The Comfortable Pocket Yacht 
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September 28, 1998 Wind - 5 -8 MPH from the West As you can imagine by now, Old Man River had a surprise for me. At the head of Piasa Island, the depth finder showed 10 feet - everything just fine! Then suddenly, 6 feet, 4 feet, 2 feet, and I was aground. No problem - Been There, Done That. I used the motor to turn the boat around and tried to move back down stream - no luck. This effort continued for about 5 minutes with a total lack of progress. I then turned off the motor and felt the bottom all around the boat with the boat hook. No deep water anywhere around the boat - What Happened?? After all, I was just in 6 feet of water!! I got out of the boat and walked around - sand bottom and about two feet deep. No deep water could be found. I kept walking in wider circles and probing down stream back in the direction I had come from. Finally, I found a deeper channel that just dropped off - but it was at least 20 feet from the boat! At this point, I could almost envision setting up a mail box and calling this home till the next spring flood. How could I drag the 2,000 pound boat 20 feet to deeper water through the sand bar? I worked on this by pushing and pulling as hard as possible for about 30 minutes - all the while making a little progress. At this rate, I'd be there all afternoon. Fortunately, a kind couple approached in their Pontoon Boat with a 40 HP motor and offered a tow. The first efforts were futile since they wanted to tow me out to where they knew the deeper water to be. However, the water between where I was and the deeper area was just too shallow. We then tried to tow in the direction I had been going (now several feet further away due to the prior efforts). The boat would only move a few feet before getting stuck again. This seemed hopeless! At this point, I decided that brute force would not really be effective and I would have to figure a better way. It was then that I remembered all my prior reading - I pulled the jib halyard out of it's line organizer, locked down the downhaul, moved as far as possible to the side, pulled down on the bitter end of the halyard as hard as possible using the mast as leverage, heeled the boat over by 25 degrees and called to my benefactors - PULL NOW! The boat immediately came free of the sand and moved forward by about 6 feet before rounding up. This was because I could not move forward fast enough to keep pace. I moved forward to the next position, and we made one more pull just like the previous effort and the boat was free from the sand bar - floating peacefully behind the Pontoon Boat. Lessons Learned: This was a learning experience - thanks again to the couple with the pontoon boat for their assistance. Next time, I'll be more careful and also more experienced with what to do - as well as what not to do! September 06, 1998 Wind - 10 - 15 MPH from the Southwest with gusts to 20 MPH
This is the Labor Day weekend and there are quite a number of sailboats out. However, I am the only one with a reef in the main. The interesting thing, is that under these conditions I am faster than several larger boats. A 41 foot ketch is out with every square foot of sail up. When the wind is lighter, the ketch moves ahead of me. However as the gusts come up, the ketch heels over and slows down while I remain relatively flat and sail on past. I suspect if the captain of the ketch had taken a few minutes to put a reef in his main, that boat would have sailed flater, faster, and left me far behind. August 19, 1998 Wind - non-existent On the late afternoon of the 19th, I received an eMail message from another boater informing me that I had left my VHF radio on and should be prepared to re-charge the battery since it would no doubt be dead from several days of running the radio. I went to the boat and saw that the radio had been left on (about 56 hours total drawing a minimum of 0.5 amps) but the battery was in fine condition (voltage at 12.78 ). Even under partly cloudy conditions, the solar panel produced more electricity during the day than the 11.5 amp hours that the radio would consume during a 24 hour period. The experiment was un-intentional but the results were nice to know. August 12, 1998 Wind - 5 to 10 MPH from the North East I have resisted the temptation to purchase a GPS unit. After all, it is difficult to get lost on the Mississippi River. I had intended to purchase the GPS prior to a trip to Florida intended for late this fall. However, a local sporting goods store was selling their store display Magellan 2000 (about a 1996 unit) for only $80 and I felt this to be a good investment. After using it for a day on the river, I can see where people can get addicted to the units. The bearing and distance feature seemed very nice; however, I really did not trust the speed display. I suppose that in time, I too will fall into this gaget trap. August 06, 1998 Wind - Non-Existent I have been struggling with single handed docking maneuvers so this poor weather represents an excellent chance to try out new options between the rain showers. My slip is a double wide finger pier and I am tied to it on the starboard side of the boat (the other slip position is empty now). I have been entering the slip bow first, with just a little forward motion - not really enough for good control. With a cross wind, I get blown off the dock often. Once I get lined up, I drift forward and the leave the cockpit to step of onto the dock and pull the boat into the slip. I then tie off the bow, a forward spring, and finally the stern lines. Often. while stepping off the boat, the change in trim will cause the stern to drift more than 6 to 7 feet out before I can tie off the bow and spring lines. If there were another boat in the empty slip position, there could be a collision. Since I am normally seated on the port side (so that I can control the electric motor) during docking maneuvers, I have now tied the dock lines and fenders so that I back into the slip. As the stern passes the outside of the finger pier, I can pick up the spring line from the dock and immediately position it on the stern port cleat. As I continue to drift backwards, I can reach the new stern line and tie it off on the same cleat without moving from my position or changing boat trim. Then it should be an easier matter to move to the foredeck and slip the bow line to the foredeck cleat. I have practiced this several times today and will continue to do this for a while. In any event, it will give me more practice in controlled backing. Since this is mid-week and there are few other sailors around, I can try these experiments and improve my skills by practicing without an audience to entertain with my mistaken attempts. August 04, 1998 Wind from the East at 10 - 15 MPH I decided to drop sails when about 1/4 mile upriver from the marina because the wind was starting to shift and get gusty. I released the mainsheet and then started to work the jib down with the downhaul. A gust gave me some trouble and prevented the sail from lowering centered on the foredeck. I went forward to correct the problem and then on returning to the cockpit found that the mainsheet had come out of the blocks. The boom was now swinging wildly with the main still up. I was pushed into the main channel with one tow boat/barge combination moving upriver about 3/4 mile away and another on the downriver trip a little further away. No time to fix the mainsheet, the two tows would meet at my location in about 5 minutes - just get the motor running and get clear of the channel! Lesson Learned: I had always placed figure eight stopper knots in all halyard, jib sheet, and downhaul lines. However, for some reason, I had not placed a stopper knot in the mainsheet. The knot is now there and I'll make sure that this is not overlooked again! July 16, 1998 Wind from the NorthEast at 5 - 10 MPH I had previously anchored in areas of the river where there was little if any current. Now, with the river down by more than 4 feet, these areas are only mud flats and no longer suitable for a boat that draws 2 feet. Now that I have been anchored in a significant current, I find that my "floating" yellow polypropylene anchor trip line does not rise to the surface but streams below the boat. I will need to add a "real" float to the line to make it useful to retrieve the anchor if it gets stuck under a log. This was also my first experience with running aground. When I recovered the anchor to .sail back home, the current pushed me backwards to the shore and real shallows. Yes - when the depth finder shows one foot ( the transducer is about 1 foot below the water line), I am aground! Freeing myself took almost no effort. I just went forward on the bow to change the weight distribution and pushed the bow out into the current with my boat hook. The current did the rest of the work.
July 13, 1998 Wind from the East at 0 - 5 MPH I had gotten in the habit of doing boat maintenance tasks in the Marina at the slip. Today, I decided to do some necessary chores out on the river instead. A real treat - the river was quiet, the birds plentiful, nothing to disturb the scene. Doing some routine cleaning of the deck and tearing down the cabin top halyard winch for lubrication was a pleasure instead of a chore.
July 03, 1998 Wind from the South at 5 to 10 MPH The "professionals" all recommend 7X50 marine binoculars for use on sailboats. Since I need to monitor the activities of the local barge tows at as great a distance as possible, I have been experimenting with several of my "home quality" binoculars. My compact design 10 power binoculars are great on shore but on a moving boat, they are too difficult to hold steady on a distant vessel. An inexpensive (and very old) pair that has 8 power (8X40) has proved the best compromise for me for general use. They are not the super fancy "marine" grade units, they require focusing using a center wheel adjustment, and will undoubtly not last as long in these rough conditions - but I had them in the closet already. The advantages of a built in compass, fully coated optics, 50 mm lenses, and no need to focus from 20 yards to infinity is just not worth the $500 and up price tag for me.
June 30, 1998 Wind from the Northwest at 15 to 20 MPH Under these temperatures, I try to start the day with two 1/2 gallon insulated jugs of ice water on hand. A single larger container proved too heavy and awkward to drink from while still maintaining control of the boat. One container stays in the cockpit with me and the spare stays in the shade of the cabin until the first is empty. I started out sailing with a cooler of sodas on board but nothing works as well as plain water for me - and lots of it! This page was last updated: 09/14/00 05:11:17 PM |
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Copyright © 1998-2000 Jobst Vandrey |