Southwindsnovember2003

10th Anniversary Issue

Marine Radio Nets Catalina 22 Boat Review Who Owns the Waterway Anchorages?

November 2003 For Sailors — Free…It’s Priceless

Tent Sale!

SAVE $5

SAVE $15

Mariner 110 Fire Extinguisher Twin Pack

Sailing Vest

Ref. Model 2676336 Reg. 49.99

Model 1449735 Reg. 32.99

SALE 34.99

SALE 27.99

with coupon

with coupon

Offer valid only with coupon.

Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

Offer valid only with coupon.

Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

November 6–9

Save 40% UP TO

by

SAVE ON TOOLS FOR EVERY PROJECT

Thursday–Friday: 9am–7pm Saturday: 9am–7pm Sunday: 9am–5pm

St. Petersburg 2000 34th St. 727-327-0072

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Leatherman Wave Model 119698 Reg. 84.99

SALE 67.99 with coupon

Leatherman

159-Piece Tool Set

3 Piece 18 Volt Tool Kit with Case Model 329443 Reg. 45.88

Model 5286356 Reg. 119.99

SALE 29.99 with coupon

SALE 79.99

Offer valid only with coupon.

Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

with coupon

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Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th. ®

THE BEST VALUES ON MULTI-TOOLS, SPOTLIGHTS & CHARGERS

SAVE $20

2 Million Candlepower Cordless Rechargeable Spotlight

SAVE $20

Charge Pro Portable Weatherproof 6A Battery Charger

Model 1937739 Reg. 59.99

Model 1236413 Reg. 69.99

SALE 39.99

SALE 49.99

Offer valid only with coupon.

Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

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with coupon

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SAVE $16

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Under the tent 4 DAYS ONLY!

with coupon

NightBlaster

COUPON SAVINGS ON VHFS, JACKETS & DOCK CARTS

Ref. Model 1959121S Reg. 84.99

with coupon

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Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

Model 412403 Reg. 54.99

SALE 64.99

SALE 49.99

Offer valid only with coupon.

Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

Offer valid only with coupon.

Limited to stock on hand.

Offer valid November 4th–30th.

with coupon

SALE 179.99

Lightweight Dock Cart

Third Reef Jacket

VHF200 Handheld Radio

Model 3677168 Reg. 219.99

SAVE $5

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with coupon

Kart Ahoy

MORE THAN 270 STORES • 1-800-BOATING • westmarine.com HURRY! PRICES GOOD NOVEMBER 4TH THROUGH NOVEMBER 30TH, 2003

2

November 2003

Southwinds

Selection varies by store.

www.southwindssailing.com

SINCE 1977 SINCE 1977

FLORIDA’S LARGEST HUNTER, CATALINA, MORGAN, MAINSHIP & CALIBER DEALERSHIP FLORIDA’S LARGEST HUNTER, CATALINA, MORGAN, MAINSHIP & CALIBER DEALERSHIP Clearance Price-Save over $10,000 2003 Jeanneau SO 37 – New Clearance Price-Save over $10,000 2003 Jeanneau SO 37 – New

in the water and ready to sail away. inLoaded the water and ready sail away. with factory andtodealer Loaded with factory and dealer options, hard dodger/bimini combo, options, hardautopilot dodger/bimini combo, electronics, and much more. electronics, autopilot and much more.

Regular Sailaway Price $155,047.

Regular Sailaway Price over $155,047.

Call Massey and save $10,000.

Call Massey and save over $10,000.

Call for boat show special pricing and information: Call for boat show special pricing and information: Tampa Boat Show, Oct. 2 - 5 • Tampa Boat Show, Oct. 2 - 5 SAIL EXPO St. Pete, Nov. 6 - 9, •• •SAIL EXPO St. Pete, Nov. 6 - 9, Fort Myers Boat Show, Nov. 13 - 16 Myers Boat Show, Nov. 13 - 16 •• Fort St. Pete Boat Show, Nov. 20 - 23 •• St. Pete Boat Show, Nov. 20 - 23

Clearance Price-Save over $10,000 Clearance Price-Save over $10,000

2003 Catalina 400 MKII – Inmast furling main, electric sail handling 2003 Catalina 400 MKII – Inmast furling main, electric sail handling winch, ST6001 A/P, and Lippencott hard dodger. Regular Sailaway Price winch, ST6001 A/P, and Lippencott hard dodger. Regular Sailaway Price $224,203. Call Massey today for special Model Year-End Price. $224,203. Call Massey today for special Model Year-End Price.

Massey Yacht Yacht Sales Sales & & Service Service is is Now Now Massey the Exclusive Exclusive Florida Florida Gulf Gulf Coast Coast Dealership Dealership the Representing New New 30 30 to to 46' 46' Representing Hunter and and Mainship Mainship Yachts!

Yachts!

Hunter 42 Hunter Passage CC ‘92. . . $144,900 42 ‘92.for. .TurboQuote $144,900 42CCHunter HunterPassage ‘04 . CC . Call 42CC Hunter ‘04‘85. .. .Call 42 Endeavour . . for . . TurboQuote . $137,000 42 . . . . . $137,000 42 Endeavour Catalina ‘02‘85. .. .. Clearance Price-Call 42 42 Catalina Catalina ‘02 ‘01 . .. .. .Clearance . . . . . Price-Call $189,500 42 Catalina ‘01 . . . . . . . . $189,500 42 Catalina ‘96 . . . . . . . . $119,000 42 42 Catalina Catalina ‘96 ‘89 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $119,000 $109,000 42 42 Catalina Beneteau‘89‘83.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$109,000 $89,500 42 $89,500 41 Beneteau Morgan ‘89‘83.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $124,900 41 41 Morgan Morgan ‘89 ‘87.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$124,900 $89,500 41 41 Morgan Morgan ‘87.

‘73. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $89,500 $58,500 41 Morgan ‘73. . . . . . . . . . $58,500 40 Jeanneau ‘01 . . . . . . . . $175,500 40 Jeanneau ‘01 . . . . . . . . $175,500 40 Jeanneau ‘00 . . . . . . . . $155,000 40 . . . . . $155,000 400Jeanneau Catalina ‘00 ‘03 . .. .. Clearance Price-Call 400 400 Catalina Catalina ‘03 ‘01 .. .. .Clearance . . . . . Price-Call $194,900 400 400 Catalina Catalina ‘01 ‘95 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $194,900 $149,000 400 Catalina ‘95‘04. . . .. Call . . .for. .TurboQuote $149,000 40 CaliberLRC 40 CaliberLRC ‘04. .

Call for TurboQuote 40 CaliberLRC ‘97 . . . . . . . $244,900 40 400CaliberLRC Beneteau ‘97 ‘97 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $244,900 $134,900 400 Beneteau CC‘97‘97. .. .. .. .. .. .. $134,900 40 Beneteau $120,000 40 40 Beneteau Beneteau CC ‘96.‘97. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$120,000 $98,900 40 Beneteau ‘96. . . . . . . . . $98,900

MONOHULLS MONOHULLS 45 ft. to 65 ft.

45 ft. to 65 ft.

48 Tayana ‘00 . . . . . . . . . $449,000 48 48 Tayana Soverel ‘00 ‘75 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$449,000 $75,000 48 . . .. .. .Call. . for. . TurboQuote . $75,000 470Soverel Catalina‘75‘04 470 Catalina ‘04‘04.. .. Call 47 CaliberLRC Call for for TurboQuote TurboQuote 47 47 CaliberLRC CaliberLRC ‘04.

‘97 .. .Call . . for . . TurboQuote . $279,500 47 . . .for. .TurboQuote $279,500 466CaliberLRC Hunter ‘04‘97. .. .. Call 466 Hunter ‘04‘01. .. .. .Call 46 Beneteau . . for . . TurboQuote . $260,000 46 46 Beneteau Beneteau ‘01 ‘97 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $260,000 $199,000 46 46 Beneteau Bavaria ‘99‘97. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $199,000 $199,000 46 Bavaria ‘99 ‘04. . . . .. Call . . .for. .TurboQuote $199,000 456CC Hunter 456CC Hunter‘95‘04.

45 Morgan . . .. .Call . . for . . TurboQuote . $239,500 45 Morgan ‘9540. .ft.. .to. . 44 . . ft. . $239,500 40 ft. to 44 ft.

44 Morgan ‘90 . . . . . . . . . $174,900 44 . . .for. .TurboQuote $174,900 44DSMorgan Hunter‘90‘04. . .. .. Call 44DS Hunter‘04.‘04. .. .. Call 44 Hunter Call for for TurboQuote TurboQuote 44 44 Hunter Beneteau‘04.‘95. .. .. .Call . . for . . TurboQuote . $178,000 44 43 Beneteau Endeavour‘95‘81. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $178,000 $139,000 43 42s7Endeavour Beneteau‘81‘96.. .. .. .. .. .. .. $139,000 $179,000 42s7 Beneteau ‘96 . . . . . . . $179,000

35 ft. to 39 ft.

35 ft. to 39 ft.

39 O’Day ‘84 . . . . . . . . . . $83,700 39 ‘84 ‘04 . . . . . . . . . . . . New . . .Model-Call $83,700 387O’Day Catalina 387 ‘04.. .. .. Call . . New Model-Call 386 Catalina Hunter ‘04 for TurboQuote 386 383 Hunter Morgan‘04 ‘82. . . . . . Call . . .for. .TurboQuote . $69,500 383 ‘82 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $125,000 $69,500 380 Morgan Hunter ‘00 380 Hunter CC ‘00‘93. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $125,000 38 Morgan $137,500 38 CC ‘93‘99. . . .. .. .. .. .. $137,500 38 Morgan Island Packet $245,000 38 Packet ‘99.

38 Island Hans Christian ‘83 .. .. .. .. .. $245,000 $139,000 38 Hans Christian ‘83 . . . . . $139,000 38 Catalina ‘98 . . . . . . . . . $45,000 38 $45,000 38 Catalina Beneteau‘98‘01. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $147,000 38 ‘01 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $147,000 376Beneteau Hunter ‘97 $121,000 376 Hunter ‘97‘03.. .. .. Clearance . . . . . $121,000 37 Jeanneau Price-Call 37 37 Jeanneau Hunter ‘98‘03. . . .. .. Clearance . . . . . .Price-Call $95,000 37 Hunter ‘98 . . . . . . . . . .

37 Hunter ‘97 . . . . . . . . . . $95,000 $95,000 37 37 Hunter Gulfstar‘97‘76. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $95,000 $49,900 37 ‘76‘83. . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$49,900 37 Gulfstar Endeavour $58,00 37 Endeavour ‘83. . . . . . . . . $58,00

37 Endeavour ‘82 . . . . . . . . $65,000 37 37 Endeavour Endeavour ‘82 ‘80 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $65,000 $44,900 37 ‘80 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $44,900 365Endeavour Pearson ‘80. $56,000 365 Pearson Corsair ‘80. . .‘86. .. .. .. .. .. $56,000 36 Westerly $79,000 36 Corsair $79,000 36 Westerly Tashiba ‘87 . . . ‘86 . . . . . . . . . . . $135,000 36 Tashiba ‘87 . . . . . . . . . $135,000 36 Hunter ‘04. . . . Call for TurboQuote 36 for TurboQuote 36 Hunter Catalina‘04.

‘03 .. .. .. Call Clearance Price-Call 36 Catalina ‘03 .‘99. . .Clearance 36MKII Catalina . . . . . Price-Call $125,000 36MKII Catalina 36 Catalina ‘94 ‘99 . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .$125,000 $85,000 36 36 Catalina Catalina ‘94 ‘94 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $85,000 $84,500 36 36 Catalina Catalina ‘94 ‘94 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $84,500 $82,500 36 Catalina ‘94 . . . . . . . . . $82,500 351 Beneteau ‘96 . . . . . . . . $77,500 351 Beneteau ‘96 . . . . . . . . $77,500 350 Catalina ‘04 . . Call for TurboQuote 350 Catalina ‘04‘04.. .. Call 35 CaliberLRC Call for for TurboQuote TurboQuote 35 CaliberLRC30 ‘04.ft.. to Call 34 for ft.

TurboQuote 30 ft. to 34 ft.

34 Ericson ‘87. . . . . . . . . . $59,900 34 . . . . . Price-Call $59,900 34 Ericson Catalina‘87.

‘03 .. .. .. .Clearance 34 Catalina ‘03 . . . Clearance Price-Call

34 Catalina ‘98 . . . . . . . . . $89,500 34 34 Catalina Catalina ‘98 ‘87 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. $89,500 $49,500 34 ‘87 .. .. .. .. (2) . . .from . . $49,500 33 Catalina Hunter ‘95 $64,900 33 . . . ‘72 . (2) 33 Hunter Hallberg‘95Mistral . . from . . . $64,900 $55,000 33 Mistral . $55,000 326Hallberg Hunter ‘04 . . ‘72 . Call. . for. . TurboQuote 326 320 Hunter Catalina‘04‘00. . . . . Call . . .for. .TurboQuote . $89,500 320 . . . for. . TurboQuote . $89,500 320 Catalina Catalina ‘00 ‘04 .. .. Call 320 ‘04 . . . . . Call 320 Catalina Catalina’99 . . .for. .TurboQuote . $97,500 320 . $97,500 310 Catalina’99 Catalina ‘04. .. .. .Call. . for. . TurboQuote 310 310 Catalina Catalina ‘04 ‘01 . . . . Call . . .for. .TurboQuote . $89,900 310 ‘01. .. .. Call . . . for. . TurboQuote . $89,900 306 Catalina Hunter ‘04 306 Hunter ‘04 . . .

Call for TurboQuote 30 Hunter ‘88 . . . . . . . . . . $38,500 30 Hunter ‘88 . . . . . . . . . . $38,500 CATAMARANS CATAMARANS 44 Dean Catamaran ‘99 . . . . $285,000 44 37 Dean Prout Catamaran Snow Goose‘99‘84. .. .. .. $285,000 $115,000 37 Snow Goose‘72‘84 .. .. .. .$115,000 35 Prout Prout-Catamaran $59,000 35 $59,000 34 Prout-Catamaran Prout Catamaran‘72 ‘90. . . . . . . . $110,000 34 Prout Catamaran ‘90. . . . $110,000

We have a large assortment of Sunsail, Sun Yacht We a large assortment of Sunsail, Yacht and have Stardust phased-out charter yachts Sun available and Stardust prices. phased-out charter yachts available at favorable Call for details. at favorable prices. Call for details.

The Massey Team of Yachting Specialists – experienced sailors one and all – are dedicated to helping other sailors make The Massey Team of Yachting Specialists experienced sailors one and all – areand dedicated helping other sailors make sound, knowledgeable decisions –relative to yacht selection, ownership custom to outfitting. sound, knowledgeable decisions relative to yacht selection, ownership and custom outfitting.

TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU ON FLORIDA’S WEST COAST – IN THE HEART OF AMERICA’S FINEST CRUISING AREA. TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU ON FLORIDA’S WEST COAST – IN THE HEART OF AMERICA’S FINEST CRUISING AREA.

Palmetto, FL 941-723-1610 • TOLL-FREE 800-375-0130 Palmetto, FL 941-723-1610 • TOLL-FREE 800-375-0130

Brad Crabtree Brad Crabtree

Scott Pursell Scott Pursell

Frank Hamilton Frank Hamilton

Mike Fauser Mike Fauser

St. Pete, FL 727-828-0090 • TOLL-FREE 877-552-0525 St. Pete, FL 727-828-0090 • TOLL-FREE 877-552-0525

Edward Massey Edward Massey

Bill Wiard Bill Wiard

Mary Beth Singh Mary Beth Singh

YOUR SATISFACTION SATISFACTION IS IS OUR OUR MEASURE MEASURE OF OF SUCCESS SUCCESS YOUR

Jack Burke Jack Burke

www.masseyyacht.com •• E-mail: E-mail: yachtsales@masseyyacht.com www.masseyyacht.com yachtsales@masseyyacht.com

Al Pollak Al Pollak

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

3

4

November 2003

Southwinds

www.southwindssailing.com

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

5

ADVERTISER INDEX BY CATEGORY SAILBOATS - NEW AND BROKERAGE Beneteau Sailboats Boaters Exchange/Catalina Sailboats Cape Fear Yacht Carson Yacht Sales/Beneteau Charleston Boat Works J/Boats Cortez Yacht Sales Eastern Yacht Sales/Beneteau Finish Line Multihulls/ F-Boats & Used Multihulls Flying Scot Sailboats Hunter Sailboats J/Boats, Charleston Boat Works Massey Yacht Sales/Catalina/Jeanneau/Hunter/Mainship 11,16,25,38,47,55,IBC Masthead Yacht Sales/Catalina Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau Performance Sail & Sport/Hunter/Hobie/Windrider Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/St. Pete.

Sailor’s Wharf Boatyard and Brokerage Sarasota Youth Sailing Program donated boats Snug Harbor Boats/Compac/Elliot St. Barts/Beneteau Suncoast Inflatables/ West Florida Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg Ullman Sails/Hunter Sailboats, West Florida Whitney’s Marine Windcraft, Trimarans and Catamarans, Sail or Power Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie GEAR, HARDWARE, ACCESSORIES Air Duck Hatch Windscoop Bluewater Sailing Supply, www.bluewaterss.com/ Boaters Exchange, boats, gear, etc. Rockledge FL Bo’sun Supplies/Hrdwre/Rigging www.bosunsupplies.com Defender Industries, www.defender.com Fujinon binoculars Garhauer Hardware/www.garhauermarine.com Glacier Bay Refrigeration/ www.glacierbay.com Grin Designs/Scully/Dinghy sail & More Harken Gear Hotwire/Fans & other products Island Marine Products/Davits,motorlocks,etc.

JR Overseas/Moisture Meter Masthead Ent. www.mastheadsailinggear.com Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign Performance Sail & Sport, www.perfsail.com Rparts Refrigeration, www.rparts.com Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete Sailor’s Soap ShadeTree Rolls Batteries/Surrette, www.rollsbattery.com Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg Tartan, C&C of Florida Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie West Marine Zarcon Boat Shutters SAILS (NEW & USED), RIGGING, SPARS, RIGGING SERVICES Atlantic Sails/new, used, repair West Florida Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida Bluewater Sailing Supply, www.bluewaterss.com/ Bo’sun Supplies/Hrdwre/Rigging www.bosunsupplies.com Cruising Direct/sails online by North Dwyer Mast/spars, hardware, rigging Hong Kong Sailmakers Masthead/Used Sails and Service National Sail Supply, new&used online North Sails Sabre Sails/ Ft. Walton Beach, FL, & Mandeville, LA Sail Exchange/www.sailexchange.com Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete.

Schurr Sails, Pensacola FL Snoop Sails & Canvas, Sarasota, FL SSMR Rigging & Chandlery UK Sails, www.uksailmakers.com Ullman Sails/West Florida US Spars Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie

(See page 61 for alphabetical list)

Back Cover 10 33 Back Cover 58 71 Back Cover 40 73 12,13,14 58 3,19,77 Back Cover 19 8 23 71 17 Back Cover 15 67 59 39 48 32 37 10 10 43 75 41 49 44 28 57 36 35 35,44 3,19,77 62 19 68 8 16,30,43 48 69 67 26 31 IFC 21

Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign, West Florida Scurvy Dog Marine/Used, Consign, Pensacola FL SSMR Rigging/Consignment/St. Pete

62 46 60

SAILING SCHOOLS Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/ St. Pete.

Sea School/Captain’s License www.seaschool.com Capt. Josie Sailing School for Women Yachting Vacations/Sailing School

8 46 73 50

MARINE ENGINES Beta Marine Fleetside Marine Service RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete.

37 74 8 8

RESORTS, MARINAS, RESTAURANTS, BOAT YARDS Bitter End Yacht Club, British Virgin Islands Bob and Annie’s Boatyard Crow’s Nest Restaurant & Marina Pasadena Marina, on the ICW, St. Petersburg FL Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/Tampa Bay FL Sailor’s Wharf Boatyard and Brokerage

18 34 4 42 8 23

CHARTER COMPANIES Flagship Sailing, Tampa Bay Area Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, Sunsail Sailtime, Time-Share ownership Yachting Vacations/Sailing School

4 8 74 50

MARINE SERVICES,MARINE SURVEYORS, MARINE INSURANCE, MISC. Aqua Graphics/Boat Names/Tampa Bay or buy online 74 Bluewater Insurance/ West Florida 4 Davis Maritime Surveying 63 First Patriot Inc, Insurance Agency, Paul Phaneuf 32 MARINE ELECTRONICS Dockside Radio JR Overseas/Moisture Meter Rolls Batteries/Surrette, www.rollsbattery.com Sea Tech/Navigation/Communication BOOKS Bubba Stories Book

18

YACHT CLUBS Ft. Pierce YC

20,72

REGATTA ADVERTISEMENTS, BOAT SHOWS Bitter End Yacht Club Regattas Davis Island YC Thanksgiving Regatta Ft. Pierce YC Fall Regatta Gulf Streamer Race Halifax River Yacht Club Regata del Sol al Sol, St. Petersburg to Mexico Sail Expo St. Pete/Sail America Subscription Information

56 75 10 43 22 75 69 3,19,77 53 20 17 54 8 27 61 60 3 59 21 31

64 35,44 24 65

18 52 20 51 24 5 This Page

Alphabetical Advertisers’ List

77

SUBSCRIBE TO Southwinds 1 YEAR/$12

$20/2 YEARS (3RD CLASS)

(941) 795-8704 • www.southwindssailing.com P.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, FL 34218-1175 New — Subscribe On-line on our Web site — a secure site — using your credit card: www.southwindssailing.com

Name _________________________________________ Address ________________________________________ City/St./ZIP ____________________________________ ENCLOSED $ ________ Check ___ Money Order ___

CANVAS Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida Sail Covers & More, buy online, www.sailcovers.net Shade Tree, Boat biminis Snoop Sails & Canvas, Sarasota FL

75 77 48 61

Visa/MC

USED SAILING/BOATING SUPPLIES Don’s Salvage, Clearwater FL

45 45

Ex. Date _______ Signature ______________________

6

November 2003

Southwinds

#__________________________________

Name on Card __________________________________

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Southwinds NEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

9

From the Helm

10

Letters

15

Snooty Snubs Bubba

By Morgan Stinemetz

22

Racing Calendar

26

Three Days in Havana and One in Pinar del Rio: Part IV

By Elena Pimiento

29

Catalina 22 Boat Review

By Dave Ellis

30

Getting Your Sailboat Towed Properly

By Bruce Pierce

32

Flotsam and Jetsam: Nautical Miscellany

34

Who Owns the Anchorage?

Provisioning in the Caribbean. Dean Barnes photo. Page 36

By Capt. J. Michael Shea, J.D.

36

Finding Your Thanksgiving Turkey: Provisioning in the Caribbean

By Carol M. Bareuther

40

Gales in the Bahamas

By Colin Ward

44

Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team

46

Marine Radio Nets

By Gary Jensen

50

Southern Sailing: Where did Seamanship Go?

By Dave Ellis

52

Racing and Regattas

67

Short Tacks

72

Classifieds

78

Lessons Learned: Tough Lesson!

Gales in the Bahamas. Colin Ward photo. Page 40 Kirk S. Jockell

77

Alphabetical Index of Advertisers

6

Advertisers’ List by Category

6

Subscription Form

COVER The Leukemia Cup, Charleston, SC September 27. Jim Kransberger photo.

From the Carolinas to Cuba…from Atlanta to the Abacos…Southwinds Covers Southern Sailing LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

7

Southwinds NEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds Media, Inc. P.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, Florida, 34218-1175 (941) 795-8704 (877) 372-7245 (941) 795-8705 Fax www.southwindssailing.com e-mail: editor@southwindssailing.com

VOLUME 11

NUMBER 11

NOVEMBER 2003

Copyright 2003, Southwinds Media, Inc. Publisher/Editor Steve Morrell editor@southwindssailing.com Advertising Sales Representatives Gary Hufford (727) 585-2814 gary@southwindssailing.com Steve Morrell (941) 795-8704 editor@southwindssailing.com Design/Graphics Production Heather Nicoll, io Graphics Proofreading Kathy Elliott Carol Bareuther Bill Jensen E. Pimiento Colin Ward Dean Barnes Kim Kaminski Morgan Stinemetz

Contributing Writers Dave Ellis Jim Kransberger Michael Shea

Rona Garm Bruce Pierce Nancy E. Spraker

Contributing Photographers Lauren A. Doyle Bryan Kaminski Jim Kransberger Duke Overstreet Colin Ward

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: ARTICLES & PHOTOGRAPHY: Southwinds encourages readers, writers, photographers, cartoonists, jokers, magicians, philosophers and whoever else is out there, including sailors, to send in their material. Just make it about the water world and generally about sailing and about sailing in the South, the Bahamas or the Caribbean, or general sailing interest, or sailboats, or sailing in some far-off and far-out place.

Southwinds welcomes contributions in writing and photography. Stories about sailing, racing, cruising, maintenance and other technical articles and other sailing-related topics. Please submit all articles electronically by e-mail (mailed-in discs also accepted), and with photographs, if possible. We also accept photographs alone, for cover shots, racing, cruising and just funny entertaining shots. Please take them at a high resolution if digital, or scan at 300 dpi if photos, or mail them to us for scanning. Contact the editor with questions.

Subscriptions to Southwinds are available at $12/year, or $20/2 years for third class, and $24/year for first class. Checks and credit card numbers may be mailed with name and address to Southwinds Subscriptions, PO Box 1175, Holmes Beach FL, 34218-1175, or call (941) 7958704. Subscriptions are also available with a credit card through a secure server on our Web site, www.southwindssailing.com.

Southwinds is distributed to over 500 locations throughout 10 Southern states. If you would like to distribute Southwinds at your location, please contact the editor.

Read Southwinds magazine on our Web site, www.southwindssailing.com.

8

November 2003

Southwinds

www.southwindssailing.com

FROM THE HELM

Ten Years of Southwinds

T

en years ago, at the second Sail Expo St. Pete in 1993, Doran Cushing launched Southwinds magazine. The boat show was in November of 1993, but the first issue was dated December.

This current issue marks the 120th issue. The first one was 32 pages long and covered racing and cruising. This current issue is the largest one ever printed at 80 pages. A fitting milestone.

In the spring of 2002, I purchased the magazine from Doran and have been working long hours ever since, wondering what I got into here. It has been a challenge, and I hope everyone has continued to appreciate it as much as in the previous years.

One person who has been with the magazine from the first issue is Heather Nicoll, owner of io Graphics. Heather does all of the graphics layout for the magazine, and during these ten years she has been the one truly burning the midnight oil (or should I say the pixels on the monitor in today’s graphics). Without Heather, who is a joy to work with and a true professional, this magazine would not have been, and would not be, where it is today. Thank you, Heather.

Thanks also goes to Kathleen Elliott who has been proofreading the magazine for many years (since 1997), keeping our

style, grammar and spelling up to par, besides always surprising me with corrections on miscellaneous knowledge which I had no idea she knew about.

Many others have contributed who I cannot all thank, but special appreciation goes to our advertisers, who are really the ones that have kept the magazine alive and well. We hope we have served you well, and we will work to serve you on into the future.

To our contributors, thank you for the letters, articles, race reporting, and photographs. Many of these are done with little or no pay, but all through the love of sailing, boating, writing and photography.

Trawler Coverage?

S

ince I purchased the magazine in 2002, I have had many inquiries about why we do not give coverage to trawler boaters (a new-coined phrase). Many of these boaters were sailors most of their lives and have moved on to trawlers as they have retired to a boating lifestyle less demanding than crawling around on the foredeck in high winds and cranking the winch handle with an older, worn shoulder. Much of our coverage

already overlaps into this area. One of our main advertisers, one of the largest and most successful brokerages and boat dealers, has recently taken on a trawler line to answer this same demand.

This is after selling only sailboats for many years. Southwinds would like to know our readers’ opinions: Should we begin to give coverage to trawlers and their lifestyle? Please let us know in your letters to the editor.

Steve Morrell, Editor

WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED Stories and photographs wanted in the following areas: Sailing Experiences: Stories and photos about experiences in places you’ve cruised, anchorages, marinas, or passages made throughout the Southern cruising waters, including the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

Race reporting: Generally, we are always looking for someone to send us race coverage throughout the Southern states, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. Specifically, we are looking to hire someone to coordinate all racing, who is into racing, a good writer and photographer, and willing to work a lot of hours, do some traveling, and doesn’t need a lot of money to get going with a great potential for the future.

The Politics of Sailing: “Politics begins when two or more people get together.” Politics affect us all and particularly in the general world of boating and our waters. We have already heard about anchoring, liveaboards and other topics (like Cuba), but there is always more.

Maintenance and Technical Articles: How you maintain your boat, or rebuilt a boat, technical articles on electronics, repairs, etc.

Individuals in sailing industry: Interesting stories about the world of sailors out there, young, old, and some that are no longer with us but have contributed to the sport or were just true lovers of sailing.

The Florida Keys: Racing and cruising articles about the The Caribbean: Stories about the warm tropical waters keys. farther south of us.

Bahamas: Trips, experiences, passages, anchorages, proCharter Stories: Have an interesting Charter story? In visioning and other stories that are of interest. our Southern waters, or perhaps in the Bahamas, the Hurricane Stories: Hurricanes are a part of owning a Caribbean, or points beyond in some far-off and far-out boat in the Southern waters, and we would like to hear exotic place? how you and your boat might have been affected by a storm or how you prepare your boat for one. Send us Cuba: Of course, there is always Cuba, and regardless of how our country’s elected officials try to keep Americans letters or articles.

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

out of the Caribbean’s largest island, it will open one day as a cruising ground. Today American sailors can legally go to Cuba and cruise if they follow the proper procedures.

If you have a story about such a trip, let us look at it.

Miscellaneous Photos: Photographs are always enjoyable, whether for their beauty, their humor, or for many other reasons, and we take them alone.

Cover Photos: Southwinds is always looking for nice cover shots, which are always paid for. They generally need to be a vertical shot, but we can sometimes crop horizontal photos for a nice cover picture. They need to be of a good resolution. If digital, they need to be taken at a very high resolution (and many smaller digital cameras are not capable of taking a large high resolution photo as is on a cover). If a photograph, then we need it scanned at high resolution, or if you send it to us, we can do so.

Letters to the Editor: For those of you who are not as ambitious to write stories, we always want to hear from you about your experiences and opinions.

Contact editor@southwindssailing.com for more information and questions.

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LETTERS “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.”

H.L. Mencken In its continuing endeavor to share its press, Southwinds invites readers to write in with experiences & opinions.

SUNFISH PARTS NEEDED AND SUNFISH CALENDAR BEING ESTABLISHED Gulfstream Sailing Club in Hollywood Florida has received five Sunfish hulls — just the hulls. We are in need of all the rest of the parts. If you have any spare parts you would be willing to donate or to sell to the club at reduced prices, please contact our “Sunfish chief” Danny Escobar at peperina2@msn.com.

In addition, we’ve just implemented a statewide Sunfish racing calendar for all sunfish events, from the club level on up. You can get to the calendar from the Florida Regional page at the sunfish class home, www.sunfishclass.org or directly at: http://gotfolk.cus.com/calendar calendar.pl?calendar=Sunfish If you have any Florida Sunfish events you’d like listed in the calendar, please send an e-mail to brian@cus.com with “Sunfish” somewhere in the subject.

Gulfstream Sailing Club Hollywood, Florida

SEEKING INFORMATION ON CROSSING THE GULF I plan to cross the gulf in a 38-foot cutter, but would be more comfortable with information about the Gulf and the Cancun area. Does anyone know of a guide or resource for information?

Ronald L. Riffel Sarasota, FL RonaldRiffel@Comcast.Net Any of our readers who know of any literature on this subject or can help Mr. Riffel, please contact him, and also let us know so that other readers my share this information.

Editor

READER ENJOYING Southwinds

I Just finishing reading the September Southwinds nearly from cover to cover, including the ads, non-stop. I enjoy it very much, and it’s getting even better all the time. Keep up the great work.

Len Krauss Punta Gorda, FL

GREAT CLASSIFIEDS EXPOSURE In August, you began running an advertisement to sell my Yanmar YSE 12 engine. I am pleased to advise that I have a buyer as a result of your advertisement. Please discontinue the advertisement.

FYI, I have also had inquiries from West Africa and France as a result of the Internet ad you made available. I’m MAJOR impressed!! Thank you very much.

C.T. Clagett St. Petersburg, Florida.

MORE CLASSIFIEDS AND DISPLAY AD SUCCESSES Dear Southwinds Staff: We always thought of Southwinds as a Florida magazine. We must compliment you on the extent of your geographic readership! Sailors from as far away as Texas and California have contacted us in response to our display and classified ads. Keep up the great work, choosing Southwinds has been the best See LETTERS continued on page 17 10

November 2003

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LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

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ing of new docks, because new docks mean more boats and more boats mean, to some, fewer manatees,” Bubba replied.

“That’s kind of fuzzy logic,” I offered.

“Of course, it is fuzzy logic,” the live-aboard, live-alone sailor stated. “Docks, in their own right, don’t cause manatee deaths any more than the signs out on the water that state you’ll have to go slow, because you are in a manatee zone, actually save the lives of these dimwitted creatures. Manatees can’t read. It’s just an extension of the brainless deer crossing signs you see along the highways. Deer cross roads anywhere they feel like it.”

He had me on that one. As many deer crossing signs as I have seen at the edge of highways-and I have seen a lot of them-I have never seen a deer crossing at a designated deer crossing, though one ran into the right rear fender of my Volkswagen once, up in New Hampshire. But that wasn’t at a deer crossing.

“What pictures have you shown to the manatee and what for?” I asked, getting back to the subject at hand.

“I have shown him pictures of his natural enemies like sharks and barracudas and Indians. Indians, you know, used to spear manatees back before the whites settled Florida.

Manatee is an Indian word for ‘tastes a lot like chicken,’ “ Bubba said.

“You’re having me on, aren’t you?” I said.

“Well, yeah, about the chicken part,” agreed Whartz.

“And, frankly, I am not too sure about sharks and barracudas.

I do know that this lettuce-muncher here has shown no inter-

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est in any picture I have shown him. Maybe the world really belongs to the meat eaters, and the vegans are doomed to permanent second place.”

“Why were you trying to get a reaction out of Snooty?”

“Well, if I could get him to react to a picture, then I was thinking that it would be possible to train him, through a conditioned response, to attack small motorboats and flip them over. They’d have to be going slow because manatees don’t swim fast. A small, anchored fishing skiff would be a good target to start with. Once we had him conditioned, we could get other manatees to react the same way,” Bubba explained. “They wouldn’t be defenseless all the time.”

“Are you doing this on your own?” I questioned.

“No, I have a research grant,” he said.

“From whom?”

“Duncan Seawall, Dock & Boat Lift, Incorporated of Sarasota,” Bubba replied smugly.

“How have things gone so far? You are not looking happy about all this,” I said.

“I have only one picture left to show Snooty,” Bubba sighed as he placed a color picture of Trixie LaMonte, the famous exotic dancer, up against the aquarium tank’s glass.

The photo, an 8x10 glossy, showed Trixie in a state of undress and hanging onto a vertical brass pole of some type.

Trixie’s athletic figure was displayed in all its glory. I was still thinking about the time I had seen her in action when I noticed a twitch from Snooty. Then it swam down to the bottom of its tank and apparently took a much closer look at the photo. Then it started swimming loops in the tank, overhead loops. And figure eights. Then it did what looked like an aileron roll. And then it jumped clean out of the water, like a porpoise would. It was a great show.

Bubba never saw any of it. He was facing the other way, with his hand holding the picture of Trixie up, as a gaggle of high school girls, on an outing of some kind, filed by.

And you know, I never had the guts to tell him that he actually got to Snooty with his last shot, the photo of Trixie. There was no way to translate that into making manatees have a bad attitude about small powerboats. I mean, Bubba would probably come up with a bottom-of-the-boat, life-sized decal of Trixie LaMonte that would shed marine growth and save the manatee.

Nah. Never happen. What do I know about animal behavior anyway?

www.southwindssailing.com

LETTERS Continued from page 10 use and value of our advertising budget.

Regards, Steve Smith, Jennifer Smith and Crew SSMR, INC. St. Petersburg, FL Steve, Jennifer and Crew at SSMR, Thanks for your comments and good news on your success with the advertising. Many people forget that Southwinds is delivered in 10 Southern states to over 500 locations, and our Web site has about 20,000 visitors a month, giving the magazine worldwide exposure. Since the entire magazine is downloadable on the site, the readership has increased substantially. In September, we had over 4,000 readers download the magazine at www.southwindssailing.com.

Editor

SOUTHWINDS WEB SITE PAYS OFF Thank you for your Web site and all its valuable information.

Last year I was looking for suggestions for coating the teak on my boat. Aside from all the varnishes and oils, Cetol was one of the suggestions. After doing quite a bit of searching on the Internet I found the two-part article on the Southwinds Web site from 1998.

I have to say they were more helpful than the manufacturer and any other reference I was able to find. It has been over a year now, and my teak looks almost as good as the day I coated it.

You have saved me many days of teak work over the year. Keep up the great work helping all the sailors out there.

PS. Southwinds is the first place I look for suppliers for my sailboat needs.

Page Proffitt Madeira Beach, FL

RACE AROUND CUBA PROPOSAL I have an idea for a sailing race around the island of Cuba. In 1508, Sebastian de Ocampo set sail to circumnavigate Cuba. He was successful in proving that Cuba is an island. 2008 marks the 500th anniversary of the start of his adventure to map the world correctly. I propose a sailing race called La Copa de Sebastian de Ocampo to be held in 2008. The purpose of the race is to promote harmony and friendship between the people who live on the island of Cuba and the international community of sailors.

Below are some ideas I propose in this plan. I write them assuming nothing is to be taken for granted.

1. Have a trial race prior to 2008 to work out the bugs.

2. Involve the Republic of Cuba and Guantanamo Naval Base officials working together 3. No engines.

4. Clockwise around the island 5. Start and end at Havana. The start could be outside the harbor, and the end could be crossing the harbor mouth.

6. Have several checkpoints as close to shore as possible. I would like to have the race visible from shore to build excitement on land. I suggest going between La Isla de Juventud and Pinar del Rio. 7. Sail at you own risk.

8. Do some historical research.

9. Prize is awarded to the winner in Havana. The prize is to be called La Copa de Sebastian de Ocampo.

Kenny Merriken Blythewood, SC Kenny, This sounds like a great idea, if we can only keep the governments involved from screwing it up (or stopping it). It is sad that we need the permission of the U.S. government to pull off something like this, when LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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LETTERS Continued from page 17 in reality, they should be asking for our permission. Hopefully, there is some reader out there who has the energy to work at this. Southwinds magazine will do what it can to help in developing this idea if someone is interested. The first thing we can all do is vote in the next election for candidates who will be for such a race and/or others like it.

Editor

TOWBOAT OPERATOR COMMENTS ON TOWING ARTICLE ON SALVAGE Being a towboat operator, I disagree with some of the things which Captain Michael Shea said in his article about towboats and salvage.

First, I find something very funny. A couple of months ago you had an article from a lawyer, very upset because he was in an anchorage where an unattended boat was dragging its anchor. A towboat in the area stood by and did nothing.

Now another lawyer, Michael Shea, tells of a boat that was dragging and the tow vessel tried to save it.

It seems that there is no way for us tow captains to keep these lawyers happy. Maybe what they would like us to do is to rescue all these vessels, sometimes putting our lives in jeopardy, for the sheer joy of it. These high fees we must charge are to protect us against the legal fees that may ensue. It sounds like a vicious circle.

On commenting on the vessel in the Florida Keys which was in peril, I do not know all the details of this, but a scenario that sounds likely is: The Keys have many coral sanctuaries. If that vessel was dragging toward one of these sanctuaries, and the tow company let it go onto the reef, it would have cost this poor boater a great deal more than the $5,000 he was billed. A tower cannot tow a boat off a reef. (It will destroy the coral.) It is necessary to bring in cranes and serious equipment to get a vessel off a reef. The fine alone from the government would have been far greater than the fee charged by the towing company.

I’ve been towing boats for four years; I’ve towed over 1,000 boats. In not one of those tows have I taken a straight tow and turned it into a salvage. If Captain Shea wants to come and look at my invoices, I have them all. The companies I work for are national organizations with independent franchises. They are in the membership business. To succeed they need to have a growing, enthusiastic membership. If we were to turn tows into salvages, our membership would decline rapidly, and we would not be successful.

I’ve been racking my brain since I read this article, trying to figure out how you can take a straight simple tow, and establish peril on the way in. I arrive on scene; the boat is either sinking or broken down. One is a salvage; the other is a tow. As I’m towing, I’ve never had it change to a salvage. I guess it’s possible if the towed vessel starts taking on water. Although, as I said, in over a thousand tows, it’s never happened to me, but I suppose it’s possible.

Usually, at the time of salvage, we are no longer in an emergency situation. The vessel has already sunk or gone onto the rocks.

There is time to discuss the bill before the work is begun. The only time this isn’t the case is if your boat is about to go aground.

Regarding the gentleman who was charged $4,000, I wonder why he didn’t ask how much it would cost before he agreed to the service. I always quote a price, unless it’s an emergency.

The boating community is a small community; everyone talks to each other, on the docks or at the trailer ramps. Our good reputation is the most important thing to our success.

That being said, it hasn’t always been this way. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to agree with some of the horror sto18

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ries that Captain Shea has described. There are some very reputable towers out there, and there definitely are some pirates. I believe that you are better off having a professional tow company assist you. As a sailboater with 32,000 miles underneath my keel, I would never feel comfortable having anyone but a professional tower tow my vessel. I have seen much damage done by “Good Samaritan” towers.

Although Eckerd College does offer some good services, its service area is limited to Tampa Bay. They do have nice vessels. I do not feel they have the experience that a full time towboat operator has.

The small fee to be a member of a professional towing company seems like money well spent.

I do agree with Shea that it’s a good idea to meet with your local captains, discuss what establishes peril, what it takes to become a salvage, what are their mileage restrictions (“unlimited” does not always mean unlimited). Then when the tower arrives at your boat, clarify exactly what the problem is, and what the tower’s intentions are.

You may find it difficult to get in touch with some of the large corporations’ local towers. Their memberships are sold through the stores, and they are just subcontracted by the giant corporations. Some do not advertise and don’t even put their phone numbers on their boats. Others are franchises, businesses in your community, and they would be happy to sit and talk with you.

I guess you have a choice when you’re broken down or sinking: Call a lawyer, or a reputable towboat company. I know which I’ll call.

Captain Bruce Pierce Naples, FL Bruce, Thanks for your response. It sounds like the real problem is the unscrupulous towers out there and how do you know when you are dealing with one. If you are a member of a towing organization and know the local tower, you can perhaps tell, but if you are new to an area or have never met or used your local towing service, the advice seems to be to take caution.

See Bruce’s article on page 30 on how to properly tow a sailboat in this issue of Southwinds. Also, see the article on page 44 about the services Eckerd College offers.

Editor

PANAMA CANAL ZONE ISSUE The Last Cruising Yacht in Panama: The last yacht left today on the annual South Pacific run, after failing to find a place in the Canal Zone to refit and repair severe damage before continuing.

The story is a long one, and the Pedro Miguel Boat Club (PMBC) and the yacht are the immediate victims in this story.

Ultimately the cruisers of the world will be the big losers if these actions by the Panamanian Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP) go unchecked.

Historically, the PMBC has been a place to work on boats from the mid 1930s, and for its 65 years has been a legal, helpful and vibrant organization for all of the local and international yachting community, and a source of charitable support for the Panamanian community.

Complying with the legal changes required by the reversion of the Canal Zone back to Panamanian ownership, as penned by President Carter and General Torrijos in 1976, the club switched from a Delaware non-profit organization to a Panamanian non-profit organization. All seemed well as a decade passed. Then in 1996, the Panama Canal Commission (PCC) LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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LETTERS Continued from page 19 “required” (in their words) the operating site of the club.

The PCC had to terminate the license/lease agreement with the PMBC to remove them. This is where things get screwy, as the Panamanian government had to issue the order, and by treaty, should have compensated the PMBC or relocated them.

However, the ACP stated that the PCC (an agency of the U.S. government) was responsible for the club’s relocation or the club’s monetary compensation. Well, in some minds maybe, but the PCC flatly denied its responsibility for compensation.

A case against the PCC was filed in the U.S. Court of Claims by the PMBC, for a “taking” of the club’s property and livelihood. The PCC, via the U.S. Dept. of Justice, offered a deal for dropping all requirements for the PMBC to give up its area if the PMBC would withdraw its case against the Panama Canal Commission. It sounded fair to the club, so a deal was struck and everything should have ended happily. Not so.

The Panama Canal changed hands from the PCC to the Authoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP) as the “new owner,” with the same old folks running the show. The ACP continued for a while doing “business as usual” with the PMBC. Then in 2002, the true intentions of the ACP started showing.

Things got worse when the ACP required $440 for boats to stop at the club, claiming the transit was being “delayed.”

When that did not cause boats to stop coming to this haven for yachts in Panama, the ACP decided to up the pressure and went even further.

In November 2002, the ACP stated they did not recognize the PMBC as having any rights to occupy its site and filed for eviction of the club as intruders, or trespassers. The ACP claimed many things that would not hold a cup of water in a one-gallon bucket even in small claims court. The first legal decision in the process was found in favor of the PMBC nullifying the ACP’s request for eviction of the club; the writing was on the wall for the ACP…the PMBC did have “rights” and was not a “trespasser.”

The ACP struck again by ordering a “stop transit” of all vessels to the Pedro Miguel Boat Club. No notice, nothing in writing, just, “You cannot transit to the PMBC” to any vessel requesting transit. This strangulation of access to the PMBC is a direct attempt to cripple the economic viability of the club and has notched up the survival difficulties of the club to extreme levels.

The bottom line is that if this 65-year-old club, one that offers major assistance to the cruising community at the Panama Canal, was a multi-million-dollar for-profit business, probably none of this would be a problem. However, as originally noted, the PMBC is a non-profit organization that has spent two-thirds of a century helping fellow cruisers get safely through from one ocean to another, and no one gets rich from the work.

When I think of this, I think of the Alamo, and my blood pressure rises, and this looks like a last stand. A good attorney, heck, a good U.S. foreign policy advisor, could probably have straightened out this attitude permanently in a few days of gentle phone calls. To bring a sensible solution to the problem, it is now up to you and I, the people, the cruisers, and the “dreamers,” to get the connections going and force the issues.

The Alamo never had a chance. If we have learned anything from history we need to “rally round” the “last stands,” and then there will not be a “Last Cruising Yacht in Panama.”

If you want to help the Pedro Miguel Boat Club, or want to read a more technical, detailed history on the subject, or want to know who the parties are, go to www.pmbc.ws-. Visit the Pedro Miguel Boat Club Web site, http://www.pmbc.ws or send an e-mail of support to help-us@pmbc.ws, and this will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities and posted on the 20

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www.southwindssailing.com

Web site.

The only chance to save the Pedro Miguel Boat Club is to let the government of Panama know this is an issue important to the world yachting community.

Craig Owings SV Pogo II

BUBBA GETS AD RESPONSE I can only hope for one of two things. You have a great George Carlin or Carl Hiassen sense of humor, or your ad was misadressed and was intended for the new publication, Dumb Mates and Other Personality Insecurities, Inc., which will be out of circulation shortly (subscriptions are way down).

Sewing machine? Is that the same as a Danforth? Now the fishing I get into but would prefer to shoot vodka down their throat to nummify rather than Cribari, so your vintage stock is safe.

I am Desdamona, who is still out there looking for her rocket ship, but she is from Timmins, Ontario – close to Keokuk. However, they sell razors there. Good luck.

An admirer

AND ANOTHER BUBBA SUITOR Hi There! No, I am not a foxy lady so don‘t get your hopes, or anything else, up! I am from South Africa, currently on a 26-foot boat, but am hoping to get on another boat. I’m helping a 72year-old friend get a little boat organized. Being a South African, I don’t have lots of money and no connections anywhere! I do have a daughter, though, who is married to an American.

She is managing a restaurant in Tucson. I have done two ocean crossings from South Africa to the United States on a 34-foot Roberts. The second time on a 34-foot Wildcat catamaran which I helped deliver to Annapolis. I also helped deliver a 37-foot Island Spirit cat to Darwin, Australia, and then again a 40-foot Cape trawler from the Seychelles to Cairns, Australia! I love sailing, can’t stand the ICW and hopping from one marina to another. On the ocean you have the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, the dolphins, catching fish early in the morning, and also swimming in the wide big ocean when the boat is becalmed! It is an awesome feeling to swim in the ocean, turn your back on the boat and see nothing but water. That’s when you make sure you have a tight grip on the long line tied to the boat!

I hate roaches. On a boat it’s them or me, and they usually lose. I can bake a mean loaf of bread. There’s nothing like fresh baked bread early in the morning.

What on earth is Cribari? I usually drink fizzy wine in South Africa, but not here; it’s too expensive. I can sew but only do it when I have to — not one of my favorite things to do.

At present I’m in Titusville. We might be moving north as our permits in port expire in August. We need to get out of the U.S.A. and get our passports stamped again for six months.

Where can I advertise for a crewing position, as I know I don’t have qualifications for your ad? You may also be tied up with a foxy lady already. I saw an ad in a magazine I picked up in the laundry. I tried a few Web sites, but they all want money and what guarantee do I have I will get on a boat? Was thinking of going to Fort Lauderdale but where do I stay? Any suggestions? I am a lady, of course, in my late fifties — a hard worker like all South African women!

Regards, An admirer SHARE YOUR OPINIONS WITH THE EDITOR: PO Box 1175, Holmes Beach FL 34218 Fax: (941) 795-8705 E-mail: editor@southwindssailing.com Web site: southwindssailing.com LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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RACING CALENDAR We’d like to encourage all sailing associations, yacht clubs and regatta sponsors to notify us of upcoming events in your area.

Simply fax or e-mail us by the 10th of each month to ensure that your racing and regatta schedule will be included.

Send to calendar@southwindssailing.com or fax to 941-795-8704 Southwinds Magazine also offers reduced advertising rates for regattas.

FLORIDA EAST COAST NOVEMBER 1 - 2 Coral Reef YC Annual Regatta PHRF Coralreefyachtclub.org NOVEMBER 8 Hughs Cup Women’s YRA Coralreefyachtclub.org NOVEMBER 15 - 16 SE Florida PHRF Championship Coral Reef Yacht Club coralreefyachtclub.org NOVEMBER 15 - 16 Star Schoonmaker Cup Coral Reef Yacht Club coralreefyachtclub.org NOVEMBER 22 Hughes Cup CRYC/ WYRA Women’s Regatta coralreefyachtclub.org NOVEMBER 22 - 23 J-Fest Lauderdale Yacht Club Lyc.org DECEMBER 6 - 7 Star Commodore’s Cup Coral Reef Yacht Club coralreefyachtclub.org DECEMBER 26 - 29 Orange Bowl Regatta Lasers and Lighnings Optimists and 420s CGSC/CRYC coralreefyachtclub.org FLORIDA WEST COAST & INLAND NOVEMBER 1 Clearwater Challenge cyc.org NOVEMBER 1 - 2 PHRF Festival of the Islands CMCS swfloridaphrf@yahoogroups

NOVEMBER 5 - 14 USA Paralympic Trials Sonar and 2.4 Meter St. Petersburg Yacht Club spyc.org NOVEMBER 8 - 9 MC Scow SE Regionals Lake Eustis Sailing Center Mbpz@aol.com NOVEMBER 8 PHRF Transbay Race St. Petersburg S. A. spsa.net NOVEMBER 9 SPSA - TBYRA Women’s Race spsa.net NOVEMBER 15 Fall Bay Race PHRF St. Petersburg Yacht Club spyc.org NOVEMBER 15 - 16 Flying Scot Regatta Sarasota Sailing Squadron Sarasotasailingsquad.com NOVEMBER 15 - 16 PHRF Marco Fall Regatta MIYC swfloridaphrf@yahoogroups NOVEMBER 22 - 23 Alter Cup Area D Florida Multihull Champ Clearwater Community SA 727-462-6368 NOVEMBER 22 - 23 Snipe State Championship St. Petersburg Yacht Club spyc.org NOVEMBER 28 Old Shoe Regatta Davis Island Yacht Club diyc.org NOVEMBER 29 - 30 Thanksgiving Day Regatta All class Davis Island Yacht Club diyc.org DECEMBER 6 - 7 Laser District 13 Open St. Petersburg Yacht Club Spyc.org

DECEMBER 5 - 7 Tornado Catamaran Champs Clearwater Community SA 727-462-6368 DECEMBER 6 J-24 & Melges 24 Davis Island Yacht Club Diyc.org DECEMBER 6 Cmcs Sunfish Regatta Edison Sailing Center Fort Myers 239-277-9352 DECEMBER 27 PHRF Couple’s Race Davis Island Yacht Club Diyc.org NORTHERN GULF (AL, FL,LA,MS,TX) NOVEMBER 8 - 9 Flying Scot GYA Champs Pensacola Yacht Club (850) 433-8804 NOVEMBER 9 - 16 US Women’s Match Race competed on J-22 syc.org NOVEMBER 22 - 23 Cold Turkey Regatta Vanguard 15 & Laser syc.org DECEMBER 27 - 28 Sugar Bowl Regatta PHRF PHRF - Southern YC One Design - NOYC & SYC Syc.org SOUTHERN STATES (AK, GA, NC, SC,TN) NOVEMBER 2 - 3 J22/J24?Melges Miss Piggy Regatta Lake Lanier Sailing Club llsc.com

NOVEMBER 16 GT Frigid Digit Lake Lanier Sailing Club llsc.com DECEMBER 7 1064 Regatta Lake Lanier Sailing Club Llsc.com JUNIOR REGATTAS NOVEMBER 8 - 9 Great Oaks Invitational High School Newer teams <4 years 420’s syc.org NOVEMBER 8 -9 Naples Cup Optis and 420s Naples Community SC 239-898-0211 NOVEMBER 15 - 16 Allison Jolly Regatta spyc.org NOVEMBER 28 - 30 Optimist Midwinters Southern Yacht Club syc.org DECEMBER 6 - 7 Junior Olympics Jensen Beach, Florida ussailing.org DECEMBER 26 - 30 Orange Bowl Regatta Coral Reef Yacht Club coralreefyachtclub.org

November 6-9

SAIL EXPO ST. PETE St. Petersburg

SAILING CLUB DIRECTORY IS NOW ON THE INTERNET

For a list of yacht clubs and sailing associations in Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, visit our Web site southwindssailing.com. Their addresses and Web sites will also be listed. We are asking all these organizations to e-mail us your Web site address and we will put a link to it.

Yacht Clubs and Sailing Associations: Please update your phone numbers by e-mailing yachtclubs@southwindssailing.com and give us your Web site address also.

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Southwinds

November 2003

23

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400 Trawler

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CUBA

Havana View from Castillo Cabana

Three Days in Havana & One in Pinar del Rio: Part IV

By Elena Pimiento, s/v Habanero III Thursday, February 13 - The Castles Today is our last day to tour Havana before we leave Marina Hemingway. Once more, the shuttle bus takes us to Habana Vieja; we walk to the Muelle la Luz, near the cruise ship dock, and wait for the ferry to the Historical Park across the harbor. The ferryboat is a dark blue workboat, perhaps 22 meters long and has absolutely no frills.

It is rated for 90 passengers, and at least that many board, some with bicycles. The fare is 10 centavos, or about $.09 US for the three of us. The ride lasts about 15 minutes; we alight at Casablanca, cross a railway once used for the Hershey train and walk up the hill. The steep road takes us to a 15meter-tall Carrarra marble statue erected in 1958, Jesus blessing Havana harbor. The view of the harbor is spectacular, including the city of Havana, the Capitol and the Bacardi building. Tony leads us along a winding road through what appears to be a military compound, though no one stops us. There is a rise to the old fort, built in 1764-74. Atop the rise are some Soviet missiles and tanks and a lone horse, grazing.

We cross a bridge over a deep, dry moat and enter the Castillo San Carlos de la Caba単a. A park guide stops us and sends us right out as we did not come in the 26

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Gun Battery

proper entrance and have no tickets.

Tony leads us around the moat walls, and we end up at the other fort in the park, Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, built in 1589-1629, overlooking the entrance to Havana Harbor at its outermost point, Punta Bartovento. The fort has been restored beautifully and looks as though the Spanish left only a short time ago. It defended the Spanish colony until 1762 when the British attacked from land and dug a tunnel under the walls. A tall lighthouse, erected in 1844, is the oldest in Cuba. It still guides ships safely into the harbor.

Linda and I follow Tony up and over the battlements, climbing cobbled ramps and steep steps, eventually coming to the Sala de la Estación Semafórica, the semaphore and harbor control station, still in operation. A man steps out of the office and asks if we’d like to come and see the place.

Up the stairs, we enter a long narrow office with a 360-degree view. Three men welcome us and show us two sets of large cubbyholes lining the wall beneath the windows, each with one or two flags. On one side are the flags of nations; on the other are code signal flags familiar to mariners.

The flagpole outside the office is used for the signal flags, and lights are used at night to send messages about the harbor, for exLOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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CUBA

ample, two large ships entering, two small ships leaving, harbor closed to all traffic. We see a panel with some phones and VHF radios at least 20 years old and a large handwritten log book, into which one man is writing information about an American-flagged ship(!) that entered the harbor a few minutes previous. I ask about the ship that is now approaching and am told it is Canadian. Usually six or seven ships per day, including an increasing number of cruise ships, enter the harbor; only a few are Cuban-flagged. Most fly a flag of convenience, e.g. Liberia, Panama, Bahamas.

The man at the panel switches the VHF radio to the NOAA Key West weather frequency; the reception is excellent and so is the forecast for the next few days.

Returning to channel 16, we overhear a vessel apEl Morro Light proaching Key West.

One of the other men motions for me to look to the Castillo Cabaña, finding the entrance this time and buythrough some Nikon 20x120 binoculars on a wheeled tripod: ing the proper tickets. He troops all over the highest levels, I see the head of the 15-meter marble Jesus poking up over mainly rooftops, throughout one of the largest colonial forthe Castillo Cabaña. The man motions for Tony, who jokes tresses in the Americas. Built following the English invasion, about seeing a fly in Christ’s ear. Then, he wheels it to anit covers 10 hectares, runs 700 meters in length. When it was other window, and I see the upper half of the Bacardi Buildcompleted, King Carlos III of Spain, who paid for it, took up ing in Habana Vieja, across the harbor. Just to compare, I look his telescope saying, surely a fort so big (and expensive) could through my 300-millimeter telephoto lens at the same buildbe seen from Madrid. It is large and imposing enough to have ing; it takes a while even to find it in the skyline! The third deterred any enemy from staging an offensive by land or sea. man then shows us some black coral jewelry he has for sale.

The moats surrounding it are 12 meters deep, carved from We leave a $1 contribution and explore the rest of the fort, solid rock serving to separate individual fortress components. starting with lunch at a restaurant opposite the lighthouse Tony continually marvels at the design from a military view. museum. The food is reasonably good and reasonably priced; Even the peaceful garden was once packed with explosives it is especially good to sit down. The one-room lighthouse that could be ignited to foil an enemy’s attempt to gain entry. museum has pictures and descriptions of the 13 major lights Linda and I rest in the cool shade while Tony explores ways on Cuba’s coast. A geological model of the country and the ocean to get back to the ferry without going all the way around. We bottom surrounding it also shows the location and appearance see streets within the fort lined with what we envision were of the lighthouses. Many of the lighthouses are over 100 years once fort offices, shops, officers’ quarters, stores - and will be old and have a good reputation for reliability to help keep mariagain someday if Disney shows up. There is a chapel, a hisners off the many reefs and low-lying cays that surround Cuba. tory museum and a Museo Che Guevara, who had his headWe leave el Morro and follow Tony on the path less taken quarters here in January 1959. We bypass all that and walk down the hill, back to Casablanca, arriving only a minute before the ferry departs.

Back in Habana Vieja, we stop for a mojito at the Bar Dos Hermanos, a favorite of the poet Federico García Lorca in 1930 (perhaps he ran a tab there, too). Again, it is good to get off our feet, and the car-watching keeps us busy. Walking back to the bus stop, we see a bride in a horse carriage being photographed in the Plaza de San Francisco. Later, she whizzes by, perched on the back seatback of a red and white 1957 Sunliner convertible. The groom is nearly invisible. We will miss this amazing country of contrasts and hope to return soon.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter? Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com 28

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BOAT REVIEW

Catalina 22

By Dave Ellis

The Catalina 22 has been

a fixture in the Southeast since shortly after its introduction in 1969.

Fleets have enjoyed sailing along the Gulf Coast and on larger inland lakes.

Lake Lanier has had a strong fleet since the late 1970s.

W

hat is it that made this boat popular? More important, why is it still, after some thirty years, a most popular boat?

The size of the boat, at a little under 22 feet, makes it large enough to be a viable gunkholer and pocket cruiser. It weighs in at about a ton, making it trailerable by most vehicles. The swing keel version, as they all were until 1995, is easily ramp-launched.

Most successful classes of sailboats owe much of their success and longevity to the people who sail them. By that standard the Catalina 22 will enjoy many more years of popularity. I still see some of the names at its regattas that I saw twenty years ago.

There is a strong used boat market, with prices ranging widely. On the Web, www.catalinayachts.com is a good source of information and contacts about the class.

In 1995 Catalina started producing what they call the Mark II version. The hull at the waterline is the same. It seems that they pushed the top of the mold out so that the hull is 8 inches more beamy at the shear. This allows a wider cabin and keeps the deck the same width.

The Mark II also offers a fin keel at 3’6" draft and a wing keel at 2’6". Most still opt for the swing keel version.

Paul Silvernail at Masthead Enterprises in St. Petersburg showed me a

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

shiny new Catalina Mark II in his show lot. A convenient feature he demonstrated was a mast-raising system that can, no fooling, be used by one fit person. The whole operation can take less than fifteen minutes to be ready to put in the water.

What is it like to sail the boat? John Hampton has had his Catalina Mark II for a little less than two years. He keeps it behind his home in the water in the Tampa Bay area. The day of our test sail was a bright, cool October weekday with winds gusting to 15.

The Honda outboard pushed the boat at the hull speed of 5.9 knots at not much over half throttle. The transom-hung rudder easily steered the boat under power.

The mainsail is a relatively small, lower aspect ratio sail configuration. The jib on this boat was just a little overlapping. The foot was cut high at the clew, so visibility forward was very good. After sliding the fairlead for the jib sheet forward nearly two feet, the jib set very nicely.

The Catalina 22 has a weather helm. It always has. Many racers have worked the boat, within the class rules, to negate the helm. It is still there. Hampton likes his weather helm, feeling that it is a safety factor. I loaded the boat up, overtrimmed the main and looked for the blackest puff on the water I could find. Happily, the boat was still controllable when over on its ear to decks awash.

Down below it is surprising the room

on the Mark II version. Yes, it will sleep five, but I know of nobody who would want to do so on a 22-footer. There are a number of features found usually on larger craft, such as a Porta Potty, stove, gangway ladder that doubles as a reachable cooler and a pop-top arrangement in the cabin that expands headroom to 5’7".

Everything on the boat is set up very simply. The main halyard leads back to the cockpit. The jib is on a roller furler.

The vang is up there at the base of the mast. There are two little winches. I had no trouble pulling in the jib in the heaviest puffs.

I had trouble uncleating the mainsheet in the puffs. A skipper has to pretty much reach aft and grab the sheet right next to the cam cleat at the aft traveler and pull sharply downward. It did not work to flip the line down from the skipper’s position at the tiller.

The swing keel cranks down with a winch handle inside the cabin’s back edge. It goes up and down surprisingly easily. Hampton’s boat has had the cable break twice in two years, both times while cranking up. He has placed a second sheave to make a more gentle turn for the cable. He says that Frank Butler of Catalina has been more than accommodating, having the cable fixed at no charge, calling him to make sure all was well.

Perhaps that is one reason the boat remains so very popular. It’s the people.

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SAILBOAT TOWING

Towing Your Sailboat Properly —

You Think it’s Easy Being Towed?

By Captain Bruce Pierce

Y

ou’re out there on the water and your boat is broken down. Your engine just won’t start and there’s no wind. You need a tow.

How do you get in contact with a towing company? One of the easiest ways is to hail us on the VHF radio, Channel 16. The range on a VHF radio is usually about 40 miles or more if your sailboat has an antenna on the top of the mast. If the tow company doesn’t respond, you might try hailing the Coast Guard and they can reDuke Overstreet photo lay to us, or you may find a vessel within range to do a relay.

If you don’t have a VHF radio (which every boat should have) you can use your cell phone if you’re within range. Be aware that the range of cell phones is very limited, some not more than two miles offshore, others up to 15.

What should you know before you need to get towed?

Your position is the most important thing we need to know.

Of course, the best way is to check your GPS. It will give you the exact latitude and longitude. Our response time will be much quicker if we don’t have to search for you. In addition, if you’re not a member of a towing company, you’re paying for our time, and it can add up rapidly.

Also, if there’s some significant landmark you can give us, this helps, like a marker number, or “right off the power plant,” etc.

You’d be surprised at some of the interesting responses I’ve gotten when asking someone’s location: “I’m right here.” “I’m in the cockpit.” “ I can see the Skyway Bridge.” I’ve heard them all!

Some people use dead reckoning. The problem is that your

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compass may not be calibrated the same as mine, so it can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Also, because of “set and drift,” you could be miles from where you think you are. Therefore, it is to every boater’s advantage to invest in a GPS. Now how do we handle it when the towboat is on scene? It may be good to have some form of bridle system on the bow of your boat so that we can just hand you our line, tie a bowline on it, and it’s a pretty simple system to be clear from your foredeck.

Then I’ll need to know where you want to be towed to. You’ve been to the place you’re going. You know what you’re looking for. I don’t.

If you have the latitude and longitude of your home dock, this will be great, so the tower can see on the chart exactly where we’re going. And it’s a good idea to have something on paper, like a hand-drawn chart of the area where your home dock is, to hand to the tower.

This again can be a funny situation. People give me directions like, “You go to the white PVC pipe; take it on your left; keep the floating branch on your right. There will be five houses, then turn right.” Some of these directions can be very difficult to follow. Most of the time, we end up on a working VHF channel with the customer giving me directions one move at a time.

As you can see, if you could hand me something, it would make it a lot easier.

Now we’re under way. “Way” is the term which means your boat has movement forward or backward. When towing a sailboat, it takes time to establish “way.” Often a sailboat will not want to follow; it will want to steer off to one side or another. So it’s a good idea for the captain of the vessel being towed to stay at the helm until way is established.

I once towed an Irwin 52. I was sitting comfortably in my chair. I looked over to my port, and there was a beautiful sailboat going by. I waved at them, admiring their boat. Then it hit me. This is the boat I’m towing; it’s overtaking me! It actually spun me around backwards! Fortunately, I was able to quickly release my towline to avoid a very embarrassing situation.

A friend of mine picked up a sailboat broken down at a bridge. He hooked up to the sailboat, turned around and went out. He didn’t go very far when he turned around, hitting the bridge. He did not establish way, and the sailboat was not lined up and was about to hit the bridge. Fortunately, he was able to correct himself before the sailboat hit the bridge.

Usually, it will take at least 500 yards or so, depending on www.southwindssailing.com

the current, to establish a good pattern in any narrow situation.

If there are any bridges you’ll be going under while being towed, the tower should be the one to contact the bridge, as he’s the one with the power. Also, bridges will open on request for towers towing a vessel in distress. It’s a good idea if you follow the conversation on Channel 9. And you do want to be in contact with the towboat captain as you go under the bridge.

You should steer your vessel to keep it down the center because of the current.

One of the best ways to dock a sailboat is do a “hip” tie, tying alongside your vessel with the stern of our vessel behind yours. We’ll use fenders and lines to secure us firmly. Now the towboat has complete control of your vessel. We may ask you to stay at your helm to turn your rudder. When we are tied up to you like this, we become your power and rudder. We can usually turn you on a dime.

Before we do this, we need to be on the proper side. We can usually spin you around inside a narrow channel, but we need to know if there is enough room for two boats side to side going down the channel. By the way, most towboat captains live for this; we love it!

If you’re planning to go off shore, check with your towing company. Some have mileage limits as to how far they will go before they start charging you, even though your coverage may state “unlimited.” There doesn’t seem to be consistency among operators of the same company as to how far they will go before they reach their version of “unlimited.” I’ve heard one captain say 25 miles, and another captain in the same company say 50 miles. The company that I work for only has one membership plan; we will go as far as we need to go to get you.

It rarely happens, but if conditions are extremely rough, more than just small craft warnings, and it is unsafe for the tow vessel to get you, we can contact the Coast Guard who will come and get you at no charge.

I’d like to say something on the “Good Samaritan” tow.

Although this may seem like a good option, and a less expensive one, the towboats that we run are specially propped for towing. Our transmissions are usually different, geared especially for towing. We give up speed for low-end towing power, which boaters are not willing to do.

Boats in general are not designed to tow another boat, especially a sailboat, as they have undersized engines. The Good Samaritan may not realize it, but he could be taking years off the life of his engine and transmission. Even though we modify our towboats, we typically go through many transmissions a year. So it would sure seem to make sense to be a member of one of the towing companies and not risk damaging the wellintended Good Samaritan’s boat.

As I stated earlier, there is a lot of expertise involved in docking a vessel. The Good Samaritan may not have this expertise. I’ve seen a lot of damage done to vessels being towed

by Good Samaritans.

May the wind always be on your stern. “We’ll be standing by for you!”

Capt. Bruce has a master’s license with a towing and sailing endorsement. He has worked four years as a captain for Sea Tow in Sarasota and is now working for them in Naples. He has logged over 32,000 miles in his sailboat Crossroads.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter?

Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

31

FLOTSAM & JETSAM

A Collection of Nautical Miscellany (to be continued in future issues)

W

hat really is flotsam & jetsam? We have found many variations in the meanings of these words. At Southwinds, we consider it to be a broader definition of the miscellaneous stuff out there we run into in our lives. Then there’s the nautical meanings that carry the origins of the words.

In the nautical sense, flotsam would be the floating things we find out there in the water like parts of boat wrecks or someone’s hat that went overboard. It could be natural like anything from a coconut to a log-maybe a bunch of leaves or something like that.

Jetsam, in this nautical meaning, would be something manmade, or man-processed, and jettisoned from a boat, or from land, like garbage, a bottle, an old rag doll, or maybe a computer (if it could float) if someone got mad at it. A cell phone with hammer marks in it, that floats, could work here. A corpse would also fit this definition.

After some research, we found some other meanings: Linguistics calls words used together in a phrase like “flotsam and jetsam,” a “Siamese twin.” This is because they are linked together by “and” or “or” and have commonly been used together with some comparable meaning.

The New Century Dictionary defines flotsam, as “Such part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo as is found floating on the water.” And jetsam as, “Jettison; also goods thrown overboard to lighten a vessel in distress; esp. such goods when washed ashore.”

According to The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, “flotsam” is the stuff from a wrecked ship and could be its cargo or other stuff that went overboard, perhaps accidentally. “Jetsam” would be the stuff deliberately thrown overboard. These things could also be “jettisoned” to lighten the load. The Companion goes on to say “jetsam” means, in the original legal sense, the place where the stuff went overboard. Flotsam and jetsam also float on the surface, as opposed to “ligan” (also spelled lagan), which sinks to the bottom. It was noted somewhere that some-

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one also referred to “newly ejected oyster-spawn” as flotsam.

In general, we seem to have found that flotsam, jetsam and ligan means anything that ends up in the sea that came from a ship, no matter how it got there. Flotsam was at one point anything that came from a ship and is floating around, and it was held at one time that if it still floats, it belongs to the original owner. Jetsam had the meaning that it was thrown overboard, and more often than not, to lighten the ship’s load. There was a time where jetsam that reached the shore belonged to the king (lots of room for corruption there).

It appears that ligan still holds the meaning today that it is some object that was put in the sea out there with a float attached for later retrieval.

Southwinds’ DEFINITION

We are going to make a leap and offer a final definition, for the sake of the evolution of language, and only to be used in daily conversation, not as legal maritime definitions (and we can be quoted on this without need of our permission): Flotsam is that stuff floating around out there that’s not intentionally “jettisoned.” It can be man-made or otherwise, but not naturally from the sea (like seaweed or a dead fish). Jetsam is that stuff that was thrown out there and “jettisoned” by a human, or humans.

We will accept, as part of this meaning, objects thrown into the sea by human pets, like a dog throwing his ball into the sea, intentionally, or unintentionally.

(Much of the above was taken from the following Web site: www.everything2.com).

AS LONG AS WE ARE DISCUSSING LANGUAGE: From Dr. John Griffiths of Durango, Colorado Ahoy! Did you realize that ahoy is almost an anagram of yahoo? There ought to be a class of words that relate like that, ahoy and yahoo being Order 1 almostagrams, as are cheat and yacht. Sailboat is an Order 2 almostagram of tablesaw.

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LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

33

ANCHORING

Who Owns the Anchorage?

Can they stop me from anchoring in navigable waters?

By Capt. J. Michael Shea, JD

Everyone knows the Coast Guard regulates anchorages, so what is the deal here? Why doesn’t the Coast Guard just step in and end this fight developing on our coastal waterway over anchorages?

I

t is not that simple, as noted by one of our readers in a letter to the editor: “Maritime law gives the boater the right to navigation. This includes the right to anchor.” I wish that was the law, but it just is not the case. Navigate yes, anchor no. You do not have the right to anchor in navigable waters unless it is a designated anchorage. This may be a surprise to many of you, but it is the sad truth.

The right to control anchoring goes with the ownership of the bottom. Ownership involves federal, state and local governments, and in some places it can even be private ownership or subject to riparian rights of the shore-side owners.

In short, if you own the bottomland or have rights to it, you can control the anchoring of boats over that bottom.

When our country was set up, the

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land belonged to each colony. The colonies owned all of the bottom land within their territory and out to sea (in most places three miles). The colonies in turn transferred the bottomland to cities, counties, and, in some cases, port authorities.

As territory was purchased from other nations by the federal government, an additional step was added. The lands went to the federal government and then to the state governments. By this historical transfer very little bottom land (bays, sounds, and coastal bottomlands) is owned by the federal government. The states or their political subdivisions (cities, counties, and port authorities) own most.

Now you see the picture. It is not the federal government that is in control of anchorages. States and local governments, because they own the bottom-

lands, are in control. But you say, “I thought the Coast Guard set up anchorages?” Yes, but they are, for the most part, for large commercial vessels and for storm anchorages and were designated many years ago. The Coast Guard can and does preempt state and local governments when they set up an anchorage, but rarely does so.

“But what about navigable waters?

Aren’t they federal and open to all of us?”

Yes, BUT navigable waters means to navigate those waters; it does not cover anchoring. When we talk about navigable waters, we are talking about the water column itself. A navigable waterway is different because it is a waterway. Like a road or highway, no vessels may anchor in a waterway or channel.

There are a number of anchorages up

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and down our coastlines that have just sprung up by usage. They are usually quiet places where people set up a mooring and anchor their boats. Often there is no formal arrangement with state or local authorities for the anchorage; people just start anchoring, and the next thing you know there is a number of boats anchored without permission from anyone.

There is one of these next to my yacht club, and although there has been a lot of discussion regarding the anchorage, the city which owns the bottomland, has chosen to do nothing. This is not the case in other places. Many local governments have passed ordinances to limit, in some way, the anchoring of vessels for a maximum period of time. Some ordinances prohibit anchoring for more than 24 hours.

In one local case, our port authority, as the apparent owner of the bottomland, tried to prevent a dry dock company from anchoring their dry docks at the end of a dead end channel. The port authority was granted the ownership to all of the bottomland in our county by the state legislature when it was created. The only problem was it did not include that channel it seems that the bottomland was granted to the city over a hundred years ago. The city has chosen to stay out of the fight, and the dry dock is still in the channel.

In another case, the port authority wanted to charge a local restaurant for the use of bottomland under the restaurant’s dock. The restaurant was built when Florida had a statute to encourage waterfront development. The statute granted persons who improved the water shoreline, riparian rights to the nearest channel. The restaurant owners sued. The court ruled because the restaurant had, in fact, improved the shoreline before the

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

statute was taken off the books, they were entitled to the riparian rights, and that included the dock and anchorage. After the ruling, the restaurant sold to a shipyard. The shipyard pulled in a dry dock in a matter of months.

As noted in the previous two examples, ownership can be hard to ascertain. However, if ownership is clear, local governments can regulate anchoring over the bottomland they own. I know this is not the answer you want to hear, but it is the law.

As noted earlier, we often find informal anchorages where sailors have just started anchoring boats. Sometimes this is a result of a shortage of dock space, and sometimes it is just people who choose not to pay for local slips. All too often, some of these boat owners let their boats run down. They become an eyesore and a problem to everyone. The easiest way to regulate the problem of an unregulated anchorage is to just pass regulations outlawing anchoring in those areas.

The question then is how can we protect anchorage areas? To start with, we have to realize unregulated anchorages are a thing of the past and have a short time to live. We have to address the issue as marina owners, yacht clubs and sailors. We need to approach the local authorities who own bottomland with plans on ways to manage anchorages. It is our job to get out there and lobby for the anchorages and that includes local anchorages for the transit sailor as well. If we don’t argue for the transit sailor in our local areas, don’t expect it to happen in an area where you need to anchor overnight. If we do not pressure our local authorities to set up anchorages, they will take the easy way out and just prohibit boats from anchoring in any area outside

of marinas. This is a problem that is not going to simply go away. If we fail to address the issue as sailors, we will lose, and bottomland owners will simply regulate us into marinas and private slips.

RECAP • Local governments can regulate/eliminate anchorages — if they own the bottomland.

• The U.S. Coast Guard, for the most part, is not inclined to regulating recreational anchorages.

• Because of many problems in informal anchorages, local governments are now actively regulating their bottomlands.

• To save or establish free (or low cost) anchorages, we need to, as sailors, sailing organizations and yacht clubs, pressure local governments to set up and approve these anchorages.

• Without some action from the local boating communities, we will see continued elimination of free anchorages.

The opinions in this article are those of the author and not those of the U.S. Coast Guard or any other entity.

If you have a boating legal (sailing) question, or are interested in an article on a particular subject, please drop a note care of Southwinds (editor@southwindssailing.com) or e-mail me at mike@jmichaelshea.com Capt. J. Michael Shea is a maritime attorney in Tampa and holds a master’s and harbor pilot’s license. He has co-authored law books in the maritime field, and teaches and writes articles on maritime law. He has served as a marine investigator for the United States Coast Guard.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter? Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com

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PROVISIONING TURKEY

Finding Your Thanksgiving Turkey — Provisioning in the Caribbean

By Carol M. Bareuther Photos by Dean Barnes

Y

ou’ve hit the perfect weather window and spent seven to ten glorious days sailing south to the Caribbean. Now, with provisions nearly depleted and Thanksgiving coming up, you’re thinking food. While many islands don’t boast big mainland-style supermarkets, you won’t lack finding food stores, and even small islands are likely to have a source for turkey and many of the holiday trimmings.

PUERTO RICO & THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS Thanksgiving is an official holiday in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, so you’ll have no problem finding turkey and trimmings.

Large, well-stocked supermarket chains like Pueblo, Amigo and Grande are located throughout the island and are within a 15-minute or less taxi ride from entry ports like Boqueron on the west coast and Fajardo to the east.

Pueblo and Plaza Extra are the two large supermarkets on St. Thomas and St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands. There are gourmet grocerThe Ample Hamper, a gourmet grocery in Soper’s Hole, ies nearer port that offer holiday Tortola foods, both ready-to-cook and preprepared. On St. Croix, Schooner Bay Market is within walking distance of the Christiansted anchorage and docks at St. Croix Marine. On St. Thomas, there’s Marina Market across the street from American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook and Gourmet Gallery at Crown Bay Marina. “With a day’s notice, we can have a complete, pre-prepared turkey dinner ready for pick-up. You just heat and eat,” says Bill Hyde, one of the managers at Gourmet Gallery. Over on St. John, you’ll find Dolphin Market and Starfish Market. Both require a fiveminute taxi ride from Cruz Bay but are well stocked with essential and festive foods.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Tortola, the capitol of the British Virgin Islands, offers two supermarkets that are amply stocked with Thanksgiving foods, although this holiday isn’t officially celebrated here.

The fresh produce, in-house-made baked goods and fresh meat, poultry and seafood selections rival stateside stores. “We order a special trailer of items from the mainland to make sure we’re stocked up for Thanksgiving,” says Leon Brewley, at Bobby’s Supermarket in Road Town and a 5-minute walk from Village Cay Marina.

Like Bobby’s, the Rite Way Food Markets offer a hot deli that serves a prepared Thanksgiving meal. “Other hot meals available are fish, chicken, mutton, beef, oxtail, baby back ribs, spare ribs, Cornish hen, salt fish, and meatballs. There are also a variety of side dishes such as rice, stuffing, vegetables, plantain, sweet potato, green salads, coleslaw and macaroni pie,” says Ronald Berkeley, head of Rite Way’s retail division.

Tortola is a real mecca for chartered bareboats with over a dozen companies like The Moorings, Sunsail, Horizon, and Conch Charters based on the island. Both Bobby’s Supermar36

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ket and Rite Way provide provisioning services that include online ordering, filling orders on a short three-day notice and free pick-up of shoppers from local marinas and/or delivery of ordered groceries to the dock.

ANTIGUA

Gourmet Gallery, Crown Bay Marina, St. Thomas

There are many food stores, from larger supermarkets to momand-pop and gourmet groceries on Antigua. Most convenient, you’ll find Dockside Liquors & Supermarket at the Antigua Yacht Club marina in English Harbour, and Bailey’s Supermarket in Falmouth. Further north, nearer the capitol of St. John’s, Gourmet Basket is a treat for holiday shopping. “We have over 5000 different food items from frozen, fresh and dry and over 650 references in our wine division, so anything you’d need for Thanksgiving is here,” says Didier Boulos-Callias. If you want to skip the turkey, Gourmet Basket offers roast quail and certified Black Angus beef.

BARBADOS Cruisers to Barbados will find a place to anchor at the Barbados Yacht Club, in Carlisle Bay, about a mile outside of the capitol of Bridgetown. There are several mini-markets nearby as well as larger grocery stores. A short taxi drive away you’ll find a Super Centre supermarket. This is the largest chain on the island with five locations all equipped with a hot foods take-out, plus deli with soups and sandwiches. “We have an assortment of turkeys and hams, plus deli with cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes. We don’t carry pumpkin pie, but

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

do have the ingredients to make one,” says marketing manager, Karen Alleyne.

THE GRENADINES There are many small food stores and produce markets throughout the Grenadines. “For an even wider selection, many cruisers hop on the ferry to St. Vincent to shop at the two big supermarkets, CK Greaves Ltd. and the National Marketing Board,” says Sally Erdle, publisher of the Caribbean Compass based on Bequia, the largest of the Grenadines.

The main yacht-provisioning shops on Bequia are Doris’ Fresh Foods, Shoreline Mini-Mart and EuroShopper. “I’m expecting a shipment of turkey for early November,” says Eardley Simmons, manager at EuroShopper.

GRENADA Most cruisers shop at three major grocery stores, Foodfair, Foodland-IGA and Real Value. “From Mount Hartman and Prickly Bay, it is 5- to 10-minute drive to Grand Anse where these stores are located,” says Laura Fletcher, president of the Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada and owner with husband, Jason, of Grenada Marine. “They all stock turkeys,

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PROVISIONING TURKEY

cranberry sauce and tinned pumpTRINIDAD kin pie mixes, though the small In the Chagaramas area of items tend to disappear quickly so Trinidad, where most cruisers first the rule is, if you see it, buy it! The arrive, the Hi Lo and Dockside fresh produce market in the cenMart are both fully stocked food ter of St. Georges is worth a visit, stores with fresh, frozen and if you re willing to get there becanned foods. Hi-Lo also has two tween 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Saturlarger branches within easy reach day mornings. There are no cranof Chagaramas. Both are easy taxi berries, but there are bananas, rides. There s also regular taxi sercashew, citrus, passion fruit, sapovice to Pricesmart and Tru Value dilla, guava, mango, mammy Supermarkets, which are 20 minapples, West Indian cherries, Local fruit and vegetable stands abound. utes away and have a selection of carambola, and sugar apples to Thanksgiving fare available, says name a few.

Jacqueline Clarke, general manager of the Yacht Services AsCarriacou, Grenada s sister island, has several small re- sociation of Trinidad and Tobago. tail outlets filled with a reasonable range of commonly used But, adds Clarke. Pr ovisioning may not be necessary. items shipped from Grenada and surrounding islands. Fish The Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality Institute will be hosting and meats are somewhat generated by the community so if visiting cruisers for the fifth year, providing a full Thanksgivyou are willing to buy locally butchered meat, you will be ing meal for TT$45 (US$7). YSATT s Members Only provides a fine, Fletcher says. free shuttle.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter? Southwinds would like to hear from you.

E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

39

BAHAMAS

Gales in the Bahamas

by Colin Ward

“Our shakedown cruise” is how we referred to the first trip from Florida to the Bahamas several years ago.

W

e had begun our cruising life in St. Petersburg, FL, and had spent several months readying Mandalay. There were big plans for the future, but the boat and systems were relatively untested outside of the marina environment. We arranged to be away for three months and made plans to travel to Georgetown in the Exumas and back.

Georgetown Anchorage, Stocking Island

Friends George and Judy, aboard Pegasus, a 34-foot Gemini catamaran, had also moved from Texas to Florida to begin their cruising life so we were in touch with them frequently. We compared notes and headed out at nearly the same time from Tampa Bay. In January of 2003, we left St. Petersburg and sailed outside down the west coast of Florida, ducking in at Venice, Charlotte Harbor and Sanibel.

Our first overnighter took us from Sanibel Island to Key West where we anchored for a few days and made our first repair. The anchor windlass motor had an intermittent short in it, which meant I had to bring up the anchor and 100 feet of chain by hand. My back told me I should fix it soon!

While we were in Key West, George on Pegasus called us and suggested meeting up for a joint crossing of the Gulf Stream. We thought that was a good idea, and we sailed up the Hawk Channel to Marathon and then to Rodriguez Key where we met Pegasus and another Texas cruising couple who came to wish us well. A weather window presented itself immediately, and we left at 2100 hours that same night for South Riding Rock, our “landfall” in the Bahamas. The calm night crossing proved interesting in that Pegasus’ electrical system failed them, and their navigation lights grew dimmer and dimmer until they shone no more.

Their radio was also defunct although the 40

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now, I would have high-tailed it into the marina at high tide and tied up. At the time, we did not think of that, and we looked for a protected anchorage in the Berry Islands. We found a spot on the chart between Whale Cay and Little Whale Cay that looked promising. It was only a few miles northeast of Chubb Cay, and we could be there before the gale.

There would be an island to the south and another to the north. To the west would be very shallow banks with very little wave action and to the east, just a small cut to the deep water beyond. So Pegasus and Mandalay started out for Little Whale Cay. We entered the anchorage and found the water depth to be adequate, as the chart showed, and the anchorage looked as we expected. Both islands were

handheld kept us in touch for a few more hours until its battery died. They stayed close behind us in the hope that our navigation lights would keep other boats and ships at a safe distance. We arrived on the banks early the next morning when the solar panels on Pegasus brought their batteries back to life.

Chubb Cay was our first real landfall, and we entered the marina to clear into the Bahamas. The channel was a little shallow and narrow for Mandalay’s six-foot draft so we were glad to get back out of the marina and into the anchorage where we dropped the 35-pound Delta. We settled back to relax, in awe of the clear Bahamian water and the pretty beach and shoreline.

Colleen had assumed the role of official weather person and began listening to the forecasts of a forthcoming cold front. It was a day away but was beginning to sound a bit fierce. We knew that cold fronts were regular occurrences in the Bahamas and that squally northwest winds were common. As the front approached, the forecasts sounded progressively worse. During the last 24 hours before the front arrived, Colleen announced the predicted wind speed, which was increasing by five knots on every update of the forecast — from 20 knots to 40 knots — sustained gale force winds from the north. Since the anchorage at Chubb Cay is mostly open to the north and west, we soon realized that we had better move to a safer spot and quickly! Knowing what I know LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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BAHAMAS

described as private and there was evidence of expensive homes on Little Whale Cay as well as a small settlement. The Delta went down in 12 feet of water near the entrance, while Pegasus, taking advantage of the shallow draft of a catamaran, tucked in a little farther. We set our anchor well and sat back to wait for the blow.

The weather forecasters had Staniel Cay, Exumas got it right, and we soon saw the wind building to the high 20s and low 30s. By that time we had learned about the currents between Bahamian islands on the edge of the Banks. As the tide floods onto the Banks, the water rushes in from the deep Northwest Providence Channel. When the tide leaves the Banks, some of the shallowest spots become dry land, and all that water rushes back into the Northwest Providence Channel. The current tore through our anchorage pulling the boat first to the east and then to the west. The wind, which was exceeding 40 knots from the north, was on the beam, and the boat was rolling gunwale to gunwale. Only three days into the Bahamas and we already are learning about all-night anchor watches using radar to insure that we are not dragging toward the rocky shoreline. We had not yet learned to use the drag alarm on the GPS, although the shore was so close it probably would not have helped. Fortunately, the anchor held beautifully in the sandy bottom. As novices, we had not considered whether the bottom was scoured by the current or whether there might have been rocks or coral down below.

When the gale began to blow, we were tucked in safely, but there were other boats that were not so lucky. A call came on the radio from a boat seeking shelter as it headed toward Chubb Cay from the west. I responded and informed them they could anchor south of Frazer’s Hog Cay to gain protection from the northerly. The crew was grateful and found the shelter they

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needed. Another boat was still on the Banks and planned to anchor there for the night and ride out the gale. The crew was terrified and began transmitting phone numbers, names of relatives, and passport numbers so their next of kin could be notified! Ultimately, both boats made it to shelter unscathed, but there was a whole lot of shaking going on that night.

The gale blew for two days before it began to abate. We waited for the seas to lie down for another day before heading out to Nassau. Even then, we sailed in 6- to 9-footers and lost sight of Pegasus when they were in the troughs.

After relaxing in Nassau where the weather was perfect, it was time to leave and head to the popular first stop in the Exumas, Allan’s Cay. A comfortable day sail away, Allan’s is popular because of the 382 rock iguanas that inhabit three of the surrounding islands and because the anchorage is mostly surrounded by small rocky islands. Typical of several Exuma anchorages, the area between the islands is quite large. However, the center is occupied by a large shoal, which leaves only the perimeter deep enough for most of the boats there. It reminded us of anchoring in a canal just off the rocks. As you might imagine, the canal remains deep because of the tidal current that rushes through it!

We motored slowly up the western side of the anchorage looking for a spot between the boats that were already there.

The spaces all seemed small, but we chose one and prepared to anchor with two anchors, one up current and one down current. The canal is about 12 feet deep and runs north and south so the Delta was dropped to the north, and our second anchor, a 44-pound Claw, went to the south. We had learned that boats usually lie to the current when it is running at two or three

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knots unless the wind is quite strong. Once the boat was secure, our first adventure was to jump in the dinghy and visit the iguanas.

On the second day, the weather deteriorated again. Another front was on the way, and more strong winds were predicted.

As luck would have it, an old medical affliction reared its ugly head, and I was not feeling well. I was hoping to move south to Georgetown and visit the doctor there. That was not going to happen for a while because the gale warnings were up again.

The first squalls hit us hard, bringing strong west winds with gusts to 42 knots and driving rain. Although we had two anchors out, neither one was right for the wind, which came out of the west. Mandalay was pushed eastward, and when the tide was near its low point, we heard and felt a sickening thump, thump as our keel bumped on the shoal, which was now beneath us. Feeling lightheaded and weak, I jumped up and decided immediately that we would have to move to a new spot away from the shoal. By then the sustained wind had built to more than 35 knots, and the rain was coming sideways. I bundled up and headed forward to retrieve the two anchors only to discover that the rodes were twisted around each other several times, caused by the boat rotating in circles as the tidal current switched directions. I tried to ignore the way I felt and untied the bitter end of the number two anchor so it could be unwound from the chain on anchor number one. After much effort, I untangled the line and headed back to the cockpit. Colleen then went forward and raised the primary anchor while I took the wheel and held the boat away from the shoal. Now we just had the Claw down. We traded places again since raising the secondary anchor was heavy work. I could wrap the line around the windlass capstan and use the windlass to assist, but the last 35 feet was chain with a 44-pound anchor on the end, and the capstan no longer helped. I finally wrestled the Claw up and returned to the cockpit to catch my breath.

Colleen motored north past the line of boats in the westerly canal and came to a spot which was open and deep enough but was obviously where the tidal current was at its maximum. Having little choice, we dropped the Delta while a neighbor yelled that he had 120 feet of chain out. We stayed well away from him and then set our second anchor making a “Y,” which would limit our swing and hopefully keep us away from the rocks and the shoal. We went below and again turned on the radar preparing for another all-night anchor watch. The anchors did not drag,

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

even though we were once again in a scoured area where the current exceeded the speed of the Gulf Stream.

We were boat-bound in that spot for another two days waiting for the conditions to abate before heading south to Georgetown. We discovered another new phenomenon and named it the wedgy. At certain times, the combination of opposing strong wind and strong current caused our anchor rodes to stream aft down each side of the boat. The wind was blowing at 30 knots onto the stern of the boat, but the current flowing over the keel and rudder prevented the boat from swinging into the wind. Although we were not dragging anywhere, the wedgy was annoying because the rope anchor rode snagged the keel and rudder ,and the chain rode rubbed the topsides.

We were totally unable to prevent the wedgy. If we turned the boat into the wind using the engine, the current returned us to the wedgy within a few minutes. We have since been in a halfwedgy numerous times using only one anchor.

After a couple of days, our second gale abated, and Mandalay and Pegasus left for points south. We did not wait for the seas to lie down and were glad we had a strong engine when we motored out of Allan’s Cay. We have been back to the Bahamas three times since that first shakedown cruise. We have never again experienced the prolonged gale force winds that hit us during our first two weeks there. The lessons learned were many. Our 35-pound Delta anchor has been replaced by a 45- pound. We rarely deploy two anchors unless the others in the anchorage are on two (and we hope you will use only one whenever possible).

The 35 feet of chain on the secondary anchor has been replaced by two feet (heresy to some, perhaps) so that the windlass capstan can be used to bring it all the way up, plus a snatch block has been installed to make tailing the rode easier. We move to a sheltered spot early in advance of an approaching blow, and we are vigilant about knowing what the weatherguessers are predicting. Allan’s Cay is no longer on our list of desirable Exuma anchorages, although we succumbed to pressure to go there this year, only to discover it has not improved!

The concept of a shakedown cruise is a good one because problems like the faulty windlass motor come to light. We only hope your shakedown does not include two gales or Allan’s Cay! Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter?

Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com

Southwinds

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Eckerd College Search & Rescue Team, St. Petersburg, FL

T

he Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team (EC-SAR) was founded in 1971 to provide safety services for the college’s water sports activities. EC-SAR expanded its maritime rescue services to include the Tampa Bay boating community in 1977, and the team was one of the first units to respond to the Skyway Bridge disaster in May of 1980. The program has since grown to become one of the most respected search and rescue organizations on the west coast of Florida.

EC-SAR has just begun its 32nd year of service, and the group typically assists over 500 vessels each year. The team’s capabilities include towing, firefighting, searching for overdue vessels, pulling vessels from aground, dewatering sinking vessels, and providing medical assistance to people on board.

EC-SAR’s services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at no charge.

The Search and Rescue Team is a group of highly moti-

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vated student volunteers from Eckerd College who receive no academic credit for their membership. Members of EC-SAR participate in an intensive nine-month training program, which develops a standard proficiency level in basic skills. Upon completion, students have the opportunity to advance by pursuing specialized training in advanced crewing skills, emergency medicine, navigation, communications, and boat handling. EC-SAR members volunteer 12-15 hours each week in addition to being on call for a 24-hour period every three days, patrolling the Tampa Bay area on weekends, and monitoring radio calls during the evenings.

EC-SAR is only one component of the Eckerd College Waterfront Program. The Wallace Boathouse and the Activities Center also support a large recreational program, a competitive intercollegiate sailing team, a ship’s store, a galley, and a maintenance facility. Funding for these programs is primarily

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achieved through community support and usage. For example, during the summer months when the college students are not in residence, the Waterfront Program offers an array of summer camps for children six years of age and older and classes for adults. EC-SAR students are given the opportunity to instruct these classes, providing a practical application for their teaching skills. They have a direct impact on over 600 children from the Tampa Bay community as these youngsters learn lifetime sports, boating safety, and respect for the marine environment. All the proceeds from the summer camps support EC-SAR and the other Waterfront Programs.

Community support of all the Waterfront programs is visible in a number of ways. While EC-SAR does not charge for its services, donations are frequently offered and appreciated.

In addition, many area businesses donate excess inventory that is either used or stored for a later sale. One of the more unique forms of support, however, is through our community boat donation program. Perhaps you may consider donating your boat to EC-SAR and the Waterfront Program, or you may know someone who would consider the idea. The donation process is simple and inexpensive. If the boat is one that can be used in the Waterfront, it would be added to our inventory - but if not, EC-SAR and other students are given LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

the opportunity to refurbish it or to prepare it for sale. These boats are for sale during the entire year, but EC-SAR hosts an annual marine yard sale every spring where all of the donated equipment and boats are on display. Again, the EC-SAR students volunteer more time to set up, work, and clean up the event.

Eckerd College is extremely proud of its dedicated and talented student volunteers. Over the past 32 years, the Waterfront Program has become a very important part of the Eckerd College community and remains true to its founding principle of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Education Through Service.â&#x20AC;? Should you need the services of EC-SAR, the team can be contacted on VHF channel 16 or 68, and if members are not monitoring the radio, a boater can hail the U.S. Coast Guard Group, St. Petersburg and ask specifically for EC-SAR. If you carry a cellular phone on board, you can call directly at (727) 864-8256.

The services that EC-SAR offers in the Tampa Bay area are important not only to boaters, but to the entire community.

Team membership helps instill a commitment to volunteerism that will benefit any community that these students choose to live in upon graduation. The student members appreciate the support they receive - it helps to elevate the commitment and introduce a level of pride and performance that has allowed the program to earn its high quality reputation. If you are interested in more information or would like to request a group presentation or in-water demonstration, please contact the Eckerd College Waterfront Program at (727) 864-8288.

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COMMUNICATIONS

Marine Radio Nets What They Are, How to Use Them

By Gary Jensen

F

or those of us new to cruising, just talking on a VHF can be an intimidating experience, and the “mike fright’ generated by the mere thought of joining a single sideband (SSB) net, even worse. What do I say, how do I check in, what are the rules, how can I call my friends, what if I make a mistake…

These are just some of the concerns running through the heads of many first-timers. Fear not, you are not alone. Let’s take some of the mystery and uncertainty out of marine SSB nets, learn how to take advantage of the fellowship and safety benefits nets have to offer, and even enjoy ourselves while doing it.

What are marine nets, why do they exist, and what if any useful purpose do they serve? Marine nets are the cruisers’ watering hole. They’re the equivalent of the office water cooler or coffee machine; a place where people gather to chat, exchange information, and yes, even gossip. Marine nets define a specific time and place (frequency or channel), where cruisers gather to make contact with each other and exchange information. Marine nets are scattered around the world on both the ham and marine SSB frequencies. (There’s a table at the end of this article listing some nets of interest to East Coast cruisers.)

Safety, fellowship, and message handling are the main purposes of marine nets. Marine nets are an excellent source for staying abreast of weather conditions and local navigational hazards, information that’s critical for a safe voyage. As a gathering spot, marine nets offer a meeting place for friends and fellow cruisers to gather and socialize, as well as a gateway for initiating and receiving health and welfare messages. By checking in to or listening to marine nets, a cruiser quickly develops a “big picture” of where the boats are around them, who they are, and the kind of weather and sea conditions they’re encountering.

Some nets are disciplined and follow a strict protocol1, while others are much more relaxed and informal. Most nets, however, tend to follow a format of starting the session by calling the net to order, asking for emergency or priority traffic, making announcements of general interest, giving a weather report/forecast, taking general traffic, and then closing the net. Some nets have a “warm-up session” before the official start time; others do not.

Some nets, like the Waterway net, Mañana net, and Southbound

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net have the same net controllers every day. Other nets like the Cruisheimers, Southbound, and Amigo nets, draw their volunteer net controllers from the cruising population.

So how does a cruiser go about checking into a net? The first step is to spend a session or two listening to how the net is conducted. For example, lately the Cruisheimers net has been starting out by first accepting check-ins from the Chesapeake north, and then the Chesapeake south. During the springtime, however, when there are more cruisers on the water and the Bahamas are busy, the groupings may be expanded to four or more, e.g., Chesapeake north, Chesapeake to Florida, Florida, and the Bahamas.

Listen to how boats check in to the net. Do they simply say the name of their boat, or do they give additional information along with the boat name? Cruisers checking into the Cruisheimers net usually just give the name of their boat and their location. On the other hand, cruisers checking into the Amigo net (a net that operates on the west coast of Mexico), give the name of their boat, their ship’s call sign, and a brief report of the weather (temperature, humidity, cloud cover, barometer trend, etc.), and sea conditions when checking in.

Professions, vocations, and avocations, develop jargon unique to their activities, and marine nets are no exception to this rule. Listen for “net speak” words or terminologies used during net operation. Contact for example, is frequently used by a station to indicate that it wants to talk to the station that is currently checking in or talking. Recheck is used by a station that had previously checked in, left the net, and now wishes to check-in again. When the net control is unable to copy a station, another station may offer to relay to the net control by saying “Relay.” By listening for a session or two you’ll quickly get a feel for the order in which the net conducts its business, whether the net is highly structured, or relaxed, and the netspeak used.

For first-time net users, the Cruisheimers net on 8152 KHz is a good place to start. It is an easy and friendly SSB net for first-time users to check in to and use. The net begins at 8:30 a.m. when the volunteer net controller (a fellow cruiser), an-

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RADIO NETS

East Coast of U.S., Atlantic, Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean, Mexico, Panama Standard Time Schedule (Winter Time) Time FREQ MHz Upper / Lower Sideband Net Name UTC EST (GMT) East Coast US Primary / Secondary 10:00 5:00 6.215 USB Caribbean (Uncontrolled 1000-1200) 12:00 7:00 7.241 LSB Caribbean (weather given at 1115Z) 12:15 7:15 3.696 LSB Bahamas Weather 12:45 7:45 7.268 LSB Water Way / Cruising Club 12:45 7:45 14.121 USB Mississauga 13:00 8:00 21.400 USB Trans Atlantic 13:30 8:30 8.152 / 8.148 USB Cruzheimers 12:30 7:30 8104 USB Caribbean WX 13:30 8:30 2.582 USB Bermuda Harbour 13:30 8:30 8.107 USB Panama Canal, MX, Central America 14:00 9:00 8.188 USB NW Caribbean 21:30 16:30 7.268 LSB Waterway Cocktail Hour 15:00 10:00 14.173 USB Chesapeake Nautical 20:00 15:00 12C (12.359) USB Southbound II - Herb’s WX 14:00 9:00 7.292 LSB Florida Net 0:00 19:00 14.313 USB Almost 24-hour Maritime Net coverage 0400/1800 23:00/13:00 14.310 USB MM Net meets twice daily As Needed As Needed 14.300 USB MM Emergency as needed As Needed As Needed 3.935 LSB Gulf Coast Hurricane As Needed As Needed 14325 / 3950 USB/LSB Hurricane Watch * Blue (Italic Bold) = Marine SSB (Note: All Marine SSB nets are conducted on USB).

Green (normal type) = HAM (Note: USB is used on 14mHz {20M} & up; LSB is used on 7mHz {40M} & below). * Net activates whenever hurricane is within 300 miles of populated area.

nounces that the net is now beginning. Before the net begins, you may hear cruisers establishing contact with each other and either having brief discussions on frequency, or moving “off frequency” (tuning their radios to a different frequency) to have a more lengthy conversation. Once the net starts, however, this activity stops and conversations are directed through the net control.

At 2000Z (4:00 p.m. EDT), the Southbound-II net controlled by Herb Hilgenberg2 on 12.359 MHz (SSB Ch.12C) is a must listen. For the past fifteen years, Herb has been providing personalized weather forecasts to passage making cruisers sailing the Caribbean or crossing the Atlantic. During the cruising season there can be up to 90 or so boats checking in during the two-hour net, so the net is a bit more structured than Cruisheimers, and it’s focused on weather forecasts and reporting. By familiarizing yourself with Herb’s style and the net protocol now, you’ll be ready to check in and use his services when you make your next passage.

Marine SSB nets are an important cruising tool. With a little time and effort you’ll soon be familiar with the SSB net resources available to you, and ready to jump in and enjoy the fun and safety they have to offer.

1Net procedures for the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club can be read at: http://www.jstorm.com/wrcc/WRCCproc.html 2Information on Herb’s service to the cruising community can be found at http://www.sympatico.ca/hehilgen/vax498.htm Have any questions about radios and communications? Or would you like to see an article about a particular subject? E-

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mail Gary at misc@docksideradio.com Gary Jensen owns and operates DockSide Radio (www.docksideradio.com), and specializes in Sailmail & WinLink e-mail systems. Gary and his wife Peggy lived aboard their Hans Christian 38T for three years while cruising the west coast of the U.S, Mexico, and the Sea of Cortez. Gary and Peggy now live in Punta Gorda FL. Gary can be reached at (941) 6614498, or by e-mail at misc@docksideradio.com.

www.southwindssailing.com

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds

November 2003

49

SOUTHERN SAILING

Where Did Seamanship Go?

BY DAVE ELLIS

Captain Irving Johnson was a seaman.

In the 1920s he managed to hold on with one hand halfway up the mast on a full-rigged ship rounding Cape Horn in a full-fledged storm, while filming the action holding a bulky camera with the other hand.

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he narration of the film done many years later recounts the captain of that ship calling out the name of one of the myriads of parts on that ship, and all the cadets would dash off to that line, sail, or obscure piece of gear. Each man aboard learned where everything was, what it was called, and what it did. Their lives depended on knowing.

Johnson also told the story of a seaman falling off the boat near the bow. The captain dashed over to that side, grabbed a coiled line with one hand and dove overboard to catch the seaman by the hair with the other hand. The crew dragged both aboard. The captain knew that there was a line there, that it was long enough to do the job and that the bitter end was tied to the ship. He also valued good crew!

Alas, Irving Johnson had stopped taking teenagers aboard his North Sea Pilot boat brig Yankee on around-the-world trips by the time I got old enough to go. I still cherish a letter from South Africa from Johnson telling me that at twelve I was a bit young to sign on.

There are still some folks out there who sailed in the days of wood hulls and spars draped with cotton sails. The youngest of us are pushing sixty.

How much of the seamanship of old is important today?

The sailing industry has changed so much, especially in the past twenty years, that much of what was once imperative to know has become moot. A fellow recently challenged me with the question, “What is the round knob at the top of a schooner’s mast for?” I had no idea and admitted it. “You call yourself a sailor!” he retorted. Chagrined, I learned that the knob came off and salt was scooped under it to keep the end grain of the mast from rotting. Sometimes hulls had salt bins in them for the same reason. The Wander Bird, made famous by the book “Fifty South to Fifty South,” was so equipped, making its restoration practical.

But, really, that is only of historical interest today. If you are reading a Captain Horatio Hornblower book, it is nice to know what it is describing.

Many names are being lost simply because we don’t need them. On the other hand there are items on our boats that old salts would not recognize.

The Cunningham, named after Briggs Cunningham who recently died, was invented by that race car driver/Snipe sailor/millionaire as a way to tighten the luff on his cotton www.southwindssailing.com

“Modern materials have made day-to-day maintenance a much less onerous task.

I used to enjoy lying under the deck of my dad’s boat and peeling the dry rotted wood.

Today I’d get fiberglass splinters.”

mainsail, since the Snipe sail was built to fit from the top of the mast to the non-moveable boom. For a while in the 70s we called the Cunningham the “smart pig.”

A sailor named Barber placed a horn outside of the jib fairlead on his dinghy so that he could lead the jib sheet outboard and forward on reaches. Now we call any method to do that a “Barber hauler.”

John Christensen has invented a number of strange contraptions. The JC strap is a bungee cord from near the boom vang on the boom, to the bow area and back to the boom on the other side of the mast. The boom is thereby held out when running.

Who has done the “Shimon Van Collie Roll”? When you flip your Laser to windward, with the boom straight up in the air, you know that when you get on the board to right the boat, it is going to just keep right on going and flip the other way. The Roll is to just hang onto the board and go under the boat as it flips so that the next flip is stopped and you can jump on the new high side.

Teaching sailing in 1963 at Admiral Farragut Academy, where nomenclature, throwing a heaving line and keeping the boats shipshape was paramount, and teaching in the mid1980s on much larger boats has not changed significantly. Now, just twenty years later, commercial sailing schools have noticed that adult sailors learning the sport are more interested in knowing how to sail the boat and get back to the dock. The nomenclature has become less important to them.

We don’t harp on making sure shackles are placed with the handle to the right hand, that main halyards are led to the starboard side of the mast and never to put a hitch in a halyard. We have so many new pieces of gear to show and so many electronic gadgets to master that many of what seemed so important has been lost. Most new professional instructors don’t know the old stuff; but they are very proficient at things that would baffle the captain of the fullrigged ship Pamir.

Modern materials have made day-to-day maintenance a much less onerous task. I used to enjoy lying under the deck of my dad’s boat and peeling the dry rotted wood. Today I’d get fiberglass splinters.

Yet, in a light air venue like Florida’s west coast or the lakes of the southeast, far too many boats break down when we get a day of significant wind. Those conditions would be an everyday occurrence on Florida’s east coast or lower Texas coastal areas. They have learned to maintain their boats for those conditions. Today, seamanship would dictate that boats must be maintained to take those conditions when they do occur.

While much has changed, the wind has not. The same forces are on our modern toy as the wooden craft of old. A sudden storm, a lightning strike, a grounding, a person overboard and suddenly seamanship is as important as it was to the iron men of the wooden ships.

We still raise the main before the jib; when we run aground we heel the boat AFTER we tack to go back to deeper LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

water, backing the jib to help the turn when we get near head to wind; we close that forward hatch when working on the foredeck so when the sail is draped on the deck, we don’t step down the hole; we don’t try to clean the mud off the anchor chain with our fingers as we push the button on the windlass with our foot; we rig a “down line” to the deck when being raised up the mast by a halyard; we watch the RESULTS of our cranking on a winch, rather than gazing at the turning handle; we don’t stand in the “V” formed by a line under pressure going around a sheave; we tie stopper knots in a small-boat spinnaker sheet, but not in larger boats; we don’t slide our hands along the foot of the sail at the boom (“paper cuts”); we hold the spinnaker pole on a jibe like a mustache, not like a Q-tip. If you think maybe you should reef…REEF! A sailor should be able to dock his boat under power without embarrassing himself.

A seaman can do so under sail. Alone. With a crosswind.

While holding a drink.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter?

Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com

Southwinds

November 2003

51

RACING & REGATTAS WEST FLORIDA BRADENTON YACHT CLUB “KICK OFF” REGATTA SEPTEMBER 27-28

By Morgan Stinemetz The final day of the two-day Bradenton Yacht Club “Kick-Off” Regatta in lower Tampa Bay saw mostly light conditions and some very tightly contested races on three courses. On the debit side, the 71-boat racing fleet was depleted by 14 boats, when that many failed to start on Sunday.

Winds were steady from about 300 degrees, but the meager velocity made for some intricate tactical sailing all around.

In all, the spinnaker and non-spin- Sunday’s start in the Bradenton Yacht Club’s “Kick-off” Regatta. Photo By Steve Morrell naker boats got in three races, two on Saturday and one on Sunday, while the true cruising classes Easy Out’s 3-4.

In True Cruising B (10 boats), the winning boat was Morgan sailed the same 9.8-mile course both days, one race per day.

The results follow. Boat types and home towns of the rac- Stinemetz’s 1973 Ericson 27, Reefer. Stinemetz, from Bradenton, and his crew had a third on Saturday and a bullet on Sunday. In ers were not provided by the Bradenton Yacht Club.

Spinnaker A (12 boats) was nailed by Bill Fisher of second was Gotcha, Don Peterson’s Catalina 27 from Gulfport.

Bradenton on XS, a custom 40-footer that finished with a line Peterson sailed to two second-place finishes (2-2). And in third score of 1-1-4. Second in class went to Robert Hobbs on Abbey was Chan and Sue Sweetzer’s Catalina 35, Sea Hawk. Sea Hawk Normal, a B-32, with a line score of 4-2-1. Hobbs is from Tampa had a great day on Saturday but a less stellar one on Sunday. The In third was Jamie Myers’ Rocket, a J-35. The line score for the Tampa-based boat was 2-3-10.

Spinnaker B (11 boats) was topped by Jay Tyson’s High Maintenance, a J-29 from Davis Island. Tyson had a line score of 2-3-1. In second came Semper Fi skippered by Ray Mannix of Largo. Semper Fi is a J-29, and the line score was 1-2-4. Third was another J-29, Harvey Ford’s WildKat out of St Petersburg.

The finish score was 6-1-3.

In Spinnaker C (11 boats) Brad Kadau of Treasure Island brought his Changes in Latitude, an SR Max 21, in on top with a line score of 1-2-4. In second was Charlie Clifton of Sarasota on Lucky Pony, the same marque as the winner, (7-1-2). Third went to Necessary Evil, Dave Olsen’s SR Max 21 (3-6-3). Olsen is also from Sarasota.

In Non-spinnaker A (10 boats), Rudolph Reinecke of Sarasota sailed Ooh Zone, a Beneteau FC 12, to first with finishes of 1-3-1. Then it was Jim Mallory’s Baroscious, a C&C 41 from Tampa with 2-2-3. Palmetto sailing junkie Terry Tibbits had his immaculately prepared Hooks/Kelly 34, Grand Illusion, in third with a line score of 4-8-2.

Bob Willard, who lives about a stone’s throw from Tibbits, sailed his Morgan 22, Flash, to finishes of 1-2-2 to take first in Non-spinnaker B (8 boats). Then it was Blaise Pierson’s Hunter 37, Midnight Sun, just a point back with 2-1-3. Dean Cleall of Sarasota, in his Elliott 25, posted a 3-4-1 to take third in class.

True Cruising A (8 boats) went to Blue Moon, a beautifully prepared and family-sailed C & C 40, from Tampa. The boat was skippered by David German of Tampa, and he had his wife and two kids on board. He had finishes of 2-1. In second was Shady Lady, a Cal 34 owned by Steve Honour of Seminole, which scored 1-2. In case of ties, the boat with the last win is the winner. Miller Time, a Catalina 36 owned by Bradenton’s Bob Miller, won a tie breaker over Easy Out by virtue of finishing 4-3 to 52

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www.southwindssailing.com

RACE PREVIEW: 36TH ANNUAL 2004 REGATA DEL SOL AL SOL, ST. PETERSBURG TO ISLA MUJERES, GEARS UP: ENTRIES, CREW AND VOLUNTEERS WANTED Looking towards the largest race ever to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, the 2004 Regata del Sol al Sol is seeking entrants and volunteers. With an eventful and windy race in 2003, this year’s regatta will be even better and more eventful. The 45mile race will start on April 2021, with two starts on consecutive days for different classes.

The challenging conditions of the 2003 race, with 38 entries, 2003 Regata Del Sol al Sol drew the attention of several racing boats from around the country, and next year’s race holds promise of an even larger group. Visit the race’s Web

site, http://www.regatadelsolalsol.org/, for more information, and for those interested in being crew on one of the boats.

line score was 1-6. The Sweetzers are from Sarasota.

The regatta has a small multihull class, but only one boat out of the six entered in the regatta sailed the second day, so the division never passed muster.

27TH ANNUAL CROW’S NEST REGATTA, VENICE, FL OCTOBER 4

By Morgan Stinemetz In light and shifty winds that threw the sailors some real curves over a 9-mile course, In Tune, Doug Dearden’s Impulse 26, was the class of the 31-boat fleet that raced in Venice on Saturday, October 4. Dearden’s corrected time of 1:25:55 just squeezed him

by Elixir (1:26:39) and Flash (1:27:45).

The Crow’s Nest Regatta, now in its 27th year of providing a fine fall racing venue and also generating money for charity, is a must stop on the fall racing schedule and is also part of the Sarasota Boat of the Year eight-race series on the west coast of Florida.

Dearden, from Sarasota, with Jim Barr on board to steer some and call the shots, also won the 7-boat Spinnaker class, with Tim Miller’s Elixir (SR 21) in second and Charlie Clifton’s Lucky Pony (SR 21) in third.

In the Non-Spinnaker A class, Bob Willard of Palmetto, FL pretty much did a horizon job on the 7 other boats in his class.

Willard, sailing a Morgan 22 by the name of Flash, corrected out nine minutes ahead of the second place boat in the class, Ed Luscinskas’s Xcitor, a Lindenberg 22. Luscinskas is from Stuart.

Third in the Non-Spinnaker A class was Chuck Margetta’s Morgana, a custom 32-foot gaff-rigged ketch which came from certain death on the first and very shifty leg to make time on the competition on the final two legs. Margetta is from Sarasota, Non-Spinnaker B (5 boats) went to Jim Liston of Venice sailing a J/105, Cat’s Meow. In second place in non-spinnaker B was Blammo, an Evelyn 26 capably steered by Jim Skinner of Sarasota.

Miller Time a Catalina 36, skippered by Bob Miller of Bradenton was third.

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Crow’s Nest Regatta winners Peter Robinson and Doug Dearden. Photo by Lauren A. Doyle

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RACING & REGATTAS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION: THE RACE COMMITTEE

By Morgan Stinemetz On Saturday, September 20, a dozen or so interested sailorsmost of whom were members of the Manatee Sailing Association-met at Regatta Point in Palmetto, FL, to learn more about sailboat races, but from a different perspective. All were sailors of some experience. What they did not have and what they received was a day’s training on how to become an effective member of a race committee.

Actually, the word “committee” is a bit of a misnomer.

“Race committee team” connotes more of what the function of the race committee is all about. A successful race, from the officiating side, is all about teamwork.

The race committee course was taught by Carole Bardes of St. Petersburg. Bardes is an experienced race officer with hands-on work in the Olympics and a host of international events. Her thorough presentation was made with Power Point-aided graphics.

I don’t know about you, but I have been in races wherein the race committee consists of one or two people who have as much of an idea of what they are doing as Barney Fife knows about forensic police work. The races got off on the wrong foot, went the wrong way and were scored with as much competence as a dyslexic encountering calculus for the first time.

Not fun for anyone.

What was very interesting to me is that a race committee that does its job well can-and maybe should-comprise as many as nine people. Who are they and what do they do?

First of all, there’s the PRO, principal race officer. He (or she) is the one who makes the executive decisions. He determines where will the race be held? He writes or approves of the sailing instructions, keeps an eye on the weather, holds the skippers meeting and directs the race committee. He is the manager of the team, the CEO. If it works, he gives credit to

The largest class in the regatta was, oddly enough, what was called an Assigned Rating Class (ARC). This class (11 boats) had no boats in it with a current PHRF rating. Some of the competitors’ boats never have had a rating and others have not gotten around to having their rating renewed. But race they did.

First in ARC was Colonel’s Lady, a Catalina 35 owned and operated by Forrest McNally of Osprey. In second place was Fast Land, James Harn’s S-2 7.9. Harn is from Nokomis. And in third Bob, a Colgate 26 belonging to Bob Jensen of Nokomis.

his team. If it doesn’t, he takes the fall.

The committee boat operator is responsible for getting the race committee on station and getting them home again.

He has to know how to operate his boat in a variety of challenging conditions. His boat must be ready as far as fuel and other necessary supplies. He has to know how to anchor correctly so that the rest of the team can function most efficiently.

The line sighter is the person who sights along the start/ finish line to see if there are any premature (OCS) starters. If so, he announces the sail numbers of those boats and watches to make sure that the boats start correctly. At the finish, the line sighter tells the timer the exact instant-by saying “mark”that a finishing boat crosses the finish line. The line sighter spots and records any flags, e.g. a protest flag, that a finisher might be flying.

A mark setter is usually the person in the Boston Whaler who sets the marks. He gets his information (via VHF) from the PRO on where to put the pin end of the line, where to place the weather mark and where to put the gybe mark. If the mark spotter has a GPS in his boat, then his job will be that much easier. Later, the mark spotter may be called upon to set the finish mark so that it and the committee boat are at right angles to the last leg of the course. In addition, if there is enough of a wind shift, about 10 degrees, the mark spotter may be called on to move the windward mark or set a new mark. There are more duties involved with being a mark setter because this is a jack-of-all-trades assignment. It could involve safety issues, flag display and recording mark roundings among other things.

The person who does all the tabulations on the commitSee THE OTHER SIDE continued on page 56

CROW’S NEST REGATTA VENICE WOMEN’S SAILING SQUADRON, OCT 1 The VWSS (Venice Women’s Sailing Squadron) portion of the regatta raced on Wednesday, October 1, in Venice’s Robert Bay. There were 22 entries. In Prams, Judy Collins took first place, Karen Williams placed second and Barbara Dein took third. The Sunfish race was won by Cecily Cerutti, with Sara Yunker in second, and Barb Murphy at third.

There were over 40 participants in the VYBA (Venice Youth Boating Association) division of the Crow’s Nest Regatta raced on Saturday, September 28, in Roberts Bay. The Crow’s Nest hosted all the VYBA racers at a BBQ and awards event on October. Doug Rousell and Bill Reed, VYBA Race Directors, presented trophies.

All Regatta Entry Fees go to the Crow’s Nest Regatta Fund at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. The fund supports Venice area youth activities. At the awards ceremony, Crow’s Nest owner Steve Harner presented Community Foundation of Sarasota County President and CEO Stewart Stearns, and Mary Fran Carroll, chairwoman of the board, $4000 for the Regatta Fund.

Results: Green Fleet: Ryan McKinney 1st, Ashley Weaver 2nd, Kyle Hunter 3rd. Red White & Blue Fleet: Jackie Sims 1st, Molly McKinney 2nd, Teal Strammer 3rd, Alexis Humphrey 4th. Portsmouth Division: Fred Strammer 1st, Charlotte Sims 2nd, Joe Garlick 3rd,

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RACING & REGATTAS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION: THE RACE COMMITTEE tee boat is called the scorer. This is the person who lists all the boats that started, all the boats that finished, lists all the penalized boats and then tabulates the race results. Oftentimes, scorers are back on land, and they get their information from the other race committee personnel via a VHF radio or a cell phone.

Worst case scenario is that they get a bunch of scribbled, indecipherable notes to work with. With a laptop computer, though, and a place of sufficient size to work, the scorer can do the job on scene, on the boat. It moves the process along brilliantly.

A signaller’s job begins ashore. He has to be certain that all the flags that he might need during the day are on hand and placed on the committee boat. As visual communication between the race committee and the competitors is the official way a race is started, in case a sound signal malfunctions, the signaller has a very important task. These days, most race flags are hoisted on pieces of PVC pipe. The signaller has to have the appropriate flag at full hoist when the timer says “mark!”

The flag has to come down when the timer says “drop!” In addition, the signaller may get instructions from the PRO to hoist an “X” flag for OCS boats. There could be a general recall, which would require another flag. Signallers don’t come with three arms, but it would be a nice attribute.

The sounder is the person who gets to sound the horn or shoot the gun. He gets his cues from the timer. The sounder who uses a gun must make certain that he doesn’t blast a hole in a competitor’s sail. Even blanks can do this. The results of such an occurrence are hard to imagine. General recall? Redress

Continued from page 54

hearing? A protest against the race committee? A lawsuit?

The person who writes all the information down is called the spotter or recorder. This is a sharp-pencil job that requires intense concentration. The spotter is the person who will have the history of the race on the proper forms in case anything needs to be reconstituted. The spotter writes down the starters, the finishers, comments from the PRO, displays of various flags and even the non-finishers. This latter chore is important so that the race committee can keep track of all the boats all the time. It is not likely, but it is possible that a nonfinisher could have had a boat sink beneath him without anyone seeing it. He’d be feeling a little left out if no one even knew he was missing.

The person with the job that is also very important is the timer. He keeps track of the time with two watches-a primary watch and a backup. He will need a strong voice and the will to use it, because it is on his signal that all the starting sequences commence. At the finish, when the line sighter says “mark” as a boat crosses the line, the timer calls out the time of finish. The spotter/recorder writes that down.

Some of these jobs can be combined, but the timer, signaller, spotter, line sighter and mark boat operator are generally stand-alone tasks.

If you race and have not been part of a race committee, you are missing out on being part of the solution. My bet is that understanding what the race committee does and how they do it will make you a better competitor. It cannot hurt.

EAST FLORIDA RACE PREVIEW: GULF STREAMER RACE, DAYTONA TO CHARLESTON, SC, MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, MAY 28, 2004 Memorial Day weekend 2004 marks the fun coast’s millennium Gulf Streamer yacht race. This race is a 225-mile one-way sprint from Daytona Beach to Charleston, SC. It is the fourth biannual event held in alternating years with the 20-plus-year-old Daytona to Bermuda TransAt race, both sponsored by the Halifax River Yacht Club. In the last running, many boats came from the Southeast region to join in the weeklong activitiesshoreside and afloat.

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Ask anyone who sailed in the 1998 premier event how much they liked it and you’ll hear, “It was great!” HRYC carefully plans the event to encourage experienced racers, club racers and cruiser-racers. There will be multiple class trophies for all levels and PHRF handicaps.

The Gulf Streamer is open to all yachts 20 feet LOA or longer that are properly equipped for coastal racing. Requirements will be included in your racing packet upon registration.

Festivities during the week prior to the race include a welcoming BBQ held on Wednesday night on the bridge. Participating racers and members of HRYC join in an evening of good entertainment, food and fun. On Thursday night there is a farewell rum party, also on the bridge. A breakfast is held on Friday morning with a weather briefing just prior to the start of the race. This is followed with a flotilla to the Ponce Inlet starting line.

As with the TransAt, this will be a race within a race. There is a 10-mile super sprint from the starting line to the Main Street Pier at central Daytona Beach. This portion of the race is usually covered extensively by media, with all the enthusiasm usually given to a NASCAR event.

Upon arrival at the Charleston Municipal Marina, it’s time to check in and get settled. Participants and supporters wash off the sea, relax and wait for the rest of the participants, and then the festivities for skippers and crews begin. There will be a Bloody Mary party and breakfast at the Charleston Yacht Club on Sunday. The Charleston Yacht Club honors the racers by hosting a gala welcoming dinner, their traditional Low Counwww.southwindssailing.com

RACING & REGATTAS try Boil, which is followed by the awards presentation. All yachts will receive a commemorative participation plaque. After all is done, you can enjoy a leisurely cruise onward to homeport with newfound friends and memories.

For more information: Internet Info: www.hryc.org/.

V/C Robert Ford - Co-Chairman - (386) 304-7390 P/C Jack Moran - Co-Chairman - (386) 672-6244 P/C Paul Adamek - Entry Chairman - (386) 257-6742

RACE PREVIEW: KINGS DAY ONE-DESIGN CHALLENGE JACKSONVILLE, FL, NOVEMBER 14-16

By Rona Garm J/24 and Melges 24 sailors from around the region should plan to attend the signature regatta of the Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville, FL. Welcoming entrants from all reaches of North America and beyond, FYC anticipates increased participation this year as the World Championships are being held in California in early November.

Regatta chairman, Pat Lambert, notes that this is the 10th consecutive Melges 24 event – one of the longest running regattas in class history.

In addition to some fantastic racing, the event also showcases the hospitality of Jacksonville sailors and the Florida Yacht Club. Starting with a pre-regatta oyster roast on Friday Night after a late afternoon practice race, the weekend quickly shifts into high gear with three races on Saturday and a one design banquet in the Grand Ballroom. Wrapping up with

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two races on Sunday and an awards party with complimentary beverages and food, this is a great place to go racing.

Last year’s event saw some extreme conditions - winds that started around 10-12 quickly built to 20-25 and beyond, so if you think that racing in the river is too tame for you, think again.

The club offers reciprocal charging privileges; area hotels offer discounts, and temporary dry storage is available just five minutes from the club. They’ll also help to arrange transport for boats continuing south for the Mid-Winters and/or NOOD. This event has garnered such publicity in the past that there will be a “press room” with computer access and a press/ photo boat on the water both days. Skip Miller is the waterfront director and can answer any general questions (904-3871653); Pat Lambert can address Melges 24 specific issues (904269-9405) and Tim Monahan (904-791-7599) is the J24 liaison.

CAROLINAS & GEORGIA Y-FLYER REGATTA, LAKE ALLATOONA, GEORGIA OCTOBER 11 - 12

By Jim Kransberger The BEERS Regatta is an annual regatta. This year’s event was the 49th meeting and a memorable one. Thirty-five Y-Flyers and their crews from across the Eastern United States met at the Atlanta Yacht Club on Lake Allatoona for the three race event. Lake Allatoona is just northwest of Atlanta.

The contestants were divided into two fleets: Gold and Blue. The Gold fleet was the more experienced and had 24 boats. The Blue fleet had eleven boats and comprised sailors who had yet to win a race. This division kept the competition quite level within both fleets.

It looked like Saturday was to be a lay day - too much wind, cloudy. Y-Flyers are a tad prone to tip and turtle, so the Race Committee’s concern was reasonable. The committee stuck to schedule, and wind abated to brisk and mostly steady.

After a summer of drifters, the fleet was delighted to have something that put to use the heft that had so often not helped.

Chris Cyrul, of the Privateer Yacht Club in Tennessee, and Pam Gore of AYC never took a finish cannon, nor had a bad finish. Cyrul nailed the first start right place, right time – to finish fourth. In the next races, he finished second. Asked what he attributed his success to, he replied, “...was patient and made (he thought) a minimum of mistakes.” Cyrul’s boat was borrowed, but hardly new to him. He was its previous owner.

The boat he had owned prior to that boat was also a winner, too, taking the honors in the Blue Fleet. Cyrul told the awards ceremony about his two old boats with a great deal of humor as he had yet to trophy with a newer boat, bought two years ago. One can only wonder if he helped the resale value of that newest boat. If trophy envy exists, it might be worthwhile for those types to ante up for a Y-Flyer (Cyrul’s?) and enter the competition at next year’s BEERS. The trophies were crafted

by Buz Benzur. Benzur, nationally acclaimed commercial photographer and race chairman, proved his vast talent with the handsomely crafted, half-hull wooden plaques. The hospitality of the Atlanta Yacht Club seems endless.

Three or four boats inverted themselves during the regatta, and even they will be back for the 50th BEERS Regatta.

It will be the 50th anniversary and quite possibly the best. www.southwindssailing.com

Results: Gold Fleet 1; Chris Cyrul/Pam Gore ,4-2-2 8 Pts: 2; Drew Daugherty/Kim Haymaker 7-6-3 16: 3; Dave Irons/Jan Griffin 8-3-6 17:Blue Fleet 1; Heather Morse/Curtis Morse 2-1-1 3.5 Pts: 2; Nile Hatcher/Brad Beebe 1-2-7 9.75: 3; Tom Gore/ Shirley Gore 3-7-2 12

THE SAVANNAH YACHT CLUB’S LEUKEMIA CUP REGATTA, SAVANNAH, GA SEPTEMBER 20

By Nancy E. Spraker Over 40 sailboats including 21 PHRF and 20 Optimists, Lasers and Sunfish competed at Savannah Yacht Club’s Volvo Leukemia Cup on September 20. It was all for the love of money for a cure.

The regatta has raised over $1 million in its seven-year history. In 2001, after September 11, the city was the number one fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Savannah Yacht Club was listed among the top five fundraising yacht clubs last year.

This year Savannah sailors raised $33,000 ($11,000 from juniors).

According to Schley (Sly) Knight, Savannah’s top fundraiser in 2002, “If you raise The Y-Flyer Regatta. Jim Kransberger photo. enough money, you can sit on the dock and eat watermelon.” He raised $11,000 on his J105 Geechee Grace this year. He holds a first place trophy on that dock now. “We blow them out of the water. Savannah raises five to six times that of Charleston,” says Knight. Olympic Finn champion John Porter, Knight’s nephew, provided onboard tactical advice on Geechee.

Several in Savannah’s sailing community, including Knight, have been personally touched by leukemia or lymphoma. He lost a father and brother to leukemia, and his aunt currently has the disease. Suzanne Clary-Bryan, chair for Savannah’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, lost her husband, a sailor, to lymphoma. The man who brought the 1996 Olympics to Savannah, John McIntosh, Sr., has leukemia now, but surveyed the scene behind the helm of his powerboat nonetheless.

The McIntosh family was in full force in Savannah. Olin McIntosh served as regatta chairman; his wife Sharon provided scoring. Billy McIntosh was event chair. Teenagers Andrew and Hans raised the most funds in the junior class, which brought in over $10,000 total. The family “consortium,” White Hawk, a Catalina 27, provided neck-to-neck competition throughout the Wassaw Cup that took place the day after the Leukemia Cup. Father and son, Olin and Hans McIntosh, taped paper sailboats that students sold for $1 on the walls of Hans’ middle school. Olin McIntosh is a teacher there. One of Hans’ classmates has leukemia. The Savannah Yacht Club was the first in the nation to incorporate junior fundraising, with junior corporate fundraising added this year. One of the junior trophy winners gave her trophy to a young leukemia survivor at the awards ceremony.

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Peter Bream’s team, overall winners of the J/24 Southeastern Regional Championship in Charleston. Jim Kransberger photo

Pat Seidenspinner of 1996 Olympic Race Committee fame provided the SYC with her services for the racing that was not totally without incident. Only a couple of boats legitimately completed the racecourse in the first out of three races. The rest neglected to round government mark 19. It was another instance of the importance of reading the sailing instructions. Two boats grounded momentarily. Under sunny skies, winds for the regatta were 5-10 knots, veering from west to east as the sea breeze kicked in around noon, as it usually does.

Although the racing mattered, what mattered more was the fact that people sailed to help discover a cure for the disease that kills more children than any other in our country. The children and adults of Savannah’s sailing community have much to be proud of.

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Results PHRF-A; 1.Geechee Grace (Schley Knight); 2. Dead on Arrival (Joe Highsmith); 3. Absolutely! (Rick Wieters), PHRF-B;1. Second Wind (Steve Toney); 2. Rush (Richard Huguley); 3.

White Lightning (Gene Brooks). PHRF-C;1. Mischief (Barbara Foster); 2. Hasten Down The Wind (Terry White) 3. Tumultuous (Bob Hastie).Laser;1. Kate Mayle; 2. Lester Stern; 3.

Charles Loncon. Sunfish Juniors;1. Andrew McIntosh; 2. Hans McIntosh; 3. Dirk Resler.Sunfish Seniors ;1. John Pirovano; 2. Dan Rohde; 3. Susan McCann. Optimist Green; 1. Helen Sullivan; 2.Rolfe Glover; 3. Devon Rohde. Optimist Blue ;1. Jessica McCarthy; 2.

Corey Meyer. Optimist Gold; 1. Vincent Hartley.;Top Fundraisers;1. Schley Knight $11,991; 2. Barbara Foster $5,260; 3. Andrew McIntosh $3,530;4. Hans McIntosh $2,500; 5. Terry White $2,350. Overall Winner: Schley Knight.

J/24 SOUTHEASTERN REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FLEET, CHARLESTON, SC, SEPTEMBER 20-21

By Jim Kransberger As hurricanes may come and hurricanes may go, Isabel didn’t do anything in Charleston other than cut into the size of the J-24 Southeastern Regional Championship fleet. The event, hosted by the Carolina Yacht Club, Charleston, expected to attract boats numbering in the mid 30s. The attendance was 17 stout, fearless entries from within the district. Ignoring the TV weather pundits, as did Hurricane Isabel herself, they had a very competitive championship.

The breeze on Saturday arrived in small measures and filled within an hour of the scheduled start time. It held direction and increased in velocity as the day and races progressed. The problem was not as much how to read the local wind but how to read the tide. Although there is a very visible edge to the in-coming rush of the tide within the river’s flow, one had to have some understanding of where to cross those edges. That there are two rivers converging within the bay only complicated the situation. A missed reading resulted www.southwindssailing.com

in being overstood at a mark or tacking short. Both were very costly errors in a competitive fleet.

Peter Bream’s team (Scott Griffin, Paul Abdullah, Scott Smith and Christian Smith) took their new, never raced Waterline-built boat to an overall victory by figuring out the tides in, as he said, “...about a race and a half.” That “team” and that’s the only way Bream refers to his fellow sailors, has sailed together for four years and are all Thistle sailors.

At the year ’s Thistle Champion- Tool Time, racing in the Charleston Leukemia Cup. Jim Kransberger photo. ships, four of “the team” sailed their own boats and brought home finishes of CHARLESTON LEUKEMIA CUP, SEPTEMBER 27: 6th, 15th, 39th and 60th. If one does the math, it means that CHARLESTON SAILOR GETS SEVENTH they averaged in the upper third in a class of some of the BEST NATIONAL RATING! best small boat sailors anywhere. Now that is, indeed, a By Jim Kransberger “team” when you consider that two of these sailors capsized Charleston sailor Jackie Lucas maneuvered Tool Time, a Cal 35, to in a race and still finished so well. With their success, one a seventh-place national fundraising position with his efforts in might deduce that they are hanging around junior programs this year’s Charleston Leukemia Cup event. This year, as in past years, Lucas of Team Dewees raised the most money for the loand recruiting.

Now qualified for the J-24 Worlds, next September in Con- cal regatta and seventh nationally. More than $27,000 was the necticut, Bream and team will start tuning the boat. The mast, sum of their efforts this year. Lucas and his Tool Time also won as currently rigged, rests against one of the partners. This off- their division on the water.

Darlene Benton, local leukemia and lymphoma campaign set means that sail adjustments are not equal on opposite tacks.

The mast is “too straight,” Bream added. The level of stay director, said, “The Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta raises over adjustment that the boat maintains is in the area of half-turns. $100,000 locally for the fight against these devastating diseases.

Coupled with that, Bream attests that ”... with four years The Cup is the single largest one-day fundraising effort we have. together, everybody knows their job well...lack of mistakes... It is so very important.” Local rewards for participation in this good tactics and teamwork” are the core element to their suc- fundraising event range from a $1,000 gift certificate for the top cesses.

Oddly, the very competitive second-place boat, Maarten Zonjee, et al, was a near new team, together for only a few weeks. That team finished going away in the first race of the regatta and was the competition to be sure to beat from that race on. Will Hanckel’s boat finished the regatta in third overall after getting past a bad score in the third race.

The entry fee for this event might have limited attendance.

If so, it was only in ignorance of what was included. The fee, $225 per boat, included breakfast, light lunch aboard, the banquet, ice, etc. It was a bargain, leaving the sailors to keep their attention tuned to boat speed and tactics.

Results: 1st; Peter Bream Jacksonville, FL 4-2-1-2-2-3 14 Points: 2nd; Maarteen Zonjee Sullivan’s Island, SC 1-6-2-3-4-7 23 Points: 3rd Will Hanckel Charleston, SC 2-1-18-1-3-1 26 Points: 4th; Daniel Brorrer St. Augustine:Beach, FL 10-4-3-5-6-2 30 Points: 5th; Michael Foster Savannah, GA 7-7-9-6-1-4 34 Points LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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RACING & REGATTAS team, $300 for the second and $200 for the third from West Marine.

Included in the event’s total are the dollars raised by a banquet the night of the race and an auction. The banquet and auction were held in the Charleston Maritime Center and filled the facility. The most popular live bid item was a near new motorcycle, followed closely by a player piano. The silent auction items, and it appeared that there were hundreds, ranged from various serious sailing toys to fine art.

Race management was contributed by James Island Yacht Club which shared its JIYC Centennial Cup Regatta with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to enable this event. There were two races.

On the water, the 57 participating boats were divided into six different divisions, each with a separate start. Divisions were divided on Recess prepares for its race start in the 17th Annual Lost Bay Regatta. Photo by Kim Kaminski. two separate courses. Although the wind gods were a few moments late in deciding the velocity and Saturday morning competitors gathered for the skippers’ direction of the day’s weather, the wind proved steady, and the briefing by Fleet Captain Barry Brothers. He coordinated the promised rain held off. Everything, in every way, proved partici- event and divided the 13 classes (four spinnaker, nine non-spinpation in the Leukemia Cup a reward. naker) into two fleets with a total of 24 spinnaker boats and 54 Results: non-spinnaker boats, which sailed in a triangle course out in A Fleet / PHRF Jane Dunn Temptress SR 33 OB; B Fleet / PHRF Martin Zonjee Footloose J24; C the middle of Perdido Bay. Each leg of the course was meaFleet / PHRF Ken King, Quintette Sabre 38; D Fleet / PHRF Jackie Lucas Tool Time Cal 35; Melges 24 Fleet Ryan Hamm When Pigs Fly; Sunfish Fleet, Will Cabill; Holder Fleet, Phil Hardwick sured at approximately 1.44 miles. The spinnaker class sailed three triangles (a distance of 13.11 miles) while the non-spinnaker class racers sailed two triangles (for a distance of 8.74 miles).

The winds during the race started out at 8 to 10 knots out of the southeast. Over the course of the day, rain clouds would slowly 17TH ANNUAL LOST BAY REGATTA drift into the area building the breezes up to 18 knots over the POINT YACHT CLUB, JOSEPHINE, AL, SEPTEMBER 13 racecourse. Eventually, the clouds moved out of the area, and

By Kim Kaminski the winds settled back down to a more manageable strength of The 17th Annual Lost Bay Regatta was sailed this year on Sep- 12 to 13 knots. tember 13, sponsored by the Point Yacht Club located in Josephine, Tight competitive racing could be found in a number of AL, at the Pirates Cove Marina near the southern coastline of the sailing classes. For instance, in the spinnaker class, fleet finPerdido Bay. Seventy-eight competitors sailed in boats of various ishes were separated by one minute. However, the competition sizes, shapes and sail colors. Some boats traveled to the regatta was even closer in the non-spinnaker class (which started a little just to enjoy the atmosphere of the area, and crew members looked later in the afternoon but finished in the stronger wind condiforward to the evening regatta festivities. tions) where the fleet finishes were separated by a total of only 17 seconds. Some of the race competitors ran into some difficulties on the racecourse. The all-female team on Sirocco (Spinnaker B) had to extract the bolt cutters on the boat to cut down a halyard that was stuck and in the process ripped their spinnaker sail. The sailing team on Roka Dobi (Spinnaker C) put their spinnaker up sideways on the last leg of the race, and while they were trying to correct the sail, one of the boat’s crew fell overboard. The team quickly dropped their sails and recovered the overboard crew-member but did not finish the last leg of the race. The racing team on Animal (Spinnaker A) had the lowest handicap of all the boats on the bay, but that didn’t help this team when some vital spinnaker race equipment was lost overboard during the heat of competition.

In the non-spinnaker class, the team on Recess (Non-Spinnaker E) enjoyed a close contest in their racing class but found a shallow part of Perdido Bay and ran aground. Another sailor

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www.southwindssailing.com

who had a tough day on the water was Jeff Schroeder, who sailed his boat Land’s End (Non-Spinnaker L) single-handedly to finish the race. However, his efforts really paid off as he finished the race in third place for his class.

In the non-spinnaker fleet, the big winners of the day were Kim and Julie Connerley and their crew on Ez-Duz-It. Not only did this team capture first place in their class (Non-Spinnaker K) but succeeded in earning first place overall in the non-spinnaker fleet by beating their competition Otter by a mere 13 seconds, Zig Zag by 17 seconds, and Polecat by 37 seconds. Talk about a close competition; this team’s spirits were still sailing high as they danced the night away following the trophy presentations to the musical sounds of Blind Driver. Everyone enjoyed this year’s festivities, and many have already started making plans to attend next year’s annual beach party at the Point Yacht Club.

Results (Class followed by corrected time); Spinnaker Class A - 13.11 miles; 1st - Fine Line - J. Roberts 1:44:50; 2nd - White Trash - G. Smith 1:45:56;3rd - Sapphire - M. Palermo 1:49:02.7;4th - Tyrant - M. Lockard 1:50:03.1; 5th - Aqua Vite - H. Albert 1:53:34;6th - Animal - B. Denham 1:56:20; Spinnaker Class B 13.11 miles; 1st - Latex Solar Beef - S. Bellows 1:48:25; 2nd - Awesome - D. Dunbar 1:52:59; 3rd - Road Trip - D. Kellen 1:55:09.8; 4th - Sirrocco - L. Newkirk 2:00:36; 5th White Trash II - J. Murray 2:06:39 ; Spinnaker Class C - 13.11 miles; 1st - Ambush - J. Clark 1:43:47; 2nd - Antares - D. Hoffman 1:48:04.5; 3rd - Forever Mind - J. Chason; 1:51:00; 4th - Jazz - P. Green 1:53:34 ; 5th - Tom Cat - T. Batty 1:56:00 ; 6th - Roka Dobi R. Bray DNF; Spinnaker Class D - 13.11 miles; 1st - New Trial - M. Boykin 1:52:35; 2nd - Applejack - D.Owczarczak/K.Kaminski 1:53:40; 3rd - Insanity - S. Butcher 1:54:17; 4th Incognito - L. Robbins 1:56:14; 5th - Halcyon - B. Baxley 1:56:42; 6th - Cuda Been Paris - J. Hood 1:56:51; 7th - Sweet Little Sheila - L. Chapman DNF; Non-Spinnaker Class E - 8.74 miles;1st - Riptide - S. McGonigal 1:22:23 ; 2nd - Turbo Dog - D. Davis1:22:40 ; 3rd Patriot - R. Matteis 1:22:45; 4th - Sun-Ur-Buns - N. Long 1:27:49 ; 5th - Katie Lee - J. Majerik 1:44:48 ; 6th - Recess - J. Oyler DNF ; Non-Spinnaker Class F - 8.74 miles; 1st Caribbean Soul - B. Kriegel 1:21:48 ; 2nd - Isis - R.T. Marshall 1:21:56 ; 3rd - Cresswell - B. Hall 1:24:38; 4th - Osprey - J. Carr 1:25:37 ; 5th - Sundance - B. Dean 1:27:38 ; 6th Loophole - E. Reuss 1:35:25 ; Non-Spinnaker Class G - 8.74 miles; 1st - Delphina - J. Pantano 1:20:39 ; 2nd - Big Easy - D.J. 1:21:17 ; 3rd - Dame - W. Pelham 1:24:35 ; 4th - Solmate K. Coate 1:33:03 ; 5th - Reflections - D. Whidden 1:35:46 ; 6th - Breeze Seeker - J. Drake 1:40:07 ; 7th - Caddy Wampus - J. Bozeman DNS; Non-Spinnaker Class H - 8.74 miles; 1st - Free Spirit - T. Stokes 1:18:48 ; 2nd - Gypsy Wind - J. Ardrey 1:18:59 ; 3rd - Jolee - J. Finley 1:20:14 ; 4th - Stargazer - S. Tovant 1:28:03 ; 5th - Lagniappe - J. Weyand 1:28:41; 6th Local Motion - M. Nicholson 1: 37:13 ; Non-Spinnaker Class I - 8.74 miles ; 1st - Heather J. Matthews 1:18:45 ; 2nd - Lady Jean - D. Dixon 1:20:08 ; 3rd - Reverie - N. Rowell 1:24:22 ; 4th - Pura Vida - R. Simmons 1:26:14 ; 5th - Ragtime - R. Morgan 1:28:40 ; 6th Great Escape - J. Loftis 1:36:50 ; 7th - Windy City - B. McDonald 1:41:03 ; Non-Spinnaker Class J - 8.74 miles ; 1st - Kokomo - G. Brummett 1:27:38 ; 2nd - Ratsass - J. Hall1:32:42 ; 3rd - Alleycat - K. Menck 1:38:47 ; 4th - Crosswind - M. Cross 1:43:44 ; 5th - No Name K. Hester 1:49:10 ; 6th - Instant Amnesia - L. Engel 1:54:22; Non-Spinnaker Class K - 8.74 miles ; 1st - Ez-Duz-It - J & K Connerley 1:18:22 ; 2nd - Otter - E. Nelson 1:18:35 ; 3rd - ZigZag - D. Blume 1:18:39 ; 4th - Polecat - P. Ring 1:18:59 ; 5th - Icarus - F. Saas 1:31:13 ; 6th - B. Soper 1:43:51 ; Non-Spinnaker Class L - 8.74 miles ; 1st - Whirlaway - J. Veal 1:22:00.4; 2nd - Shanghai Lady - B. McCoy 1:27:06.4 ; 3rd - Land’s End - J. Schroeder 1:35:45 ; ;4th - Elusion - T. Mooney 1:36:43 ; 5th - Rag Tacker - W. Mikkelsen 1:37:08.5 ; Non-Spinnaker Class M - 8.74 miles ; 1st - Clewless - B. Holk 1:23:04.3 ; 2nd - Baraka - P. Madden 1:46:35 ; 3rd - Alley Cat - Brian M. 1:52:09.2 ; 4th - No Name - C. Hayes DNF; 5th - Flirt - J. Shaw DNS

allowed these lady sailors the opportunity to test their skills on borrowed J-22s (an international one-design keelboat) for a chance to win the silver Coco Seeman’s Women’s Keelboat Championship Trophy.

The J/22 is a responsive and stable sailboat with a fixed lead keel and was chosen as this year’s boat for the regatta. In previous years, the lady competitors have raced on L-16s and Rhodes 19s, and now, for the second year in a row, on the J-22s. The competition was sailed on the shallow waters of Lake Pontchartrain (a relatively large lake 24 miles across with an average of 12 feet in depth).

Nine female teams with four members per team sailed in a total of five races. The teams rigged and prepared the small boats for the first day of competition where three races were scheduled. The winds were ideal for these small sailing vessels and blew across the lake out of the northeast at 5 to 10 knots. Gradually, as the day progressed, the winds increased up to 12 knots and shifted toward the east. The hazy, overcast autumn sky made the weather conditions very comfortable (not too hot or muggy) for all who participated in the races. The two-mile racecourse, a double windward/leeward course out to a temporary marker and back, was used for all three races by SYC’s favorite son Fleet Captain Wallace Paletou.

On Sunday, the race course was set as a double windward/ leeward course of 2.8 miles. The light winds delayed the start of the first race Sunday morning but gradually filled in from the southeast at 12 to 14 knots. The stronger winds gave these lady sailors a few more challenges, and several teams struggled with their spinnakers during both races, but these “die-hard” lady competitors enjoyed several close races as well as camaraderie and teamwork.

Results (place, team skipper, total points): 1 - Susan Danielson,6; 2 - Louise Bienvenu,12; 3 - Sparky Arceneaux,3; 13;- Debby Grimm, 21; 5 - Julie Connerley, 23; 6 - Annette Long, 33; 7 - Kim Kaminski, 37; 8 - Margie Offan, 38; 9 - Elaine Boos, 42

2003 WADEWITZ REGATTA, FAIRHOPE YACHT CLUB MOBILE BAY, AL, SEPTEMBER 27-28

By Kim Kaminski The sailing season in the fall (here in the South) tends to be one of the most active times of the year for most of the area’s athletes.

The weather is generally ideal with moderate temperatures and good sailing winds. No wonder almost every weekend from now until Thanksgiving is filled with plenty of sailing activities.

One such event is the 2003 Wadewitz Regatta, which was held on September 27-28, sponsored by the Fairhope Yacht Club,

6TH ANNUAL COCO SEEMAN ONE-DESIGN KEEL BOAT WOMEN’S REGATTA, SOUTHERN YACHT CLUB, NEW ORLEANS, LA, SEPTEMBER 20-21

By Kim Kaminski The 6th Annual Coco Seeman One Design Keel Boat Women’s Regatta was held at the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, LA, on September 20-21. The SYC (known as one of the charter members of the Southern Gulf Coast Yachting Association, which was established in 1901 and re-organized in 1920 as the Gulf Yachting Association) is located on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Nine teams, two teams from Florida and seven teams from Louisiana, journeyed to the Big Easy for a weekend of sailing competition. This two-day all-female sailing event LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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RACING & REGATTAS which is located along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. Competition sailing vessels of all kinds (Flying Scots, Lasers, Stars, Optimist prams, Sunfish, 420s and Rhodes 19s) were used in a number of various race formats over the two-day racing event.

Nearly 150 sailors of all ages entered the Gulf Yachting Association Capedevielle regatta event.

Representatives from several of the GYA member yacht clubs appeared in force to compete in one of the last qualifying Flying Scot races of the year. Each GYA member yacht club is required to participate in at least seven out of the 15 qualifying regattas throughout the sailing year in order to maintain its membership in the GYA and have a chance to earn the Auguste Capedevielle Trophy.

(Note: All qualifying races are Flying Scot competitors sail out from the Fairhope Yacht Club to race in one of the last Capedevici races of the held in the official inter-club boat, sailing year. Photo by Bryan Kaminski the Flying Scot. The Wadewitz Regatta encompasses not only the Flying Scot event but other 29TH ANNUAL WEST FLORIDA OCEAN class races as well.)

RACING CIRCUIT SAILBOAT REGATTA The Capedevielle Trophy was dedicated in 1941 to the PENSACOLA YACHT CLUB, OCTOBER 10-12 memory of August Capedevielle and is one of the oldest and

By Kim Kaminski most prestigious awards in the Gulf Yachting Association.

The 29th Annual West Florida Ocean Racing Circuit (WFORC) Auguste served as the commodore of the GYA from 1936 to Sailboat Regatta was held at the Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC) 1939. This will be the 62nd year of competition between the on Friday October 10-12. Sailing vessels ranging from Perfor32 GYA member clubs for this championship. The Lipton mance Handicap Racing Formula (PHRF) boats to Melges 24 Cup Trophy established in 1920 and the Knost Cup Trophy one-designs to Corsair multihulls all came together for a threeestablished in 1938 are the only other older trophies for comday weekend of intense sailboat competition. petition in the GYA. For this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2003 Wadewitz Regatta A total of 31 boats (28 PHRF, 6 Corsair multihulls and 7 14 out of the 32 member clubs came to compete.

Melges 24 one-designs) filled the area with over 300 sailors (crew members, boat owners, race management, support staff and Results (place followed by fleet followed by points); family members).

1st - Gulfport, 7 ; 2nd - Southern, 9 ; 3rd - Bay-Waveland, 10 ; 4th - Pontchartrain, 11 ; There was an abundance of wind provided throughout the 5th - New Orleans, 13 ; 6th - St. Andrews Bay, 22 ; 7th - Buccaneer, 23 ; 8th - Pensacola, entire competition as a low pressure system sat over the race 24 ; 9th - Fairhope, 24 ; 10th - Navy, 30 ; 11th - Ft. Walton, 34 ; 12th - Point, DNF ; 13th area during the regatta weekend. Multiple races were sched- Grand Lagoon, 38 ; 14th - Singing River, 40 uled, and three different racecourses were planned for the various fleets. Race regatta chairperson Betsy Moraski established a well-organized team of numerous race management members including Chip MacMillan, who acted as the principal race officer for the PHRF classes, and William Paden, who acted as principal race officer for the multihull and Melges classes.

The WFORC Regatta activities began on Friday, October 10, with the multihulls and Melges 24 one-design fleet sailing on a racecourse that was established in the northern part of Pensacola Bay while the PHRF classes sailed on the racecourse established in the southern part of the bay. Strong winds, overcast rainy weather conditions and low visibility greeted the participants. The winds were strong, blowing in from the northeast at 14 to 16 knots with 2- to 3-foot seas forcing many of the competitors to sail with smaller or reduced sails. The racing was tough as the finish times were close. The final positions were determined in many instances by seconds.

The daily winners who emerged from the first day of racing were: PHRF A Class, Greg Smith and crew on White Trash 64

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(change of direction), which in turn made the boat pitch its bow up into the air and over its stern.

Weapon of Choice had capsized and turned upside down making the boat look like a giant turtle floating along on the Intracoastal Waterway next to the Pensacola Naval Base.

All persons who were on board the vessel were safely rescued by the PHRF support boat and the U.S. Coast Guard. Chip MacMillan, who was running the PHRF races on the southern part of the bay, kept barge traffic alerted on the VHF radio to the situation at hand and kept the various commercial barges traveling in the bay from running over the disAntares races under a colorful spinnaker sail in one of the 6 races in the 2003 West Florida Ocean Racing Circuit tressed vessel.

(WFORC). Antares earned the overall 1st place trophy in its class. Photo by Kim Kaminski The Melges 24 one-design class also had its hands (first in the fleet); PHRF D Class, Dan Owczarczak and crew on full avoiding the very active commercial traffic in the bay. At one Applejack (who earned a second in fleet by 35 seconds): PHRF B point in the races a coal barge with four barges in tow appeared Class, Bob Patroni and crew on Phaedra (sixth in fleet): PHRF C out of the rain and crossed the racecourse, separating part of the Class, Catherine McNaught and her crew on TrippNautic (fin- Melges fleet during the second leg of a race. Challenges were ishing 17th in Fleet). given and met by the entire racing fleet during the second day of The second race of the day saw Greg Smith and crew on competition.

White Trash holding onto another first place finish in the PHRF Once again, weather predictions for the final day of racingA Class, while John Guy and his crew on Hot Toddy captured a sunny skies and 5 to 10 knots of wind-never came into being as win in the PHRF B Class. Roy Harden and his crew on Erin Star the overcast skies and rain still remained in the area. The winds sailed into first place in the PHRF C Class, and Lydia King- were still strong at 14-16 knots out of the northeast and occasionRayner and her crew on Outtamind earned first place in the ally would ease down to 12-14 knots throughout the day. Two PHRF D Class. With two more days of racing these top finish- races were scheduled for the final day, and the battles were geters had their hands full trying to maintain their positions in the ting intense. overall fleet.

The first place winners for the 2003 WFOFC in the PHRF The weather conditions did not improve on Saturday, Oc- classes were: Greg Smith - White Trash; John Guy, Jr - Hot Toddy; tober 11. Weather predictions had called for scattered rain in Roy Harden - Erin Star; and Dave Hoffman, Walt Wilde and Myrt the morning with party cloudy skies by the afternoon. How- Guild on Antares. Roy Harden and his crew on Erin Star also ever, these predictions never came true as the winds gath- earned the Riddle Cup. This award is given to the boat winning ered in strength blowing 16-18 knots out of the nrtheast and building throughout the day up to 20-23 knots (with an occasional gust up to 29 knots). The winds would settle back down to 12-14 knots periodically with only an occasional gust up to 20 knots. The rain remained in the area throughout the day, and the visibility on the water at times was down to a minimum of approximately 500 yards. It was a challenging day on the water for the competitors, but a great day for sailmakers as several boats had their sails torn or shredded during the course of battle.

The multihulls and Melges 24 one-design classes enjoyed their first day of competition on Saturday. The multihull class had their distance race out to the Pensacola Pass sea buoy #8 and back. Multihull competitor Pat Holt and crew on Weapon of Choice encountered some unique challenges when they suffered a broken rudder on their vessel, which caused their multihull to steer out of control creating a sudden gybe LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

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RACING & REGATTAS the most competitive class, which is determined by the class having the lowest time differential-correct time-between first and third place per race. The first place winner in the Melges 24 one-design class was Doug Kessler and crew on Liberty 3, and the first place winner in the Corsair Multi-hull class was Don Wigston and crew on Whipper Snapper.

Results: P.H.R.F. (w/ 1 throw-out) Class A; 1st - White Trash - Greg Smith, 2nd -Man-O-War - Tom Beery, 3rd - Fine Line - Johnny Roberts,4th - Animal - Bryan Denham,5th - Tyrant - Mark E. Lockard,6th - Patriot Mark Taylor,7th - Sir Rochester - Billy Mason,Class B; 1st - Hot Toddy John Guy, Jr.,2nd - Phaedra - Bob Patroni,3rd - Manhatten Magic - Guice/Cruthirds,4th Mojo - Matthew Schwab,5th - Awesome - David Dunbar,6th - Sirocco - Lee Newkirk,Class C; 1st - Erin Star - Roy Harden,2nd - Rush - John B. Marrow, 3rd - Tripp Nautic - Catherine McNaught,4th - Untamed - Mark Hunter,5th - Road Tripp - David Kellen,6th - Boondoggle - Gerard Deray,Class D; 1st - Antares - Hoffman/Wilde/Guild,2nd - Outtamind - Lydia KingRayner, 3rd - Katsy II - Jacques LeBeau,4th - Applejack - Dan Owczarczak,5th - RokaDobi Ron Bray,6th - Waz - Ben Myars,7th - For Sale - John Burgess,8th - The Bear - Caron/Steve Choate,9th - Sundance - Bob Dean,10th - Avalanche - Robert Ramsey, RIDDLE CUP WINNER - Erin Star - Roy Harden; MULTI-HULL ; 1ST - Whipper Snapper - Don Wigston, 2ND - Tripple Trouble - Doran Cushing, 3RD - Mark Twain - Bert Rice, 4TH - Wavedancer - Richard Carlson, 5TH - Nami Whammy - Warren Anderson, 6TH - Weapon of Choice - Pat Holt, MELGES 24 ONEDESIGN; 1ST - Liberty 3 - Doug Kessler,2nd - Satisfaction - Gregory/Hill/Schultz,3rd - Nobodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Girl - Scott Baker,4th - Sick Puppy - Steve Jones,5th - Latex Solar Beef - Doc Bellows,6th Forerunner - John Mathis,7th - Rogue Wave - Jeff Meyers,8th - Minneatonka II - Gary Umberger

WEST FLORIDA 2003 FLORIDA STATE SUNFISH CHAMPIONSHIP OCTOBER 18-19 AND LET THERE BE LIGHT

By Mindy Strauley The 2003 Sunfish State Championship was held in conjunction with the Junior Olympic Festival (River Romp) in Fort Myers, FL. I was very much looking forward to this event since I have never been to Fort Myers. I tagged on a couple of days off from work since a vacation was much needed and what better place to take it-Fort Myers, home to Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb. I assumed there would be enough light if not enough sunshine.

Off Paul and I headed Friday morning for a three-hour trip to southwest Florida. With nothing much to do in the passenger seat, I decided to take out the NOR to see what the regatta entailed. A few minutes later I yelped really loud, scaring the %$#! out of Paul, as he kept from swerving into an 18wheeler. After things settled down, Paul wondered what was

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the matter? All I could manage to mumble over and over was pre-dawn starts, pre-dawn starts!

The first day of sailing, we arrived to register for the regatta at sunrise. Twenty-three Sunfish sailors registered to compete in the State Championship; 22 sailed. Once the sun rose, we enjoyed 80-degree weather, sunshine, and winds ranging between 8 and 12 mph.

After about a 30-minute sail to the start line, the races began. I was able to squeeze in for the bullet the first race, and then it was downhill from there. With four races completed on Saturday, Paul Strauley led the regatta, with Conner Blouin and Peter Merrifield tied for second (two points behind Paul).

The next group of sailors, myself, Charlotte Sims, and Charlie Rahn came in fourth, fifth, and sixth-all within a couple of points of each other.

Once we hit shore Saturday afternoon, the competition did not end. Strategically, we needed to position our boats among 200 other boats, in the optimal spot in order to launch off the small beach in the morning and reach the start line on time. We were all warned that the race committee would start on time no matter what. On Saturday night, the Sunfish group planned to meet at the Holiday Inn tiki bar. Several showed up and many, exhausted from the day of sailing, chose to get to bed early so as to be able to rise pre-dawn and make the start on time.

On Sunday morning, several arrived at the sailing site at 6:30 a.m. As we scurried for flashlights and talked about rigging a mast light on the Sunfish, I had to wonder how could the hometown of Thomas Edison be without light. Well in the dark, we pushed our boats to the first spot on the beach, raised our sails and rigged our lines. Ready to go at the first sign of light.

With a little less wind (7-10 mph) on Sunday, for all 200 boats to get off the beach on time, the first one in line needed to leave no later than 7:30 a.m. That was me in the water, holding my boat on the dolly, waiting for some light. We were in single file to launch, Paul behind me, followed by Conner Blouin. With eyes to the sky I kept thinking, let there be light!

Those arriving not as early as us, now in the back of the pack of 200 boats (my guess with blood pressure rising) were hoping to reach the beach to launch in time.

At 7:20 a.m. off we went to sail to the start line. What a beautiful sunrise! We sailed four more races on Sunday. Paul maintained his lead throughout the day, winning the regatta.

The last race decided second place, with Conner taking the bullet and locking in a second place spot. Peter Merrifield followed in third. Rounding out the top five was myself at fourth and Charlotte Sims in fifth.

Many thanks to Rick Pantall, who created our replacement perpetual trophy with the former one retired two years ago. The first name on the trophy is Chris Alexander, previous champion (2002), and then next was this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winner, Paul Strauley. Many thanks also to the Edison Sailing Center for doing a great job in hosting the Sunfish State Championship. Thankfully, no one was left in the dark, and a lot of fun was had by all.

Results: 1 Paul Strauley, 2 Conner Blouin, 3 Peter Merrifield, 4 Mindy Strauley, 5 Charlotte Sims, 6 Rick Pantall, 7 Charlie Rahn, 8 John Meyer, 9 Rebecca Rom, 10 John Fletcher, 11 Danny Escobar, 12 John Kremski, 13 Chris Gates, 14 Juan Sebastian Baron, 15 Aline Hyatt, 16 Brian Wolfsohn, 17 John Hyatt, 18 Ryan Ravelo, 19 Sharon DelBianco, 20 Tommy Timberlake, 21 Barbara Satiullin, 22 Elizabeth Pollock, 23 Carol McDowell www.southwindssailing.com

SHORT TACKS HURRICANE ISABEL RECREATIONAL BOAT LOSSES TOTAL OVER $150-MILLION: DAMAGES SURPASS HURRICANE ANDREW From BoatUS Boat Owners Association of the United States reports that losses to recreational boats from Hurricane Isabel (not including marinas, other infrastructure or commercial vessels) will total over $150-million. Much of the damage occurred in the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River watersheds, far from the storm’s North Carolina landfall.

“Our Catastrophe Response Team is reporting quite a few pockets of severe damage to recreational boats,” said Carroll Robertson, vice president of Marine Insurance. She adds, “The surprise in this storm was the severity of storm surge throughout the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, in spite of the storm’s landfall far to the south, and its subsequent track inland.

“Boaters who took advantage of the long lead time before Isabel hit and made hurricane preparations by either removing their boat, or adding extra lines, chafe protection, reducing windage and buttoning up tightly, generally fared okay,” adds Robertson.

Initial damage reports reflect the effective storm preparations. “While our Catastrophe Response Team has seen many total losses, much more of the vessel damage is minor or cosmetic, such as scrapes, damaged rubrails, swim platforms or torn canvas. And with any kind of storm, this kind of damage is to be expected,” said Robertson. “The sheer number of boats in this area has resulted in one of the largest economic losses to

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

recreational boats from any catastrophe including Hurricane Andrew in 1992.”

In the upper Chesapeake and Potomac, a combination of wind-driven storm surge and high tide was exacerbated by runoff of rainfall, catching many unprepared with record-setting high water. Most of the damaged vessels were left in boat lifts or in slips to weather the storm. The north and west sides of the Chesapeake Bay were particularly hard hit.

Boaters are urged to call their insurance providers and not sign salvage contracts on the spot. “You want your insurer to handle any negotiations - that’s what you pay them for, and it will ensure there are no surprises in the recovery process,” said Robertson.

Boaters can help further mitigate damage by removing expensive items to prevent theft and continuing to keep water out of their boat. For a list of post-storm damage procedures such as preserving or “pickling” an engine, go to http:// www.boatus.com/hurricanes/after.asp.

Overall, marinas got hit the hardest in this storm, and some are not expected to recover soon. It may take months before some yards will be back on their feet.

Robertson adds, “If there is a lesson we can learn, it’s that boaters should have a hurricane plan. Those who didn’t prepare ahead of time experienced the worst Isabel had to offer.”

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SHORT TACKS BOATERS FOR WATERWAY RIGHTS In reaction to recent actions taken by some Florida local governments who began charging increased fees and enacting laws restricting anchoring along the waterways in those communities, a group of boaters, calling themselves Boaters for Waterway Rights, has formed.

They are a group organizing to help protect the interests of boaters who use the waterways, not only in navigating, but also for anchoring. For more information, email to Tgill47672@aol.com or write to Boaters for Waterway Rights, 309 Dunscombe Road, Stuart, FL 34966.

THE MARI CHA IV BREAKS TWO SPEED RECORDS

Mari Cha IV. Photo by Thierry Martinez

Mari Cha IV, a recently built ocean racing super yacht set the record for sailing from New York to England. Leaving New York on October 2, the boat made the 2925-mile crossing in 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes.

Its average speed was 19.5 knots. This beat the old record set

by Bernard Stamm in 2001 by over two days. In the same crossing, the Mari Cha IV set a new 24- hour record by sailing 525.5 nautical miles in a 24-hour period. This beat the old record of 484 miles.

Mari Cha IV was built in France in 2003 for owner Robert Miller and was designed to be the fastest ocean racing yacht ever built, purely designed for speed. The 140-foot LOA, 31foot beam, twin-masted boat carries two almost identical rigs and a crew of 20. It took two years to build. The mast is 147 feet off the water.

Next year, the boat will attempt to be the first boat to ever sail around the world in under 80 days. It was designed to do over 40 knots.

For more information go to www.mari-cha4.com.

YACHTING MONTHLY PROPOSES TO REBUILD SIR FRANCIS CHICHESTER’S GIPSY MOTH IV Anyone who has read “Gipsy Moth Circles the World” will be in support of Yachting Monthly’s hopes to celebrate its 100th anniversary by rebuilding Sir Francis Chichester’s 53-foot ketch that sailed around the world in 1966. Chichester, who celebrated his 65th birthday on the solo voyage, said of the trip, “Wild horses could not drag me down to Cape Horn and that sinister Southern Ocean again in a small boat.” The circumnavigation, which included a knockdown in the southern ocean, took 226 days.

The boat is currently dry-docked in England and rotting away. Yachting Monthly’s plans would include refitting the yacht and sailing her around the world. The 40th anniversary of the Chichester’s voyage coincides with the 100th anniversary of Yachting Monthly in 2006.

For those interested in following the development of this story go to www.ybw.com/ym/gipsymoth/.

REEF RELIEF’S 18TH ANNUAL CAYO CARNIVAL SET FOR NOV 22. EAST MARTELLO GARDENS, KEY WEST Cayo Carnival, Reef Relief’s “Party of the Year” for locals has been slated for November 22 at East Martello Gardens, from 5-11 p.m. Now in its 18th year, Cayo Carnival will feature six hours of live music, as well as fine food and libations from over 30 of the Keys’ best restaurants. Cayo Carnival is Reef Relief’s primary annual fundraiser, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to support the organization’s many environmental and educational programs.

This year’s entertainment will feature the fabulous Nace Brothers, courtesy of Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, and genuine island music from the Gulley Roosters, flying in to perform at Cayo Carnival from Green Turtle Cay. Additional entertainment is to be announced.

There will be games and activities for families at the 68

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event’s Kid’s Korner and free transportation to and from the event, courtesy of Historic Tours of America.

First State Bank has stepped forward for the sixth consecutive year as the main sponsor of Cayo Carnival. Other major sponsors include Southernmost Hotel and Resorts, Bacardi, Sebago Watersports, Sloppy Joe’s, Waste Management, Mangia Mangia, Strunk Ace Hardware, Manley deBoer Lumber Company, Hog’s Breath Saloon, Silver Eagle Distributors, Key West Citizen, Winn-Dixie, Historic Tours of America, Gulfstream Airlines, and Coca-Cola.

If your business, restaurant, or bar would like to join the fun and become involved in the ”Party of the Year,” contact event coordinator George Murphy at (305) 849-3333. Volunteers are needed for various tasks before, during, and following the event. Volunteers should contact Michael Blades at Reef Relief at (305) 294-3100.

takes place on the south side of Tortola in the Sir Francis Drake Channel on three different courses. The expanded 7-day format has turned the traditional three days of racing action into a weeklong sailing festival that takes participants throughout the British Virgin Islands.

The largest ever BVI Spring Regatta concluded this year with 138 boats competing, substantially beating the record set last year of 114. The inaugural Sailing Festival - a low-pressure, three-day warm-up for the regatta - saw 38 boats racing to and from the Bitter End Yacht Club in the North Sound, Virgin Gorda.

For full details on the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival including the complete 2003 results and photos, visit the official Web site: www.bvispringregatta.org. For more information on Nanny Cay Marina visit: www.nannycay.com. For more information on The Moorings call (800) 535-7289 or visit www.moorings.com.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

WEST MARINE SEMINARS

THE MOORINGS SIGNS AS MAJOR SPONSOR OF THE BVI SPRING REGATTA AND SAILING FESTIVAL TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS. The Moorings, one of the world’s leading charter companies with its flagship base in the British Virgin Islands, has signed on as a major sponsor of the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival presented by Nanny Cay Marina for 2004 and 2005.

The two-year deal includes the supply of two Moorings 4500 catamarans as committee boats, a number of joint marketing initiatives and the introduction of The Moorings Sailing Festival Cup for the best performing bareboat charter in the Sailing Festival, the three-day, low-pressure, pre-cursor to the BVI Spring Regatta.

“It’s The Moorings’ 35th anniversary next year and as the company that pioneered the fleet charter industry as we know it in the Caribbean, we felt that supporting the BVI Spring Regatta was a great way to celebrate,” said Van Perry, director of global marketing for The Moorings. “When the company was three years old, Pearson 35s from The Moorings’ fleet competed in the first ever BVI Spring Regatta in 1972. We’ve all come a long way since then, and the partnering of two first class organizations makes perfect sense.”

The 2004 Sailing Festival starts on Monday, March 29, with a welcome party at regatta host, Nanny Cay Marina. Three days of destination cruising, racing and Layday fun including the Nation’s Challenge Cup, lead up to the main three-day BVI Spring Regatta starting on Friday, April 2. The three-day regatta

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Fort Lauderdale Store, 2300 So. Federal Hwy (954) 527-5540 What: All Wednesday night seminars are FREE & begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. at our flagship store – 2300 South Federal Hwy. in Fort Lauderdale. Please feel welcome to call us for more information anytime at (954) 527-5540. Call for monthly schedule.

Lake Park Store, 1401 Old Dixie Hwy, Lake Park FL 561-863-1440 Thurs. Nov. 20, 6:30 p.m. VHF and GPS Seminar Jensen Beach Store, 3523 NW Federal Hwy, Jensen Beach, FL 772-692-3092 Sat. Nov. 22, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Nautical Flea Market

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LESSON LEARNED Tough Lesson!

By Kirk S. Jockell

Continued from page 78 As you might imagine, the whole idea of getting your handicap calculated up front should result in an exciting finish. All things being equal, the entire fleet should be fighting for the line at the same time. Well, on this particular day the ideals of the pursuit start rang true. Never before had I seen the fleet converge at the end like it did that day. It was beautiful.

We were about to fetch the last leeward mark. We were on starboard, powered up on a broad reach, and still in the lead. At this point, I began to think, “Hey, we just might win this thing.” Then, from her position on the weather rail she gave out a most discouraging report. “Gangbusters, Dad! They’re coming on like gangbusters!... Here they come!!!”

Only moments before the final rounding I turned my head to see bow waves. EVERYWHERE! If we were going to pull this off, I was going to have to execute a flawless mark rounding. Should be simple enough.

Just leave the mark to starboard, harden up, stay high on the weather, give everyone else dirty air all the way to the layline, tack towards the finish, and sail home. All the time thinking out loud “Clean air... clean air... clean air.”

It sounded simple enough. But sometimes the easiest things to screw up are those that seem the most obvious. And if you haven’t yet figured it out, things up to this point in the race have been going way too smooth. That would soon change.

During the mark rounding, I made the fundamental mistake of trimming the genoa before the main. This put the center of effort too far forward, and it caused my bow to get pushed down. By the time I got the main trimmed, the damage had been done. I had left enough room for the bigger, faster boats to sneak above us in what should have been our clean air!

All the way back to the finish line, I watched not one, not two, but three boats overtake us to weather. With the approach of each boat, Caitlin did her best to try and motivate her skipper. “Go, Dad! Go! They’re passing us!” she said. “Faster, Dad! Faster! Here comes another one!”

I could hear the disappointment in her voice. And as the

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third boat overtook us, she didn’t say a word. She just sat there on the weather rail and watched. And as it became clear that we would secure a fourth place, my pent-up frustrations got the best of me. I became outraged. I screamed foul obscenities and threw things about the boat. It was more than just a little ugly. To be honest, I am now finding it difficult to construct the words to accurately describe my actions. Let’s just say it wasn’t one of my finer moments. It was bad.

Then at the climax of my tantrum, I looked up and saw my daughter. She was staring off to windward with her little fists clenched to the lifelines. Her knuckles were white, and her body was rigid and tense. A deafening quiet fell upon the boat. Then, as I was about to speak, she turned towards me, and with huge alligator tears in her eyes she said, “Daddy, it is only a race. Why are you acting this way?” Then slowly, she shifted her head and eyes back towards the water.

Given the circumstances, how do you answer a question like that? Well, the fact is, you can’t. Not intelligently anyway. I couldn’t believe it. I blew it. In my one defining moment where I could have shown honor and courage in losing, I opted to epitomize the worse possible behavior. What makes it even worse is that I will never get that moment back. I can’t go back and relive it. I can’t rewind the clock and make it right. This was a test, and I had failed miserably.

Her disappointment in taking fourth place was overshadowed by her disappointment in me. Needless to say, it was quite painful, and I can’t imagine what her feelings for her Dad were at that moment. I was feeling pretty small.

Remember when I mentioned that teaching kids to be good losers is tough. Well, it becomes even tougher when the student is the parent and the teacher is your own child.

As I thought about it more, I realized what had just taken place, and my own feelings of self-pity and disappointment were replaced with a beaming sense of pride. I may have failed, but she passed with flying colors.

“Caitlin, baby, come back here to the cockpit with your Dad.” She didn’t respond, so I urged her a little more. “Please baby, come here.”

With tears still in her eyes, she slowly made her way back to me. When she got there, I did my best to restore some of the faith she had lost in me. We had a tender moment, and I apologized and told her how proud she had made me. She looked a little confused and asked, “Dad, why are you smiling?”

“Oh, Baby, it’s tough to explain. You wouldn’t understand.”

We had a nice little sail home. She sat next to me the whole way and not another word was spoken, only an occasional hug. This was good, because it gave me time to reflect on the day and the lessons taught. It gave me time to focus on those things most important, but above all else, it gave me time to appreciate the wisdom and tenderness of my little girl.

From the quarterdeck of Mental Floss Kirk Jockell is a racer/cruiser and active member of the Southern Sailing Club on Georgia’s Lake Lanier. When not sailing Mental Floss, his 1972 Pearson 26, he can usually be found working on his Web site www.strictlysailing.com, a free For Sale By Owner Web site for skippers and their boats.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter? Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the editor: editor@southwindssailing.com www.southwindssailing.com

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A D S

“In August, you began running an advertisement to sell my diesel engine in your classifieds section. I am pleased to advise you that I have a buyer as a result of the advertisement. Please discontinue it. FYI, I have also had inquiries from West Africa and France as Capt C.T., St. Petersburg, FL a result of the Internet ad you made available. I’m MAJOR impressed!! Thank you very much.”

FREE CLASSIFIED ADS FREE CLASSIFIED ADS UNDER 30 WORDS FOR ALL PRIVATELY-OWNED BOATS, GEAR AND PRIVATELY-OWNED DOCK/SLIPS FOR RENT. Photos on free ads add $5 per month. All photos must be sent electronically or the actual photo — no photocopies.

Photos must be horizontal, not vertical, otherwise add $10. All ad text e-mailed must be in upper and lower case, not caps.

Every ad goes on the Web. Ad is cancelled after 3 months unless renewed. Sailboats and trawlers only please.

The last month your ad runs is in parentheses at the end of the ad. You must call by the 15th of that month to renew for another 3 months. Call (941) 795-8704, e-mail to editor@southwindssailing.com, or mail to PO Box 1175 Holmes Beach FL 34218-1175.

YOU MUST MENTION THIS OFFER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FREE ADS. All other classified ads are $20 for up to 20 words and $5 for each additional 10 words, $5 for a photo.

All ads go on the Internet, and your Web site or e-mail address in the ad will be linked by clicking on it.

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Avong folds and bags for transport and storage.

Both 40 hours use. $2100. St. Augustine, FL (904) 471-8036 (11/03) ’98 Hobie 13 Wave Excellent condition. $2,700 includes trailer, beach wheels, and extras. (941) 758-7276 Bradenton,FL (11/03)

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Total Cost

2" 2" 2" 2"

$34 $40 $46 $54

1987 Nonsuch 22 6' standing headroom. Sleeps 2 on wide double berth. Enclosed Head. One sail does it all. Easy, easy, easy to sail! Simple and fast!

The best single-hander ever made! $19,750. St. Pete Beach. Call Dave (727) 363-0858 (11/03) ’80 Buccaneer 22’ 4hp outboard, main, working jib, 150% Genny. Chemical toilet. Very clean.

Comes with slip. (727) 638-2339 (11/03)

fish finder. Two sets of sails. Two head stays. EZ load Trailer call Glenn at (813) 949 0341 (1/04) FLYING SCOT 19’ Very attractively priced new boats used only for the Adams Cup finals. Racerigged and professionally tuned. Includes North Sails main, jib,spinnaker, and galvanized trailer Available in late October at Lake Norman, NC. For details Call (800)-864-7208 (12/03) Compac Suncat 23’ New – huge cockpit with cabin for 2. Shallow draft, rigs in minutes, a breeze to sail.

1978 15' Mutineer Centerboard, daysailer. 1Mainsail, 1- Working jib, reconditioned trailer.

Ready to go sailing. $950. (601)545-7550 rbradley@c-gate.net (1/04)

1980 Skipper 20' Shallow-draft sloop and trailer.

3 sails, self-bailing with motor well, displacement 2,000 lbs. Adult v-berths, opening ports, and quarter berths. $2100 OBO. Stuart FL (772) 8784721 (1/04) For Sale 17' O’Day Sailor (type II) $2,195 or OBO. Modified for single handed sailing with Roller Furling, Tiller Tender, Electric Trolling motor, and topping lift. Custom cockpit cushions, custom cockpit cover, main sale cover. Depth sounder / 72

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Southwinds

1973 21' Reynolds Catamaran Great Beach cat.

Good Condition. Needs a little TLC. Call for details. Includes continental trailer. $2200 OBO. Must Sell. (239) 765-4433. Ft. Myers Beach (1/ 04) www.southwindssailing.com

C L A S S I F I E D Wavelength 24. Very good condition. Dry sailed.

North main, 155, 3/4 spin, float-on trailer. Outboard.

Near Atlanta. $7500. (404) 872-1934 (9/03)

A D S

cruise. This boat is ready to GO! Enclosed full head, complete galley, 2 double berths. Own your second home on the water. Ullman Sails/ Sarasota Sailboats (941) 951-0189 or ULLFL@mindspring.com 27' Hunter, Yanmar diesel runs well, shore power, aircond, bow & stern pulpits, dbl lifelines, $5,900 Miss. Coast 228-806-9316 Gaspergou30@aol.com (12/03)

Glass Bottom Boat 25’ tour vessel. Built 1997 in Nova Scotia. ’99 Honda 130hp OB. Eight 2' X 2' glass windows w/steel safety hatches. Shallow draft. Pristine condition. $45,000 USD. (902) 354-3610 (12/03) A hassle-free adventure! We pay sales tax this month!

Call Paul, Masthead Enterprises 727-327-5361.

1984 Hunter 27 well maintained sailboat, wheel steering, roller furling and inboard diesel engine.

9’3' beam and 6’1' headroom. Second owner from new. Moored at St. Pete Marina. Asking $12,950 - call 813-817-0104 (12/03) 27

1973 Oday 23 - Excellent condition, all sails, swing keel, new port-a-potty, sleeps 6, good sailor, 8hp Yachtwin. $2800. 727 398-1664 (11/03) 1976 Ranger 23', tall mast model, 5HP mercury, nice sail selection. Boat is in excellent shape. Located in Houston Clear Lake area. Price $4500!

Call Jim at 713-301-0838. (12/03)

23' Tempest Oday Excellent Condition, four sails, 9.9 Johnson Sailmaster Outboard, Head, GPS, VHF, Depth Finder, Trailer, To many extras to list. $4,000.00, located Long Beach MS (1/04)

2000 Elliott 770, 25' Excellent condition.

Sportboat with little use and an interior for weekending. Full Race equipped. Triad trailer.

Bottom by Waterline Systems. VC Offshore bottom. Sobstad mainsail, non-overlapping jib.

Assymetrical spinnaker. $27,900. (678) 947-8875 or email: stle32@aol.com (11/03)

O’Day 25 - 7 sails, roller furler, (4) cockpit winches, (2) halyard winches, VHF, D/S, compass, knotmeter, autopilot, 1993 9.9-hp Yamaha 4stroke, two-axle easy load trailer, $8,800 (941)575-7839 (1/04)

27’ Catalina, roller furling jib, 8hp Honda, newer interior, new Bimini, depth/fish finder, VHF Radio, auto and manual bilge pumps, dinette model, in water, $6500 Call Ken 727-327-1813 (12/03)

Newport 27 Sailboat - 1976 Great Condition.

Sail the Coast and the Caribbean in style. New

23' Ranger MUST SELL As-new full battened main, 2' to 5' draft, galv. trailer. $5,000 or trade for fuel eff. car or small day sailer plus money.

Call 941-330-0685 (1/04)

1983 Horizon 26 Sloop 9.9 Yamaha, 6’1" headroom, full galley, enclosed head, 4 berths, shoal draft, teak interior, fast, seaworthy, new bottom paint, bimini, top shape. $6500.00. (727) 5856681 (1/04) Hunter 240 – New. EZ mast-raising system and a shallow draft make this centerboard boat simple to trailer and rig. Daysail or cruise. Large cockpit for entertaining and sleeping space for six. See it at Ullman Sails/Sarasota Sailboats (941) 9510189 or ULLFL@mindspring.com C&C 24 Built 1975. New Main, Old Main, 4 jibs & one Spinnaker. 5hp Mercury OB. $6000 OBO. Located near Gulfport MS (228) 452-7380 (11/03) LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Hunter 260 – New. Take the helm and plan your Southwinds

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73

C L A S S I F I E D

A D S

YANMAR CALL 770-619-4002 OR CAPTAIN_RON@COMCAST.NET (1/04)

28' Lindenberg, 1983. Excellent all around race boat. Refurbished in 2000. New mast, rigging, main & #2. 5 Sails, Tuff Luff, Cushions, Potti. All Race Equipment Included. Faired bottom. Dry sailed. Trailer included. $13,500. Call Paul (727) 327-5361 or (727) 576-2424 (12/03)

Sails, Radar, DGPS, Autohelm, Windpilot, Color Sounder, Atomic 4. Pensacola, FL 850 393-7009 http://www.net5.com/newport27 (12/03) 1973 Albin Vega 27, 3â&#x20AC;&#x2122; 10â&#x20AC;? draft. Volvo 10 hp diesel. R.F. Jib, full batten main w/lazy jacks. dodger, UHF, GPS, DF, knotmeter, excellent condition. Great sailer. $10,500, (239) 337-4977 (1/ 04) 27' Catalina Sailboat 1984 Diesel Wheel, bimini, enclosure, autopilot, radar, pressure water, propane stove, wind generator, refrig, dingy, davits, fantastic upgrades, just back from 4 months in Bahamas. specs pictures at www.geocities.com/ catalina_5477, WPB FL 561-547-0500, evening 561-281-2689, $15,800 OBO (1/04) J-27 (1985) Joe Cool Excellent condition. New North 3DL Genoa. Quantum sails in great condition. New bottom. Many extras. Very clean.

Well maintained. Located in Coconut Grove. $15,000. Lionel Baugh at (917) 821-3308/(305) 969-8107 or email at baughlionel@hotmail.com

1984 J29 Masthead/Inboard diesel. New bottom, new sails plus delivery sails. VHF, CD, Auto pilot, battery charger, knotmeter, depth, sailcomp, all safety gear and much more. $24,500 call Jeff (251) 533-7906. (12/03) 29' Norwalk Island Sharpie Ketch, 1994 Luzier Custom- built , Kirby Design, shown in April 1998 Southwinds, Excellent Thin Water Performance, Bronze Ports, A/C, Many Extras, Reduced $29,900 Call (941) 764 8904 (11/03)

J-30 Hull 279 1981 Ready to race, cruise. sleeps 6. Mylar Genoa, jib, main, spinnaker, New cored cabin roof, new faired bottom, new compasses, Yanmar diesel. reduced to 19,900. 954-6842869,954-401-8892 (1/04) CAL 31 1980 Fresh water since new. Lite use.

Many upgrades in 2002. Located near Atlanta, Ga. $27,500 Call 770-540-9796 (1/04)

Farr 30 Updated & Harkenized. New Paint, Graphs, Rigging, Sails, Bottom. Includes Trailer.

Pictures: www.rushteam.com. $17,000. 615371-4700 (11/03)

Hunter 31 1986, Shoal Draft, second owner,great Bahamas cruiser, ready to go again, lots of recent work, includes dinghy and outboard, $26,500. Located Melbourne, FL (404) 236-0511 (11/03)

28' RANGER, IMMACULATE, FRESH WATER MAINTAINED RACER CRUISER WITH $16,000 INRECENT IMPROVEMENTS, 12 SAILS, NEW

2001 Maine Cat 30 (www.mecat.com) Screecher, spinnaker, davits, radar, map GPS linked to autopilot, solar panels on hardtop, full plastic or screen enclosure, 2' draft. lying CC, TX $155,000. 361.215.4340 (1/04) 1987 S2 9.1 30' Race/Cruise, 18 hp Yanmar, 650 hrs, Bimini, Autohelm, 110V refrigerator, Harken furler, 150 and main are Dacron. 155, 95, and main UK tape drive 2001, New Bottom $25,500.

East Florida (321) 779-4464 (11/03) 74

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Southwinds

Gemini 3200 - 1993 32' catamaran. 14' beam, 18"/5' draft, New Honda 25, 4 stroke, new 110/ propane refrigerator, queen-size master berth, depth/knot/autopilot. North Carolina. Bruce (602) 826-6957. (11/03)

View Classified Ads & Boat Pics on our secure Web site

www.southwindssailing.com www.southwindssailing.com

C L A S S I F I E D

A D S

fect for racing or cruising the shallow waters of Bahamas & Florida. a/c, davits, refrigerator, many extras; documented, asking $41,000. sailboat86@att.net; [239] 549 2849 (11/03) 1986 ENDEAVOUR 33’, Yanmar, R/F, A/P, GPS, VFH, Propane, SSB, Davits, Dodger, AC, RIB w/ OB, asking $47,300 OBO, see at www.geocities.com/captaincarrier/ourboat.html e-mail: captaincarrier@yahoo.com, or call 727821-3922. (12/03) Hunter 33 1980,4' draft,sleeps 6,roller furling, diesel, electronics, A/C. New:refrigeration, Autohelm, 100 amp alternator, charger, fresh paint.Coast Guard inspected.Pristine! $25,000.

(941)235-1890 (12/03)

32' Pearson Vanguard Classic in great shape and very well equipped: Yanmar, Harken Furling, New Sails, equiped to cruise see www.dneve.com/sultana or call (305) 772-7218, $24,000 (1/04)

2000 Catalina 320 Excellant condition,davits ,new RIB, Cruiseair AC, full description and pics at boattraderonline.com $84,500 call Garry 912355-5818 or gwhit@bellsouth.net (1/04)

Tartan 34 1971 Very good condition. Well equipped for cruising or racing. New inflatable.

All included. $14,000. Ken (239) 404-9797 kenpfaltzgraff@aol.com (12/03) 35' Island Packet 350 1997 Proven liveaboard cruiser. Well maintained. Setup for extended cruising. More info and photos at:: http:// home.mindspring.com/~pehler or (252) 6710358 Imagine@Springmail.com (11/03)

1983 C & C 35 Mk III Great Cruiser/Racer, Yanmar, 11 sails, Bunks for 7, Stove with oven, A/C (’00), Refrig (’00), Feathering Prop (’03), Self Tailing Winches, Harken Roller Furler, Bimini, Covers for everything, Autopilot, New Batteries, etc., etc. This boat needs nothing. $ 62K. 504-3920840 or cwilke@haywilkgalvanizing.com (1/04)

Pearson 33 1986 hull #16 Draft 3’10' w/cb, per-

DWYER Aluminum Mast Co. 203-484-0419 LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

37' 1989 Hunter 37 Legend Is fast and comfortable and gives you the perfect weekender or cruiser. Equipment includes: depth, autopilot, 2 VHFs, battery charger/inverter, dodger, bimini, and more. $69,000 (727) 363-1124. (1/04)

38' ALUMINUM S&S Design Sloop Built 1972, by Minnefords. Owned/raced by Ted Turner in 1973 Admirals Cup. Converted to liveaboard. 503-621-9761 over40pirate@aol.com, for pictures, info. (12/03)

dwyermast.com • Masts • Booms • Hardware • Rigging

37' Morgan O.I. 1976, 4' draft.Excellent condition and perfect for cruising/live-aboard! 50hp Perkins 401-8 diesel engine. 2001 electronic overhaul. www.geocities.com/morgantampa/1 $32,000. 813-758-2222. (11/03)

36’ Bruce Roberts Steel Hull Welded to road ready trailer. An economical beginning for a serious bluewater cruiser. This hull is fair and professionally welded. $5000. 904 476 3353. (1/04)

Your Free Classified Ad Could be Here See information on page 72

Beneteau 38 1990 model new genoa, Icom SSB, compass, inverter & more. Laying Tortola, BVI. $62,000. sloopm38@hotmail.com or (305)-3104653 (1/04) Southwinds November 2003 75

C L A S S I F I E D Through Paradise (covering the Bahamas thru the Virgins); Wreck and Resurrection (sailboat repair); Alphabet Sea (ages 3-8). Package deals. Tortuga Books. (800) 345-6665.

Ocean Routing – Jenifer Clark’s Gulf Stream Boat Routing/Ocean Charts by the “best in the business.” (301) 952-0930, fax (301) 574-0289 or www.erols.com/gulfstrm Ericson 38 1981 Good condition. Recently surveyed. Autohelm, refrigeration, dinghy w/ob, dodger, bimini, gps, 2 VHFs, roller furling just rebuilt, Nice interior, very fast comfortable cruiser/ racer. West Florida, $53,900/OBO Cortez Yacht Sales (941) 792-9100 (10/03) Ericson 39 1978 rebuilt 2002, surveyed. Allnew 38 hp diesel, electrics, plumbing, windlass, autopilot, canvas. Plus dinghy, o/board, etc $49,500. Private sale. Andrew (954) 524-4765, e-mail brandtwo@bellsouth.net (1/04) 40' Tartan 1986, Electra, Excellent condition. $200K firm. No Broker/Dealers. Leave Message (813) 932-3720 (11/03)

Pier 17 Charts & Publications DMA-NOAA-TOPOS-NTM-Textbooks. South’s largest nautical store at 4619 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32210. (904) 387-4669 (800) 332-1072 Fax (904) 389-1161

BUSINESS/INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES Sabre Sails is expanding its dealer network. If you are interested in a rewarding business with a fun side, call (850) 244-0001 or e-mail sabre@sabresails.com

CREW AVAILABLE Visit Southwinds new boat and crewlisting service at southwindssailing.com

CREW WANTED Visit Southwinds new boat and crewlisting service at southwindssailing.com Condor 40 Many recent upgrades including new Calvert Main,2000 Genoa, new Bimini, 1999 twin Yamaha 9.9’s, new halyards, new Raymarine speed & depth, Yanmar genset, $72,000. email camsimmons@pdq.net or call 281-2180026. (1/04)

41' Gulfstar ketch 1973 cruising equipped, ready to go. 2002 - 10 barrier coats and Strataglass enclosed bimini, lived aboard 14 years, selling medical reasons, photos, details: $55,000 www.shevard.com (904)284-9986 X2040 (12/03)

BOAT SURVEYS Davis Maritime - Professional Accredited Surveys– see display ad in the index of advertisers.(727) 323-

9788; e-mail: cgoebel1@tampabay.rr.com

BOATS WANTED Looking for a Mark I or Mark II Hirondelle catamaran in good condition.Please e-mail macquarrie@canadianhelicopters.com

BOOKS & CHARTS Colorful Books About Sailing the Bahamas and Caribbean. The Virgin islands Illustrated; Sailing 76

November 2003

Southwinds

ELECTRONICS SeaTech Systems – Computerized navigation & communication. Call for free Cruiser’s Guide to the Digital Nav Station and CAPN demo disk.

(800) 444-2581 or (281) 334-1174, navcom@sea-tech.com, www.sea- tech.com Best Prices – Solar panels, wind generators, charge controllers, deep cycle batteries, solar panel and wind generator mounting hardware. Authorized dealer for Siemens, Kyocera, Solarex, and Uni-Solar solar panels, Air Marine wind generator, Deka, Trojan, and Surrette deep cycle batteries.™ Toll free (877) 432-2221 www.e-marine-inc.com

HELP WANTED Southwinds magazine is looking for someone to coordinate, write and report on all the races held in the 10 Southern States the magazine serves. Must be into sailboat racing, good writing, photography, have a fair amount of time, and interested in travel for not much money but great potential for future expansion. Contact editor@southwindssailing.com or call (877) 372-7245.

Southwinds magazine is looking for sales representatives for advertising in areas in the Carolinas, Georgia, Upper Gulf, and Southeast Florida and the keys. Sales experience a must. Contact editor@southwindssailing.com or call (877) 3727245.

Southwinds magazine is always looking for articles on all sorts of subjects. Call (877) 372-7245.

Contact editor@southwindssailing.com.

A D S INVESTORS WANTED

Responsible, honest, licensed contractor, well-experienced in high-quality homes, seeks likeminded investor to finance and partake in build/ remodel projects in Manatee County or nearby .

Must be interested in doing something for fun, interesting projects & making money. (941)7958711 (12/03)

MARINE SERVICES Steve Smith Mobile Rigging Services, now known as SSMR, Inc. Used Gear and Chandlery.

See Display ad in Index of Advertisers. (727) 8234800. (1/04) Marine Electrical Service, Chartering & Deliveries 50 ton master, Gulf of Mexico, located Alabama, References, Captain Larry Dorich (251) 605-6612 (10/03) Marine Electrical: Thomas Marine Engineering Electrical systems analysis & repair, electronics installations, galvanic & stray current corrosion surveys, complete vessel rewire specialists, all work done to A.B.Y.C. standards, St. Petersburg, (727) 480-8519, E-mail: thomas@ij.net (10/03)

MISCELLANEOUS BOAT GEAR NEW & USED

Steve Smith Mobile Rigging Services, now known as SSMR, Inc. Our Rigging Shop intro-

duces the new State-of-the-Art HOOD 808 Furler! Fits 5/16”-3/8” dia.headstay wire up to 56’. Hundreds le$$ than the competition for comparable units, only $1650! Including free sail installation! We are the standing and running rigging specialists for all your cruising and racing needs. Licensed and insured. Call (727) 823-4800 or fax (727) 823-3270 “a cruiser friendly shop” Ibeearigger@juno.com (12/03) Wheels Custom Leathered – Satisfaction guaranteed, 1 year warranty. Free turks head. Over 100 satisfied customers last year. Contact Ray Glover at Sunrise Sails Plus (941) 721-4471 or sunrisesailsplus@msn.com Dripless Packing Proven high-tech propeller and rudder packing that outlasts all other packings and is virtually dripless. Easy to install. Bilges stay dry.

Won’t damage shafts.

Economical. Dealer inquiries welcome. Toll Free (877) 432-2221 or www.e-marine-inc.com Whisker Pole AMOC Marine.15' extends to 25'.

3" tube,2 1/2" line control inner tube.For up to 40' boats. $500 OBO. L.Miniati (813) 932-3720. glminiati@juno.com (10/03) Dahon Stainless Steel 3-sp Folding Bikes Great www.southwindssailing.com

C L A S S I F I E D Sail Covers & More!

Best Prices Ever for Custom-Made Canvas Buy Online or by Phone & Save $$ Highest Quality & Satisfaction Guaranteed Family Owned & Operated

for $100. New heavy duty spinnaker car with track. $100. (850) 932-6742 (12/03)

OFFICE SPACE FOR LEASE Office and warehouse space available for lease to marine related businesses. Great for boat brokers or sales representatives. High speed internet access. JSI (727) 577-3220

For more information and to see our products & pricing go to

PERSONALS

www.sailcovers.net (800) 213-5167

Will the woman who got my name off a restroom wall in Panama City please stop calling me on my cell phone. While I like all the things that you have suggested that we do together – maybe without the handcuffs – I do not have the money right now to sail my boat up to meet you. Neither do I have the time. It would take a month, anyway. The things that you say to me on the phone, however, are keeping me up all night. The fact that you used to work as a nude stunt motorcycle rider in carnival sideshows does carry a certain cachet, I will admit.

But the super glue and lottery ticket idea sounds a little weird. I mean, what if one of the tickets was a winner? How would I redeem it? If any girls have cool ideas, send pictures and financial statement to: rightguard@southwindssailing.com.

condition $450 pair, Pur-35 manual watermaker never used new $550, Used Magma propane grill $60, email Jim @lagartaboat@yahoo.com (1/04) Spinnaker Pole 15’x4" with 2 piston ends. Very good. $350 OBO (772) 878-4721 (1/04) Feathering Propelle, Adjustable pitch, two blades 16"x4", shaft 1 1/8" x 35" + prop. $350 OBO, (772) 878-4721 (1/04) Honda 9.9 HP 4 stroke outboard, 2000, 8" shaft, elect. start , 6 amp alt. output for battery charging. Exc. cond./ low hrs. Only $1550.00 ($2939.00 new) (941) 505-9772 (1/04)

SAILS & CANVAS

GPS New Garmin Street Pilot III (deluxe). Portable GPS w/ auto routing and voice. Includes CD-Rom, mounts, data card, etc. Great for boat and/or car! $600 obo. 386-426-5978 (1/04) Nissan Outboard Motor short shaft. Two cylinder, works perfectly! Asking $500, call (813) 817-0104 Excellent 34’7" Aluminum Mast 3’6" spreaders, 12' 8" boom, 11’10" whisker pole. Mainsail, 3reefs, 3 winches, 15 mast steps, rigging, insulated backstay, can deliver. Make offer. Call (863) 675-4244. (1/04) SSMR INC. Visit our Consignment Shop and Chandlery. Of special note: see the AQUA DUTCH inflatable reviewed in October’s “Cruising World” rated “Best quality for the price”. We are the west coast of Florida’s dealer support network, and have over 100 boats in stock ready to price and ship. Come see us for all your marine needs or empty your locker with us and add to your cruising fund. Call 727-823-4800 or Fax 727-823-3270, “A cruiser friendly shop” Ibeearigger@juno.com

USED SAILS SAVE $$$ 1000s of headsails, mains & spinnakers. We ship everywhere, satisfaction guaranteed. We also buy sails. Sail Exchange.

(800) 628-8152. 407 Fullerton Ave. Newport Beach CA 92663 www.sailexchange.com See Display ad in Index of Advertisers Hong Kong Sail Makers Cruising Sail Specialists Top Quality, Best Price Delivery 2 - 3 Weeks (852) 2789 1938 (852) 2789 3155 (FAX) E-mail: uoil@hkstar.com

LODGING FOR SAILORS

TIRALO floating deck chair - a beach chair that floats in water and rolls easily on the sand. Looks great. Folds and fits on your boat or inside your car. More info: www.oasisllc.com or swti@oasisllc.com Two Maxwell winches, 3 1/4H by 2 1/4D. Both LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Ponce de Leon Hotel Historic downtown hotel at the bay, across from St. Petersburg YC. 95 Central Ave. St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 550-9300 FAX (727) 826-1774 www.poncedeleonhotel.com

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS Air Duck 37 Aqua Graphics 74 Atlantic Sails 56 Banks Sails 75 Beneteau Sailboats BC Beta Marine 37 Bitter End Yacht Club 18 Bluewater Insurance 4 Bluewater Sailing Supply 10 Boaters Exchange 10 Bob and Annie’s Boatyard 34 Bo’sun Supplies 43 Bubba Book 18 Cape Fear Yacht 33 Capt. Josie Sailing School 73 Carson/Beneteau BC Charleston Boat Works J/Boats 58 Cortez Yacht Sales 71 Crow’s Nest Restaurant & Marina 4 Cruising Direct Sails 22 Davis Island YC Thanksgiving Regatta 52 Davis Maritime Surveying 63 Defender Industries 75 Dockside Radio 64 Don’s Salvage 45 Dwyer mast 75 Eastern/Beneteau BC Finish Line Multihulls 40 First Patriot Insurance 32 Flagship Sailing Charters 4 Fleetside Marine Service 74 Flying Scot Sailboats 73 Ft. Pierce Yacht Club 20,72 Fujinon 41 Garhauer Hardware 49 Glacier Bay Refrigeration 44 Grin Designs/Scully 28 Gulf Streamer Race 51 Harken Gear 57 Hong Kong Sailmakers 69 Hotwire/Fans and other products 36 Hunter Sailboats 12,13,14 Island Marine Products 35 J/Boats, Charleston Boat Works 58 JR Overseas/Moisture Meter 35,44 Massey Yacht Sales 11,16,25,38,47,55,IBC Masthead Enterprises 3,19,77 Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau BC National Sail Supply 53 Nautical Trader 62 North Sails 20 Pasadena Marina 42 Performance Sail & Sport 19 RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke 8 Regata del Sol al Sol 24 Rparts Refrigeration 68 Sabre Sails 17 Sail Covers & More 77 Sail Exchange/Used Sails 54 Sail Expo St. Pete/Sail America 5 Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District 8 Sailor’s Soap 16,30,43 Sailor’s Wharf Boatyard and Brokerage 23 Sailtime 74 Sarasota Youth Sailing Program 71 Schurr Sails 27 Scurvy Dog Marine 46 Sea School 46 Sea Tech 65 ShadeTree 48 Snoop Sails & Canvas 61 Snug Harbor Boats 17 St. Barts/Beneteau BC Steve Smith Mobile Rigging (SSMR) 60 Suncoast Inflatables 15 Surrette (Rolls) batteries 69 Tackle Shack 67 Tartan, C&C of Florida 26 UK Sails 3 Ullman sails 59 US Spars 21 Weathermark sailing 31 West Marine IFC Whitney’s Marine 39 Windcraft Catamarans 48 Yachting Vacations 50 Zarcon Boat Shutters 21

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77

LESSON LEARNED

Tough Lesson!

By Kirk S. Jockell

This isn’t easy, but if I may, I would like to share with you a rather humbling experience. I must admit, to hang even the slightest bit of my own personal laundry out for close examination of my peers is a little embarrassing, but if doing so helps to remind me of those things most important, so be it.

Kirk Jockell and his daughter, Caitlin.

F

or those of you that are familiar with raising children, you are well aware of the challenges associated with trying to do it well.

For those of you that don’t, you are clueless. Trust me.

We as parents try so hard to teach our kids all the facets of life. This is good. That is bad. Don’t do this.

Don’t do that. Treat others with respect. Respect yourself. Hard work is rewarding. Have patience. Winning is fun, so be gracious at it. Losing can be more valuable, so learn from it. (STOP!!!) Let’s look at that last one again. “Losing can be more valuable, so learn from it.”

This brings us to the heart of the story. Of all the little lessons mentioned, and excluded for that matter, teaching the art of being a good loser is probably one of the toughest.

Several months ago, I was fortunate enough to have my daughter accompany me on one of our club races. I was so tickled that she wanted to go.

She has sailed with me before on numerous occasions, but not while racing.

Her name is Caitlin and at the time, she was eleven. Pretty soon she’s not going to want to have anything to do with her old man, so I felt I’d better seize the moment and get her on

board for a little racing action.

The turnout for the event was great with about 11 or 12 boats in our fleet,and the favorable forecast from the night before held true as the winds blew just enough to keep our Pearson 26, Mental Floss, somewhat competitive. I can remember thinking before the start that it would be neat if we pulled off a good showing. There is nothing like the taste of success to keep someone coming back for more.

Our club does a pursuit start, which means we have our PHRF handicap calculated up front. Each boat is issued a particular start time, which allows the slower boats a head start. First one across the finish line wins.

We had a great start and really got the boat moving. Caitlin’s previous sailing experience was pretty much limited to casual cruising daysails, so her first taste of being really hard on the wind took a little getting used to. But once she got accustomed to the more aggressive action of the boat, she really started to get into the race. Even before we got to the first mark, her main concern was our position in relation to the other boats. The questions for the day were, “What place are we in? Are we winning?” If she asked them once, she asked them a million times.

Well, at about the halfway point, I was proud to announce that we had moved into first place. This brought on a little premature, but amusing, celebration from my crew. Chuckling, I told her to settle down; we still had a lot of water to cover, and there were plenty of faster boats still in hot pursuit.

From that point, her concern (and mine) appropriately shifted to the chase fleet behind us. “Faster, Dad! Faster!” she commanded.

See LESSON LEARNED continued on page 70 78

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Southwinds

www.southwindssailing.com