Summer in Marblehead

Marblehead to Spectacle Island

Very nice sail, took almost 8 hours from Marblehead Rock to Spectacle Island.

The winds this time of year are mostly south-westerlies, so it blew basically straight into us all the way. On a way back obviously it was directly behind us so it was a long run, may be 5 hours or so.

Fun. I love the summer!

Its that time of the year again: Newport Boat Show

We did the annual pilgrimage to Newport to mostly check out new X-35, not the Joint Strike Fighter, but equally impressive X-Yachts production boat. It was just named the boat of the year by the "Sailing" magazine so we felt it was worth a special look. We weren't disappointed, it is a gorgeous yacht that deserves the award.

This is how the the thing looked in person



Other than that we spent some time talking to old friends from couple of dealerships, saw new Catalina 27 and Hunder 25, both were quite likable boats but nothing too earth shaking there.

Short account of the incedent off Catt (Childrens) Island

We ran into a bit of a trouble during the overnight trip on Saturday, September the 1st. This is a short account of events during that difficult night.


What went wrong ?

1. We ran out of gas at about 5 miles offshore:
   
   It got dark really fast and we didn't want to sail back for a variety of reasons (a)almost no wind, b)everyones tired, c)kid is cranky. Motoring didn't go too well because all of the sudden the thing chocked and then died. Sure enough there was no gas. How this could happen is beyond me, most likely I underestimated the gas consumption of the engine. I also didn't have spare fuel because I didn't think I would need it on a short sail.
   
   So I had to head to the closest land which was a small island and set the anchor and get in touch with Salem Harbormaster (Steve Levesque), who was kind enough to loan me a canister of gas. It took him a while to find us because it was quite late and we were sort of tucked in the cove, not really visible. Also, the island was tagged as a "Catt Island" on my chart, whereas the local name is "Childrens Island", which introduced some more confusion into already messy situation.
   

2. We lost our anchor:
   
   Anchor line got tangled up around the board and wouldn't let go. I had to dive to try to get it going. It was cold and I wasn't very happy. I end up cutting it lose. Why did it get tangled in the first place ? Because harbormasters boat was running at a low speed and it sort of circled around the anchor few times. We didn't realize it at a time, when I tried to get the anchor going then it became apparent at what happened

3. We hit a shoal on a way back:
   
   To finish the night in style I managed to ram the shoal on a way back.
   Why ? Because it is dark at night and the navigational markers are not lit and one does not expect a shoal in the middle of the channel. Sure I should have double and triple checked the map, which will go down as a lesson.
   
   There was some damage to the boat, thankfully we didn't take any water and I managed to get it out from the rocks without calling the Harbormaster again or having to go into the water. The Shoal was across the Peach's Point in Marblehead.

What were the lessons ?

• Unlike Blanche DuBois in the "Streetcar Named Desire" who depended on kindness of strangers, I really dislike to depend on anybody. Particularly strangers. So the first lessons was to get the Sea Tow contract with a reputable company.

• Try to have redundant systems in place, spare fuel, plugs, etc.

• Try not to sail during the night

• Get a GPS or memorize the charts

• Leave the junior at home if the conditions are going to be less than 100% perfect

New mooring

I managed to locate someone who was willing to sell me his mooring. I will spare all the boring details, the negotiations, etc, but at the end it came down to Marblehead approving the transaction. To much of my surprise they sure did. They didn't even blink. It is like in the chinese communist joke, under communism everyone is equal but some are more equal than the others. I am not complaining, I am perfectly happy with the mooring.

(The photo is courtesy of Sheldon Brown)

Next, getting the boat...

Trailerable sailboats reference point

Just a reference for comparisons between various trailerable boats that I am considering:

Constraints:

1) Maximum weight is 4,000 lbs, my truck will not do more than that

2) Maximum width is 8.6'. This is because many state laws require you get a permit if you trailer a wider load. The permits are a hassle to get and although they generally don't enforce them if the boat is not that much wider but if you were to get into accident and the lawyers get involved, well we all know how that story ends.

3) Good owners association: I would love to get a "Class Zero" 6.5 meter (21 feet) boat. I love those things. They race Atlantic in them, the famous mini-transat race, 4000 miles from France to Brasil. Single handed no less. Brest-Tenerife-Martinique. One of the most reliable, versatile boats ever built. And it is trailerable. Where do I sign up? Not so fast, it is a "European" thing mostly, there is no association in the United States. I don't understand why, but the reality is if I ever need spare parts or advice I need to stick around with what has been selling in this country for a while.

4) Trailerable means no 7 feet fixed keels, period. It is either a shallow keel of sorts, or a centerboard, or a swing or a combination thereof. Catalina 27 is out.

5) Realistic size given the weight and width limitations are probably between 22 and 26 feet, less is too small and more is too heavy.

Potential trailerables:

J/22
J/24 - Old spec ( new ones are too wide)
Benetau 23.5
Macgregor 26
Precision 21 or P-23
Hunter 23
Hunter 25
Catalina 25 Swing keel




J/22 One design spec:


LOA 22.5'
LWL 19.0'
Beam 8.0'
Draft 3.8'
Displacement 1790 lbs
Lead Keel 700 lbs
Sail Area (100%) 223 sq ft

J/24 Specs
Length overall 24' 0'' Length at Waterline 20' 0'' Beam 8' 11'' Draft 4' 0'' Displacement 3,100 (lbs) Ballast 950 (lbs) Sail Area 261 (sqft)

Precision 23

P-23 Specifications

LOA 23' 5"
LWL 20' 0"
BEAM 8' 6"
DRAFT, Board up - 1' 11"
DRAFT, Board down - 5' 4"
Displacement - 2,450 lbs.
Ballast - 850 lbs. (Internal fixed lead)
Sail area - 248 sq. ft.
Mast height above DWL - 35' 4"

Mission Impossible: getting a mooring on the North Shore

I would like to get a new mooring or better yet slip on the North shore so house my new project boat. Ok, sounds simple enough, the only parameters are it should be within reasonable distance of Swampscott and shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

Ok, so I start calling mooring companies. The first thing is a surpirse. All moorings are actually owned by the local towns who have a wide leeway in setting terms and prices. Actually it is only half true, the ACTUAL mooring, defined as a few thousand pound blob of concrete and attached to it chain, called a pennant is owned by you, the customer. But location on a sea bed on which the said concrete lays is owned by the town. The real valuable thing here is of course the location, I don't care for the concrete in any shape or form. You can't sell the mooring. You can't swap it. If you don't want it you give it back (the location that is, not the concrete). In most of the cases the mooring is actually tied up to the boat, when you sell the boat you are supposed to give it back. The only possible way for you to keep it is to give it to someone in a immediate family, and even then it is a special permit.

The administration of locations is done through something called harbormasters, a loosely organized cooperative on the North Shore.

Now, the findings:

1. Swampscott: The cheapest available moorings on the North Shore. There is a small wait list for the sailboats, may be 6 boats long as of this writing. The harbor is very small unfortunately and not the best protection compared to Salem and Marblehead. Also, the parking situation is very tight.
   
   Harbormaster is Larry Bithell, a quite decent guy. The dock is populated by a bunch of guys who look exactly like him so it is a bit of challenge to identify him from distance. The facilities are open Saturday and Sunday, 10 to noon, phone is useless, it is better to show up and talk to him. The club facilities are disgusting, the operation is run off the "Fish house", which to much of my surprise is a actual fish house. Commercial fisherman store their staff there, and it literally stinks so bad I was surprised people could use the offices or other facilities. I had to evacuate within 15 minutes and I had to wash down my car to get rid of the smell. I seriously considered burning the t-shirt, but it was salvaged by couple of wash cycles with bleach.
   
   
2. Lynn: Hands down the best option for slips. Harbormaster is Jim Perry. The operation is smooth, facilities are in good shape. The wait list status is unknown, they don't keep one. People give up their slips with the last 2 weeks of November so I've been told that is the only realistic time to inquire about a slot.
   
   
3. Marblehead: The most arrogant town in terms of mooring that I know of. First of there is a bunch of yacht clubs that I can't figure out the purpose of. Ok, I get it that they have socials, dinners, some have tennis courts and pools, its a good place to hang out etc. But they don't have their own mooring or parking. That pretty much invalidates the whole purpose of a club for me, it is nice to have a place for transient storage with a hotel and a tennis court but whats the use if you can't park your boat or car ?
   
   Moving to harbor masters. They informed me with a glee that the wait list is 12 to 15 years. Excuse me ? no, you heard it right, 12 to 15, with 15 being most realistic. Because it is so hard to get a mooring people just don't want to give them up, so they get a little dinghy to tie up to a mooring and keep it in the family forever. There is no free market so you can't buy one either. Ouch.
   
   
4. Salem: A bunch of B-rated yacht clubs (again with no mooring of their own) that provide launches in and out of Salem harbor. Some spaces could be available, I haven't figured that out yet. This is their page on the moorings in the harbor, they claim there is availability but I haven't verified that yet.
   
   
5. Beverly: Not very realistic for me, a bit too far, but I did ask. It looks like the waterfront is totally dominated by one large marina called Beverly Port Marina. I haven't really investigated much further other than visiting them couple of times, but from what I understood there is also no mooring available. There are also quite expensive, meaning closer to Ft. Lauderdale/Stuart than North East.
   

Next, mooring companies and fees ...