Okay, the last few months have not gone according to plan. Wings was supposed to be pulled in late October or Early November to allow us time to cut apart a delamination in the keel foot. The plan was to let the keel drain and dry all winter and then epoxy/glass the heck out of it come spring. Well, if spring comes this year, it will find Wings still in the water. Hopefully afloat. It is beginning to look like Wings will spend the year on the hard because there are myriad lingering projects, and a few like the keel that just have to be done, or else. However, the past two months have been weather hold-up after weather hold-up. First, interminable late-fall rains that almost shut down the Colonial Beach yacht center for November and early December and then snow after snow. Lately our boating has consisted of going down to shovel Wings' decks and cockpit to help keep the little girl's bootstripe from disappearing below the surrounding ice.
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Regardless of how simple we like to try to keep life, it seems that techno-gizmos intrude -- and, we must admit, some of them can be useful. However, aboard Wings there is no electrical system, there is no generator set, there are no battery banks and if there were, there is no way to charge them. So how do we manage?
The short of it is, quite nicely -- thank you very much!
With the exception of paper charts and chart books (yes, they still do print these), the bulk of our techno-gizmos fit into a small, black canvas bag a little smaller than a shoebox and there is plenty of room to spare. Essentially, we run on AA and AAA batteries -- batteries that power; a depth finder, a wind gauge, a hand-held VHF, various lights, our faithful and inexpensive Garmin 72 GPS as well as a few other odds and ends that help us mimic civilization.
Missing from the picture are Wings' battery operated LED navigation lights, two LED interior lanterns, a hand bearing compass, a couple of small digital cameras and a few other minor items that we've accumulated. The bag goes with us from home to boat, and then back again, easily and with no fuss. To be sure, we don't have the luxury of weather-fax, single side band or satellite phone, but somehow that all seems a tad superfluous for local cruising (and I'm told Tangvald, Chichester and others far more experianced managed without `em as well). What we do have is a handful of trustworthy gadgets that help us navigate through the dark, promise reasonable means of emergency communication (we also carry cell-phones, but they've never seemed terribly useful), allow us to gauge the depth of the water around us should we be so curious and good old paper charts to help us visualize where we might be on those rare instances when were out of sight of land.
The truth is, in our little bag with techno-gizmos powered by a few bucks worth of batteries per year we have more sailing and navigation information than I've had in several decades of low-pressure boating. I can navigate easily and accurately to the degree I never could dream of when we used to fish 25 to 30 miles offshore. I can quickly determine the depth of the water far better than I could on the 15-ton ketch I lived aboard for several years (it had no depth-finder at all -- used a lead-line), we can tell the speed of the wind easily as well as light our way home safely, and maybe even legally -- I'm always astonished at the brightness of the LED navigation lights. On several occasions the stern light shining aft has more than illuminated the cockpit to read the GPS and charts.
When Wings is tied to the dock all our (semi)expensive electrical gizmos are safely in the closet. And, as we get ready to get underway we simply grab the little black bag and carry it aboard. Okay, I admit many times we don't use the gizmos much for day sailing and normally the gadget we use the most is the GPS -- especially when we think we're enjoying a good turn of speed. But they all go with us, and we test the gizmos with some regularity to ensure they'll work when we need `em. We sail reasonably secure in the knowledge that we can know where we are, access the weather information if needed, have reliable light to enjoy a good book snuggled a way in the evening and alert other travelers to our whereabouts and intentions - all for about $10 a year in batteries.
How bad is that.
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And, it is not the size of a boat that matters, it is the love for the boat. Maybe I loved my first 21 footer most when I was young guy?
Regards from Hawaii
The Annapolis Sailboat Show used to be an annual ritual for me some decades back, but over the years the rite has languished as the necessity for new-fangled, innovative technicals and the more posh seemed to fade from my view ... but in recent years, accompanied by the family, I've rediscovered the easy fun I used to enjoy before I became preoccupied with bigger and better... just poking around, admiring the woodwork of a hand-built kayak, the engineering simplicity of a steering-vane or just chatting with a purveyor if some well-thought-out gizmo that leaves one scratching their head and wondering why no one had ever thought of that before... But this year, it was the grandson who got to set priority; he being of the age when faster, brighter and flashier rules the day... And, he announced, he wanted to see all the multihull boats we could... We went aboard the requisite number of condo-cats; sumptuous, airy and extravagant, but always inundated with a crowd of envious visitors. We also went aboard a smaller cruising tri-hull or two, I have grown to admire the simplicity of the smaller cruisers, but the grandson was unimpressed... Then we stumbled on a little Wharram cat and lingered for a second and third look -- chatting with the builder who seemed more interested in talking boats than in selling them... the little Wharram didn't actually have standing headroom and seemed to lack some of the glitzy accouterments and techno-gizmos of its big sterile sisters, but, oh, it had personality, real character... I remember many years ago a similar feeling I had when I went aboard a cozy little Bingham Flicka for the first time, comfy, tasteful, robust and affectionately crafted... that's what I was looking for... a boat with a heart... they're still being made; very reassuring...
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Well okay, the refurbishments aren't done yet... Deanna has nicely done combings in her shop just waiting on the indolent helmsman to get off his duff and varnish the suckers, but time is a wasting... so on a nice breezy Sunday, the Admiral threw the old half-decayed combings in the car and we headed to the boat... the helmsman and the grandson (now promoted to navigator) scrapped the lower unit of the motor, the same motor helmsman was supposed to bottom-paint, and headed out for a day sail... We threw in one reef in the main since it was kicking up a bit from time to time and just enjoyed whooshing along... the reef took care of the weather helm we get from time to time with these elderly, and baggy, sails (helmsman has a "new" mainsail just waiting to be bent on, but does he get with it.... noooo...). But the day was sunny and pleasant, we switched roles from time to time so everyone got a little more accustomed with several more boaty things, and when the reefing hook jammed itself in the cringle, it became apparent that the helmsman has yet another chore he must attend to... boy, something defective with that helmsman... hope the Admiral doesn't run an inspection before we get Wings in shape...
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Well, the Admiral's fleet has expanded... fishing off the back of Wings has proven unproductive so far, and besides for some, 5 knots just doesn't cut it all the time... I mean why glide serenely over the waves powered by the summer breezes when you can smash and bash throwing foam and spray every which way and keeping some middle east Sheik in business... okay, okay just kiddin'... Deanna has been wanting a little "speed boat" for some time and one day while the helmsman was at work, this little guy just followed her home - honest injun'... There is a little matter of needing a motor, but the search is in high-gear and there are high-hopes of boating a tuna or marline, or at least a croaker, before the north wind blows... had one similar to this one decades ago and enjoyed it immensely, trekking far too far out into the Atlantic in search of Mackerel and Wahoo's, so here we go again...sure am glad I ordered those spare reels to upgrade the trolling poles...
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A warm, sunny summer day with number-one son, Bud, in town is an excellent excuse for some lazy time on the water - number one son being a curious blend of rabid dirt-track aficionado, consummate computer geek/gamer and professional long-haul trucker, far more at home shepherding 40 tons of freight across the North American continent, than piddling around on reality-sized sailboats...
Trying to skate out before dead low tide would imprison us in our slip, we hastily undocked Angels Wings in the usual manner, semi-rigged for day sailing -- and proceeded to idle past the other boats, except the little outboard wasn't idling! Indeed, the usually effective little motor was running wide-open and Wings was going almost nowhere, but quickly creating a haze of blue-gray 2-cycle lube... All this mechanical commotion quickly drew a skeptical look from trucker son and while the little Evinrude provided just enough oomph to get us away from the safety of our slip, but with no control once broadside to the feeble breeze wafting across Monroe Bay... a breeze that eventually snuggled us sideways against some pilings despite our best efforts to be almost anywhere else...
Something was terribly amiss - and, embarrassingly so... Enter, deliverance by jack-knife... Bud and I worked the motor out of the motor-well while Deanna held us against the pilings -- we had to laugh when we saw what used to be the prop... it was just one huge nest of barnacles and other encrusting marine life, only roughly reminiscent of a propeller shape... whew... well, now we knew the problem and, thankfully, in short order a folding knife that had spent recent years forgotten in a galley drawer dispensed with all those cavitation producing creatures...
After that little escapade, sailing in the soft zephyrs of early afternoon was anticlimactic, and eventually proved a tad boring... in time we decided to try trolling under sail. In the past I'd met with some success catching blues and mackerel, while dragging lures behind a sailboat, so I had some hope... But, No Joy! For awhile we seemed to be at the right speed for offshore saltwater fishing, but even at our dawdling pace I'm not convinced we were slow enough for the brackish-water fish of the middle Potomac... in any case, neither shiny lures nor tasty squid strips could tempt a fish hungry enough (or stupid enough) to rise to our barbed enticements and eventually Deanna retired to an empty berth for a summer catnap ...
Almost on cue, the afternoon wind piped up and over an hour or so, we went from barely any discernable wake at all to a nice boiling wake trailed behind Angels Wings. Although we were not at remotely the speeds Bud is used to at his beloved Midwestern dirt tracks, the sensation of speed is a well known intoxicant to sailors and soon had us trimming sails, "racing" after a larger boat flying a Jolly-Roger and speculating how we must have terrified the opposing skipper because of the speed with which he went hull down in front of us - this incredible sea-battle was soon captured on Bud's digital "film" from almost every reasonable angle -- with the promise that it would fuel many stories and tales back home over the coming months.
It was great fun and tacking across the Potomac we got finally curious how fast Angles Wings really was going, so we started the handheld GPS... Unless we or our GPS was hallucinating, Wings was doing nicely above theoretical hull-speed for its meager 19 foot LWL. We were seeing pretty consistently 6.8 knots; however, I finally suspected we might be getting some assistance from the river current and tide, so we reversed and sailed on a reach the other direction -- still logging around 6.4-6.5 knots... exhilarating, entertaining and pleasant... at least I figured that even though the unpainted motor lower-unit had succumbed to the marine life, Wings' hull was still reasonable clean - all in all the day provide fertile recollections for all the stories we'll embellish this winter (and a few we'll conveniently forget...).
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