SINGLE HANDED LAUNCHING AND SAILING

[sailpsych]

Am getting ready to launch my "new-to-me" 99 X. Anticipate I will likely be doing quite a bit of solo sailing out around the Channel Islands. Is there a recommend process for rigging, launching, sailing, and recovery of a 26X by a solo-sailor? The "Admiral" is due with number 2 in December so she won't be able to go with me pretty soon.

My other experience was launching a Sunfish off a flatbed trailer so the basics I have fairly well ingrained (Hey dummy! Don't launch it with out the bow tied to the trailer and no one on board).

Thanks,

Bruce G.
Oxnard, CA

[Robert T. Pierce]

You can purchase a video on this site called Speedy Rigger that is just what you are looking for. Rigging, launching, etc. by one person. It is poorly produced but there is a ton of information and for me was well worth the purchase price. They also offer a companion video on sailing the X. You can save a few bucks if you purchase both at the same time. For someone new to sailing or just new to the boat, they are worth it.

[zuma hans]

You should have some help on your first couple launches before you try it by yourself. I'll volunteer.

My 99X is parked at the Channel Islands mastup yard. Consider keeping yours there, I was the only Mac 26 there last summer and now there are 5.

Storing it there is about $110 a month.

Less fuss, no muss. Climb on board the boat, get all the rigging ready, then whistle the crew over. They tow the boat (with a golf cart (!) ) over to the 2.5 ton hoist and drop her in the salt.

Advantages: no wear and tear on the boat and crew raising and dropping the mast. Trailer's always dry.

And - drum roll - much easier to launch single handed.

Give me a call and I'll help you launch some weekend.

Hans

[mark,97x]

single handed might actually be easier,,as the mate is no help at all except to point out all the mistakes they think you are making,,,only problem i usually encounter is the stays getting caught under the lifelines,otherwise a fairly easy process,although takes almost an hour at my slow pace

[Captain Steve]

Bruce got your reply off list..will be back in town on the weekend of the 26/27 I can also give you a hand. Duane has posted a rather extensive checklist for launch and retrival. Its divided into 2 sections for duties assigne to him and his wife....let me know if you need a copy.

[Max]

Cap'n Steve,
I'd like a copy, please!!
Thanks
Max

PS can you email me a copy??

[Scott]

Tried to post a response yesterday didnt work, here goes again. When standing my mast I am always left alone. Wifey and chitluns go off hiking with the dogs.

Id like to build a mast raising page so anyone with pics of their technique please zip and mail em. (Duane??)

I also launch and retreive my boat regularly solo or with the exuberant emotional support of my 11 y/o daughter. The only problem Ive ever experienced has been cross winds. To solve this I cut a circle of closed cell foam from a WalMart boogie board wanna be. (about 14" Dia.) In the center of same I cut a hole slightly smaller than the Dia. of the trailer guide, slid it over the guide on the lee side of the boat and it staves the boat off of the guide to about a perfect center on the trailer.

Ive thought about mounting a set of dock corner rollers on the tops of the guide post but my motto is, "if I can rig it, why fix it"

[Frank C]

. . . Storing it there is about $110 a month. Less fuss, no muss. Climb on board the boat, get all the rigging ready, then whistle the crew over. They tow the boat (with a golf cart (!) ) over to the 2.5 ton hoist and drop her in the salt. . .

Hans,

Agree that mastup storage is a terrific advantage. I'm assuming your helpers use under-hull straps fore and aft the mast?

At my yard the hoist is available for free, but you need to place the trailer and lift the boat yourself, then park your rig - still not bad for $70/month. I rig everything on the trailer, then rather than hoisting, I tow a short block, with mast-up, to a public ramp. I'd much prefer your system, it would easily save me an hour a day.

[zuma hans]

Hans,

Agree that mastup storage is a terrific advantage. I'm assuming your helpers use under-hull straps fore and aft the mast?

At my yard the hoist is available for free, but you need to place the trailer and lift the boat yourself, then park your rig - still not bad for $70/month. I rig everything on the trailer, then rather than hoisting, I tow a short block, with mast-up, to a public ramp. I'd much prefer your system, it would easily save me an hour a day.

It becomes very important to drain the ballast completely in the parking lot. Any ballast-slosh really makes the boat sway on the hoist.

The under-hull straps arrangement works great.

[sailpsych]

As far as a ramp, Hans and I have one a short trip away, and could "almost" leave the mast up to get there, except for one traffic light.

The hoist in and out was really quite uneventful. The guys at Channel Island Landing did a great job and were really hustling to get the boats in and out of the water. Really a bargain for storage, launching, and recovery.

Hans, we should try and get a Mac Flotilla going out here.

Bruce

[Frank C]

Hans, we should try and get a Mac Flotilla going out here.

You missed one last June, Bruce. Cruised out to Anacapa, anchored at Santa Cruz a couple of nights. I'll do that again some day, would like to make it to Santa Rosa too. It's an eerie feeling to head seaward into that morning fog, then see Anacapa looming around 11 am. We motored over in morning calm, sailed home. Also fun to set a course from Cruz without any view of the mainland, and see it materialize thru binocs w/ the Channel Is. breakwaters on the bow. Fun, fun, fun!

[zuma hans]

2 weekends ago, I sailed out to Anacapa and (once again) made it 8 miles out when i hit the dreaded Anacapa Island fog bank.

Visibility went from 40 miles to 40 feet.

I could hear the foghorns from an eastbound freighter closing on me from about 5 miles starboard.

I dropped sails, raised the radar deflector and cursed the fates as my mate started the engine and swung left to 45 degrees true.

VHF 16 was full of chatter from Anacapa-area boats trying to hail anyone with radar to get a fix on the big guys.

I do not - repeat not - want to meet a container ship anywhere near a fog bank.

When we flotilla out there - something I look forward to! - one of us has got to have a radar! Santa Barbara Channel's shipping lanes are no place to mess around!

P.S. I think whomever tries towing mastup from the parking yard to the boat ramp at Hueneme West is going to have a real interesting new mast rake to explain to the cable TV company!

[zuma hans]

PS Channel Islands landing wisely will not hoist your Mac out of the salt unless its ballast is completely full.

Too much sloshing makes for a very unstable trip over sharp rocks.

[Frank C]

ZH,

I'm sure they don't care, but they won't be hoisting my X. I always empty ballast myself, one of the joys of 60 hp! Trailer & ramp are fine for a short term visit.

We headed out in the fog, but it was light, probably 2 miles or so. You're right about commercial shipping though. We scramble on SF Bay to stay clear, but at least they're not at warp speed - it's astounding how quickly those monsters are moving! We know they're watching on the Bay too, but that's truly immaterial, other than they can call the Coasties to scavenge amidst the debris. I'm sure we'd have needed to untwist the skivies in the conditions you had.

In that sort of soup, and with so much recreational traffic out there, I wonder why one couldn't (over VHF) request him to broadcast a current fix and heading? At least everyone could gain some idea of how close they are to his track. Radar, of course, would be the answer if you're in it constantly - eh ZH???

[sailpsych]

Isn't there a Santa Barbara Channel Vessel Control channel on VHF someplace? I thought I had heard that they provide a service to let all know who is going in what direction when and how fast. I haven't seen that many freighters going between the CI and Ventura, but then again, it only takes one to ruin your day.

Bruce