While the story of September Blue’s first voyage in East Tennessee waters has already been told, it was not, of course her first voyage.  Her first voyage as a member of my family was, of course on the highway. But before we could sail cruise off down the highway together, we had to meet, and there was the ever so tacky fiscal exchange.

Now, first we have me.  For the uninitiated, my woodworking shop has been robbed five times. My father and I together are out approximately twenty thousand dollars in tools, all together.  This has left me a little . . . untrusting of people.  Really, the worst thing getting robbed does to you is how it alters how you view your fellow man.  As far as I am concerned, nobody needs to know anything about my business other than what they absolutely have to know.  Everything needs to be locked, or bolted down.

Then we have D., wife of Da., the previous owners of September Blue. I’ve forgotten the exact details at this point, but they were either attending church for Easter Sunday, or were at a wedding, and left a car in their driveway, packed for a trip. When they got home, the car had been broken into, and cleaned out.  They lost laptops, luggage, jewelry . . .  the works.  As you might imagine, D has become . . .  cautious.

And so we have the sensitive issue of just exactly how the D’s are going to be compensated for September Blue. D is perfectly willing to take a check.  She’s just not willing to sign the title over to me until the check clears.  I’m not offended.  Times are hard, and she doesn’t know me from Adam’s housecat.  But I’ve only got the weekend to come, inspect the boat, and bring it home.  I can’t wait around for the check to clear.  I suggested a cashier’s check from my credit union, but D was unwilling to accept a cashier’s check from an out-of-town bank.

I confess: I was beginning to feel that this was a little excessive .  But I’m in information technology, and I have some idea of how easy it would be to crank out a fake cashier’s check using Photoshop and some three part paper available over the internet.  Having been ripped off as often as I have, I could appreciate her being unwilling to stand there, holding a piece of paper that might or might not be good, and watching me drive off with her boat. I’ve cleared all of my consumer debt, but I have kept one credit card, because I need it for work travel.  As it happens, it’s a bank card that has local branches in Richmond.  So we decided that I would draw a cashier’s check from that bank, and D would be able to go to the bank on a Saturday and cash the cashier’s check.

After all those hoops, the sons-of-bitches at the bank wouldn’t sell me a cashier’s check.  Apparently, carrying one of their credit cards for fifteen years and paying out God knows how much in consumer debt payments does not constitute having an account with them.

Bastards.

Ok, I was still not offended, but this has become a serious pain in my ass.  So I decided on drawing out cash.  At which point my life got complicated.  I mean, without going into tacky details, other than my house and my van, this is the largest purchase I’ve ever made.  And the stack of bills I was carrying was . . . uncomfortable to sit on.  It wouldn’t fit in my wallet.  What if I lost it?  Do I leave it in the van?  What if the van is stolen?  Do I keep it on my person?  What if I’m mugged?  My biggest concern, though, was some kind of random traffic stop, and having John Law decide that all that cash meant that I was involved in drug trafficking.  Then they confiscate it, and you have to sue to get it back.

Still – there was entertainment involved.  Since cash is negotiable anywhere, at any time, I didn’t bother to mention to D that I was bringing it.  The expression on her face when I handed her that stack of bills was priceless.  Here eyes were the size of dinner plates.  Fun as that was, I didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable, and she was clearly as eager to get that brick as I was.  I mean, what if she got robbed?  So off she and my wife went to the bank to make the deposit.  Once the money was safely in the bank, she signed over the Virgina title to me, and we were off to the high road to adventure.

to live in the blind
design
to die
on a bridge in time.
so,
send my final effects with magellan around capes horn and hope.
toss all my lover’s final pain on that ship
and if it sinks?
the moments remain.

Fifty-nine Opti sailors from across the country made the annual trek to New Orleans Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed turkey, Café du Monde beignets and southern hospitality at the Opti Midwinters. Known for potentially being windy and cold, this year sailors were treated to light air and mild temperatures.  In a tightly fought battle, only one point separated the top 3 boats. Hometown SYC sailor Jonathan Pottharst beat out Chandler’s Landing’s Geoffrey Nelson on a tiebreaker with Houston Yacht Club’s Wiley Rogers only one point back. SYC’s Dustin Brennan and Kohl Killeen rounded out the top 5. — Results:

http://www.southernyachtclub.org>http://www.southernyachtclub.org

The following James Patterson items are for sale now at Books From A Rose:

Where not to go when in charge of a boat… From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: small boat. The blog is also related to: used fishing boats.

The Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi is getting a sailboat that was left to Tulane University – along with nearly $390,000 – in exchange for a promise to preserve it for at least 99 years. The Nydia, built about 1898 at the Johnson Shipyard, “represents the ultimate in boat-building skills, a pure example of Biloxi boat building,” said Robin Krohn David, executive director of the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi. — Read on:

http://www.theitem.com/article/20091130/APN/911300507

The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), North America’s leading boat and sportshow producer, announced that the 2010 New Orleans Boat & Sportshow has been postponed until 2011 in order to address dealer demands as the boating industry pulls out of the recession. The 41st annual New Orleans Boat & Sportshow is scheduled to take place January 5-9, 2011. — Full report: http://www.nmma.org/news/news.asp?id=17745&sid=3

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St. Pete Boat Show Update and Reminder.  The Dates are December 3-6, 2009. Murray Yacht Sales will have the new Beneteau 34, Beneteau 40, Beneteau 46 and the Beneteau Swift Trawler 42 on display. There will also be the new J/95 and the Beneteau 37 available to sail at the show as part of Discover Sailing.

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Click the link below to read the latest news from Beneteau

http://www.boat-mail.net/e-beneteau/2009horizons/200911beneteauhorizons/200911beneteauenewsletter.html

Murray Yacht Sales

 Reprinted from J/Boats

Murray Yacht Sales

J/Boats News is a digest of worldwide events, regattas, and news for sailing enthusiasts and members of our J Community. Contributions regarding your racing, cruising or human interest stories on-board J’s are welcome- please send to “editor@jboats.com”. For you globe-trotting J cruisers, please keep us up-to-date with your travels- for a great example to chronicle your adventures, see the J/109 GAIA’s blog at: http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAUDSAQCTQVTDlAD

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J/111 Rocketing Out of the Blocks Worldwide interest in J’s latest speedster seems to be growing exponentially every week. From every corner of our blue planet, enthusiasm for a fun, easy-to-sail 36 footer continues to grow– and it’s from all members of the sailing community. Not just J sailors. People who’ve sailed other racer-cruiser production boats, out-of-control over-canvassed “wedges of cheese” and everything in between. Everyone appears to be zeroed in on having a great time, with great performance and solid R.O.I — in the J vernacular, that means FUN for the dollar! Specs and pricing will be out in December. Don’t be surprised if you have a hard time getting one– we’ve had overwhelming interest in the J/111– talk to your J/Dealer now! Learn more about this exciting new sailboat. http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAcDSAQCTQVTDlAD

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J/95 Wins SAIL Magazine’s 2010 Best Boats “Performance Sailboat” Award The category was populated with an excellent group of new boats, including the J/97, each of which are sporty, forward-thinking racer-cruisers. Ultimately, the J/95 edged out its competition by virtue of an interesting combination of features that combine to make it a potent sailing package– its centerboard, twin rudders, cockpit layout and powerful, well-balanced sail plan. Thanks to its shoal-keel, the J/95 unlocks entire areas to one-design racing that were previously unable to accommodate fixed-keel sailboats. This is beginning to happen now in such areas as the Chesapeake, Florida and the lakes in Europe. As SAIL said, “If you want a grin-inducing ride every time you go sailing, the J/95 could be the boat for you.” Learn more about sailing the J/95. http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAcCSAQCTQVTDlAD

SAIL Magazine Review http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAcNSAQCTQVTDlAD

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 J/Sailing Calendar Is A Hit! The reviews are in from the madding crowds at J Dealers and J Sailors from around the world– a cool, breathtakingly beautiful and very useful calendar to keep not just the parents organized, but the kids headed in the right direction and your work week organized most of the time in today’s hectic schedules. And, for adult “playtime” we’ve added another wrinkle into the equation- an interactive version of the J/Sailing Calendar. Cool, eh? The J Sailing Calendar of events, regattas, seminars, boatshows and so forth are now posted “live on-line” for you to coordinate your sailing schedules with one another. Whether you have an Apple iPhone, RIM Crackberry, Nokia Smartphone, Motorola Droid (yup, that Google Android thing) you can now download at the click of a button your sailing schedule for most major sailing events worldwide that are attended by the extended family of J sailors and friends. That’s not all– much, much more cool stuff soon! Learn more about the J/Sailing Calendar http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAcMSAQCTQVTDlAD

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Regatta & Show Schedules: Nov. 8-29- GARMIN Winter Series (J/80, J/109, J/105)- Solent, Hamble, England- http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYFSAQCTQVTDlAD

Nov. 18-21- J/24 South Americans- Porto Alegre, Brazil- Veleiros do Sul- http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYESAQCTQVTDlAD

Paris Boatshow- 5-13 December 2009- http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYHSAQCTQVTDlAD

London Boatshow- 8-17 January 2010- http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYGSAQCTQVTDlAD

Jan. 18-22, 2010- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL- invited classes include J/80s, J/105s, J/109s, J/122s- http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYBSAQCTQVTDlAD

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 J/Regatta News The Sun Never Sets on J’s Sailing Worldwide The Americas and Australia continue taking a breather, especially the Americans celebrating their Thanksgiving this week. The action was way, way too windy in Europe. And, in South America, the Brazilians, Peruvians, Chileans and Argentineans sailed the J/24 South Americans in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Read on! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.

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Garmin Hamble Winter Series J/109, J/105 and J/80 Fleets Postpone Sailing (Solent, Hamble, England)- This past weekend the Winter Series saw all racing canceled, postponing in effect until next week. The fleet made some spirited attempts to work around what amounted to a near hurricane, e.g. the double-red flags on the Beaufort Wind Scale – Force 10. However, the strength and the persistence of the Low was far too overwhelming to even consider venturing forth onto the infamous Solent. Can’t imagine what a 6 knots current again gusts up to 60 knots might look like– how about a webcam mounted on a titanium tripod on the Bramble Bank in the middle of the Solent– would be kinda cool! In short, the UK MET Office issued all kinds of dire warnings. The BBC was positively shrill…worried perhaps that train service would again cease operations because leaves blown into the air-intakes would stop the trains running again. As one of the Race Officers put it, “latest info we have is SW 25 – 30 kts, with gusts to 45 kts, increasing towards midday with averages of 35 kts with gusts to near 60 kts in thundery showers. This forecast has increased again since last night and racing is clearly impractical.” Good on ya, the pubs clearly appreciated the windfall business. For more info: http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYFSAQCTQVTDlAD

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 J/24 South American Championship (Los Sud Americanos) (Costa Del Sol, Brazil)- The Argentine team, led by Alejandro Rossi, won the South American Class J24 which ended on Saturday in South Sailboat In rank he was vice commander Brazilian Mauricio Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro. And the Uruguayan Diego Garcia, who began leading the competition, finished third. The three final races were very exciting with heated competition among the top five in the fleet; in fact nearly full blown match racing between the current J/24 World Champion and the ultimate race winner. When crossing in 3rd place at the finish line of the last race, the crew of the boat SHARK celebrated their victory nearly shouting themselves hoarse. Skipper Alejandro Rossi, 34, had won for the first time the South American title after sailing for fifteen years in the J/24 class. “The Brazilian, Mauritius Santa Cruz, offered tough competition on the race course, it was important to sail with great speed and be sensitive to changes in the wind. Santa Cruz is three times J/24 World Champion, so we expected a tough battle,” said Alejandro. Another element of difficulty was the weather, pointed out Mr. Rossi. “The wind streaks were complicated, with very fickle wind, both in direction and intensity and with a lot of rain.” The Mauritius Rio Santa Cruz team from Brazil sailed better in the last few races, but it was not enough for the title. Mauritius regretted having started the racing in bad form on the first day. “We lacked a bit of calmness and focus in the beginning. I sailed with a new crew. Sailing as a team is very important and we learned fast. All who were with me here are excellent,” said the current J/24 World Champion. Santa Cruz said his team was Andre “Cheek” Fonseca, Marcos Grael, Georgia Roberts and Frederick Sidou. Finishing third not too far off the pace from the two leaders, Rossi and Santa Cruz, was Uruguayan Diego Garcia, finishing with 26 points. After the bad weather during the week, forcing cancellation of racing on Thursday, conditions were favorable for good sailing the last few days. The wind in Guaba was east, with an average wind speed of 12 knots. This meant everyone was fast, so you had to sail nearly perfectly to maintain lanes and get the right wind shifts. Captain of the Brazilian J/24 Class, Cludio Ruschel said he was pleasantly surprised with the fleet turnout– “We have a promising future”, he says. Ruschel was fifth in this year’s J/24 South American Championship. The J/24 South Americans sailed nine races from Wednesday until Saturday with a total participation of fourteen boats from Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. The 2010 edition will be held from 15 to 20 November in La Punta, Callao, Lima, Peru. For regatta, sailing, information, please visit: http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYESAQCTQVTDlAD

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J/Community: What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide ————————- * Steve McManus- J/109 owner of SAYKADOO has been on an upward trajectory since getting his team rolling in this past year on his J/109. Local Annapolis papers had a nice profile on Steve and his team this past fall. It was entitled “SAYKADOO Tops Tight Wednesday Night Class” by Bill Wagner. “There are not many classes more competitive than PHRF A2 of the Annapolis Yacht Club’s Wednesday Night Races. Four of the thirteen registered boats have the exact same rating (75) while several others are extremely close to that figure. That is evidenced by the fact four different boats won a race during Series 2, which wrapped up last Wednesday. SAYKAYDOO, the J/109 skippered by Steve McManus, did not win any of the five races held between June 10 and July 29, but nonetheless wound up capturing PHRF A2 Class for Series 2. “The whole fleet is very evenly matched. The rating band is extremely small among the top seven or eight boats”, said McManus. “It was simply a matter of consistency for our boat. We weren’t able to win a race, but we were always in the money.” Indeed, SAYKADOO counted three seconds and a third in totaling nine points, just one better than Jeffrey Caruso’s Ben 36.7 SHOCK WAVE. Only five points separated the first and fifth place boats. “I’m blessed to have a regular crew and we do a lot of cross-training so that people can fill in other positions if someone can’t make it out for whatever reason”, says McManus. Dave Robinson (pit), Stuart Numan (jib, spinnaker), Bob Taylor (tactics, bow), Jack Hunt (jib, spinnaer), Don Handy (main, bow), Carl Turek (pit) and Marie Dallacqua (mast) comprise the regular crew aboard SAYKADOO, which also won Series 1. In fact, McManus is on a bit of a roll, having won Series 2 and placed second in Series 1 last year. “We’ve been doing the Wednesday Night Series for about six years and we seem to be getting the hang of what it takes to be successful”, he said. Competition was equally close in two other PHRF classes…with Richard Born’s J/120 WINDBORN second in Class A1. In the nineteen boat J/105 class, it all came down to the wire with the Salvesen/Lewis team on MIRAGE edging out Peter Schellie on FREEDOM in the battle of the family-based boats. In third was Jim Konigsberg’s INIGO. For the J/30s, Steve and Katherine Bardelman on VALHALLA vanquished their fleet of eight boats, leading home Bill Wallop’s CANNONBALL and Ron Anderson’s INSATIABLE in second and third, respectively. The J/35s had a wonderful turnout this year with seven boats. Barry Moss’s BAD COMPANY won by a landslide over the perennial competitor AUNT JEAN, ably raced by the team of Kaminer/Christofel in second and Mark McGonigle rounding out the podium in third onboard WINDEPENDENT. * Carlos Aguilar Match Race – the event is being held in the IC-J/24s in St. Thomas, USVI. “We enjoy racing in St. Thomas. The conditions are great,” said Genny Tulloch, after her team’s recent victory at US Sailing’s 2009 Women’s Match Racing Championship, hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club. Tulloch is becoming one of USVI’s biggest cheerleaders. The Californian has won two major match racing championships this year in St. Thomas. She will return to the spectator-friendly waterfront of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI to defend her title in the Second Annual Carlos Aguliar Match Race, December 2-6, 2009. Tulloch will face stiff completion from Claire Leroy (FRA) and her 2007 and 2008 Women’s World Match Racing Champion team. Women’s International Matching Racing Association President, Liz Bayliss (USA) and her team are among the top ranked WIMRA teams returning to the warm Caribbean waters for one of the few ISAF Grade I Women’s Match Racing events in North America. Marie Rameris (POR) and Renata Decnop (BRA), Katy Pilley-Lovell (USA), Julie Brossard (FRA) and Kelly O’Brien-Uszenski (ISV) and her all Virgin Island crew will round out the international fleet. In the open event, Virgin Island sailing and match racing legend, Peter Holmberg has an all Virgin Islands team. Holmberg’s trusted tactician, trimmer and bowman for many years, Maurice Kurg, Morgan Avery and Ben Beer, bring more local knowledge and seasoned IC 24 boat-handling skills to the team. Holmberg won the USVI’s first and only Olympic medal and continues to inspire Caribbean sailors. His proteges love trying to take races and matches off of the America’s Cup skipper and former #1 match racer in the world. Taylor Canfield (USVI), winner of the 2008 Carlos Aguliar Regatta, will field a strong team to defend his title. Team COORS-LIGHT, with Frits Bus at the helm, Andrew Rapley as tactician, Chuck Pessler as trimmer and Tommy Koyskin as bowman have won many Caribbean regattas on their Melges 24 are up for the challenge as are; Juan Carlos Escobar (ELS), Collin Rathbon (IVB), Fraito Lugo (PUR), Jes Gram Hansen (DEN) and Dave Perry (USA). — Lynn Fitzpatrick, www.worldregattas.com www.carlosmatchrace.com

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Featured Boat NEW J/105 Race-ready for 2010 US Watercraft will have a race-prepped and ready-to-rock new J/105 ready to ship by January 2010. USW does a gorgeous job of building these J/105s. For those of you interested in jumping aboard the fun, competitive J/105 fleet this is a great opportunity to get a rocket-ship and go have fun next year. These USW sailboats have beautifully fair hulls, keels and rudders and are nicely appointed below. The deck and rigging are top notch and are race-ready. For more information, please be sure to contact you J/Dealer or J/Boats- Ph# 401-846-8410 or email- info@jboats.com.

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About J/Boats Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors. The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats’ innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160). J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by: 11 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80). Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J’s, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors and sailing the waters of 35+ countries around the world. Sailing is all about friends. Come join us and expand your social network everywhere! For more information on J/Boats: http://www.jboats.com/lists/lt.php?id=N0gOVQFSVAYMSAQCTQVTDlAD

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It’s not often I see a miracle in my day to day life, but I did today.  It saved my voyage.

I was single handing today.  No crewman.  This was the first time that was going to be single handing under sail.  My earlier night motoring was single handed, but there was no wind of which to speak.  (I first wrote “to speak of,” but that ends a sentence with a preposition.  I don’t care if the new school, namby pampy feel-good school says that’s okay.  It ain’t.  I do not end sentences with prepositions.)  To continue . . .

The sky was clear sapphire blue.  Not a could to be seen, and the wind was from the northwest at 10 – 12 miles an hour, steady.  Not gentle puffs or zephyrs.  The lake did not look like glass.  In fact, there were tiny, isolate whitecaps here and there.

Which brings me to the standing rigging.  For those of you who have never trailered a 19-foot boat, one of the important steps you have to take before you can sail to raise the mast.  Before you can raise the mast, you have to connect the stays and shrouds.  (Guy wires.)  (For the interested, stays are fore and aft.  Shrouds are port and starboard.  On the West Wight Potter – 19, there are:  one fore stay, one aft stay, two upper shrouds (one for each side) and two lower shrouds (also one for each side). There’s a turnbuckle at the end of each shroud that connects the stay or shroud to the deck.  They’re about eight to ten inches long, and very heavy duty.  All of them are important, but there’s only one aft stay.  You can’t raise the mast without it.

So you can imagine my utter horror and disappointment when I reached my aft stay and discovered that there was no turnbuckle attached to it.  The spring clip must have worked it’s way out on the highway while September Blue was under tow.  It’s a long tow from my buddy F’s place is a fourty minute tow over Union county roads and then sixty mile an hour tows over I-40.  All those bumpy roads and then the vibration of the highway.  That turnbuckle could be anywhere, and the boat was half rigged.  I couldn’t go hunt for it, and finding it would take all day.  I have no spare turnbuckle.  That’s going to change, but for this weekend, there’s no spare in my kit and no turnbuckle on my aft stay.  The part was critical, and while I could jury-rig a turnbuckle out of 1/8-inch nylon rope, the consequences of it breaking could be disasterous.  The mast coming down would damage the roof of the cabin, damage the mast, and severely injure me.  The cost could run into the thousands if the jury-rig failed, not to mention time lost at work and to my other projects and obligations.

On the other hand, the wind was freaking blowing!!! How often does that happen in East Tennessee?  Of course I’m going to risk the jury rig.  But first, I decided to get all the other standing rigging assembled.  So, one, by one,  I connected the other shrouds.  Starboard, then port.  When I got to the port side shrouds, I found, dangling by the spring pin from a worn out piece of tape, my missing turnbuckle! Whoo-hoo!  Now all I need is a pin and a spring clip.  Better news:  I have a spare block (pulley) which has a pin and spring clip.  Of course, the pin is very small.  It may not hold up under the stress of sailing.  And the head of the pin is just about small enough to fall through the fitting.  I could still lose the mast.  It’s less likely now, but still.

I’ll looked out toward the lake.  Occasional whitecaps.  It’s perfect sailing weather. Of course I’m going to sail with an undersized pin.  Perfect sailing weather.  So I continued with the rigging.  Time to rig the baby-stays.  These are the very short shrouds whose sole job is to keep the mast stable while it’s being raised and lowered.  There, on top of the cabin, just sitting there, was the missing pin for the aft shroud.

Now all that was missing now is the pin and spring clip.  And I have got a box of those.

So no jury-rigging necessary, the Saturday voyage was back on.

“The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.”

- Emerson

Copyright: Misty R. Lemons/Misty Expressions Photography

www.silvijoselman.com

For the uninitiated, I have bought a sailboat, and her name is September Blue.  Bit of advice for those of you considering purchasing new boats:  take time off work to play with them.  I took enough time to go up to Richmond and bring her to her new home, but then I had to go right back to my job and work for a living.  I listened to September Blue’s silent blandishments for an entire week before I could go out on the lake.  But that’s a subject for another post.  Point being is . . . I’d been waiting a while to go out on the lake, and when my noble crew had to go ashore for dinner with his in-laws last Saturday, I wasn’t done sailing.  So I tossed him up on the dock and set back out upon the waters of East Tennessee.  We’d had good luck with the wind that day, sailing from Concord Park halfway to Lenoir City. We were forced to turn about when we got about to where Beal’s Chapel Road gets near the river.  If you click on the link, ignore the marked route.  Google Maps doesn’t offer a “by water” option for routing.

Once back at the dock, two things were clear.  First, I wasn’t done sailing, and second, the sun was about done shining.  I’ve never had to share the boat ramp before, but from the great exodus of bass boats, it was clear that sunset was imminent.  The sky to the west was dyed a blood read by the setting sun.  As we waited for the dock to clear we were impressed with the efficiency of the fishermen clearing their boats from the water.  Only the one ski boat took more than five minutes on the ramp.  As there were two ramps, we only had about a ten minute wait. While we were waiting, I got the bright idea for my wife to come out and meet me at the dock when she got off work, and we would do some night sailing. But she wasn’t interested in running all the way out to Concord Park after working a twelve hour shift in the Emergency Room, and she offered a counter-proposal:  I would meet her at Calhoun’s On the River for dinner.  It’s the only restaurant in town we know of with a dock.

My supercargo now deployed, I set back out onto the lake.  And at that point, my luck with the wind utterly deserted me.  The surface of the lake had turned into a dark mirror.  The last of the sun vanished over the western horizon, and I turned on my running lights.  I have since learned that F and I had not been using them right the night before.  Apparently, I am not supposed to show a mast light when I am under sail.  Just the sidelights and stern light.  But, since I was motoring, I also turned on the forward white masthead light. Apparently the rear one is for when I am lying at anchor only.

For a waterway, the Tennessee River is remarkably well lit, at least in the Knoxville area.  All around me the houses and mansions were taking on warm, friendly glows as the golden lights shined out of their windows onto the water.  Closer in, the shoreline became a darker mass, barely differentiable from the water.  I looked again at the glassy water, sighed, and dropped the outboard into the water.  And off I went, motoring into the dark.  I think I may have the soul of a sailor.  The outboard was moving me right along, conveniently and exactly in the direction I wanted.  And yet I resented the snarling thing being stuck right below my right ear.  I couldn’t hear myself think. 

The speedometer on September Blue does not work reliably.  Even thought I was running at 2/3 throttle, most of the time it read 0.0 knots.  But I had the GPS with me and I was able to track my progress.  I’d brought it along to help me keep the boat in the middle of the river in the dark.  But it also allowed me to see how fast I was headed up river.  And while I wasn’t sure exactly how fast I was going, it wasn’t fast enough to get me Calhoun’s by dinner time.  But I continued on.  Crusing through the blackness, even under power, was an adventure. 

Then I noticed something:  my running lights were getting dimmer.  F and I had used them for four hours the night before, and we’d run the depth finder all day.  The internal battery on the GPS was dead, so it was drawing off my mains.  The running lights, masthead light, deapth finder, and GPS had been drawing off my primary batteries.  If the  batteries gave out, I’d be blind and deaf.  Oh, and the channel markers aren’t lit.  They only have reflectors.  And I hadn’t brought the flashlight.  So on top of everything else, I needed to try to miss the channel markets.

So that large “punting” sound you heard echoing across East Tennessee last Saturday night was me scrubbing the mission.  I re-routed my wife to meet me at the Lakefront Tavern near the boat ramp for dinner.  I’ll try to make it to Calhoun’s via water another day.

Regulate just how much is expended...

When it comes to writing, I use a reservoir. I feel sudden bursts of creativity and go on a writing spree trying to get every thought out onto paper like a madman in an institute. Scrambling and furiously typing – in the modern age, the madmen will use keyboards rather than pens – I try to convey whatever I can in that brief moment of inspiration before I lose it.

Like a good breeze, I set sail on my course navigating through waters of treachery and deceit. It’s a long journey with predators lurking off the starboard bow but the journey is what makes that end result worth it. To overcome obstacles and demons to get to where we want to go makes us appreciate the journey.

However, I can’t suddenly start posting every single drop of text because it might just be too much and lead to flooding. Like the banks of the Mississippi, the levees might just break. So I save everything to my reservoir and slowly release the contents like a regulator. The dams be damned, I set the pace.

“And I’m, quick to bust, if my ends you touch…”
- Notorious B.I.G. (Victory)

It was the perfect evening. Good friends, blue skies, cold cider, interesting conversation, minimal bruises, not much shouting…

You see, I’m learning two languages in New Zealand: Māori and sailing. Yachting has its own vocabulary and style of communication. Mostly shouting, that is. At least, that’s what it feels like when you’re first learning and don’t understand the words yet.

Māori war canoe in Bay of Islands

There’s halyards and sheets, starboard and port, leeward and windward, gennakers and spinnakers and genoas, and my personal favorite, the vang. You have to figure out quickly why “coming about” means you could soon have a bruise on your head or what to do when everyone’s yelling about a “lazy sheet.” And in the world of the sea, everything is relative to the wind. For instance, I’m still struggling with the concept that make a right-angle turn has two words for it – tacking and jibing – depending on how the boat is changing relative to the prevailing gusts. That’s like trying to give someone driving directions relative to the nearest mountain – if the mountain liked to jump around a lot and change locations.

Why is a girl from land-locked desert highlands suddenly struck with sailing? You’d think I would have already picked it up in Seattle, if I was so keen, wouldn’t you? My only real explanation is that, well, it’s just what people DO in Auckland. Here in the City of Sails, there are approximately 135,000 yachts and launches – that’s 1 boat for every 10 people in a city of 1.3 million people. Keep in mind that a sailboat generally needs more than one person to take it out, and that means LOTS of opportunities to get onto a boat.

50 cent coin

Sailing is in the psyche, here in the “Land of the Long White Cloud.” After all, that’s how everyone got here up until the 20th century. Don’t let the image of a slim Māori war canoe fool you. They didn’t paddle all the way here from their Polynesian homeland. They flew before the winds in a double-hulled voyaging canoe, balancing on the high seas with sails and an outrigger. The first European ship to land here, Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavor, is memorialized on the 50-cent coin. Even air travelers are reminded that good winds matter here, when they drive past giant white metal sails at Auckland International Airport.

Yes, the most popular sport to watch in New Zealand is rugby.  But Aucklanders’ favorite sport to DO is sailing. Not surprising, then, that I showed up and was signed up for a local yacht club before we even moved into our apartment. We have our all-around sportsman fellow American, Bryon, to thank for introducing us to the Richmond Yacht Club. Lest you hear “yacht club” and think we’re walking around in summer whites and tut-tutting with a bunch of wealthy boat-owners, you have to understand two things. First, “yacht” really just means “sailboat.” Even better, the word comes from the Norwegian word jaght meaning“fast pirate ship.” I love that! Second, RYC draws a pretty down-to-earth, even somewhat blue-collar crowd. We know boat owners who are firemen and builders and university professors, but no corporate moguls or trust-fund heirs. Hell, there isn’t even a dress code for the post-race prize givings!

Tall ships at Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta

Didn’t I mention that most of our sailing is races? Ah, well now perhaps you understand some of the shouting. And the bruising. We got started with RYC’s Friday Night Special race series, where they let rank beginners (i.e. me) onto a succession of different yachts over the course of 8 evening races. The first thing you learn is how not to get hit in the head – or knocked overboard – by the boom.

For you beginners, the mainsail is attached to the mast going upwards and the boom going parallel to the boat’s deck. “Coming about” is when the boat is turning sufficiently for the mainsail to change from one side of the boat to the other. The boom is that huge metal rod going over your head very quickly. DUCK! Oh, and scramble to the other side of the boat while you’re doing this!  Since you’re not very important ‘cause you don’t know anything, you generally don’t get to do this in the recessed cockpit where you can just bend down a bit. You have to climb over the top of the cabin, banging yourself on every metal bit sticking out. And you’re on a keeled boat that tends to, well, keel over at 45 degrees to the water, so you need to do this at the right time so you don’t end up trying to climb up the boat to the high side. And try not to sit on any of the lines or get in the way too much, eh? That’s the first day.

Cooling my heels on the Coastal

It gets better. Really! For instance, we newbies get to spend plenty of time relaxing on the rail with our legs hanging off the boat where one can admire the view, chat with fellow sailors, wave at or taunt other boats, and listen to the experienced crew discuss strategy. If we get bored, we can admire all the bad sailing puns in the boat names: Prawn Broker, Knighthawk, Xtsea, Deep Throttle, Aquaholic …

The best part, though, is when you actually start knowing what you’re doing. Even the shouting becomes kinda fun then. The first time I started to feel that way was on the 2009 Coastal Classic in late October. The Coastal is a long-distance sailing race that starts in Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour and terminates at Russell in the Bay of Islands. We were lucky to get invited onto Peppermint Planet, owned by brothers’-in-law Rodney and Peter. Realistically, I think Chuck was invited and I somehow managed to tag along.

We showed up on the dock to discover that Peppermint Planet had no less than eight crewmembers. This seemed like a lot of bodies for the number of jobs aboard. As one of the least experienced, I was pretty sure I was destined to be “rail meat”, i.e. ballast that does what you tell it to. I was feeling a bit blue, since I was hoping to do something useful and learn more. Chuck spoke up and volunteered me to run the keys, which meant learning a whole new set of skills. I was thrilled!

The keys w/ Auckland skyline

Little did I know that I was signing up to be the eye of the shouting storm. Rodney and Bryon quickly explained which lines went through the keys, how they worked and what problems to watch out for. I should point out that there are no “ropes” on a sailboat. Every line has a special name. Woohoo! More vocabulary! I eventually worked out that most of the keys control lines that go up and down. Phew! Means I don’t have to think about the sheets, which pull the headsail back and forth horizontally. That doesn’t stop me from starting every time someone says to do something with the sheets, fervently searching the keys to find that they’re not listed and finally remembering they’re not my problem.

Peppermint Planet

You’ve probably heard that old adage that describes flying as “hours of boredom interrupted by moments of stark terror.” That pretty aptly describes running the keys. You’ve not really needed much of the time. But when it’s time to change the headsail, to take better advantage of the winds you’re getting, it’s panic time. There’s lots of shouting and gesturing coming from several people at once. Often, you can’t hear them as their voices get lost in the wind. Oh, and apparently everyone on the boat has a slightly different term for the SAME damned line! Who knew that “uphaul” was the same thing as “toppers,” which is marked as “topping lift” on the key itself? And there’s an outhaul and a downhaul to remember, too. Yeah, it all makes sense when you sit down and work out what everything does. But during all the shouting and boat tipping and hauling on lines, that all goes out the window.

What I’m saying is that it was AWESOME! I mattered! I was doing something that actually affected the boat! And, I could spend some time in the cockpit, where the under-boom scrambling was less painful. The bruises on top of my bruises breathed a sigh of momentary relief. And I was learning the whys behind all the words and shouting. Very cool.

Rodney aboard Peppermint Planet

It was a thrill to get to know the crew better, too. We were an international mix of people of quite varied experience. Our nimble Kiwi skipper Rodney kept us in good form, only occasionally doing his angry Rumplestiltskin impression when we’d really mucked something up. Sailing queen “Skiff” originally from Portsmouth, England, kept the headsails trimmed – and showed how great it is to have some clear female communication onboard. One of three professional sailmakers onboard, Brendan remained almost imperturbable running the mainsail. Charlie from Rarotonga saved me from being the newest person aboard, as this was his 3rd time on a sailboat. He spent the entire time grinning ear-to-ear or grinding on a winch whenever Skiff yelled, “Trim, Charlie!” When not working the bow, slim eighteen-year old Jay told us about his experiences growing up on sailboats in Spain and the Bay of Islands, while our buddy Bryon put up with Rodney’s jibes about being better ballast than the rest of us because of his large frame.

The race was lovely. The sun was shining the whole time, and we had a lovely wind pushing us up the coast most of the way. Most boats were flying their spinnakers, which made the start line a many-hued rainbow of colorful kites. The weather was so spectacularly beautiful that some crazy kiteboarder was racing right behind the record-setting winner, Alfa Romeo. He made it 261kms, only giving up when the wind gave out near Russell. We made our own record, finishing in 14 hours 7 minutes.

Sunset at Bay of Islands

So, I’m learning to understand and even speak this new language, bit by bit. Sailing isn’t exactly a democracy, but there are often multiple voices putting their oars in on what oughta happen next or, more often, “what the heck happened there when everything went to custard?” It’s been fantastic to finally understand what all the chatter is about. And Rodney’s let us know that we’re now “expected” on the more hardcore Wednesday night race series.

I’m finding myself part of a community I never expected to join. Last night, Peter showed me how to pack the spinnaker properly. As we started, I thought he asked me, “Do you have a clue?” After a heartbeat, I realized he was talking about the lower corners of the sail. And as I grabbed the clew, I realized that I felt like the answer to the question I thought I heard was finally “yes.”

See what it looks like at: Coastal Classic 09 by jocuteca

Want to know about something specific about New Zealand? Leave me a request for a blog about it!

I could raise a sail

Look to the horizon and

Cast off in in his shoe

As she runs down stairs

It billows magestically

All her folds of skirt

At long last, and finally, I took my first abbreviated voyage on September Blue. For the uninitiated, I have bought a sailboat. I visited Richmond Virginia last weekend to pick her up and bring her home. (UPDATE: the pickup date for September Blue was Saturday, November 14.  I wasted an entire week sitting at a desk doing “work” and my “job.”  The first voyage was the night of November 20.) Despite getting up at the crack of dawn, and blasting down the highway as fast as remotely safely possible with a 23 foot long trailer, I was unable to take her out last Sunday. By the time I got her rigged and off the trailer, the sun had set, and her dead batteries wouldn’t support the night running lights. So we had to pack her in the dark, and despite my best hopes, I was unable to get her into the water tonight.

This afternoon I took two hours off, and left work at 3:00. My friend F also got loose, and we met as his place, where September Blue is enjoying a temporary trailer berth. That was at 4:00 PM. We were at the boat ramp at 5:00, and had the boat rigged by 6:15. Unfortunately, sunset was at 5:30. This time, however, the batteries were charged. Turn a dial, flip three switches, and the running lights, mast light, and depth finder are good to go, and we shoved off from the dock.

The lake was like glass. Only the lightest puffs of air were moving. The thermometer read 58 degrees. Our breath rose in small clouds. We killed the outboard, lifted it clear of the water, and raised sail. We spent the first 15 minutes just under the main, as I tried to get a feel for the boat. She was very responsive, given that there was no wind to speak of. The speedometer didn’t register our motion, but the GPS I brought from the car did.

The GPS was a Garmin, designed and programmed for terrestrial navigation, not nautical. As far as the Garmin was concerned, the lake was a featureless blue blob. But since I was trying to navigate at night, on a lake I didn’t know, on a boat I was unfamiliar with, I brought the Garmin, with the idea that if I kept the little car icon in the middle of the lake, I wouldn’t run into anything important. Between the depth gauge (Lake Loudon is 45′ deep in the middle) and the Garmin (the car Icon looked really silly in the middle of the lake) I managed to sail for about two hours. I eventually flew the foresail as well as the main, and we experimented a little bit with the full rig, but frankly, there just wasn’t enough wind to fill it. We ghosted out into the middle of the lake, up to where the Tennessee River enters the lake. The buoy there is not lit; it’s just a dark mass the rears up out of the water with no warning. Fortunately, we carried a big flashlight with us. The channel markers flash a green reflector. It was still startling.

I wonder if I’m even allowed to sail at night. I should probably look that up. We were missing some critical gear. Oh, the lights worked, and we had adequate life jackets. We did not have a heaving line, though. Should we have had a man overboard, his life jacket and a recovery operation would have had to do. Small chance of getting lost in the “surf,” at least. Also, the water temperature was about 56 degrees. Getting wet would have been no joke. I need a console mount for my Garmin. And, frankly, a flask of single malt was in order, given the weather. I don’t hold to getting loaded and piloting a boat, mind you, but a wee nip to warm the blood would have done a lot to enhance the experience.

After the first fifteen minutes, we ran out the foresail. The guy who invented roller furling was a genius, and I hope he’s rich. It was truly amazing.  Yank on a rope, foresail is deployed.  Yank on another rope, foresail is not only out of service, but packed in a UV-proof cover.  If only it could work that way for the main.  Anyway, it was amazing to be out under the stars, ghosting along on that mirror-smooth lake. I could never have gotten Dad’s Boat to move in that air.  Just not enough sail area.

I really like my new boat.  There’s just one problem:  I paid through the nose so that I wouldn’t end up buying a “project boat.” I wanted a boat I could sail, not a boat I could work on.  I have enough projects. There’s a thought for a blog post: compose a project list. But I digress.  September Blue is exactly as she was advertised, and, allowing for the need to replace the batteries (which I was warned about), rig the galley, which the previous owner had never used, rig the head, which has also never been used, she needs no work.  But there are so many cool things I could do.

The galley storage sucks. I don’t know what her designers were thinking.  There’s  a HUGE area, mostly below the waterline, that’s got no shelves, no drawers, and, near as I can tell, is supposed to be accessed via a TINY door.  Same for the sink area on the other side, although that’s complicated by the presence of the water bladder.  I want to add a dedicated boat GPS so that I can know a little bit about the bottom of the lake I’m sailing across, instead of trying to keep a little car in the middle of the river.  Here in East Tennessee, I want specialized sails for light air sailing . . .

Help me!

To her they must be paper sails hanging off of things. I know that I am in denial because I believe that she reads and processes their information. But she doesn’t. Hasn’t for years. If the plastic case of two dozen lemon poppy seed mini-muffins has written all over it “Not for dogs!” and “For people only!” I will come home and they will be disappeared, all twenty-four. Perhaps she ate one half of one muffin and the rest? Well…

She takes the delicate, older, hard to find if I had to buy another indoor broom and sweeps the back porch and walkway of rubble and wet leaves. While a tough as hell outdoor broom, like on a wicked witch might use, sits right there against the house. My notes could be grocery lists. Or poetry lines.

Now there’s an idea! Change all of my notes, my little white sails, into places for lines of poetry. Instead of a note saying “Please! No snacks! Dogs are both overweight,” it could read:

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her

(excerpt from e.e. cummings’ Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town)

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