Clipper Snips The magazine of the Trailer/Sailors Association Trailer/Sailors Association www.trailersailors.org Spring 2011 2 Keys Sailing Trip Jerry Hardin 6 The De-masting of Felicity Robert Davis 7 Now NOT to Sell your Boat Jim Nielson 10 Spring on the Texas Coast David Cargie 13 A Winter Sail Henk Vandherhulst 24 Forgotten Victorians on the Net Lawrence Wright 29 'RQ¶W)RUJHWWKH1RUWK&KDQQHO&UXLVH 30 Hats & Flags and Boats for Sale 3UHVLGHQW¶V&ROXPQ Mike Nelson As I write this, the North Channel Intro cruise is 7 weeks away and the Main cruise is 8 weeks away. At this time we have 6 boats signed up for the Intro cruise (not counting the leader boats), and a couple dozen boats for the main cruise. It is not too late to sign up for either of these cruises. On the Association front, we are working on creating a shared photo gallery. Only members will be able to up- load their images directly, but viewing images will be available to the public. In the past, we tasked one person with collecting and sorting all images once a year. That task has gotten to be too big for one person, and that ap- proach did not encourage pictures from other cruises and sailing venues. The new gallery will have albums not only for the North Channel, but for other places, as well. Since members will be able to upload their own images, images can be added 24/7/365. We hope this new process will encourage more picture sharing among members. When the new gallery is in place and ready for use, it will be announced on our TrailSail discussion group on Ya- hoo. Quick sales pitch: this discussion group is our main way of communicating with members in between issues RI&OLSSHU6QLSV,I\RXGRQ¶WDOUHDG\SDUWLFLSDWHLQWKHGLVFXVVLRQJURXSSOHDVHFRQVLGHUWU\LQJLW6LJQ-up infor- mation is on our web site, www.trailersailors.org. Please note²our discussion group is separate from and not affiliated in any way with the discussion group at www.trailersailors.com. When the gallery is ready, we will also post, in the members-only area of our web site, instructions for uploading images. Chris Holderness has asked that we find one or more people to take on the job of maintaining and updating our web site. He will remain available as our technical resource person and will continue to manage the site infra- structure. If you are interested in helping out with our web site, please send me an e-mail at [email protected]. We would prefer people with some prior web experience, especially with Joomla, but we can also use some people willing to learn to edit sections of the site. :HDOVRQHHGDSXEOLFUHODWLRQVSHUVRQWRKHOSRXU$VVRFLDWLRQJURZ6LQFHZHGRQ¶WKDYHPXFKRIDEXGJHWIRU 35ZH¶GOLNHWRKHDUIURPVRPHRQHZLWKJXHULOODPDUNHWLQJH[SHULHQFHDVZHOODVH[SHULHQFHXVLQJVRFLDOPHGLD for promotion. If you are interested, please contact me at [email protected]. (outside) of the keys and then down to John Penne- Keys Sailing Trip kamp park and then back north to Angel Creek cut to the inside and then SW again to the Channel 5 bridge Jerry W. Hardin where we went outside for the rest of the trip. We key- March-April 2011 hopped down to Key West and back to Marathon. We finally pulled out at Ohio Key on April 19. Starting at the very beginning- Last November, Bryan We spent 4 nights at marinas, 8 nights on mooring Childs sent out an e-mail feeler to the TSA member- balls at protected places, and the rest of the time ship asking who would be interested in crewing for swinging on our own anchors. We also spent 2 nights him on either a Bahamas or Florida Keys sailing trip on the hard in our boats and one welcome motel on the for a month in March ±April 2011. Obviously, I re- way back. We left Oakdale, TN on Wed. March 24 sponded as did several others. As it shook out, we de- and 4 weeks later arrived back in Oakdale on Wed. cided to take two boats with two per boat. Commodore %ULDQ&KLOGVZDVLQ³%OXH0D[´DVZLQJ-keel Catalina April 20. ZLWK-RKQ%\UQHDVFUHZ,WRRN³+LJK+RSHV´D Our first night on the hook was between Sand Key and 1970 Morgan 25 with a shoal draft keel with center- Elliot Key in Key Biscayne. There were many week- board, with Mikal Forbes as crew. end boats there, but we coexisted OK. The next day we went back south to Pumpkin key. On the way back we sailed slower and slower. We finally checked the dinghy we were towing and it was full of ZDWHU,KDGERUURZHGDIULHQG¶VGLQJK\DQGLWZDVD sailing dinghy with a slot for a dagger board. There was no blocking tab over the bottom so we were scooping water into the dinghy as we were slamming into the slop until we had a sea anchor! We stuffed some foam into it but found out the next day that it helped but still we scooped water. That evening we cut some of the closed cell foam from my cockpit cush- ions, stuffed it in the slot and lashed it down. No more dinghy problems the rest of the trip. We swung a bit north and then went to the outside through Angel Creek cut. Our destination was Grecian We all met at my house in Oakdale, TN on Tuesday, Reef off Pennekamp State Park. Due to time sailing 0DUFKIRULQWURGXFWLRQVDQGVRPHRI-R¶VILQHIRRG we went to the park first and went snorkeling the next We made last minute plans and left the next morning day and then back to the park. and drove down to Valdosta, GA. where we spent the Next was a trip back northward to Angel Creek cut night on the boats in a WalMart parking lot. The next and to an anchorage near Pumpkin Key again. Good day we made it to our launch spot of South Dade Ma- wind on our quarter and the GPS showed rina at mile marker 115 on US 1 just before the bridge that crosses onto Key Largo. 8.2 mph a couple of times. We made it back in only 4 hrs. Anchorage at Pumpkin was uneventful except for ,¶OOSDXVHKHUHDQGJLYHDIHZVWDWLVWLFVRQWKHWULSDQG some nice guitar playing and singing from Bryan. an overview of the route. From TN we drove about 1000 mi each way. We sailed a bit over 300 mi during NOAA said high winds (20+) the next day so we the 4 weeks. We launched at South Dade and traveled scuttled across Card Sound into Little Card Sound and up and through Angel Creek cut to the Atlantic side tucked in near the mainland for expected high winds. We set a second anchor and ate supper and waited. 2 Two fronts came through that night and some exciting Next day, April 2, we had a good downwind sail of winds blew but we were stuck to the bottom and en- about 28 mi. The wind was gentle and average boat joyed the rain, wind, and lightening! speed was 4-5 mph. The seas were a beautiful green and the dolphins were playful. Mikal and I tested our seamanship by sailing through one narrow cut where most of the wind was blocked. Talk about ghosting along! We were almost stopped a couple of times when power boats passed us. We anchored just off Fi- esta Key near Long Key. We were ready for the trip through Channel 5 to the outside (Atlantic side) in the morning. We weighed anchor about 0800 with two reefs in the main because NOAA said 20 mph winds today. As we went under the bridge to the outside, we found the wind was light so we shook out the reefs and sailed all the way in a nice downwind sail. As I recall that sail, we were riding the ocean swells and the boat would make a swooshing sound as we went over the waves. It was a very comforting sound and created a good We all brought books to read, so down time was spent feeling for us. Mikal was at the tiller most of the day reading (mystery books for me). and proved to be a most able seaman. The next day we motor sailed into the teeth of the We found Sister Creek (thanks to the charting GPS) wind under Card Sound Bridge and then under the and motored into Boot Key Harbor between Boot Key US1 bridge through Barnes Sound and into Blackwa- and Marathon. Moorings were about $21/night at City WHU6RXQG:HVWRSSHGDW*LOEHUW¶V0DULQDIRUIXHO Marina of Marathon and gave us dinghy access to wa- water and lunch and then continued into the wind into ter and showers. A pump-RXWERDWFDPHWRRQH¶VERDW Tarpon Basin where we set two anchors ready for once/week at no charge. We stayed 3 nights since VWRUPVZHUHPRYLQJWKURXJKWKRVHGD\V,¶OOWU\WRLQ clude a pic of the water inside the protected area dur- ing one of the blows. It got bumpy and we were glad we were not depending on our anchor during those windy times. We had to put the motor on the dinghy for the long ride into the office/showers/bathhouse. There was a tiki style shelter there that gave us a good place to gather for refreshment, conversation, and for Bryan to impress us (and others) with his musical skills. We ran out of drinking/wash water in our boat tank, so had to leave the mooring and motor over to a tight dock area to fill our 15 gal water tank plus a few gal- lon jugs we had. No major problems in getting there and back to the mooring.