Kaimusailing

The message was that the proa model looked crude. It is. The leeboard and cassettes were hastily drawn and constructed and probably look nothing like the full size build. Having two boards in the water is probably not necessary or the best configuration, but it saves having to move the leeboard from one end of the boat to the other. The center of effort of the two sails falls near or slightly forward of the rear crossbeam. Thus, only a leeboard there is necessary and optimal. Removing the board from the cassette and moving it to the other cassette would be a real pain if you were tacking up a narrow channel. Perhaps the two board could be used for short tacks and when you head out on a long leg you can remove the forward board. There is also a need to configure the board so that it can be secured in the cassette at different depths like having a dagger board only halfway down in its case.
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The question was where to find the designs of O. Gulbrandsen. I ran across links to them while visiting the tacking-outriggers website, which is easy to find online. The designs are on the FAO website downloadable as pdf files.
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The forecast down in Georgia shows a break in the summer heat during the last week of August, so we have to organize the return to Kaimu in the boatyard down there.
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I had tried for 2 days to start the loaner outboard, Johnson 9.9 two stroke, on the little C&C 24 with no luck. Captain Ed came down from Pennsylvania to reclaim the engine. I had wanted to sell him the boat, but he said he had to pass on it. We went out to the boat and the engine started first pull, by him. Then he took it away. I have to put this little boat up on the hard, since I might not be back in time to move it when winter sets in.
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I showed the little boat to an interested party, but they found outboard motor prices, that is for ones with a warranty and electric start, too prohibitive. While I had the boat at the dock to show I decided to take it out for a sail. The weather was hot but beautiful with a light easterly breeze intermittently drifting in, sometimes from the Northeast, sometimes from the Southeast. There were tons of boats out on the Bodkin, rafted together, playing music, and enjoying a day of hot, but not too hot, weather. By the time I made it to the bay the wind had petered out. I caught the last of it to turn back and then drifted for about 3 hours to cover the mile back to the mooring. After putting things away I weighed myself back at the cottage. I had lost 6 pounds according to the scale.
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Actually, while folding up the 150 light weight genoa which was drying on the dock, dehydration hit me pretty hard and I took a rest by laying down in the shade at the foot of the dock. I could see a lot of birds up above including an osprey and a buzzard. There were smaller birds with a familiar profile, the swallows of the Bodkin, a zillion of them, zooming around, eating up all the bugs. Some may have grown up in the nests under the cross deck of Kaimu over the past few summers.
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A fellow posted an Evinrude 9.9 Yachtmaster with electric start on Craig’s List and I got him to agree over the phone for $225 for it. This is a similar motor to the Johnson 9.9 that Captain Ed had for us, but the Evinrude has electric start and the high thrust of the Yachmaster series. They use a larger propeller designed to give more thrust at lower speeds. Kaimu’s Yamaha T50 is also a high thrust design. It matches the engine power peak with the boat’s operating speeds. The only problem with this Yachmaster is that it is a pig in a poke, the seller could not mount it on his dinghy or in his engine well on his sailboat, so he had only been able to verify that the ignition had spark, he didn’t want to run it without it being in the water to keep the cylinders cool. Good decision. These two stroke motors are relatively simple with a few basic functions that have to work for the engine to run.
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A good resource for these motors is http://www.leeroysramblings.com/ . This is practical hands on knowledge along with some engineering expertise. If I had any of the OMC outboards, I would go to this site and look up my particular model number and read all about it.
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The electric start engine turned out to be quite heavy and I could see why the seller couldn’t mount it on a dinghy and why it didn’t fit in his engine well. I had talked him down in price over the phone and took advantage of him due to excessive drink. When I showed up the next day and gave him the cash, he dove into the pub across the street with his dog. It was Sunday morning.
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When I searched saatchiart.com for “sunday pub” the posted image showed up,
painted by Atta Bidarbakht of the UK, it is available for purchase.