What a pleasure it is to read a story like that. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for resurrecting anther C&C. The 34s are great boats. Enjoy.
Brent D C&C 27-V s/v Wild Rover Lake Winnipeg Sent from my iPhone On 2013-08-13, at 11:26 AM, "J.P." <ja...@jpiworldwide.com> wrote: > Hi All, > > I have never been a C&C owner until this past week. > > I recently purchased C&C 34 (1978) s/v Gabriela from a fate worse than > death… She had been consigned to a boat charity and was in a backwater boat > slip in Seattle.. and was in some need of repair. I purchased the boat last > week, and dismasted it in Seattle, and prepped her for trucking to Pasco > Washington, where the Columbia and Snake rivers converge. > > I had 3 days to check out the boat in Seattle and make the most needed > repairs. She is powered with a Yanmar SGM30 (I think that’s the model) with > 670 hours showing on the Hobbs meter, a folding prop, the original C&C sails > and 9 more to boot. She had been some what known as a racer in the Puget > Sound and actually has a couple of bronze plates on her inner bulkhead where > she was award prizes for racing in the area in the 80’s … but had not been > used much (from what I could tell) since about 2007-2008. The running rigging > was in rough shape – so we redid a lot of that… put on some new dock lines, > loaded it on a truck and sent it to Pasco. > > The goal was to run up river to a small town in Eastern Washington called > “Clarkston”. This would be about a 104 mile UPRIVER run. This would entail > navigation among the barges, moving up 4 sets of locks, and enduring the heat > of August in eastern Washington (it often reaches 100+ degrees here. Also > running up river is against a varying current depending on the season, rains, > and shifting sand bars. Although I have done everything from coastal > cruising, to blue water sailing to sailing on the Great lakes, I have never > done a river run on the Columbia and Snake rivers before. > > Besides the work entailed in moving through the lock system, the levels on > the river change quite a bit. There are bridges that have very low > clearances.. one is at 52 feet. 52 Feet if the water hasn’t risen. With the > wind instruments and antenna, 52 feet seems pretty close. > > We left the docks at Pasco and headed down the Columbia at noon on Saturday, > then went into our first lock at 15:00. This was the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. > A cabin cruiser about 30’ - was “mis tied” against the lock and almost > turned turtle after getting caught on the side of the lock wall by swim > platform. After that, we fired up the Yanmar and went on up river. Gabriela > ran flawlessly and we got to Windust park by dark, just ahead of a > thunderstorm. The cabin stayed dry and the boat rocked along at the dock in > 40+mph winds. > > The next morning we moved on to the Lower Monumental Dam, and through Little > Goose Dam and finally came to rest at the Byron marina just short of the > Lower Granite Dam. Since this was my first C&C I was apprehensive about the > whole process because of the river sand bars, and the feat of bringing a > sailboat upriver into territory that was unfamiliar. Also there is very > little in the way of any kinds of repair services along the route. I had > spares of “critical pieces”… but still after having the boat only 2-3 days, > and it being in 6-8 YEARS of disarray, I was a tad nervous. > > Sitting at the tie off in Byron, reflecting on the day, the weather cooled > down to 70 degrees at dusk, I was eating a sandwich and drinking a cold > Coke…. The music was wafting up out of the cabin, and I realized the trip had > been uneventful and pretty good so far. Settling down to sleep with a gentle > rocking motion at the mooring, we watched a paddle wheel boat carrying a > couple hundred tourist passengers, barges full of wheat from the harvest, and > fisheries barges carrying “juvenile fish” to deposit in the river… We had > seen huge rock outcroppings, deer, eagles, herons, cranes, huge fish breaking > the water… > > The next day we left early, transitted the lock at Lower Granite, and headed > home. > > After tying off at the dock and securing the boat, (in about 100 degrees > heat) I was washing down the decks, and these thoughts occurred to me … the > engine purred like a kitten (not one hiccup, running at 2850 RPM we produced > hull speed at about .65 gallons per hour) , the boat was dry, and very > comfortable. The tiller worked well with the little Simrad auto pilot, all > the gauges worked (with a little twiddling on the wiring terminal blocks), > the pressure water systems were perfect the boat slept well, handled well, > and - every piece of it for being out of use for 5-7 years, were in a thought > - far better than expected. > > In short, the trip was a joy in a good boat. I’m glad I bought a C&C. > > JP > > Gabriela C&C 34 > Clarkston Wa. > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > CnC-List@cnc-list.com
_______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
