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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Fleet 7 in San Diego gets out on the water

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sterngucker
Navigator

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USA
169 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/21/2008 : 14:25:19

C Angel, Classical Cat, and Indiscipline took to the open ocean on Feb 10th. Jim asked for shots of his spinnaker in action and I obliged, capturing both Gary and Jim out on the water. Temperatures were in the sixties, winds were light 5-10 knots and seas were relatively flat. This made for a great day for my crew of three, Valri, her daughter, and her two year old grandson. It also made for ideal conditions for Jim to fly the spinnaker, single handed.

Gary contemplates the next wind shift

Jim flies on Indiscipline

Classical Cat and Indiscipline

Gary on Classical Cat

Jim on Indiscipline

My usual view of Jim and Gary, actually I was headed one-eighty from them, no really!

C Angel crew breaks for sustanance.

Foredeck crew

Grayson takes a quick nap off watch

The next weekend was a little colder and a little more windy. Ken and Monica from Endeavor, a 8.5 meter S2, also moored at L dock, came along for the ride on C Angel.

Ken and Monica on C Angel

With temperatures in the mid fifties, winds gusting between 11-15 knots, we set out for nine mile bank. Nine mile is a seamount that rises from thousands of feet to a depth of three hundred feet located about ten miles off the coast. This seamount is a favorite with the local fisherman. As the wind kept building I reefed the main and reduced the 135 on the furler to about 80%. With this setup the heel reduced from 15 degrees to about 5 and we were still flying along at 5.2 knots according to the GPS.

Mainsail reefed and reduced headsail

Better view of reefed mainsail

Garmin GPSmap 76S, don't leave home without it

My main objective was to get out to Nine Mile Bank to try and spot some California Grey whales. No luck on the whales but several common white-sided dolphins came to play in my puny bow wake. We traveled about 25 miles round trip in about 6 hours. One of my better trips for average speed. Rain is forecast for this weekend but I'll be ready for the next weather window.

As as side note, coming down the channel into Mission Bay, sailing on a broad reach, with a flooding tide, and some swells coming straight down the channel, I actually hit 7 knots as the swells went past me, but it felt like we were barely moving until you watched the passing scenery. Really good day on the water!

Charlie
"C Angel" 250WB #799

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2008 : 15:02:50

oooooo... that hurts! But it's a good pain...

Thanks!

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2008 : 15:14:27

Thanks for sharing. I drove past the lake on the way home and saw ice as far out as the horizon. These
helped!

Side note: Does Gary really have his tether connected to the boom? I'd really be interested in hearing the rationale for that. Must get interesting going downwind.

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2008 : 15:47:42

beautiful pictures! thanks for sharing

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johnsonp
Admiral

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USA
606 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2008 : 21:14:55

Very very nice photos......I love that shot of Grayson.
Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures.

paulj

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 02/22/2008 : 10:37:24

observation
Reefing a 250 seems a different event than on a C25. You still have a lot of pocket due to the loose halyard and outhaul, That means the sail is delivering maximum drive in a shortened state. That makes sense on a tender boat where you are not really trying to de-power as much as reduce heel. Interesting, thanks for the picts.

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Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 02/22/2008 : 19:49:20

Great photos!

Frank, there are other reefing setups on C250's. Mine uses two small blocks on the reef points and pulls the sail back and down resulting in a flatter shape.

Edited by - Nautiduck on 02/22/2008 19:51:52

SEAN
Admiral

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USA
772 Posts

Response Posted - 02/24/2008 : 07:45:40

Hey , charlie ,

whats jim useing for a spinnaker pole ?
looks good ! nice photos too

Edited by - SEAN on 02/24/2008 07:46:40

pwhallon
Admiral

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USA
694 Posts

Response Posted - 02/24/2008 : 09:54:56

Hey Classical Cat!,

Very interesting arrangement of the main halyard and genoa halyard on one winch.

What happens when you turn the winch?

Preese to exprain unique setup. Confucious is confused

.

Great pics.

Must sail, must sail.

PW

Edited by - pwhallon on 02/24/2008 09:58:11

sterngucker
Navigator

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USA
169 Posts

Response Posted - 02/25/2008 : 01:28:19

Sean - Here are some magnified views of Jim's spinnaker pole. You'll have to ask him when he gets back from his cruise for more details

Paul - I think it is a optical delusion that makes the main sheet appear to be wound on the winch.

Frank - I probably could have gotten the sail a little flatter with the halyard, but trying to get a tight outhaul with the factory jiffy reefing is difficult. In this instance, though, I was pleased with the boat speed and degree of heal. I have followed past threads on reefing the 250 and agree that the set up can be improved.

Et al - I think Gary's tether being attached to the boom was temporary from what I can tell from this photo.

Further evidence from the original photos time stamp shows he changed his tether anchor between 2:55 and 2:58pm PST. Isn't technology <s>scary</s> wonderful?

Edited by - on

SEAN
Admiral

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USA
772 Posts

Response Posted - 02/25/2008 : 15:03:08

Thanks Charlie ,

those are great photos , it doesnt look like the pole is flexing .
I dont have a spinnaker yet , but I have a drifter sail .
I would like to fly that in front jib , flying both at the sametime .

I was looking at selden poles , they have like a boom bail on both sides of the pole for adjusting the height up and down .

thanks again ! that first photo where hes sailing away - Thats a good one , wish that was me ~~~~

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 02/26/2008 : 15:11:24

Wait a second! Is that Jim with a Lifesling and a MOB pole?? Here he was making like he eschews safety equipment... Now if we can just get him into a PFD...

Just having fun Jim!

I need to get one of those poles.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 02/26/2008 : 23:46:06

Great photos Charlie! I can't wait to see the CD.

The spin pole is a standard 2.5 inch aluminum pole with 2 bridles for pole lift and foreguy lines. I need to replace the ends but they are very expensive, so I am making do with tips that are less than optimal (weak springs). The pole ring is on a mast track that extends from the deck to a height of 6 feet.

A few years ago I traded my whisker pole to a guy on a C27 for his spin pole. It is 11 feet long (6 inches longer than class rules, but OK since I declared it for PHRF).

Most of you probably noticed the spinnaker dousing sock in use at the top of the mast. On this day I did a good set and douse (no tangles, not one) but a lousy single handed gybe.

I have all the required safety equipment for PHRF offshore racing, including manual inflating harness/lifejacket, tether, whistle, 2 personal strobes, MOB pole, Lifesling, radar reflector, 2 compass, and 2 VHF radios. I have a 2nd set of upper lifelines on the bow for spinnaker handling. I run jacklines for a race. I carry an inflatable dinghy as a liferaft. I have 3 fire extinguishers. I have charts from Santa Barbara to Punta Banda, Baja. I carry 2 sets of foulies and am still looking for the right foul weather footwear. I carry 4 throwable lifesaving devices besides the Lifesling and I have 5 USCG life vests on board besides my own. I also have wooden plugs for each through hull and USCG approved flares.

I just don't routinly monitor VHF 16 or wear the life jacket/harness unless its windy at night, I'm reefed, or have to go on the foredeck in breezy conditions. My lifejacket/harness has a strobe and whistle.

Edited by - JimB517 on 03/01/2008 14:09:58

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 02/26/2008 : 23:58:34

By the way in the photos, don't forget Gary on Classical Cat is a tall rig and Indiscipline is standard. After we caught up with Charlie, neither Gary and I wanted to go back. I hardened up the spinnaker about as high as Indiscipline would point with it just to see how we did against Gary. At this angle to the wind, I was just slightly faster. My spin trim looks good in the photos but Indiscipline always looks stern down to me (my weight plus 100 lb motor and 5 or 6 gallons of fuel). Got to move some things to the bow!

On this heading I had about 1/2 knot on Gary.

We turned for home and I had to do a end-for-end gybe of the pole and it was ugly and I lost about 10 minutes getting it all untangled. It was blowing about 7 to 10 knots. Then I tried to sail back under spin but I was way low of Mission Bay and eventually running into the Point Loma kelp. I did the douse, raised the jib and had to throw in some tacks - I think Gary was able to sail back all the way without a tack. Of course I wanted to play with the spin now I had it up. The sock makes dousing easy.

Edited by - on

SEAN
Admiral

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USA
772 Posts

Response Posted - 02/27/2008 : 18:13:16

hey Jim , is that pole just resting on the forstay ?
or do you have a line helping it ?

looks good

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pwhallon
Admiral

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USA
694 Posts

Response Posted - 02/28/2008 : 10:05:41

Okay Gary,

I see the illusion. Confucious is not confused anymore

.

I like how you re-routed the main halyard. Maybe you could post how you did it in the tech section.

Paul

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 03/01/2008 : 14:05:58

I had my light sheets (3/16) on that day and it was a bit breezy for them. The guy (the sheet to the pole) is winched tight to pull the pole off the forestay. One reason I don't want to shorten my 11 foot pole to 10' 6" is I am afraid it could swing around inside the forestay under some conditions - which would be a disaster. On this day it was hard to set the pole forward enough yet with sufficent tension in the light sheets to keep the pole off the forestay in the gusts as the 3/16 sheets stretch quite a bit.

I also have 3/8 sheets which are much easier on the hands and mostly no stretch.

You may see my spin blocks aft just by the stern pulpit. What you can't see is that I have jamb cleats on the combing exactly in line with the genoa winches. I can use the jamb cleats in light air or pop the spin sheets out of them and drop them on the winches if needed.

As I recall, later, when it was time to gybe, then douse, I put my lifejacket/harness on as it breezed up a bit.

I have become real good at single handed set and douse, gybe in a breeze is tough, and I also drop the genny before the set and raise it up after the douse - which would cost a lot of time in a race.

Edited by - JimB517 on 03/01/2008 14:16:25

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 03/01/2008 : 14:13:02

Flying the spin is fun, especially on a reach in good air. Thanks Charlie for the great photos!

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pwhallon
Admiral

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USA
694 Posts

Response Posted - 03/02/2008 : 13:31:45

Great post.

You fleet 7 guys really get out and have fun. I always enjoy your stories.

Must sail, must sail.

PW

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