Why not California is on fire anyway and weve been asked to curtail outdoor activities.
We were sailing down river from Portland on the second day of a C22 National Cruise in early nineties late in a June afternoon. The first night we spent back inside Martin Island at 45°5643.40 122°4731.61W. Its a great place to tuck in. Our second night was to be at Cathlamet. While along side Gull Island (46°1109.80N 123°0904.05W) on a northerly tact I noticed some sag in the luff. Being alone on deck I brought her head to wind (about due west) grabbed a winch handle and went to work. After a couple of cranks I glanced up to see my results and found the bow of a dark gray Toyota car transporter coming out a long afternoon shadow against the cliff. Moments before the entire ship had been invisible in the late afternoon shadows. About then I was dead in the water and he was head on a football field away. Stream of expletives deleted about sail power, I threw myself at the transom lowered the motor bracket, lowered the motor, pump pump, choke, pull (one pull only), smacked her into gear, and grabbed full throttle while taking her hard over to head south. Only then did they sound a horn. When I looked up again I could see 4 or 5 orange suited seaman running to the bow as they crossed my stern. I dont know if they werent standing a proper watch or if they had projected Id be clear right up to the point where I luffed right on their nose. The moral is the aux better work when you need it. Another that I developed later is even when you are casually sailing you should be navigating well enough to know if you are in or out of the shipping lanes and act accordingly with respect to watches. The later is more of a 5 blast on SF Bay thing, seeing that the shipping lanes bend 20-30 degrees under the gate you have to know if that incoming container ship doing 30 knots is about to turn and bear down on you. Its humorous to watch how many times the boat about to be in trouble is completely oblivious the horns are for him. Because of the relatively narrow lanes, swift tides, and classic high winds the shipping traffic cannot veer or even slow without disaster until they are almost under the Bay Bridge. Phil Agur <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> s/v Wing Tip Secretary, Call Sign WCW3485 IC27/270A MMSI 366901790 <http://www.catalina27.org> www.catalina27.org Vessel Doc# 1039809 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of tim ford Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:58 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Main halyard-OT-OT-OT >>And of course my infamous close call on the Columbia River I dont suppose there's any chance of you refreshing our memories on that? I'm trapped at a desk and could use a good yarn about now... tf
