PadrePoint

I would prefer having a spreader/rounded/boxy tent approach to avoid a narrow inverted V shape. My imagination comes up with various ways to do this but I’ve not managed to conceive actual details on HOW that could be done. It’ll be an “ongoing theoretical problem” for my brain to play with. Steve, do I recall that your son came up with a tarp approach with two flexible poles going between the opposite corners for your CS20.3? I thought I saw something like that for shade and some protection for sleeping on the cockpit seats. I just learned that a friend (I did his wedding and his wife worked with my wife) is retiring from the local police force and wishes to expand a side business of his: making custom boat covers. I guess he enjoys solving the challenges of making two dimension material work effectively in three dimensional purposes. It might be fun for me to hire him for a tent project for Core Sounds. I like what I have come up with so far but I enjoy at least imagining other solutions.

A Tent for a Core Sound 17 This boat was beautifully built by a guy in Michigan and sold to a Florida person who has created a tent. I hope to see it some day, at least more photos and maybe a video of putting it in place.

My friend put one of my boats in the water yesterday for some easy sailing. He lives near Asheville, North Carolina. He is stabling, feeding, and exercising Avocet. He is also making some some alterations and improvements while he has it. He is about to start a project to extend the centerboard trunk forward by ten inches to move the centerboard forward. Whew!!

Some Thoughts for next season One thing I would like to do next season is to try out various Wisconsin lakes and to do some overnight “cruises”. Overnight — One night or so? Some of these ventures might be planned a ways ahead of time… but weather is always a total unknown when planning well before the event. Perhaps some these little events could be close to spontaneous on occasion. Maybe that means an email like: ”I will do an overnight on Pentenwell Lake on ?? (tomorrow … or a couple days), launching at ?? landing at ?? (time). Weather looks good. Anyone wish to join in?” Day Sailing Retired folks have the advantage of more open schedules that could allow for spontaneous day sailing the next day or so… or later in the day with a morning notice. Could we figure out a way to send open invites through email? I s’pose, for instance, I could get some email addresses from club-wide emails. Maybe a “group” mailing for those interested in receiving spontaneous or short notice “events” could work. Kinda musing here. Sail With the Lake Wisota Club I’ve initiated some communication with the Sailing Club on Lake Wisota north of Eau Claire. It’s a friendly bunch of people with a full array of boat types. I think they do some racing on Saturdays., and perhaps we could join them once or twice. It’s a two hour drive from here and do-able for a day trip, or camping overnight on one’s boat or somewhere else on the Friday before. Some Places I Think Could Be Interesting (for a Day Sail or an Overnight) Lake Winnebago Trout Lake near (Boulder Junction) Petenwell Lake Castle Rock Lake Lake Mendota Lake Nokomis (Tomahawk) Lake Kishkonong (Fort Atkinson) Geneva Lake Lake Pepin Shawano Lake AND, of course, Lake DuBay

Dennis sent this email to members. A link to a Survey Monkey (5 questions) is at the bottom of his note. Thanks for doing this, Dennis. We might be able to post the survey information in a post below. Also, you may add posts to this thread with thoughts for next year’s sailing season. I still haven’t posted a “how to” thread to this post. Soon? Ted Johanson (PadrePoint) __________________________________________ We are getting to that time of year when we set up the club calendar for next season. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey below and let us know what kind of events you would like to see on the calendar for this season. There are only 5 questions, and there are no wrong answers. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KTP95PF Thank you in advance for your input. Dennis

A few guys take a three day sail near Sydney, Australia. These kinds of videos inspire me to learn how to create videos of adventures I hope to do this coming season with my two Core Sounds.

By Mike Koss, LDBSA An Isle Royale Adventure July 19 On Sunday July 19 2015, three of us from Lake Dubay Sailing Association left the serene confines of lake Dubay in Central Wisconsin, to brave the wilds of Isle Royale National Park, located in the northwest of Lake Superior. Bill Jones trailered his Hunter 23, and Chuck Jagodinski and I trailered my Catalina 22, Blewboat, up to Grand Portage, Minnesota, and put in at the friendly little marina at the campground/Casino there. As Bill had been to Isle Royale once before years ago, and is a savvy experienced big-water sailor, we drafted him as our official guide. July 20 The next morning, we departed Grand Portage marina, bound for Windigo Harbor, at the end of the long inlet of Washington Harbor on the southwest end of the island. Winds were light and variable, so we motor sailed most of the 20 or so nautical miles on a course of east by south, taking about 4-5 hours for the crossing, which was sunny, warm and uneventful. We tied up at the NPS dock, and checked in at the visitor center there and took in the exhibits at the center. We then moved to our assigned docks and settled in, doing a little hiking and dingy exploring, taking in this extraordinary wilderness. All in all, a gorgeous day. July 21 The next day, Tuesday morning, we checked weather at the Park Service, which looked favorable, and departed Windigo Harbor, starting on a clockwise circumnavigation of Isle Royale, heading northeast for McCargoe Cove, about a 20-mile jaunt along an unforgiving rocky coast, staying about a mile offshore for most of the way, until we GPS’d to the cove entrance, which is narrow, zig-zaggy, but well-marked with buoys. It is worth noting that McCargoe Cove is named after a British Naval Captain who hid a 90- ton brigantine in the cove in order to keep it out of American hands during the War of 1812. They must have kedged it in through the entrance. The cove widens out after the entrance, but not wide enough to tack a 90-ton sailing vessel, so there must have been a lot rowing involved unless the wind direction was perfect. To make a long story short, we motored down the 2-mile length of McCargoe Cove, and tied up at the NPS dock there. We shared some camaraderie and beers with a group of the most bug-bitten backpackers I’ve ever seen- they had bites on bites. The weather by this time had turned cloudy/rainy cool, so we put up boom tents against the rain, and retreated inside, warm and dry in the extended cabins. July 22 The next morning dawned cold and foggy, but calm, having rained on and off through most of the night. We got an early start, as Bill indicated he wanted to be on the south side of the island by early afternoon before any really bad weather had a chance to blow up. I had recently purchased a chartplotting GPS shortly before this trip, but never had to rely on the chartplotting part of it to navigate. This morning the fog was so thick that we would not have been able to move without it. We did not have radar, but chartplotting GPS was the next best thing. In the narrow confines of McCargoe Cove, and later running up the Amygdaloid Channel toward Blake Point at the far northeast tip of the island, we often could not see land even though we were maybe 100 yards from it. As we made our way northeast, the fog began to lift, and we rounded Blake Point well offshore and turned to the southeast, finding the long fiord of Tobin Harbor, we anchored about 2-3 miles in, secure from any wind save northeast. By then the day had turned sunny and pleasant, so we dinghied into the seaplane dock there, and walked the short distance to Rock Harbor Lodge, with its small sundry store which caters to backpackers and tour boat guests. There is also a small hotel with a nice restaurant there, as well as transient dockage. Isle Royale seemed to have two weather zones during our visit- the cold wet foggy north side and the sunny warm south side. Because the water in this northern part of the lake is cold (in the 40’sF cold, even in the summer), fog banks would roll through every few minutes. The temperatures would dip dramatically, fog would roll through, and leave just as quickly, the sun would come back out and warm up immediately- very strange compared to the mainland. July 23 We spent a quiet night on board at anchor in Tobin Harbor, and got going the next morning, retracing our course out of Tobin Harbor to make the run down the length of Rock Harbor with a following northeast breeze, wing and wing the whole way. We found the NPS dock at West Caribou Island, near the Middle Islands Passage, and tied up for the night in midafternoon. Bill knew of an old cemetery located on a little island just off of our dock, so we dinghied over to check it out. The approach to this island is very shallow and rocky, so care is needed, even with shallow draft. The 3-4 gravesites have a little fence around them, and the markers are unreadable, but I would guess they have been there for over a hundred years. From there we dinghied about a mile away to a former commercial fishing operation and lighthouse at Middle Passage. The view of Middle Passage from the top of the lighthouse is worth the climb- stunning in good weather, which we had. The wind had started picking up on the way down to the fishing camp, and Blewboat’s dinghy had all it could handle, so I asked Chuck to Ride with Bill (who’s dingy had larger pontoons). We spent an uneventful night tied up at the NPS Dock. July 24 The next morning, we continued our circumnavigation, headed the 20 or so miles southeast to Hay Bay, where we found another NPS dock to tie up to for the night. Hay bay is a sheltered, if somewhat buggy place, with shallow water and some weeds. At the head of the bay is a small stream which Chuck and I were able to explore for a few hundred yards upstream by dingy. July 25 The next morning, we headed out across Siskiwit bay, rounding Point Houghton to once again head southeast in light winds staying about a half mile off shore, past Long Point, Rainbow Point and Cumberland Point, getting into Grace Harbor late in the afternoon when we hit the first thunderstorm of the trip, fortunately in relatively sheltered water. We got wet, but made out way back into Washington Harbor and thence back to Windigo, where we started our circle, and tied up once again for the night. July 26 The next morning, we awoke, had breakfast on board, and went up to the Park office to check weather (as I recall). I don’t specifically recall what the forecast called for- probably for chance of showers late in the afternoon- nothing alarming as I recall. (Or we would not have left Windigo that day) As I recall, we got a later start than I would have liked, but when we got out of Washington Harbor and out onto the main Lake for the 20-mile hike back to Grand Portage, the sky was clear, with winds about 10 kts out of the southwest, more or less running up the western Lake Superior shoreline. Waves were running about 2 feet, very manageable for Blewboat and Bill’s Hunter 23. I think it was around 10:00 when we entered the lake proper, on a course of 282 degrees. Sailing was great, with Blewboat at full mainsail and 100% jib, doing 5-plus knots on a close reach, towing her dinghy. At some point we saw the sky to the north of the Island getting dark, and sure enough, thunderstorms were building- four distinct, scary- as- hell-looking cells, in a line from southwest to northeast, coming off of the Canadian shore, evidently heading our way. The inrush ahead of the squall line added to the existing south-westly wind flow. As we proceeded, the wind picked to 12kts, 15 kts, 20kts & more, and Blewboat was getting to be a handful with that much sail up. Chuck and I took turns at the helm, but for some reason we did not reef- I think we thought the wind was probably temporary and would settle down, and we would wish we’d have left the sail up. Big mistake. About that time, we noticed that Bill had headed south of our position- we tried but failed to reach him on VHF to find out his intentions. By this time the wind was so loud that I doubt he ever heard our radio calls. As it turns out, Bill had started his motor to head south into the wind in order to get a better line for Grand Portage- by heading south he could bear off of the close reach and take the wind and waves (which were building rapidly) more on the beam, (Did I mention that Bill is a really cagey sailor?) Chuck and I continued to bash into wind and waves on a close reach to the point where taking the jib down was obviously necessary, but dangerous in those conditions. We waited waaay too long to reef. Chuck and I had taken turns going forward on deck, and it was my turn. Breakers had built from 3 feet to 5 or more when I crawled out on deck with harness and tether, and clipped onto the bail ring at the base of the mast. The motion at the mast was extreme, with breakers coming down on the bow. I remember looking up at the tops of the waves as I struggled to uncleat the jib halyard, move out to the pulpit and pull the jib down. As I was attempting to do this, a strong gust knocked us down, and I slid downhill off the boat into the water, attached to the boat by my tether, which was running up over my head to the mast. I still believe to this day, not to be too dramatic, that I would have died that day had it not been for my harness and tether. In those conditions, there is no way that Chuck or anybody else would have been able to handle the boat by themselves to turn around and find me in those waves before I froze to death. The surface water temp, which I had checked earlier in the day out of curiosity, was 43F. I used the tether like a rope to pull myself back up on deck, pulled the jib down and tied it off to the pulpit, and crawled back to the cockpit. By this time, it did not look like we would be able to lay Grand Portage Bay, and in the interest of getting the hell out of there, started the engine in order to point higher. Even with the engine running, we never did lay Grand Portage Bay, but were forced north, narrowly missing the rocks of Lucille and Susie Islands, to finally find shelter behind the sheer vertical rock cliff of Hat Point at the entrance to Wauswaugoning Bay, one Bay to the north of Grand Portage Bay. Once there, the sea state went to almost flat, with no wind, like another world. It was then I realized I was shaking uncontrollably, the sure sign of hypothermia. Chuck had put foul weather gear on before the crap really hit the fan, and so was in better shape temp-wise than I was. I went below and stripped off all the wet stuff and got into dry clothes, and felt better immediately. Crisis averted, the squall line passed overhead, and it rained very hard, straight down, no wind, positively weird. We then motored out around Hat Point toward Grand Portage Marina, the wind having dropped to zero, and the seas becoming round-topped and decaying. We motored to the marina in less than an hour, and tied up where Bill was waiting for us. The Harbor Master was afraid for Bill when he made it in, he looked hypothermic. The harbormaster was afraid for us as well, and made several radio calls to check on us, but we never heard the calls. I don’t know if it was because of a faulty radio or the screaming wind- if the radio was working, I don’t think we would have heard it. As that day went on, we found out that the squall line (which was not forecast) eventually encompassed the western half of Lake Superior and clobbered the Apostle Islands a few hours later. Lessons learned: Reef Early, reef often. We waited way too long to take in sail. I already knew this, but wear a harness and a tether, and clip onto the boat when going on deck. If it gets rough, clip on even in the cockpit. Your life may depend on it. Put on foul weather gear or at least have it handy if you think you are going to get wet. The day was actually warm, around eighty degrees, but the water was frigid. If you can stay dry, you can stay warm and stave off hypothermia. With wind on wet skin, it does not have to be cold- If you get too cold, you are in real trouble. Instead of bashing into wind and waves to get to a certain point on a map (get-home-it is), we would have been better off to do what Bill did and make a detour to get a better point of sail, or turn away from the land that we narrowly missed, and head away from shore, take down all sail, and ride it out. I found out that Blewboat can handle worse weather than her crew can. Make sure your VHF is in good working order. Make sure everything is in good working order, or don’t go. Would I do this again? Absolutely, but smarter next time… Mike Blewboat

Best of all worlds, I guess.

And even more fun… I don’t have to think at all about how to do this.

This guy has a number of videos with a dinghy cruising emphasis.

Small Craft Advisor created a virtual boat show in which its members can write up a few things about their sailboat. They invited us to send in an article. Then email letters went out with a variety of submitted boats and articles. Today, I spotted in the latest Small Craft Advisor email that Dennis submitted about his beautiful Chebacco build: Chebacco, Dennis Gamble: “Here's a recent photo of my Chebacco 20 Moonshine. My first modification was to add a short bowsprit and jib with a roller furler. With the jib set and the mizzen tweaked just right, she will self-steer for minutes at a time. The lead of the mizzen sheets is not ideal. Off the wind, given half a chance, she'll hook the motor. A boomkin might be in order.” The photo Dennis submitted is one I took of him in his Moonshine with a couple guests heading up the river to the Highway 34 bridge. It was a really beautiful evening… and a nice shot of his boat. Dennis on the other hand took a photo of MY boat as well when my wife and I passed by him. It’s one of my favorite photos… thank you Dennis. (The photo of my wife and me in Norma T is below.) This is the article I submitted that was included in an earlier email from Small Craft Advisory: B&B Core Sound 15, Ted Johanson: “When I retired in 2020 I stumbled upon the BandBYachtDesigns.com website and bought the full kit of their Core Sound 15 sailboat. The “stimulus” checks my wife and I received during COVID covered most of the kit cost, and stimulated a great small business. The kit had everything needed (except for screws, nuts, and bolts to mount the the fittings.) All pieces were exactly cut and fit together beautifully. The boat was finished and launched within 3 months of my getting the kit home. Some reasons that I enjoy this boat so much: 1. Alan Stewart of B&B made a series of twenty videos that taught and showed me every step in building the boat… ‘I can DO this!!’ 2. I appreciate all of the coaching and answered questions offered by B&B during the building process. 3. I like how the cat ketch boat sails and how the hull moves through the water. 4. Set up at the boat launch takes ten or fifteen minutes, unless someone comes up to inquire about my boat… a frequent occurrence, but I enjoy talking about the boat. 5. I can pull it to the lake with my very small car and can push the boat around my yard for storage. 6. The CS15 can comfortably hold 5 or 6 people with the wide open cockpit and seating. 7. It seems like a safe boat and will not ‘turtle’ with the mast float. 8. My wife and family enjoy sailing it.” Yep, I really like the above photo that Dennis sent me. The second photo — below — came from somebody on the committee boat during a race: So, yes, these two boat builders feel good about their sailboats and enjoy sailing them.

Not one of ours, just a scary time: (A note: I’m not sure why jibing was the approach for this.)

I helped my neighbor girl with making bushings for her take-apart Spindrift 10 mast. We tried a dry wrapping using prescribed length to judge how close we got to making a good fit. I had an inexpensive caliper that could measure outside and inside measurements. As I recall, the dry wrappings were close enough to use for the bushings. As I recall I thought we might need a little additional material and cut material to have it on hand when applying the epoxy. We kept checking the measurements of the bushings as epoxied wrappings were applied and especially as we approached the correct size for the inside of the bigger tube. We needed to add some additional cloth for the desired thickness and it easily went on. The caliper was cleaned up with acetone and the cured bushings needed some sanding. I have a tabletop belt sander that was carefully used to “shave” the bushings to the desired fit. I suppose that had we taken off too much with the belt sander we could have built it up by applying another wrapping.

Whew.

Thanks, Don. Pizza and tv show are done and I was starting to look for the photos I have on the mizzen bridle. He who waits… sometimes has less to do.