My O'Day 22 Sailboat Blog

This last Sunday I took a couple of old college buddies out for a sail just out side of the harbor of Ventura. From my last post I mentioned that I kept the boat in the slip the night before. I sure missed having the boat in the water all the time. But I am still glad that I don’t have the same type of maintenance and monthly costs. It takes a little more effort put her in the water but I am starting to get better at it. I can now do it in less than 30 minutes by myself and I’ve only done it about 5 times. My goal is to do it in 15 minutes with one other person eventually. If you read my last post, this is pretty much contrary to my last statement which was to take your time and do it right. Oh well, there is a happy medium somewhere in there.

My friends Nicole and Mike came up from Orange County for our other buddy Rodrigo’s party. She has never been sailing and wanted to check it out. She was the person that let me borrow her truck when I bought the boat back in March and let me keep it at her parents driveway for about a week before I brought it home. We made it out to the boat at around noon and found the conditions to be pretty much the same as Saturday. Maybe a little less swell in the water but definitely still overcast. I am getting pretty good at giving people crash courses in sailing after these last couple of weeks. Mike has gone out when he was a kid on a big sailboat but has never had any other sailing experience. He was also a little sleep deprived from the night before so he pretty much just relaxed and hung out.

Mike on the foredeck

First person perspective from the bow

The route we took was pretty much the same as the one I took Andre on the week before. A littel sail out of the harbor and tack towards the pier. I let Nicole helm the tiller pretty much the whole time cus she mentioned that she may be prone to seasickness. After what I went through on the return trip the day before, I knew the water can get rough with littel notice. She caught on quickly and was reading her telltales and putting the boat into the groove in no time. Although the sun wasn’t out we had a blast. Mike especially enjoyed hanging out on the foredeck hanging his feet over and thru the bow pulpit. The lack of sleep caught up with him a little bit as he took a nap in the v-berth an hour or so into the trip.

A conked out Mike after a tough night

Nicole at the helm going upwind on a port tack

We sailed right up to the pier before tacking around to a downwind course on the way back. Coming into the harbor we circled the entrance buoy a couple of times while checking out the wildlife who are making it their temporary home. The video below shows us trying to get their attention without much success. The sound of a beaten canine was coming out of me and Mike rather than the sea lions.

Mike wishing he could nap on the buoy with the sea lions

I was going to take the boat out but on the way back I decided to just leave it in the slip for another night to avoid the zoo that is the launch ramp on a Sunday afternoon. It also made for a nice day to not have to worry about a haul out. It made for a perfect day with an afternoon lunch at the Habit on Califronia Street. If you have never been to the Habit you will need to eat there if you ever come to the Ventura area.

Note the scream Mike lets out while I am explaining manuevering to Nicole in the video. This is 3 seperate clips merged together. If you look close during the middle of the clip you can see the bow eye ring when the camera is shooting down at the water. It is bent about 90 degrees to starboard. Pause it at just over 1 minute in and you will see it. That was the damage I suffered from bumping into the launch ramp from the day before. Luckily no real structural damage and I was able to bend the ey ring back for boat retrieval. What do you think about our sea lion impersonations at the end

Last Saturday Andre and I sailed out of Ventura once again. I sufficiently have Andre hooked on sailing. That is until last Saturday. He learned some memorable lessons on our day outing that sailing is not all fun and games. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn’t get to take any photos of the trip. This post will have to reply completely on my abilities as a wordsmith and your collective imaginations.

We got an earlier start than the weekend before because I knew I had to be at a baby shower for my friends Justin and Isabella at 3 PM. Marlene clearly told me that I need to be back at 1 o’clock so I can get ready and leave the house by 2. Justin lives just a few minutes away from us so I negotiated it to around 1:30 2 PM. I knew we didn’t want to be the first ones there so I thought we’d have plenty of time if we got the boat in the water by 9:30 AM.

We managed to get going around 9:45 or so and it was a nice day with fairly good winds. The only draw back was that a thick marine layer has been around the area for a few days and today was no exception. We decided to head south towards the Mandalay Power Station this time since last weekend we sailed north and pretty much knew what that was about. It was a nice and easy downwind sail for most of the way with an occasional beam reach towards Anacapa Island (part of the Channel Islands off of the coast of California). In no time we were past the power station and Channel Islands Harbor was almost within sight. We decided that it would be a cool place to sail into and check out what’s going on in there.

Map and diagram of the Channel Islands Harbor.

The last boat I owned was slipped at a nice marina in the Channel Islands harbor and I haven’t really sailed in or out of that harbor since except for the little test sail I did on a West Wight Potter 19 while shopping for this boat. The inside of the harbor has a large main channel that divides into 2 fairly roomy smaller channels. You can sail inside the harbor all day if you wanted to when the waters are rough and winds are too strong outside. We sailed towards Anacapa Island on a beam reach until the harbor entrance was within sight. I set a Goto destination on my handheld GPS (I use the Uniden Mystic VHF Radio/GPS) and turned downwind to head straight into the harbor. At that point I noticed on the GPS that it was already 12:45PM! Marlene is gonna kill me. Time flew by so quickly that we have already been sailing for nearly 3 hours by the time we were at the entrance of Channel Islands Harbor.

I should have just turned around and fired up the motor and headed back at this point but I could not help myself but to sail in for a quick look. On top of that, Andre hadn’t had anything to eat all day and he wanted to know if there was any place we can tie up to real quickly for a bite. I didn’t seem to remember a fast food place that’s very accessible without a car but we went in for a look anyways. The wind seemed to have picked up a bit by now as it usually does in early afternoon. We were sailing at a brisk 5 knots inside the calm waters of the harbor. After doing a quick loop without much success in finding food I decided we needed to get back. Andre reluctantly agreed to go without food for another while longer as we started to sail out of the harbor entrance.

We still had the motor raised up at this point since there is plenty of wind to sail out. As usual, the wind direction is directly blowing into the harbor entrance so we had to tack numerous times to get back out of the harbor. On top of that, we had to avoid traffic a bit since the sun is starting to peak its head through the marine layer. At one point, we lost too much speed and fail to tack the boat around and had to make a last second move to fall off around and gybe. We got with in a few feet of the rocks and Andre had a little bit of a scare. It was the first time he had experience any close calls on a sailboat and I can tell he was a bit shaken up.

We finally got out of the harbor and started to head back to Ventura. Of course we needed to sail directly into the wind to get to where I needed to be half an hour ago. The swell has definitely picked up due to the increased winds and we quickly lowered the motor and dropped the sails to begin motoring back. By this time it was already past 2PM. We were motoring directly into the wind and the swell so water was basically spraying up from the side of the deck constantly. We were effectively drenched with water within the first couple nautical miles out of Channel Islands Harbor. We were able to hit hull speed at about 1/3 throttle but were only able to make about 4 knts VOG because of the swell against us. As if I didn’t already know I was late, Marlene calls on the phone in the middle of it all and says she was leaving without me to the baby shower. “Fine”, I said. I am trying to get back but there’s not much I can do to expedite the trip.

We finally made it back to Ventura harbor in about an hour. I had arranged for a guest slip at Ventura West Marina but I needed to first go home to get my check book and register before I was able to slip the boat. Andre thankfully agreed to chauffeur me around as I tied the boat to the launch ramp dock. After acquiring the keys for the guest slip dock and paid for the night’s stay I was dropped off at the launch ramp once again to motor the boat to its home for the night. Being in a hurry, I decided that I could just do a quick 180 degree turn instead of backing out of the launch ramp dock. Unfortunately I missed by just a few inches and clipped the dock with the trailer eye ring mounted on the bow of the boat. I didn’t even notice it until while I was doing a quick rinse off. Luckily, these O’Days were built rock solid and there was no real hull damage. In fact the only damage was to the steel bolt that holds the eye ring to the bow. It was easily bent back using a screwdriver. I now just have to do some minor fiberglass patch work to smooth out around the hole where the eye ring is mounted before reattaching it.

While on the way back from Channel Islands Harbor, Andre jokingly said that he was no longer hooked on sailing. Obviously sailing is not always going to be perfect and relaxing. Every once in awhile you will have some excitement and close calls. It just makes you a better sailor. Every once in awhile you need a reminder of what you are up against. The ocean is capable of dealing some nasty blows to any sailor and sailboat if you are not careful and paying attention. Another lesson to learn is to never cut any corners. It pays to take your time to do everything right and safely. You may get away with it every now and then, but it just takes one careless moment to ruin your day.

I was 90 minutes late and the last one to arrive at the baby shower. Andre finally was able to eat something around 4PM. At least we survived and had a blast along the way. I’ll post another synopsis of my sailing trip on Sunday in a little while. It was not quite as exciting but it was fun and I have some photos and video to show.

The America’s Cup arrives at New York City today for a few weeks of exhibition along side a number of other items including a BMW-Oracle Racing Yacht. It will be on display starting June 15th thru July 3rd 2006. I wish I could go check it out so for those of you who are in the area, don’t forget to swing by and check it out.

Yesterday my friend Andre came down from Santa Barbara to sail the O’Day. He has never been sailing before but has been an active kayaker and enjoys being in the ocean. We launched the boat around 10:30 AM oon a beautiful Saturday. I had been worried that the fog from the day before might tick around but by the time we got to the launch ramp, it was clear that it was a perfect day for a sail.

I’ve gottne pretty good at launching the boat having done it about 5 times or so. Last week I launched and retrieved solo with no problems. It is all about having a routine and following the steps. Especially when you have a homemade contraption of a tongue extension like mine.

The tide was a little low but we had plenty of ramp to get her afloat. She backed off the trailer easily and I parked the trailer and car and got her out quickly. We hoisted the main sail at the dock and motored off towards the harbor entrance. The wind was fairly light at about 7 knots gusting to maybe 10. There was a fairly good sized swell in the water and the way Ventura harbor is setup, the entrance tends to get pretty lumpy. As usual, I take them on at about 45 degrees as to minimized the bottom of the hull pounding. Once we got out far enough I gave the tiller to Andre and hoisted the 110% jib. Being first time sailing Andre caught on pretty quick. I gave him a crash course on sailing terminology and basic techniques and he learned as we sailed along in the breeze.

First time sailing and already looking like a pro

We quickly got moving in the moderate wind at around 4 knots of VOG at the close reach course. Occasionally we topped out at 5 knots which was pretty good given the conditions. I could probably do even better if I swapped out the old 110 jib with my newer 150% Genoa. Ever since it nearly dragged me towards the rocks in side the harbor the first time around, I haven’t hoisted the genoa back up. I figure it is better to get use to the boat under more manageable conditions before I max out on the sail area.

Close reaching at about 4 and a half knots. That’s the Mandalay Power Station in Oxnard off in the distance where the horizon and the backstay intersects

New main sail with the old 110% jib. Nicely trimmed although the jib is pretty stretched out

Andre at the helm heeling at about 10 degrees.

We sailed for awhile near the harbor entrance. Once we got use to the setup we started sailing towards Ventura Pier. On the way I lost my straw hat in the water and it must have taken us 10 tries to retrieve it using the boat hook. Luckily it floats. This impromptu man-over-board drill was a resounding failure as if it was a person he/she probably would have drowned. In no time we got just outside of the pier with tourists gazing in envy from the end railings. We tacked around and headed back the other direction as the wind picked up slightly and got up over 5 knots from time to time.

The new main sail in action

The pier off in the distance on the starboard side

Another boat off to port enjoying the afternoon

Nice sunny Saturday afternoon in the waters off of Ventura pier

Time flew by quickly as we soon noticed it is already after 2 PM. We radioed the dockmaster and got a lunch slip by the restaurants in the Ventura harbor and met a friend for the best fish and chips in town at Andria’s. After lunch we motored around the harbor and marveled at the gynormous yachts in the marinas before putting the boat back on the trailer.

It was one of the nicest days in awhile and definitely the warmest day so far this year. I think Andre was bitten pretty hard by the sailing bug on his first sail. I bet there will be no time before he starts looking at boats on craigslist. Until then, there are plenty more sunny and fair-wind days left this season and he’s always a welcomed crew …..

Here we are discussing the joy of sailing…

While working on the thru-deck connectors I hoisted the new main sail and took some photos of it to show.

Compare these to the photos my old saggy main sail…

You may not be able to see the difference but the new one sure is much crisper than the old sail. Tomorrow will be the first time sailing with it so we’ll see how it performs.

Last Saturday I launched the boat in the harbor with the intention of sailing with it but winds really picked up and a small craft advisory prevented me from going out of the harbor. I really need to set up my jiffy reefing lines and uograde the headsail to roller furling for me to feel comfortable single handing in those conditions. I guess its just more items to the wishlist for now…..