What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing

Another night of club racing at LMSA. Everything was trying to stop me from making it on time. Work has been ultra busy. The family was out of town and I had to attend to the pets. The boat wasn't ready. I needed gas for the outboard. Still, I made it to the ramp and quickly set up before dipping it in the water and heading to the start/finish. I arrived at about 6:30 and was the last boat over the line. No big deal because its a self timed course. The wind was ENE setting up an almost perfect down wind leg. I set my Sea Pearl 21 wing on wing and over took one boat about 1/2 way down the course. I came up next to a second at the mark. That was fun! The Sea Pearl definitely makes time down wind. I had maintained about a 5 - 6 MPH speed down the course and the breeze felt pretty light but that's normal sailing downwind. As I rounded the mark I was in the 2nd boats bad air. It was a significantly bigger sailboat than mine and I felt like I was standing still. I made the decision to tack and set my own course. I tried to point as high as I could and maintain good speed then tack again when I had separation from the other boat. It was soon apparent that I could not hold the same course as the sloops that were out there. With their jibs and main sails sheeted in tight they were able to point much higher and were on their way back to the mark much more efficiently than I could with my main and mizzen. The wind steadily picked up to around 12 -14 MPH (Just a guess). My centerboard Sea Pearl 21 has no ballast and I was sailing alone so it quickly became a handful. I was already sailing with the rail in the water. When the gusts came I had to ease out the main or even dump it to avoid going over. As the winds continued to blow easing out the main didn't achieve the desired results. The boat stayed healed over and the main boom would be in the water. So I elected to reef the mizzen two turns. This helped with being over powered but after talking to many of the members of the Sea Pearl Yahoo Group I now realize that I should have reefed the main in order to not further hurt my pointing ability. I didn't know it at the time and it was a frustrating leg back to the start/finish. The boat that I passed downwind easily over took me 1/2 way back. I didn't buy my Sea Pearl 21 with the intention of racing it against sloops on courses that favor those types of boats but I have a desire to learn how to sail my boat to the best of its ability. The centerboard Sea Pearl 21 Portsmouth Number is 96.6. I sail against Precision 23 (96.0), a Sirius 21 (96.7) and a Mac Gregor 21 (100) among others so I have reasonably accurate handicap system that allows me to gauge my own results against others even though they are in different boats. If I am getting beat badly by a Mac Gregor 21 then I need to work on my sailing skills which is the case right now. So it was another day on the water where I learned a little more. Some of the suggestions that I received were to quit trying to race a Sea Pearl 21 solo. Get at least one crew and train them to reef the main. Unfortunately, most of my friends and family are as busy as me so consistent crew is pipe dream. I will most likely be sailing alone or with non-sailing guest which a previous sailboat captain like to refer to as TMB or tactical movable ballast. Meaning that there main value is in movable ballast when tacking vs as trained sailors who can work the sails or drive the boat. More than likely I will have to figure out how to reef the main myself. Another suggestion was to reef it prior to crossing the start/finish. That would work for strong winds but would be hard to anticipate when the winds are varying through out the course. There was more good advice too. Another recommendation was to ad some weight to the boat. Most newer Sea Pearl 21s have water ballast tanks. Mine is an older model and was built before that option existed. I have seen how much room the tanks take up and I have no interest in adding them to my boat. I am considering putting in a couple of sandbags towards the bow. The hope is that the boat will settle down while reaching in stronger winds. The additional weight will keep the boat steady as the waves and chop get bigger. Also it might be time to buy new sails. Mine are in serviceable condition but are not in good enough condition to try and sail the boat to its optimal level. As soon as I have the additional funds I will be buying new sails. And the title. “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” Its a quote from Aristotle that seems appropriate.

LMSA Rum Race

This week's Wednesday night rum race was almost perfect. The wind was cooperating both in speed and direction making for a pleasant downwind leg and almost a strait shot back to the start/finish. I only had to tack once to come up to the finish mark and probably could have avoided that if I had sailed a little better. Even with the 8 - 10 MPH winds I could have used more ballast in the boat. Reaching, the boat was healed all the way over and I spent much of the return leg with the rail buried in water trying to maintain speed. In those moderate winds the Sea Pearl performed excellent and I had no indications that the boat was on the verge of going over but without an ballast in the boat I was not as fast as I could have been.

I had forgot my GPS so I probably didn't reach or maintain optimal speed but when the race was over I had come within 6 minutes of the winner on corrected time. I was very pleased with that since my previous best was 10 minutes behind the leader. Not too bad considering its a 25 year old used boat with its original sails and I have not done a thing to it since I bought it.

LMSA Rum Race - Too Much Wind and Too Little Experience

If you don't like reading about the bad days then stop here cause this one wasn't that much fun. I was on time at the ramp. While rigging I found that the bolt that holds the tiller to the rudder and the u-bolt where the mizzen sheet come down to the tiller was extremely loose. I probably would have lost it tonight if I hadn't noticed. I have to assume that its because I take the rudder off every time I store the boat. The rudder moving up and down probably loosen it. I think if I get a slightly longer bolt the nylock(sp) bolt should do its job.

I was a little nervous unfurling the sails because the wind was blowing fairly strong. I don't know exactly what it was I need to get some sort of wind meter for the boat. I think it might have been around 15 MPH. Just a guess. There were white caps and the chop was a good 1' to 1 1/2'. Some how the setting sail went very well. I pointed into the wind. Unfurled the mizzen and then the main. I fell off and down wind I went.

I started the rum race course at 6:15 PM with a strait down wind leg sailing wing on wing. This was the only good leg of the race for me. The Sea Pearl was doing 6 1/2 - 8 MPH with a small amount of surfing. No one was catching me and I think I might have passed one boat that started before me.

Now the damn down wind legs always get me optimistic about sailing a decent close reach back to the starting line. Today was no different. As I jibed the main and began my port side tack I felt rather comfortable. I had a hard time holding onto the the GPS and watching my speed because I was heeled over and rounding up every once and a while but for some reason the port tack was working for me. I stayed on the first tack for around 8 minutes and tacked to the other side when I felt like I would make the fish line. Now keep in mind I have never made the finish in one tack. Today was going to be no different. From across the lake it looked like I was going to go back to the start/finish but I immediately had trouble. For some reason I could not control the boat the same on a starboard tack as I could on the port tack. I immediately started to heel over way to far. I was over powered and needed to reef badly. I rounded up and put two rounds in the mizzen after almost getting knocked down multiple times. This helped a bit but not enough. My back was killing me as I tried to control the tiller and lean out over the rail. For some reason on the port tack it wasn't bothering me but the starboard tack was incredibly difficult.

At this point several boats had seen me release both sails multiple times to avoid being capsized. Also an ugly reefing attempt that really didn't help much. I was not enjoying my self so ended up trying to point as high as I could to keep the boat under control and still make some forward progress. Even like this I was getting over powered and came close to capsizing several times. The only thing saving me was releasing both sheets and praying. I really don't think it any of this was the boats fault. A single crew member would have been a huge help. Especially one who knew how to sail and enjoyed those conditions. I could have used the extra weight on the rail and someone to help reef the main. Who knows I might not have had to reef with extra weight.

I will say that an ballasted Sea Pearl 21 running as light as possible and going to weather will pound hard into the waves. Its not that enjoyable. I have done it before with a fairly light load. Maybe and extra 150 lbs of gear below the deck and it actually does very well. But bare bones its rough.

Anyways I am on a rant and want to finish it. My overall time was 1:01:40 which is terrible. It had to be the slowest time out there. I didn't stick around to find out. Gotta a busy day tomorrow. I do feel a little better dumping it all out like this. I would like to think I learned something but I am stubborn and overly optimistic about the conditions so I will probably end up in the same position again soon.

Summer Sailstice at Lake Eustis Sailing Club

These are pictures from Saturday. We went to the Lake Eustis Sailing Club for their Summer Sailstice Celebration. Its essentially a sailing event that takes place on or near the summer solstice. LESC invites other clubs to come join them for some sailing, food and camping. The winds were light but perfect for a family day on the water. All 5 of us had a good time sailing the poker run. You can see in the second photo where they had envelopes with playing cards placed on the buoys. We ended up with two pair. Jacks over eights and managed second place.

The people and facilities at the Lake Eustis Sailing Club are outstanding. I can not say enough nice things about how we were treated by everyone in the club. I highly recommend anyone in the area who is interested in learning to sail, teaching their kids to sail or especially if you are interested in one design sailboat racing that you check out this group.

My Mistake

The boat is pretty much swamped. You really have to click on the top image to see how bad it is. We had some heavy, heavy thunderstorms Saturday night and my boat was parked on the beach. We were having a good time in the club house and I didn't even think that the boat might fill up with water but it did. I should have pulled the plug in the back of the cockpit and let is self bail while it rained but I didn't.

In the top picture I thought I was going to be okay and not have any water in the hull because the cover was on tight but I was wrong. The boat must have filled up enough to overflow into the hull. I didn't take the cover off to check until after the second picture and the boat was on the trailer. I probably had 20 - 30 gallons in the boat. There is no plug to drain the hull in my boat. I am not sure if that is a feature of all Sea Pearls but I can tell you that it sucked. I had to first bail with a small bucket and then use a towel. Probably 30 - 40 minutes to get the majority of the water out of the boat. Next time I will keep a siphon hose around. Long term I will be adding a plug.

Steve and Ginny Video

Ok, this awe inspiring. A Sea Pearl 21 running in the open ocean. Not just anywhere but crossing from the western tip of Cuba to Isle Mujeres, Mexico which is off the eastern tip of the Yucatan peninsula. "26 hour crossing and still 20 miles to go....."

Notice all of the custom work Steve has done to his Sea Pearl. The custom cabin cover is the most noticeable. There more on Steve and Ginny's gallery which is linked on their blog (see links to the right). Did you also notice they don't have a motor? Only sails and oars.

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LMSA Rum Race

Went to the Lake Monroe Sailing Association's Wednesday night rum race today. Winds were about 10-12 MPH out of the east. I was the only Sea Pearl 21 out there. Most were 23 - 27 cruiser class boats. The boat with the best corrected time was a Precision 23 named Show Me. Their corrected time was around 42 minutes and my time was around 53:00. I was 5th out of 7 boats that sailed the course. Not bad for my first race. I know of several places that I can make up significant time.

The goal is not to become a racer. These are shake down cruises and an opportunity to learn how to sail better. For example the downwind leg today was just slightly starboard where I didn't feel comfortable going wing on wing. I found out after the race Show Me did go wing on wing. If I would have had gps coordinates for the mark and known what point on the compass to sail I might have tried it. I also learned the heading for coming back to the start so I will hopefully minimize my tacks next time. Figuring out how high I can point with the Sea Pearl and maintain optimal speed is also a learning process.

So any other Orlando Sea Pearls want to come sail Lake Monroe on Wednesday nights? A link to the LMSA site is on the right of this page.