My O’Day 22 Sailboat Blog

Mark Hammett of Ham-It-Up posted a video of the action on his boat during one of the downwind legs of the race. If you have never been in a broached keel boat, this video will give you an idea of what it can be like.

I have no experience in sailboat racing but it seems to me that they have more crew than is needed for a 25 ft boat. I had 5 people a few weeks ago on the O’Day 22 and with that much weight on board, distribution of bodies became really important. Of course it can obviously help you if weight is distributed properly but in this video it definitely seems to hold them down after the broach due to all the bodies on the leeward side of the boat.

Sailing accidents are like train wrecks where you just can’t take your eyes off and you hope it never happens to you. Luckily no one seemed to be hurt in this video.

Back in July I posted a entry about wanting to build a dinghy. Things got a little crazy for work and life so projects are sort of put on the back burner. However, the desire (I dare not use the word ‘need’) for a dinghy did not fade. I began looking around for one that is suitable for my purpose. I was looking for something small enough so it wouldn’t look weird to tow behind the boat. That means anything bigger than 8 ft was going to look like a vessel assist tow-job every time it is dragged behind a 22 ft sailboat.

Not wanting to spend a lot of money (~$500), I was relegated to looking at used dinghies. I also wanted a versatile boat so I can row, motor and maybe sail it in protected waters when I had limited time to take out the O’Day. That pretty much narrow me down to small prams, Sabots, Fatty Knees and Walker Bays.

The choice became even clearer when used Fatty Knees were hard to come by in my price range and I wanted something that was low maintenance: The Walker Bay 8.

I really like the look of the lapstrake hull and the composite polypropylene construction. On the Walker Bay website they call it a “specially formulated composite materiall”. I don’t know how special it really is. As my buddy Andre calls it, “It’s made of kayak plastic”.

I found one fairly quick after posting a want-ad on craigslist. A seller in Ventura had one that is not the most pleasing to the eye. Functionally it is perfect but the owner prior to him had used it as a hunting boat and decided to spray paint it camouflage.

I didn’t mind the look and the price was right with oars and a little 2 hp Johnson motor.

The Walker Bay 8 turned out to be the perfect little dinghy for me. It rows fairly easily and it is very light weight. at about 70 lbs. It stores easily next to my O’Day 22 without any issues. I can easily take it out, strap it to the top of my camper shell and take it out for an afternoon in the harbor. The motor ran strong though it is a bit of an older model. It did not come with a sail kit and they run for quite a bit of money new. The keel has a built-in wheel that allows me to wheel it down the launch ramp with ease.

The rowing performance is decent for a boat this size. There is a keel that helps the boat track but since it is only 8 ft long, I have to correct my course from time to time when I row. With only one person in the center seat the balance is perfect when rowing. The carrying capacity is rated at 440 lbs. theoretically I could have a second person on board but I will have to try it out with someone to find the perfect positions to balance the boat.

Motoring was great with the 2 hp Johnson with the only issue being the seating requires me to reach behind to control the steering and throttle. That is pretty typical though with most small dinghies. A tiller extension would help greatly but I have also found that keeping the motor locked in the center position and turn by dipping the oars in the water is a good way to maneuver the boat. It also is quite a bit more fun to do that versus cranky the handle of the motor.

I have looked into stripping the paint off of the boat but it does not seem to want to come off without a fight. I would hate to have to spray another layer of paint on it just to cover up the old flaking paint. It is just delaying the issue to another day. polypropylene seems to do OK with acetone but it is laborious and acetone evaporates to quickly for it to really strip the paint effectively. Looks like I will just have to deal with having an ugly dinghy.

When I eventually plan an overnight trip or a day trip that requires anchorage I will see how she it in tow. It has a built-in bow eye but it doesn’t seem to be too strong. I will probably setup a tow rig that utilizes the oar locks in the equation to take the stress off of the bow eye.

I would have to say I am pretty happy with this purchase and really enjoy getting on the water in between sails even if its just in the harbor admiring other people’s boats. I will hope to find a good deal on a sailing rig and post another entry about its performance under the rag soon…..

It’s been awhile since I posted something so I’ve got quite a bit to catch everyone up on. One of the funniest stories (funny as in so stupid so don’t try it sort of way) was when my friend Elie asked me to go sailing with him on his Hobie 16 one day after work. If you have been browsing my flickr albums lately you would have seen the photos we took of this trip.

Elie called me about going sailing on his Hobie one day after work since I wasn’t doing anything else, I gladly agreed. He has his Hobie dry stored right next to mine in the yard so I helped him get it all rigged up and towed to the ramp. By the time we got out there It was blowing pretty hard. A a matter of fact, the big scrolling LED sign above the parking permit vending machine read big and bright: “Small Craft Advisory”.

Well, it’s not that we don’t have common sense. As a matter of fact, we decided to take more precaution because of it. We were just gonna sail in the harbor anyways an also we got into our wet suits instead of just t-shirts and trunks. We were looking for a bit of excitement anyways but we got more than we bargained for…

Getting the boat launched and ready was quite an ordeal. It was blowing so hard that we had a tough time just getting the boat ready. I had to stand dockside to keep the boat downwind from the dock but also be able to release and jump on board. It took awhile to get it ready and we even joked about me not having time to get on the trampoline as the winds would blow the boat right off the dock the second I untied it. Well, that’s exactly what happened. In fact the boat started to sail away from me as soon as I untied it from the cleat. It was pulling so hard that I had to let go. That means Elie was on his own sailing off into the distance.

The setup at Ventura harbor is that the launch ramp is in a little cove directly down wind from the prevailing northwest. If you don’t have axillary power you will need to sail upwind to get in the open. It is tougher that it sounds because there is not much room to build enough speed to tack around once you get going. Elie ended up getting pretty close the rocks and had to jump off and manually turn the boat into its new tack to get going.

There I was in my wet suit on the dock of the launch ramp watching him sail away into the harbor channel. He was doing fine for a couple of tacks and as he got into his 4th or 5th tack, I saw one of the hulls lift out of the water. Apparently he froze for a second and didn’t ease the main quickly enough to get the hull to come back down. The boat capsizes instantly. He flies off the tramp and ends up in the water. I am of no use and could only watch from the dock. He tries to right the boat but the winds were too strong and he just can’t get enough leverage to get the boat upright again by himself. Worst of all, the tramp begins to act as a sail and it started pushing him towards the rocks again…

The 2 guys on jetskis were just coming in and decided to cruise by to see the “idiot sailor”. At this point I had decided to jump off the dock and started to swim towards the Hobie to see what I can do to help. It took me way longer than I expected to get there. The wind and current made it harder for me to reach the boat. By the time I got there one of the jetski guys had started to try and two him away from the rocks.

When I got on the boat and tried to help him right it the jetski guy lost grip of the line and now we were again drifting into the rocks. Luckly the harbor patrol had been notified and had sent a boat to get us out of the situation. The harbor patrol boat tossed us a line and we tied it to the hull and with a push of the throttle we splashed into the water as the boat rolled back upright once again.

With both of us on board we were able to manage the weight distribution a little better but the winds still had not slowed even with the sun quickly setting. We decided to called it a day and managed to get back to the launch ramp without anymore mishaps.

It was probably more entertaining to me than dangerous but no accidents related to boats should be taken lightly. I think we learn a little lesson and will think twice about sailing in a SCA with the hobie again…

Today Andre and his wife Mia came down to Ventura with his sister and her husband. They are visiting from Germany so we took the boat out for the day. The winds were great but just to be safe we reefed the main and hoisted the small jib just in case. There was quite a bit of swell and winds picked up to about 15 to 20 knots but it was fun. Not for Andre’s sister and Mia though since they both got seasick. I mounted my digital camera on a little tripod and tied it to the stern pulpit for this little video clip.

When we got back in the harbor we motored around and saw that there was a Fire and Ocean Rescue Fair in the park near the harbor. We floated by just as a helicopter was taking off.