Kaimusailing

Posting from the cell phone is awkward but possible. There is nothing to do in Crisfield, which is great. There is something we can do. Pizza Night, now on a Saturday night. Fortunately I brought the pizza oven along in the Bankruptcy Buggy and its propane cannister and the required pizza pans. We shopped for mozzarella, etc., at the local Food Lion, a small but well stocked store. I was able to get the Galbani whole milk mozzarella which I prefer.
.
I was able to do more research on the problematic engine of the Catalina 30, the Universal Atomic 4, nicknamed "atomic bomb". This is due to the fact that it is a gasoline engine and gasoline can explode if not handled properly. There were something like 40,000 units of this engine produced and it is estimated that 20,000 are still in service. This is a flathead engine with characteristic low compression ratio which makes it an old fashioned low stress engine with low output, low rpm's, relatively low efficiency, maybe half as efficient as a diesel engine. The low stress enables the engines to have a long life as long as properly maintained. Our engine looks like it was properly maintained, but the previous owners say its exhaust valves stick and then it won't run.
.
Pizza was great. Lots of wine. A bonfire. A hangover the next morning. We spent some time looking for an open restaurant, preferably with seafood. We found Linton's which is a crab place with lots of other seafood available. We toured the little harbor and looked at the approach to the marina, very narrow. Later we were invited to one of the crab houses that was closed earlier and had cream of crab soup there. Then a tour of a local garden. Then bring the dogs to play at the beach and take more sunset photos.
.
The next day we drove back to the Bodkin and I took my rental car and drove to my Dr.'s appointment. CM went to her job in Baltimore. I was able to get my Dr.'s visit early due to a hole in their schedule and I found out I had "good numbers". Healthy. Physically.
.
I arranged with the Previous Owners of the Catalina 30 to help me get aboard and get underway. It was early afternoon with a light South breeze, just enough to coax the little boat out of the marina and into the Bay. Perfect wind direction. Previous Owner Husband helped me bend on sails and cast me off the mooring after paddling me out in the canoe. I sailed out the entrance of the marina using just the main sail, which looked new. Out into the Bay I raised the genoa.
.
This boat has roller furling gear, but it is out of commission. They just used the roller furler's foils to hoist sail, just like putting a mainsail into the slot in the mast, or exactly the way some racers put their headsails into a slotted foil on the headstay. So I put the sail in the slot and started hauling it up. The sail would jam in the jaws of the slot unless I could pull on it a bit and keep it lined up. At the same time the halyard was designed with masthead sheaves, i.e., the part that is hoisting the sail is in front of the mast and the part that you pull on is on the aft side of the mast. It runs over a couple of sheaves at the masthead. If you are at the bow and tending to the luff of the sail going into the jaws of the foil, you are pulling on a halyard that comes down aft of the mast, then bends around a spreader halfway up the mast, so there is resistance. But the sail goes up and we set a starboard broad reach where the light breeze comes over the right shoulder and the sails are set out to the left, catching the wind about as well as you can ever get. For disgruntled sailors, replace right and left with starboard and port. The light breeze comes in over my starboard shoulder.
.
There were several other sailboats out in my vicinity, after all we are at Annapolis, America's Sailing Capitol. I could tell the Catalina had a dirty bottom, it was like sailing a floating mud island. The helm was not particularly responsive. We should have been going a bit quicker. I was wondering if sailing on Kaimu had spoiled me.
.
The wind picked up a bit, it was forecast for 5-10 going up to 15 or so later. This was good enough with a boat unfamiliar, a 42 year old boat no less. As slow as we were going, I could see we were moving and passed the Severn and the Bay Bridge loomed ahead. I was trying to remember something Previous Owner Husband had said, "Watch out for the ------- you know, the -----, the lee of Kent Island". But I was not going up into the lee of Kent Island. Maybe I should have.
.
The Bay Bridge at Annapolis is a constriction point on Chesapeake Bay. The Bay is really a river estuary that has the same currents a river might have, as well as tidal currents. The constriction at the bridge makes for stronger currents. They can boost you or hold you back. As I approached the bridge I wondered what current we were dealing with. Boost or Hinder.
.
The sky looked a bit like thunderstormy and the South breeze was pushing Sunsplash along adequately. My worry was that when we made it to Bodkin Inlet the breeze would be coming directly out the channel, a very narrow and shallow channel. We were now passing the lighthouse at Magothy River and the boat, in a mud island way, was having a difficult time maintaining course as the wind began picking up. Then a big gust hit.
.
The boat broached heading off to port and laying the rig down practically on the water. It was a blast from a typical roll cloud front which included embedded thunderstorm. I managed to get to the bow and bring down the genoa, but it was in the water and very heavy to drag it up on deck. The boat was headed toward Gibson Island, not a good thing. I had to work quickly, get the sail secured on deck, and point the little boat North again. Watch out for a jibe.
.
I don't like the cockpit arrangement on this boat. Apparently Catalina responded to customer requests and responses at the boat shows, and changed the standard tiller steering to a pedestal with wheel. Looks great at the boat show. The jib winches are mounted on the cockpit coamings and are far enough forward that the helmsman at the wheel cannot reach them. Also, the pedestal and wheel kind of block the path forward. I found I had to jump up on the cockpit seats and run around up there, then jump back down in the cockpit to operate the winches, meanwhile the wheel is unattended, the boat then will miss a tack or threaten to have an unintended jibe. The original tiller steering put the tiller and the winches right at hand for the solo sailor, the way it should be.
.
With the genoa doused we trundled along quite sedately but I was reluctant to raise the genoa again. If the roller furler was operational I could manage sail area quite easily. The wind was dying back to the 5 knot range. I was keeping out of the ship channel and a couple of vessels came down the channel headed South. I raised the genoa again, trying to get to Bodkin Inlet before sunset and darkness.
.
My phone was getting low on power so I kept it off, but turned it on now and then to check the navigation app, Marine Navigator, and to look at the local weather map. There were two storm cells headed North, one already North of us, the other to the South. It seemed like they were blocking the breeze that had been forecast to rise to the 15 knot range. We were now sailing roughly North and the light breeze had a Westerly component, WSW. I passed the mouth of the Bodkin and wondered if I could sneak in through the unmarked channel North of the marked channel. The wind shifted, it was coming over land and shifting a lot, also loosing its oomph. I tacked back toward the marked channel. Fortunately the depth sounder worked and I would have warning if I goofed
.
The channel consists of a row of green markers with one red marker. There is no room for error. I sailed right across the channel, watching the depth gauge, and found plenty of water just South of the red marker and well past the green line of markers where I tacked. Could I lay the channel on port tack and not get mired in the shallows.
.
Due to the stupid cockpit layout I blew the first tack, could not get to the winches quickly enough. Here I was in a narrow channel with no room and having to spin the boat around, a boat that was sailing like a mud island, sluggish, reluctant to respond, and it was getting dark. I also blew the next few tacks. I have a problem when I am facing aft toward the wheel, I tend to turn it in the wrong direction, then if I catch myself quickly enough I can spin it the right way, but also I might turn it even more in the wrong direction. And so I was sailing around in circles making almost no progress, but drifting into the shallows, and having to reposition the boat. The depth gauge would read as low as 4' 8" when our draft is 5' 3". The bottom must be so soft that the keel just slides through the soft mud.
.
I ended up ignoring the depth and worked the boat further into the inlet. It was very hard work, stepping up and down on the cockpit seats, pulling the genoa sheet by brute force, forget the winches, do it again if you've blown the tack. Work, work, work. And all this for minimal gain. We had made it through the narrow entrance, but now were trying to work to windward in the dark. There is a nasty spit of land with a day mark on it. It has no light and we would have to pass it, turn to starboard and go West or North up Bodkin's Main Creek. No I did not have a paddle or dinghy.
.
The wind had died but Sunsplash kept on going at a very slow speed, must have been a breath of wind up high. It was only about a mile to go. 5 hours till I gave up. In the end I was pumping the sail to keep away from a couple of docks. I dropped the anchor. I fell asleep instantly on the hard bunk boards. The cushions were all jammed into the vee berth forward and I was too tired to pull them apart to find the one that would fit. The lights in the cabin had been out all this time, I couldn't seem to find the right switch in the dark. Then I took my time and got a light to light. The problem was that the battery switch had to be in the correct position, the master switch had to be on, and the light switch had to be on, and if the light was a working light it would come on.
.
I awoke in the middle of the night, very sore and shivering. It was calm and cold on deck. I had no bedding. I dragged a couple of cushions out of the vee berth and one fit the settee where I had been sleeping. I used the small jib in its bag as a pillow and my pullover as a blanket.
.
I called Sea Tow to arrange a tow from where I was to my old dock, about 1/4 mile further up the inlet. The tow boat arrived about 1 1/2 hours later and deposited me in the slip next to CM's boat. Nori barked. I tied Sunsplash up as best I could. I showed Cornelia Marie the boat and she remarked it reminded her of the boat she had crewed on that had gone down to Key West years ago. Then we drove to Annapolis to retrieve the rental car. We grabbed some grub at Grump's and took Nori to Quiet Waters Park where the dog and I received a dose of exercise. Very nice park with kayaking center, trails through the forest, inlets with docks and vessels.
.
CM went to work and I went to Walmart to buy a sleeping bag, some cheese and crackers for cheese and wine party by myself at the dock. I slept until about 5 AM, then jumped in the rental and sped off, down I-95 to St. Marys.
.
The photo is of another Crisfield sunset.