My O’Day 22 Sailboat Blog

As mentioned in the last post, Andre acquired a 13 foot sailing dinghy. It is a Capri 13. For only being $260, it is in surprisingly good condition. I finally got copies of some of the photos he took when we first brought it back to his place.

It definitely is not pristine but it is very sailable as is and it has everything needed to go out and have a blast. There are a couple of spots where a previous owner had shoddily repaired with fiberglass but the hull overall is fairly sound. I do hear water sloshing about inside but I don’t think you can really get around that for a boat this type.

The day we brought it back to Andre’s house we were antsy to get her in the water. Even though it was nearly 6 PM when we decided to take her out, we did it anyways. As always, we under estimated how long it would take to launch, sail and retrieve the boat let alone project time for delays and mishaps.

First of all, this thing is way too heavy to carry by hand even by a 2 grown men. It probably weighs well over 200 lbs with the bare hull. The trip from Andre’s house to the nearby beach is only a block or so away and it is downhill. That didn’t seem to help us much as we were sufficiently worn out by the time we dragged it to the beach. We had to take numerous breaks to alleviate the pain in our arms and back. It took us another trip back to the house to bring the rest of the rigging for the boat. In its entirety it probably took 30 minutes just to get her to the water.

Once we were at the beach, the wind was howling at probably 15 to 20 knots. It was not what we expected. There was hardly any wind just a block away at his house. Although his house is pretty sheltered with neighbors’ houses and trees all around. We were a bit hesitant by now about taking this boat out. I haven’t sailed a boat this size since high school. Even then it was on a fresh water lake with much tamer conditions. We are suddenly in a position to have to beach launch the boat and punch through a good deal of wind swell. I did not expect to be taking the boat out that day since the original plan was just to check out a boat for sale. Having no change of clothes or a wetsuit, I had to brave the cold, spring Santa Barbara waters with nothing but trunks and Andre’s kayaking life vest. Since Andre was wearing his wetsuit, I volunteered him to lead the boat by its bow via an attached line to the first few feet of the water. Andre was completely depending on me to give him directions on what to do. I had to keep the boat from capsizing, keep both of us alive as well as get us safely back to shore. I was a little hesitant but the adventure side of me overcame the fear as we dragged the boat towards the breaking whitewash.

The Capri 13 is setup with a daggerboard and a kickup rudder. Once we were in a couple feet of water I climbed into the boat and was able to get the daggerboard down and the rudder attached and lowered. Andre was busy trying to keep the boat lined up against the oncoming waves so we wouldn’t turn parallel to the waves and risk a capsizing. Once I was ready in the boat I started to trim in the mainsheet and the boat began to gain some forward momentum. She was slowly starting to move on her own as Andre started to lose touch of the ocean floor with his neoprene protected feet. I yelled to Andre and help dragged him into the tiny cockpit of the Capri 13. It must have looked hilarious from ashore as two grown men struggled to fit in a small sailing dinghy but we manage to get the boat beach launched without suffering any casualties.

It was starting to come together for me at this time. With one hand holding on the rudder and the other on the mainsheet, the Capri was responding swiftly to my command. Unlike my O’Day 22 where the rudder has a bit of a delay that can lead to over steering, the Capri pretty much responds immediately to any movement of the rudder. By holding on the mainsheet instead of cleating it into the cam, you can pretty much control this little boat’s uprightedness by easing and trimming the sail. Since the tiller extends about halfway up the boat, it made it hard for two people to occupy the space in the cockpit. A couple of times we failed to tack because the other person was in the way of the tiller to get it hard over. Positioning of our weight was also much more important than bigger boats since each one of us weighs nearly as much as the boat itself.

With the winds sustaining at around 20 knots or so, we were trying to figure out the best places for us to sit and who to control what parts of the boat. We started out with Andre manning the tiller and me hand trimming the sail but that turned out to be a pretty inefficient method. For this boat to really shine, the same person needs to run both jobs. The winds were blowing from its usual westerly direction in the Santa Barbara coast so we pretty much ran a starboard tack beam reach to a broad reach for the first 20 minutes or so.

We finally figured out our positioning and Andre pretty much served as rail meat for me in order to keep the boat cruising at a good speed. We actually got going pretty swiftly for awhile which was a blast. We did not have any electronics or speed gauges to tell us how fast we were going but I bet it was upwards or 6 or 7 knots. These Capri sailboats can certainly go much faster than that on a plane but we did not bother to find out for ourselves just yet. After heading east on a downwind course for awhile we knew that we had to tack around to start heading upwind so we can get back to where we started. We were thinking at this point that we may want to try and leave the boat overnight on the beach somewhere so I wouldn’t be late getting home and we don’t have to carry it all the way back up the street.

By now I was pretty much comfortable with the boat and we were cruising along the beach making pretty good speed. I began pitching upwind since I did not want to gybe in such high winds first time out of a boat. I got the boat turned around on an upwind course and found myself in irons pretty much right away. Since the boat is so light, sailing upwind requires more attention to the sail and rudder placement to keep out of irons. Luckily the size of the boat makes it fairly easy to get it out of irons by simply pushing out the boom manually one way or the other will start to turn the boat into a sailable position.

We started sailing towards the Miramar Beach Hotel bungalows at the beach since we were contemplating parking the boat under one of their raised back porches on the beach. The hotel is owned by Ty Warner of the Beanie Babies fame and he is going through some litigation that makes the property out of business for the time being. We figure they wouldn’t mind or really even know that we are leaving it there for the night.

When we got near the area where we wanted to beach the boat, it became obvious that this was not going to be smooth. Wind waves were breaking right on to the sand and we had to lift up the daggerboard and rudder so we would not run them aground a damage them before we got near. That basically means that we will have zero control of the boat at that last few moments. As it happened the boat started to turn parallel to the wave and Andre promptly rolled off the port side into the water and I tried to avoid being run-over of the starboard side. Luckily we all survive with no damages. After dragging the boat further on to the beach we started to de-rig her so we wouldn’t have to leave anything other than the hull on the beach. With Andre pulling on the bow line and me pushing the stern we managed to get her fairly easily up to one of the bungalows. Unfortunately there was a Miramar Beach grounds person water the lawn right where we walked up. We felt obliged to ask permission and obviously it was denied because of the almighty issues of liability. This really sucked. We were looking at once again carrying the 200 lb hull up one block to Andre’s house. To make matters worse, this time we had to do it uphill and we are about 1/8 of a mile down the beach from where we started. To make it a little easier, Andre dragged the hull back towards the water so it would float in the whitewash to make going back down the beach a little easier. From a distance he looked like he was walking a dog on the beach except the dog is a flat-bottomed 13 ft sailboat hull.

When we got back to where we started on the beach Andre had a revelation that ultimately saved us from breaking out backs. As we walked the rigging back to his house he remembered that he has some dolly wheels that he uses for this ocean kayak that may work on the bow end of the sailboat hull. We grabbed it on the way back on the second trip and it ended up working beautifully and we just had to carry the stern end of the boat as we dragged the boat up the street. It still felt heavy even with the assistance of the kayak wheels.

At this point it was nearly 8PM and I just knew my wife Marlene is going to wonder where the hell I was. The maiden voyage was considered a success since we manage to keep the boat afloat and us onboard most of the time. This boat is a welcome and exciting addition to the fleet and Andre and I will learn a ton about dinghy sailing by having access to it. I’m in the process of converting a utility trailer to use for hauling it around town and I am definitely looking forward to taking her out again soon. But the only thing on my mind at that point was that Marlene is not going to be happy to find out that while she is starving waiting for me to come home I was having fun sailing a new boat with Andre…….

My friend Andre and I went to see a used Capri 13 sailboat yesterday in Santa Barbara. Since the 14 footer at the harbor was a bust, we went into this with a little hesitation. People will say anything on cragislist to get people interested in their piles of junk. This boat however, was actually as described.

When we got to this boat it looked like it had been sitting there for at least a few months. The grass under was dead and most of the snails in the neighborhood had made it home. All the equipment though needed for this to sail was there and it includes 2 sails that are in similar and fair condition. At an asking price of $300, it seem like a good deal. Since it didn’t come with a trailer we had to figure out how to get it to Andre’s house 10 miles away.

After some price negotiations we were loading this thing on top of Andre’s Jeep a few hours later. This thing weighs about 200 lbs and it was pretty hairly driving down the street with it. We opted to not take the freeway just in case we had any trouble. Luckily it made we without any problems. We got the seller to come down a few bucks on the price and walk away with a new-used boat for $260. We still need to get the pink slip from her and to try and get it registered so the transaction is not totally complete. Once we got back, we eagerly rigged the boat up on Andre’s lawn and it indeed had all the parts and was ready to go. It looked great and fast just sitting on dry land.

Andre lives just about a block from the beach near Summerland, CA. Once we knew it was all there, he was itching to get it in the water. I was hesitant because I knew what a nightmare it was going to be dragging this thing down to the beach without bare hands plus it was pushing well past 5 PM. On top of that, I haven’t sailed a boat this size and type for over 10 years. In high school I had sailed Laser sailboats on a lake during the summer but most of that knowledge and experience was buried deep inside my brain somewhere. Andre did eventually got me to haul it down to the beach with him and we took her out for a little maiden voyage. That will be another post later as it was quite an adventure in itself.

I will get him to send me some better photos he took of the boat rigged in his yard for the next post. Stay tuned.

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.

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…