kinardly

I know the rigger/owner and he would never let it go out the door in anything less than tip top shape. Apart from being a meticulous craftsman, he's too well known locally to allow a hit on his reputation.

back to the Beneteau lost off SF, was it an Oceanus 50? I just googled it and it looks like it has 565 litres in the water tank which would roughly figure out to somewhere around 150 gallons. That's a lot of water sloshing around inside the hull and slamming into seas big enough to break the tank loose had to be making it wallow really bad. If the batteries are flooded and the manual bilge pump is your only option....I don't know, I think I would give the delivery crew a pass for opting for the life raft. Agreed, it calls into question the boat's construction and I for one wouldn't think the bow is the right location for a water tank BWTHDIK.

I met one of the delivery crew up at RYC when I was getting my boat ready for the delivery trip down the coast to SD. I don't know if he was the skipper of whom you speak but he was a really nice guy who'd owned a 40.7 like mine previously and he gave me all sorts of advice and leftover gear for the trip. He said he became aware of the tank breaking loose when the bow flooded and he went to inspect for a leak. I forget how many gallons he said it had but the combination of that volume of water sloshing around and the partially full tank slamming into the hull, while at the same time dealing with the sea state sent her to the bottom with barely enough time to radio for help and abandon ship.

Impressive shooting considering the platform and the method of ignition. I think we can make some improvements. Let's get to work on it.

I took a new acquaintance out on my boat this summer for a DH daysail around the bay. He'd told me he was partners with a friend in a Catalina 27, went out on it often, and most of the time the two of them wouldn't bother with a jib/genoa but, by the time they brought her back to the slip, they'd solved all the problems of the world. Well, we were tacking up the bay, me steering and trying to coach him re trim, technique and so on and unsuccessfully ignoring the slow rate at which we were overtaking a larger boat with four or five guys in the cockpit until I finally said "Here, you drive for a while". He looked over at the other boat then chuckled and said "I guess you were racing while I was talking and not taking it seriously enough". Moral of the story: There's no bad reason to enjoy a boat. If Catalina sells a lot of boats, they must be good, maybe not for me, and certainly not for Jackdaw, but that wouldn't necessarily make them bad boats.

Hey, but at least he doesn't use T & A to peddle his reviews.

The boat itself may not be my cuppa but those renderings are pure art. I'd love to have those framed on my office wall.

Overall, I'd say the article left a positive impression. What boat of that age hasn't had some things crop up but it sounds as though they all can be attended to? At under $6K, that San Diego boat sounds well worth the investment. Just figure another $6K to bring things up to snuff and you've got a nice $12k BOAT. Interesting to hear the Sparhawk was temporarily made in the same yard. I've always admired them but very rarely are they for sale.

Rude enjoys the challenge of building a team, motivating it, getting it out on the course and constantly seeking to improve the team's communication, coordination and sailing skill. I have benefited from skippers like this most of my life and I tip my hat to Rude and those like him. My job is like this and I find it fulfilling as well but I want to sail my 40 foot boat and compete without trading the job for the same hassles on the race course. I can daysail solo any time but I have to admit it becomes boring after a while and it would be fun to try to manhandle her around a race course and see how I do, provided it could be done safely and without compromising the enjoyment of the full on racing crews who, at the end of the day, are the lifeblood of the sport. For this reason, I would never just enter a local race without some kind of recognition and/or approval of my being out there with the more capable teams.

Thanks, I still think it's a sweet looking boat. Don't know why it's featured here.

LOL. Or a Norwegian frigagate?

I made the same pitch to the PHRF Socal and San Diego fleets several years ago and it went nowhere. SSS is mostly involved in longer races near and off shore and I personally would rather go out for an afternoon around the cans, bang the corners and head back to the bar. But, as I say, with PHRF fleets it went nowhere and I didn't even have a boat at the time so I dropped it. I would definitely like to do something like this locally in SD. They could even start the SF/DH division last so we don't foul up the rest of the fleet around the marks.

I had a thought this morning that your owner friend should look into a C & C 41. I really like the looks of them, very nicely set up for cruising and not a bad boat for club racing either. There are enough of them on the market in the upper Midwest and E Coast at prices that clearly leave room for delivery and some mods to make them a little more friendly for SH sailing.

Hmnn, there was a "shift change" on the bridge during the transit of the waterway? Don't USN ships typically order "Set the sea and anchor detail for entering port" well before entering a channel for berthing? I would think the only "shift change" from that point would be the Captain or XO taking over from the OOD or Conning Officer and I can't believe that would lead to this fubar. The bit about the tanker's running lights being masked by dockside illumination at the terminal makes sense but who was monitoring the radar? There would be repeaters on the bridge in front of the windscreen and possibly on the bridge wings as well. When you know you are in a high traffic zone, whether you hear Sola TS or the tanker on the VHF or not, you have to be using every tool for separation. Sez me

Are they going to get the frigate out of there or just leave it? A salvage operation would sure jam up an already confined waterway.