paul_stewart

Ken, My friends down there will tell you "Chahleston is wheah th' Ashley and Coopa Rivahs come togetha to form the Atlantic Ocean" Spent many good times in the Charleston / Sullivans Island / Isle of Palms area but (sady) have never sailed there. Dawn has cruised the harbor via kayak, of course. I don't know of a wind forecast website good for Charleston specifically, but some of the usual suspects might give you a clue if you drill down to the Charleston area.... http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=111&regionProductID=30&timeOffset=-1 http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/WINDcast.aspx http://forecast.weather.gov http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=charleston%2C+sc&searchType=WEATHER Have a great time! What kinda boat(s) will you be sailing? CS17? OPB45 ? --Paul

Peter, Yes Graham does the very best surveys and I would rather have his survey than any other. However, my understanding was that the insurance company (e.g., USBoat) would want the opinion of a fully independent surveyor so that the survey not only assesses the quality of construction but also validates the seaworthiness of the design itself. If it's not a factory built plastic one-design listed on their application form, the insurance company has no clue about designs. They don't know the difference between a CS20 and a PDRacer. --Paul

Craig, Good questions. I'd like to hear from others on the forum about their experiences re. insuring the homebuilt boat. BoatUS rep told me on the phone that I do need a marine survey as a prerequisite to insuring our CS20 --which we launched March 1, 2008. Getting a survey is still on my to-do list. My long-time State Farm home-&-car agent said they don't do homebuilt boats. Marine survey: insurance companies want to know that the boat is sea worthy --as if their primary concern is that you expensive sailing vessel might sink. I tend to focus my concern on risks while trailering it in traffic. And the marine surveyor must be one that is acceptable to the insurance company. Good point, Ray. "Where do you draw the line?" is, to me, an open question. --Paul

Keiffer, CS20 rowing? We have found that any one of us can row our CS20 at 2.5+ knots using our 11' oars. (That's on flat water with no wind. Of course, rowing against a current 'feels' the same, just as walking on a treadmill 'feels' normal, while rowing into a 10 knot headwind feels like "Yikes! I can't pull these oars through the water at all!" Rowing with both oars is slightly faster than rowing with one; however, rowing with both hands on one oar is easier and requires less skill. Putting one oar in a transom oarlock and sculling is slower but works well for easing up to a dock.) CS20 in the garage? We used a hinged trailer tongue to allow our CS20 to fit in our 20'-long garage. http://www.messing-about.com/forums/index.php?topic=5825.msg59915#msg59915 --Paul

In the Vandemere - Oriental - New Bern neighborhood: The EYE crew and their Rhodes Reliant yawl entered the Bay River at ~4:40 pm today (Nov 5th). They are sailing/motoring south down the ICW from Hampton Roads, VA, and will pause for a day this weekend in New Bern, NC. Then on down the ICW. No doubt the recent cooler weather is giving them plenty of incentive to hurry on down to Florida. (SPOT tracking.... http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0GUXQ3ENdaaGxgWs5xEDJAObbvvKbGfCj). --Paul

Next year for sure. So sorry we missed out on all the fun. I love the way Graham keeps the mainsheet in hand at all times (photo below)

More photos here on the "family and friends" website .... http://ffeyeotw.blogspot.com/ and more photos here.... http://www.dreyfusphoto.com/webgallery/eyeoftheworld/index.html SPOT tracking here.... http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0GUXQ3ENdaaGxgWs5xEDJAObbvvKbGfCj The fine photo below was made by photographer Steve Early (who lives near Chesapeake, VA, and cruises in the "Spartina" Pathfinder. His crusing blog is highly recommended.... http://logofspartina.blogspot.com http://logofspartina.blogspot.com/2009/10/fisherman-island.html http://logofspartina.blogspot.com/2009/10/day-one-backdoor-cold-front.html ).

A few photos from launch day on November 2, 2009.... Link... http://www.eyeotw.org/2009/11/next-stop-world.html

All, SWMBO speaks the truth. Can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am that we will miss the B&B Mess-About this time. Will be busy helping Alan and his crew to launch their global circumnavigation for their Eye-of-the-World educational program. If any of you would like to write to Alan with complaints (about us not being at the mess-about) or with advice and recommendations about globe trotting (and how to do it safely with no money), please feel free.... Alan Stewart: alanosauras at gmail dot com

Ken, Thank you, Helpy Helperton, for a minute there I thought I almost had Joe convinced, almost, maybe. Tis true I did not see the sun come up Sunday. They probably never entirely leave the forested parts of the Driftwood Campground. --Paul

Joe, By the way I thought you would like to know that I did not see any mosquitos during the NC Challenge --not even on Cedar Island. Not one. Someone said the light rains we had keep them down during our ride through the Harlowe. I suppose the wind blew them away from us while in the Beaufort, Harkers Island, Back Sound, and Core Sound areas. Just a temporary phenomenon for sure. --Paul

Chris, Here are some photos from the Harlowe waterway (Neuse River -> Clubfoot Creek -> Harlowe Canal -> Harlowe Creek -> James River). It is about 10 miles from the mouth of Clubfoot Creek to the mouth of Harlowe Creek. That section is beautiful and one of my favorite parts of the NC Challenge course. The variety of water enviroments and conditions is a wonderful feature of the NC Challenge: first into wide open waters of the Pamlico around Piney Island and its bombing range, to the placid and/or thunderstorm-ravaged Neuse river, to the quiet tree-tunnels of the Harlowe Canal and its three low bridges, to the busy harbor at Beaufort Inlet, to the senic and gusty Beaufort waterfront on Taylor Creek, to the navigational challenges and wet wild ride in Core Sound, to the welcoming beach at the finish line. The Clubfoot Creek trees and grasses have that freshwater river appearance, while Harlowe Creek winds around through green and tan saltmarsh grasses. The middle section, the hand-dug Harlowe Canal, is arrow-straight with high banks and shaded by tree-tunnels. We did not have wind in the middle 6-7 miles of the waterway (Harlowe Canal). We were kept cool while rowing by the overcast sky and light rains that fell. Very nice. More photos and videos are here on the WaterTribe website and more will be posted: http://www.watertribe.com/Events/ChallengeViewer.aspx Also some here in the "Cedar Island" album: https://www.photoshop.com/?user=littleberry&galleryid=75061c410a7d4f998d65b1246b2201c5&wf=share&trackingid=BTAGC --Paul

Peter HK, Here is the auto-release clam cleat. Release pressure is adjustable. http://www.clamcleat.com/cleats/cleat_details.asp?theid2=78

Bob, In regard to your comment that "...foldup type rudders no matter how you build them just don't stay fixed when the sailing gets faster. The dagger type doesn't have that problem..." Previously I thought you were referring to your rudder as being of the foldup type but now I see that you refer to your rudder as as being of the dagger type. I had never heard it called "foldup rudder" but perhaps that is what you would call the rudder I have on our CS20. However, it has no trouble staying down and fixed when sailing at high speed. It is equipped with a downhaul line held in a breakaway clam cleat, and it has an uphaul line.

Bob, Re. "The real problem with the fold up type of rudder is that it is hard to really keep down." Would it help to install some lead in the rudder to make it somewhat less buoyant? Is it a buoyancy issue? The length of the keel is shortened to accommodate the motor well. It would have extended to the transom. Any thoughts about the effects of that? I would imagine having less keel surface means slightly more side-slip but faster turns. You extended the cabin roof at the coamings. Did you do that to provide a dryer ride? How did that idea arise? How is it walking around the cabin when you want to go up to the bow? --Paul

Joe, I found helpful: (1) In that situation you mentioned ("lost the main sheet ... it was short and ended up flying and the main went out"), on our CS20 a figure-8 knot on each end of the sheet is caught by a fairlead near the main-sheet cleat. (2) Learned to give more attention now and then to balancing the lengths on each side. (3) Replaced the line I was using as the main sheet with an much longer line. The extra length has not caused any tangling problems and the generous length is more forgiving. [by the way... Originally the line I obtained from B&B was intended to be cut into two pieces: one for the main sheet, one for the mizzen sheet. I procrastinated on deciding where to cut it and for a long time we had it running through the mizzen rigging and main rigging without being cut --worked fine. When I finally figured out how long the mizzen sheet should be, I decided to purchase a new length of line from B&B to use for the mizzen. The original (uncut) line was then dedicated to serving as the main sheet. ]

Bob, I agree with Wes that your "First Attempt" looks terrific. Knowing that every feature of a boat has its advantages and disadvantages, I'm looking forward to hearing about your insights about the performance of the boat. It always becomes painfully clear to me that every 'great' idea I have for our CS20 has associated costs in terms of added weight, complexity, disadvantages, etc. So almost every 'great' idea I have bites the dust --it is hard to improve on a good design. For example, I like the looks of the splash guards that extend aft from the cabin along the coamings, and at the same time I know that they make for a dryer ride but also prevent the crew from hiking out (sitting on the coaming near the cabin) in high winds; does that mean you have to feather the sails or reef more extensively than you would if you could hike out? Or for example, I like the looks of your transom and the rudder system, but I often sail in very shallow waters and feel that I would need to have a pivoted rudder blade that rotates up when it strikes bottom --rather than one that kicks "backward a little" and "upward a lot". On the other hand when my rudder starts dragging on the bottom I usually have to manually retract it to an appropriate position, so..... I'd love to hear how your rudder system performs in shallow-water sailing; and, do you do much shallow-water sailing? Please do tell us all about your boat's features and please share your adventures here on the forum. --Paul

Bob, You made my day and put a smile on my face. What a treat. Thanks for sharing! The posted photos are too small to see well but the links work great! Wow. I just wish I could be there to take a ride on your boat. Oh well. Congratulations again on this "interesting" (really really cool) accomplishment. You should be very proud. (Those links again are... http://photos.msn.com/Viewing/Album.aspx?PST=8nK2AN1B!1JmZao!iR2Cw*a8p5x4jPLNm9GV2lUUCRjlxqEPEFForAdNroTtBK60sJpfaVj26JITaum2JtOqEw%24%24 http://photos.msn.com/Viewing/Album.aspx?PST=8nK2AN1B!1JmZao!iR2Cw*a8p5x4jPLNm9GV2lUUCRg8S21tyLjOrCvj6XstkLIpWgUozcxp8sMZCmPT7G00EQ%24%24 The nice thing is that those websites let us easily download all those [higher res.] photos for close viewing. You know I did!)

Bob, Thanks for the overview. Looking forward to detail photos! --Paul

Yes yes yes! more please !

Re: Scouting the WaterTribe

Re: Scouting the WaterTribe

Re: Scouting the WaterTribe

Re: Scouting the WaterTribe

Bob, Yeah yeah yeah.... but tell us about the downside of this prefectly AWESOME boat! For example, everywhere you go those crowds of people that drool all over it. (Those luckly lucky lucky people. All we can do is wait for the pictures.) You probably have to keep a mop handy. Kidding aside, surely we are one and all very happy for you. Well done! Looking forward to more photos and comments! --Paul