Preparations by David

One of the great unsung parts of sailing is getting ready. Nobody seems to want to talk about it. It’s about as glamorous as changing the oil on one’s car and a lot more expensive.

When we left Maine, we gave the boatyard staff a list of things that needed repair. Mostly there were a few persistent leaks around some deck fittings which should be re-calked and a seawater intake hose which was showing signs of age which has to be replaced. Having had to replace the outlet hose in Castine last year, we thought that replacing the intake hose while we were safely on dry land was a good idea.

In addition, we ordered a new full-batten mainsail to replace the last of our old sails from when we bought the boat. Battens are flexible sticks which fit into pockets in the sail which hold it into the shape of a wing and helps drive the boat more efficiently. A fully battened sail means that the battens are longer, extending almost all the way across the sail.

There are several schools of thought on the use of battens. It is one of those topics along with anchors which can generate endless hours of debate among sailors. Larry and Lyn Pardey advocate the use of unbattened sails feeling that battens concentrate the wear on a sail around the batten pockets. Of course, Larry and Lyn are sometimes referred to as “the Jesuits of modern sailing”. They have made multiple circumnavigations in engineless wooden sailboats of very traditional design which they built themselves. They are VERY experienced mariners and I sometimes think that not all of their ideas would be practical for us nimrods in fiberglass vessels bought second hand.

On the other hand, we have adopted a great many of their suggestions. We’re betting our lives that the storm tactics and equipment they advocate will get us through any bad storm we encounter. Their use of a pressure cooker for an oven, their reliance on kerosene lighting, their simplified marine toilet system and many other ideas are eminently practical and quite economical and we suggest that any prospective cruiser should certainly read their books carefully.

The opposite of the unbattened sail is the fully battened sail. This is what Doug Pope, our sailmaker and rigger is advocating. Doug has built a lot of sails in his time and he knows us and our boat and he thinks that this is how we should go. We have decided to take his advice on the mainsail design.

We’re also having him install lazyjacks on our main boom and our mizzen boom.

Now any beginning sailing student furling a sail in calm waters in a five knot wind with three or four people to help you knows that a good sailor can get it folded back and forth across the top of the boom in evenly spaced folds and then get it tied down so that it looks smart and fits under the sail cover without trouble. Anyone who has ever had the dubious pleasure of taking a large sail down at night in a rising wind on a violently pitching deck by himself knows that when it comes down, it looks like Beatle Bailey after Sarge has beaten the crap out of him. It’s splattered all over the deck on both sides of the boom from rail to rail and any attempt to horse it back onto the boom is a wrestling match with the wind and the wind doesn’t get tired.

Lazyjacks are designed to help control that mad slab of Dacron. They aren’t a perfect solution to the problem, but perfect solution hasn’t been invented yet so these will have to do. Lazyjacks are a pair of lines extending from each side of the outer end of a boom to a point about 2/3 of the way up the corresponding side of the mast. From these lines, vertical lines are dropped down and fastened to either side of the boom every two of three feet and fastened to the sides of the boom. The sail is flown between these two sets of lines. When the vessel is sailing, the lazyjacks are just there. They don’t do anything, but when the sail comes down, they trap the lowering sail between them, hopefully making it easier to control. Let’s hope it works.

In addition, we have to send our EPIRB (Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon) back to the factory this year to replace its five-year lithium ion battery. This is an essential piece of safety equipment which must be kept in good working order. It lives tethered to our life raft and in the event we have to get off the boat, the EPIRB is what tells everyone that a) Fiddler is in trouble and b) Fiddler is in trouble at this location. It sends a coded signal which is unique to Fiddler up to several satellites passing overhead and these relay the information to several world-wide rescue services who can either send the Coast Guard or re-route the nearest passing vessel to collect us and take us on to wherever they happen to be headed. The EPIRB is our friend and we want to be sure it’s working.

You may also remember my little aquatic adventure last year when our dinghy filled with water as I was trying to disembark. Now this was partly my fault, but it was also a fact that my fat butt is about all the poor thing can safely hold when everything is going well. The boat’s tender needs to be able to do more than that. It should be able to safely hold at least two of us and perhaps a load of groceries. It should be movable, either by oar or by motor out to the mooring field in daylight or in darkness and it should be stowable either on deck or below decks if the weather is bad. Regretfully, the Jack G. Jackson is not going to be up to that task, hence the purchase of the Jack G. Jackson II.

JGJ II is an 8' 6" Zodiac RU-260 bought from West Marine. The “RU” indicates that it was designed to be rolled up into a 48" x 16" bundle which can be moved below decks if it isn’t going to be used for a while or tied down to the cabin house if we wish. When sailing in local waters, you can drag it along behind like a pull-toy. It has a rated capacity of about 850 pounds which means that it will hold me, my boss (Kathy) and my mother-in-law without risking anybody’s life. We can then take one or two people back to the moored boat and the third person can return to the dock to pick up any groceries, laundry or other memorabilia and ferry that out to the boat too. It also means we can anchor or moor in a strange harbor and row ashore instead of having to get a much more expensive and limited space by the dock. When we’re in Rockland, we’ll probably still use “Two-Toots” and his harbor taxi, but we won’t be dependant upon his services.

Speaking of harbor taxis, I had an experience once in San Diego which I want to pass on to you. I was there alone on business and didn’t have anything in particular to do. I’d just finished dinner at a waterfront seafood restaurant, it was getting dark and I was at loose ends. So I called for a water taxi to pick me up. When he got there I got in and he asked me where I wanted to go. I gave him a twenty and told him I didn’t want to go anywhere. I just wanted to ride along as he picked up and dropped off visiting tourists, yachtsmen and military people wanting to cross the harbor. For three hours he went here and there plying his trade and talking with me until it was getting late and then he took be back to where he picked me up. If you’re ever in a place like San Diego or Boston or any other seaport with a water taxi service, I suggest to you that this is a better way to spend a twenty than in the bar; you meet lots of nice people generally in a good mood and you get to mess about in a boat.