entered Sandy in the Manteo Wood boat show this past Saturday. She was one vote short of the peoples choice award, I think mainly because many of my family and friends showed up to vote. There were about 18 boats, many from the Eadenton area a few hours from here.

Anyway, a lot of people came by and some were familular with B & B Yacht design.  One showed be pictures of his Ocracoke 20 build, another was trying to decide between a shaprie and the Core Sound and another from Beauford NC worked for a boat museum that was gifted a Core Sound 20. For thoses whom I talked to who knew nothing about a Sprit Rigged Cat ketch were mystified by all the spaghetti and I think it put them off. My reefing is rigged like that on Carlita with a main downhaul and a second downhaul used for the frist or second reef. by stalling the boat with mizzen centered, the main loose and rudder tied off center I can go forward and switch the downhaul to the second reef position pretty safely, then get back in the cockpit and do as you have mentioned.

Aparently what wins boat shows is lots of varnish and a simple masthead rig.

 
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