Clipper Snips
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Clipper Snips The magazine of the Trailer/Sailors Association Trailer/Sailors Association www.trailersailors.org Fall/Winter 2010 2 Presidents Column Mike Nelson 3 How Fast are You Going? Mike Nelson 4 Ambling Down the Florida Ditch Henk Vanderhulst 7 A Bowsprit for Anchors Derek Henshaw 12 Sailing the Florida Keys Howard & Kathy Staley 21 Anchorages and Gunkholes—Georgian Bay Henk Vanderhulst 27 From the Archives—6 Great One Way Cruises John Ulmer North Channel Cruise 2011 Plans are in the works for the North Channel Cruise 2011. Cruise Leaders will be Chris Holderness from Teliki and Shawn Blackwood from Thistle Dew. Between the two lead- ers they have more than 10 years experience sailing the North Channel. The plan is to ‘Go Where the Wind Takes Us’ - which makes sense on a sailboat. They are looking for input on your favourite launch sites, anchorages and special places to go. Please post on the T/SA discussion board at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/trailsail/messages any input you want to contribute. T/SA Tee-shirts For T/SA Hats ($13US) T/SA Wear Flags ($16US), Temporarily unavailable contact: David Craigie at for sale [email protected] 1 President’s Column Mike Nelson Even though it is 69 degrees out as I write this column, the sailing season is definitely over. We’ve had several frosts, our boat is under a tarp in the driveway, and I’ve downloaded nav charts for warmer places. Our new sails arrived just in time for the season’s last two sails. So, an alert to those who notice such things, Eventide will be faster next year! Not fast, mind you, but, at least, faster than we were with our 20 year old sails. On another note, I’d like to encourage more of you to consider writing something for Clipper Snips. We are open to just about anything that is sailing-related. I’d like to see articles about places you have gone, things that you have done to improve your boats, your ideas on any aspect of cruising, good boating books that you have read, etc. With 300 some members, it seems that we should be rolling in material for Clipper Snips, but we are not. So please consider writing something. It does not have to be a work of literary genius—write as if you were talking to another member. Clipper Snips is by, about, and for its members. Please support it. If you are planning a winter cruise (or a cruise at any time), and would like to invite other members to join you, you could post a notice on our Yahoo discussion group. If you are not currently on that group, send me an e-mail ([email protected]) , and I’ll send you an electronic invita- tion to join the group. It is our pri- mary communications vehicle out- side of Clipper Snips. Also please note that your mem- bership renewal package has been included in the same envelope with this issue of Clipper Snips. You can renew either by mail or on our web site where we accept payment via PayPal. Also please fill out the references form so that other T/SA members can benefit from your experi- ence or your knowledge. Wishing all of you happy holidays and seasons greetings. 2 in 0.25-knot increments, and you can interpolate to HOW FAST ARE YOU a bit closer than that. It is guaranteed accurate to the nearest 0.2 knot, and we have found that to be GOING? true according to our GPS. However, more impor- Mike Nelson tant than absolute speed is being able to see small changes in speed. The Knot Stick responds to After we smashed the propeller on our knot meter dur- speed changes virtually instantly, and it is easy to ing a recent launch, we decided we could just get our see small increases or decreases in speed. The elas- speed from our GPS. While GPS speed read-out tomeric cord that goes between the disk and the works for many purposes, it is not very satisfactory for strain gauge dampens out minor variations due to playing with sail trim. One would like to see the ef- random movement of the stern. We have found fects of a trim change more quickly than the GPS up- that it works very well for seeing the effects of dates. changes in sail trim. We ruled out getting a new knot meter propeller for a You can read about the Knot Stick on the maker’s variety of reasons, not the least of which was the web site at http://www.knotstick.com/. amount of water that enters the boat at high speed It sells for $45.95, free shipping. when the dummy plug is removed to insert the propel- ler plug. And the prop would have to be removed be- Here is a picture of the complete kit. fore both launch and retrieval in order to prevent an- other smash. Using the old mariner’s technique of letting a knotted line trail aft and counting seconds and knots passing by to get speed was not a very appealing thought. From a search for alternatives on the Internet, we found a very cool modern replacement for the old knotted line method called a Knot Stick. Basically the Knot Stick consists of a calibrated strain gauge at- tached to a plastic disk by a length of line. As the disk is dragged through the water behind the boat, it pulls on the strain gauge, and gives a continuous readout of speed. It responds instantly to small to the changes in speed that result from sail trim changes. Here is a picture of the Knot Stick in actual use, at- tached to a stanchion in the cockpit. The Knot Stick comes with three different sized disks to provide three different speed ranges: 0-3, 0-6, and 0-9 knots. We use the 0-6 range, which gives read-out 3 strutting right through our campsite. Determined to go Ambling Down Part of the and see if the island was still as charming, I left the Ditch and made my way through very shallow water where I “Florida Ditch” managed to find a small 4ft deep gunkhole to anchor for By Henk Vanderhulst the night. Next morning, I kayaked over and walked December 17th, 1996 around. Most of the campers were fishermen and many of them had their own resident birds and had given them A week ago, I came back from Florida where I had spent names. There was ‘Herman” the stork, “Charley” the 3 1/2 weeks. I had decided to take my boat down before egret (white heron) and others waiting for a fishy hand- the winter weather made the roads bad, always a con- out. cern when we make our annual trip down in mid Febru- After leaving the area, I had to go back to the Ditch and ary. And guess what: I only just missed a bad snow- promptly ran aground. I had a hard time pushing and storm that blanketed Ohio a few days before I started pulling to get GO GENTLY afloat again in the strong south. The journey was without incident and it was nice wind. I had tied a rope from the boat around my middle to spend a few days with my daughter, Linda, who lives because, in my mind’s eye, I could just imagine her sud- just south of West Palm Beach in Lantana. denly coming free and taking off without me. But we After spending three days with Linda, we returned to the were soon on our way again and on that day did 24 NM ramp from where she drove my rig back to Lantana, and running and broad reaching. I was on my way, sailing alone down the ICW I took Finding places to anchor overnight in the ICW can be a my time, often enjoying good fast sailing—sometimes problem. Twice I anchored close to the ramps of the high over 6 knots! bridges but the traffic was very noisy and kept me awake. At one point I hung around for three days waiting for the I guess most other boaters use marinas but that was never wind to turn back north so I could keep on sailing. I was my habit. determined not to do what most other sailor did: motor. Near St. Lucie Inlet is a small lake called Peck Lake, a One day, I counted as many as three dozen sailboats, all fa- heading south, all motoring even though the wind was perfect. I came to sail and that was what I did. Of the 150 miles covered, about 90% was under sail. Most of the ICW in this part of Florida is part of the In- dian River. The surrounding countryside produces some of Florida’s best citrus fruit. “Indian River:” fruit is transported all over North America. You don’t see much from the ICW though. Much of the shore along the undeveloped sections is covered with mangroves, or there are mangroves on one side and beautiful homes on the other. Quite often there are small spoil areas with crops of trees and mangroves. Just south of Titusville where the waterway was a mile wide, I managed to tack back and forth using most of its width, but only by pay- ing diligent attention to the chart and depth sounder. But soon after passing Melbourne I could not stray into the shallows beyond the channel which was too bad be- cause I was in water 1—1 1/2 miles wide.