wake up next day and sail back
Article By Shorty
The picture doesn't do it justice, it was very pretty morning.
About 4am Louis had changed his anchoring, the wave action was rubbing his bow against the oyster shells and he cold hear it digging into the fiberglass. The wind had changed direction in the night and was now blowing from N/NE.
I had spent the night sleeping in my Holder 12. For a shelter, I cut the bottom out of a tent and snapped it down to the sides,and a use-in-the-pool type air mattres to sleep on. It was actually pretty comfortable and the cockpit of the Holder 12 is about 7' long, ample room for me to stretch out. Think that is my biggest requirement, if I can fully stretch my legs out, I can get a good amount of sleep.
Here is the Riff Rafter crew, they fared well thru the night. Were using 2 anchors set in a Y, but since the wind shift, were only swinging on the one anchor off Bill's Sparrow.
They were all ready to go, wanting to know when the beach bums were ready.
And this is the best bailing pump in the world, a bucket in the hands of a scared sailor.
While preparing for the trip, I fit all my gear and clothes into a duffel bag and then was searching for a way to make it waterproof. Then it struck me that I could just us buckets with the screw top lids. I have 2 buckets, one on each side of the daggerboard trunk and a line tied across them to keep in place if knocked over. Across the stern I have my thunder bucket, along with 2 anchors in a bag, and 3 gallons of water. Another line tied across the stern retains all those.
Every time I use that boat, I am amazed at how fun it is. I got the bare hull for free and patched it up, but see complete boats on ebay all the time. Very versatile boat, sometimes I leave the sail rig at home, put a beach umbrella in the mast step hole, and take my kids out rowing. I have also taken another adult with me sailing, it seemed to be kinda tight, but worked good enough.
Cedric wanted to ride back with Louis, so John was on his own with the Monocat. He pushed off shore so I sailed up next to him and we headed back for the launch point.
Just a couple of minutes later the rest of the group cast off. The wind was coming directly out of the north by now, so we had to beat our entire way back. It was a buffet of wind conditions, started out about 5, then raised up to about 15 and kicked up some chop. I was up on the rail riding a bucking bronco, and so was John in his Monocat. His boat seemed to take the waves very well, while my Holder 12 would come off a wave and bury it's nose a little, and toss the water up in the air. I had added a make shift spray rail just before the trip and it helped deflect the water that landed on the deck, helped imensely compared to the last time I was in soupy water. Then the wind backed down to almost nothing, about half an hour later it came back up to 5-8mph, about perfect so I can lounge around in the middle of my cockpit and enjoy the sail.
John's monocat was much faster and was able to go to windward much quicker, he made it back to the launch point about a mile ahead of me. We looked over his boat and then discovered the most probable cause for the water in his hull, the scupper drains wern't sealed peoperly, and since it was just him on the way back, it was almost completely dry inside.
I seem to be the only person who brings a camera to these events, so there usually aren't too many pictures of me -- Cedric snapped this one of Randy (on the left) and me in the parking lot.
Hugh, Tom, and Bill had a long drive back so they left after loading their boats. The rest of us went to eat at a mexican restaurant just up the road.
Had a wonderful time guys, really enjoyed being out there there with you.
back to main page