More Havasu photo's. Fun on the water.

Tried, but could not catch me 8>)

Havasu Photo's 2013

Here is a photo from the long distance race batteling with a Vangard 23, Pretty boat.

Making the first mark. It was close going around. Closer than I was comfortable with.

In the middle of the pack trying to stay out of trouble and traffic

Here is my track from the short race on Friday

Oceanside sail 2/23/2013

Nice sail out of Oceanside today. Light winds, under 10 knots. Sailed at an average of 3 knots or so. Travelled a little over 5 Nmiles. Out with Bill Shultz today. An experienced sailor and a pleasure to sail with. He is interested in buying a Swallow Boat. So, if he does buy one, it will be nice to have another boat locally, (LA area), I can sail with.

Home again.

Left Havasu early on Saturday. Drive back took a little over 7 hours at 55mph. I was a little concerned about the agricultural check at the California border. Lake Havasu has zebra mussels that are an invasive species and California is trying to keep them out. I emptied the ballast and kept the access open to help dry out the ballast tank. I felt under the water line, once the boat was on the trailer. I could not feel anything, but you never know. My fears were unfounded, the officer took a look at the boat, felt under the water line, as I had, and waved us through. I arrived home in time to wash down the boat before putting into the storage area. I had a fun time in Havasu. Learned a lot about sailing the boat and my sailing skills! The seminars were also informative. I really enjoyed the seminar on GPS from Garmin. Added a few tricks for me. The cold water survival seminar was also very informative. I just hope I never have to use this information!

2/15/2013 Friday sail, Lake Havasu.

Nice wind again today. The forecast was for 25+ winds. I put in two reefs and filled the ballasts! Yesterdays sail made me tentative about the wind. Denny of the Potters group joined me for the sail. Always nice sailing with Denny. The event today is a short distance race. Well I was not really racing, just following along. It turned out that the two reefs were not needed. We shook out the reefs for a full sail just before the second mark. We were at the tail end of the fleet. Once the main felt the wind, we quickly started to make up ground. Caught up and passed the two Monty’s in front of us. Sailed across the wind then downwind to the third mark. Rounded the mark and tacked back up to the finish line. Passing a few more boats on the way. A nice finish to the sail. Good wind and fun sailing.

2/14/2013 Thursday sail Lake Havasu

Good wind today. Sailed to the south end of the lake with Martin, both in our own boats. Great downwind sail, south at over 5 knots. Beating back into the wind was a slog. The wind increased to the point that I was over powered with the full main out. I had to spill wind like crazy, out of the main and have just the jib and mizzen do the work. It was an exhausting sail. No ballast meant that I was at the limit and uncomfortable. I had to really concentrate to keep the boat level in the wind gusts. Still, it was good experience for me. Added to my sailing skills!!!

Long Distance Race, Wednesday Sail 2/13/13, Lake Havasu

Long Distance race event today at the Lake Havasu Pocket Cruisers event. I started off with flotilla B. Which was for the less serious racers? The start was hectic with over 80 boats starting off in flotilla B. I waited for them to sort themselves out and get started, before I ventured up to the start line. There was a lot of close sailing and jockeying for position at the start line and it was just sailing too close for me. Several, what I thought, were close passes. Some did not even see each other until the last minute and changed course to avoid contact. The weather report called for winds gusting over 25mph. I put in a reef to be safe. It turned out that the wind was mild, with one leg of the race downwind in about 4 mph winds. I lost a lot of time on this leg of the race. I did not need the reef. But, better safe when sailing, so no regrets on the reef. We sailed a little over 14 miles. Looking at the race results, it looks like I came in 60 out of 80. Not sure if that is with handicap/Portsmouth ratings or not. My top speed was 6.1 knots. A fun sail.

Tuesday Sail in Havasu, 2/12/13

Nice easy sail today. I met up with Martin, who has a Cape Cutter 19. A salty boat with traditional lines. I sailed with him last year at the Havasu meet and really enjoyed his boat. We met out on the lake a sailed saide by side for a couple of hours. Sailed a l A little over 9 NMiles. Some nice wind gusts pushed me up to 5.6 knots as a top speed.

Lake Havasu Pocket Cruiser event Feb 10 - 17, 2013

Here for the week. I am excited about getting to sail most of the week. It took about 7 hours to drive here from my house. At 55 mph towing the boat. No issues on the road, so just a long, slow trip. A little stiff this morning after the drive. Need to stretch out. It was a glorious sun rise.

Not much happening on the water today. I launched with no wind and messed about a bit before putting in. The engine would not work after I shut it off after coming out into the lake. I ended up rowing in to the shore by our room. First time I have rowed the boat. It acted fine and was not a problem to row after getting the hang of it.

The wind finally came up around 2pm. I tried to launch but the engine would not work Bad gas. I changed the gas and it started right up. Backed out of the slip, wind caught the stern and pushed me almost into the shore before I could get the engine up to speed to move the boat out. It was a lee wind blowing at 15-20 mph. That was exciting and I expect to see it on U Tube if anyone had a camera! Lol it was a mess. One of those things that you laugh about unless it’s happening to you. OK I did have a chuckle after it was all over and no damage was done. So, my boat is now safely beached in the cove. No more slips lol

Mission Bay Feb 2 2013

A fun day sailing in Mission Bay. Wind at 10 knots, gusts to about 15 knots. Top speed 7.4 knots. Started out with no wind and great sun. Clouds came in, wind picked up, coats went on, sun disappeared. Sailed with Dave and Richard today. Kevin was also out on his boat with Deb and Mitch. Sailed out of Clairmont boat ramp. Sailed up and into sail bay. Some great wind as we came up to the bridge. Healed over and exciting.

Photos taken by Kevin, from his boat. Sorry to say I did not take any photos today, of Kevin's or my boat. Just too exciting!

Dana Point with the "Potters".

A great sail out of Dana Point Saturday Jan 19th. Weather was beautiful, 70 degrees and sunny. Wind approx 5 – 10 mph. Out for about 4 hours. Top speed 5.2 knots. Average speed 4.4 knots.

This was my first time out of Dana Point and I was not sure what to expect. I know the area and was looking forward to sailing. Cast off around 11am after coffee and donuts with the Potters. Denny crewed with me and it was fun having him to sail with. Light winds to begin with. Exit from the harbor to ocean was smooth with no excitement. Cut the motor as soon as we were out of the channel with no ferry or whale watching boat traffic around. We headed straight out towards Catalina that looked to be so close. But is at least a 7 hour crossing for me in my boat, Maybe one day… Denny and I were discussing that neither one of us had ever seen a whale while out sailing. When not 5 mins latter, a grey whale surfaced, blew a cool looking water spout and then gracefully went back down. This all happened about 100 yards away from the boat. I was good with that as the whale looked huge! We changed our heading to intersect where we thought the whale may surface again. But, all the motor boats charged up on the scene and we gracefully departed. No more whale sightings for the day. We did see a big pod of dolphins feeding a little way off. There must have been around 30 or so. They were moving too fast for the boat to keep up with. Clicked a few pics, not sure if you will be able to see them between the motor boats.

Cool sail day with lots of boats out on the water. We heard one estimate that there were 50 sails out?

Had dinner at the Brig in the harbor before driving home. Fun day. An Artsy photo from today.

No sailing

Well, I have not been out on the water in a while. My job, (retail at Christmas), and the weather, (cold and rain), have conspired to keep me on dry land. Well the job has quieted down now. So, it's just the weather now. Good wind the past few days. Just a lot of rain with it. Cold also around 40 - 45 degrees. I am hopeful to get our sailing soon. I am looking forward to going out whale watching off Dana Point California with the "Potters" sailing group on Jan 19th. Keeping my fingers crossed for the weather!

December 8th out of Oceanside

Sailed with Jeff today. Great weather for December. Nice and warm. Not too much wind though. Out for 4 hours. Best speed was 5 knots. Travelled 9 Nmiles. There was a kayak race outside of the breakwater. Must have been 100 kayaks. Was cool to see them all race. We chased the wind and had a few nice tacks. An overall fun day on the water. Made a video and posted to You Tube on the set up today. Here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j34AL4pxge8

Rudder Damage

I dragged the rudder while putting the boat on the trailer at the "Potters" event. I will need to fix it and am not sure how to go about fixing it. So, I posted on the Swallow boats forum, with no luck on a solution. I also sent an email to the owner of Swallow boats and he sent me a nice email with the solution to fix it. It's nice to have such a responsive builder that can help me. Glad I got the Swallow boat. *********** Hi Matt, I am hoping you can help me and offer some advice on fixing my rudder. I dragged it on the concrete at the boat ramp. It scrapped off the coating and a few millimeters of the body. What is my best course of action to fix this? Will it harm the rudder coating etc if I sail it without fixing immediately? (The coating does not look like it will flake off). I am attaching a couple of photos of the damage. Do you have a guard for the rudder I can purchase from you?

************************************************* Matt was kind enough to reply and offer a solution for me that is not to technically challenging! Here is his reply. **** Good to hear from you, but sorry to hear about the damage. It is easy to fill the gap in the gelcoat with a 2 part epoxy resin like araldite or similar. Not sure what you have in the US but a normal hardware store should sell something in 2 tubes that you squeeze out and mix together in equal parts. Put this on and things won’t get any worse. You can mix small quantities and build up the thickness, but if the glue is already thick and gloopy (most are) then you should be able to get it all on in one or two mixes. After that you can if you wish, sand it back flush and paint with a decent enamel or even 2 pack paint. But you don’t have to do this - just for looks really. I have toyed with the idea of making a stainless plate fabrication on the leading edges of the rudder and CB. This has given me added incentive. Always in the past I thought it would be relatively expensive and very little credit would be given at boat shows for example, when trying to sell the boats. Having it as an optional extra doesn’t seem right somehow, so we would be probably reducing our margins/or increasing the boat price to pay for it. Several people have done the same as you though so maybe I will give it some more thoughts. Best wishes,

I keep forgetting to post the repair to this that I did. I ended up using the epoxy to fix the damage as it was really a minor scrape. I could have used gel coat but really did not see the benefit apart from the cosmetic difference.
Here are a couple of photos of the repair.

Thanksgiving sail with the So. Cal Potters 11/24/12

I met up with the Southern California Potters Saturday for a sail in Mission Bay, San Diego. The "Potters" are a loose association of sailors with predominantly West Wright Potter sail boats. Both 15 and 19 foot models. Here is a link to their web site http://howies.net/socalpotter. I had a fun time sailing in Sail Bay. Sailed 12 miles in the Bay and top speed of 7.4 knots. The wind was brisk, steady at 10 mph with gusts 20+ mph. My neighbor Brad joined me for the sail. I did not use ballast and was at the limit of my comfort a few times when the gusts were strong. I learned to be adept at spilling the wind from the main. Had consistent 6 knots + speed for quite a while and it was great fun? Heeled over and the boat demonstrated great acceleration with each wind gust that was exhilarating. We droppoed the main with the wind really gusting and sailed for a while on just the jib and mizzen. Was fun and had a consistent speed of 5+ knots with just the jib and mizzen. Fog started to roll in around 4pm so we returned to San Juan cove to put the boat on the trailer. I dragged the rudder on the ramp and scratch off a little of its surface. I will post on the Swallow Boats forum to see if anyone has a good way to add the surface back and fix it. Just minor and more cosmetic. Really just a bruised ego that I did not judge the depth of the water well and pull up the rudder. We had dinner with the "Potters" in the Mission Bay Yacht Club. Nice group of people and good food also. Enjoyable time and I plan on meeting up with them again.

November 16th, 2012 sail

Sail out of Oceanside. Light winds today. Beautiful weather for a lazy day out on the water. Put all the sails up prior to pushing off and took a few pictures. First photo’s of all the sails up.

Got a video of a couple of Dolphins swimming bye. That was cool. I played with the dodger a little. I decided that I will take it off the boat for normal use and put it back on when I think I will need it.

I also played with a rope around the tiller to give me some time up front under the dodger. It worked well in the light winds. Not sure how it would do with any consistent winds though. It gave me a few ideas on how I can rig a tiller clutch up though. Will need some bungee cord for that.

Can you believe it is November with weather like this? Got to love Southern California.

Cold and Raining

Supposed to go out sailing today. But the weather is not cooperating. Small boat warnings etc. Ho well. Maybe tomorrow? If not then, it will have to be next week. Noaa warnings: Warnings & Follow-Up Statements Gale Warning (issued at 11:15am) Gale Warning (#0020 issued at 11:04am) Gale Warning (#0004 issued at 11:04am) COASTAL WATERS FROM SAN MATEO POINT TO THE MEXICAN BORDER AND OUT 30 NM- 1115 AM PST FRI NOV 9 2012 ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WINDS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT... ...GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON... .TODAY...WIND W 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. MIXED SWELL W 2 TO 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS AND S 3 FT AT 17 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

No wind?

Well no wind this morning with off shore ships reporting 1 knot at 10.30 this morning. Decided to not go out today. Well winds picked up late 3.30pm. Off shore at 10 knots. Oh well. Next weekend.

Issue with gooseneck on mast

The metal receiving bracket on the boom was not finished well at the factory. Leaving sharp edges all the way around the bracket. I removed the bracket and filed to smooth the edges. This really should have been done prior to delivery. This, I found, is the issue and thing that cut the sail at the luff. I repaired with sail tape, see earlier post, but it still wore a hole through the tape on the next sail. I did not notice any further damage done on my sail yesterday. Hopefully this resolves the issue and I will need to take the main sail to a sail shop to have repaired. Hopefully, I will be reimbursed for this by the manufacturer!

October 27,2012. Sail with Wayne and Gerald.

Sail out of Oceanside with friends Wayne and Gerald. Out for three hours. Ave speed 3.2 knots, 8.8 Nmiles, top speed 6.1 knots. Wind started out at approximately 5-9 mph dropping to becalmed as we made for the harbor. Used the engine from about half mile out from the harbor entrance to motor back. Longest run for the motor since I purchased it. (I need to check the cooling as it did not appear to have a good water flow as we moved in to the dock). Struck the sails outside prior to motoring back. Wayne on the tiller for the majority of the sail. It was nice for me to just kick back and enjoy friends, boat and sail. Perfect weather for a cruise with friends.