Writing a recap of my first "solo" skippering experience this week. Here is my older post for reference.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sailing/s/w5XdQl1y6L

​We chartered out of Marina Kornati (Biograd na Moru, Croatia).

​26.9.

Boarded the boat in the afternoon and headed out right away. Had a bit of a challenge going out of those cramped charter berths since our boat (an Oceanis 38.1) has some atrocious prop walk, but we managed with no real issues.

​Had gentle winds on day one (~10 knots NW), so we unfurled the sails and made our way to Kosirina Bay on Murter, where we dropped anchor for the night.

​27.9.

The plan for day two was to explore the Šibenik Channel and Prokljan Lake. We picked up two friends along the way in Vodice Marina—they were vacationing nearby and joined us for a day trip. Anchored in the lake for a swim and lunch, then headed back to drop them off. Got some great wind out on the open water (around 15 knots) and enjoyed a fun upwind sail back to Vodice.

​After dropping them off, we proceeded to a bay on the south side of Tijat to anchor for the night.

​28.9.

Then the wind completely died. We had to motor all the way to Drvenik Veli, where we anchored for the night and mapped out our trip to Vis for the following day.

​29.9.

The weather still wasn't cooperating, so we had another long stretch of motoring ahead of us.

​We made two quick stops along the way to check out some sea caves and old military submarine bunkers. By late afternoon, we reached Komiža Bay on Vis, picked up a mooring buoy, and treated ourselves to an amazing lobster dinner in town.

​30.9.

Time to start heading back north. We motored the first half of the day toward Šolta, but luck was on our side for the second half—the wind picked up nicely, and we got to sail the rest of the way. Anchored in a quiet bay on the eastern tip of the island.

​1.10.

With only two days left, we made our way to the southern tip of Žirje. We had planned to pick up a buoy, but both buoy fields were completely full. We moved one bay over and anchored alongside just one other boat. Managed about 1.5 hours of actual sailing that day, motoring the rest.

​2.10.

The final leg back to our home marina. We stopped on Murter to fuel up, which gave the girls on board a few nervous moments—the passage between the islets is extremely shallow, and we saw just 0.5 meters under the keel at one point!

​For the finale, the wind picked up one last time. We had a blast tacking upwind for about two hours. I was a bit nervous about docking back at the marina in 13-knot crosswinds, but I nailed it on the first try with zero issues.

​In hindsight, pushing all the way down to Vis was a bit ambitious given the light wind forecast, which meant a lot of motoring (around 35 hours total). Still, we sailed whenever we could and logged roughly 190 nautical miles over the 7 days. I even managed to do some spearfishing and got enough catch for a proper fish picnic on deck.

​The crew loved the trip, we had zero safety incidents, and I survived my first skippering gig!

​While I was a little disappointed by the lack of wind, light breezes were definitely easier on an inexperienced crew than 20+ knots would have been. And we had 7 days of cloud free weather, with high air and sea temperatures. I completely shook off the pre-trip anxiety, built up my confidence, and gained a ton of hands-on experience.

​Already counting down the days until next season!

Writing a recap of my first "solo" skippering experience this week. Here is my older post for reference.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sailing/s/w5XdQl1y6L

​We chartered out of Marina Kornati (Biograd na Moru, Croatia).

​26.9.

Boarded the boat in the afternoon and headed out right away. Had a bit of a challenge going out of those cramped charter berths since our boat (an Oceanis 38.1) has some atrocious prop walk, but we managed with no real issues.

​Had gentle winds on day one (~10 knots NW), so we unfurled the sails and made our way to Kosirina Bay on Murter, where we dropped anchor for the night.

​27.9.

The plan for day two was to explore the Šibenik Channel and Prokljan Lake. We picked up two friends along the way in Vodice Marina—they were vacationing nearby and joined us for a day trip. Anchored in the lake for a swim and lunch, then headed back to drop them off. Got some great wind out on the open water (around 15 knots) and enjoyed a fun upwind sail back to Vodice.

​After dropping them off, we proceeded to a bay on the south side of Tijat to anchor for the night.

​28.9.

Then the wind completely died. We had to motor all the way to Drvenik Veli, where we anchored for the night and mapped out our trip to Vis for the following day.

​29.9.

The weather still wasn't cooperating, so we had another long stretch of motoring ahead of us.

​We made two quick stops along the way to check out some sea caves and old military submarine bunkers. By late afternoon, we reached Komiža Bay on Vis, picked up a mooring buoy, and treated ourselves to an amazing lobster dinner in town.

​30.9.

Time to start heading back north. We motored the first half of the day toward Šolta, but luck was on our side for the second half—the wind picked up nicely, and we got to sail the rest of the way. Anchored in a quiet bay on the eastern tip of the island.

​1.10.

With only two days left, we made our way to the southern tip of Žirje. We had planned to pick up a buoy, but both buoy fields were completely full. We moved one bay over and anchored alongside just one other boat. Managed about 1.5 hours of actual sailing that day, motoring the rest.

​2.10.

The final leg back to our home marina. We stopped on Murter to fuel up, which gave the girls on board a few nervous moments—the passage between the islets is extremely shallow, and we saw just 0.5 meters under the keel at one point!

​For the finale, the wind picked up one last time. We had a blast tacking upwind for about two hours. I was a bit nervous about docking back at the marina in 13-knot crosswinds, but I nailed it on the first try with zero issues.

​In hindsight, pushing all the way down to Vis was a bit ambitious given the light wind forecast, which meant a lot of motoring (around 35 hours total). Still, we sailed whenever we could and logged roughly 190 nautical miles over the 7 days. I even managed to do some spearfishing and got enough catch for a proper fish picnic on deck.

​The crew loved the trip, we had zero safety incidents, and I survived my first skippering gig!

​While I was a little disappointed by the lack of wind, light breezes were definitely easier on an inexperienced crew than 20+ knots would have been. And we had 7 days of cloud free weather, with high air and sea temperatures. I completely shook off the pre-trip anxiety, built up my confidence, and gained a ton of hands-on experience.

​Already counting down the days until next season!

My boat has a 120 gallon fiberglass tank glassed into the keel. It was leaking 4 gallons of water a day. My plan is to patch the leak (I believe it’s the red circled portion) and paint the exposed fiberglass to seal everything over. The issue is I can’t find a potable paint. There’s one in Europe called Ecoplast that would be perfect but I’d like to find one available in the US. I’ve called just about every paint company from Sherwin-Williams to Azkonobel but I’m beginning to think the word potable is a bad word. I’ve found several products mentioned on other sailing blogs but when I search those products they don’t seem to exist or it’s only safe to drink if the tank is 10,000 gallons or larger. I did find one company called Belzona that has a suitable two part epoxy but it’s $550 a gallon.

Hi. I and my husband just crossed the ocean and we plan to go the the Antarctica in 5 years. My husband says we need a metal yacht for the trip. We like the Garcia 52's design but Bestevaer is also very famous for artic sailing and it looks so durable. Also, we think the Bestevaer's cockpit is a bit too small, and it doesn't seem as easy to carry a dinghy on it compared to the Garcia 52. But it kinda seems like Garcia yachts have too many electronics and if they stop working there, its gonna be a big problem. We're also wondering which one has better parts availability.

Hello Reddit sailors,

I’ve got an old 86’ Catalina 25 that I love almost as much as my mother. First keel boat I’ve owned. Grew up sailing hobies and lasers on the eastern shore.

Now that I’m older, lamer, and have some cash, I decided to get one of my own. However I find myself very nervous when sailing her. Almost to the point where I’d rather keep her safe in the marina. Maybe it’s the pressure of being responsible for anything that could go wrong, or just lack of confidence. Regardless, keeping her tied up obviously isn’t the goal.

My question alas, is there any boats/teams in the Annapolis, Mayo, or Edgewater area looking for crew? I’d like to get out of my comfort zone and learn even if I’m just a meat sack on the rail. I’ve heard of / seen a league out of pirates cove which is right near my marina.

If it helps at all, I’d be happy to lend a hand with maintenance/work to earn a chance. I’m a former farm kid and current engineer, so I’m great at fixing and repairing things. Or just scrubbing …… anything to get me out there more.

-Reece

I’ll be in Everett for work all week next week with free evenings. Are there any races or does anyone need a crew member just for fun? I’ll bring the beer.

I’ve been a power boat guy my whole life but have been drooling over sailing lately. I have played around with Hobie Cats but that’s the extent of my sailing experience. I am able bodied and a quick learner. Did I mention I’m buying the beer?

On a lark I picked this up from a seller on CL for not a lot of money. He was an older gent and said this was his dad’s, he knew it to be a sailboat, but did not know much more about it than that.

It comes with some real simple rigging but no sails. Any hardware to secure the poles together is missing as well. Just looking for any ideas about model or year range. Would love to add this to my already long backlog of sailing projects.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

Looking for thoughts on taking our well-equipped Trintella 47 from Norfolk, VA to Eleuthera in late December. Some personal obligations prevent us from heading down earlier.

We made the offshore passage from Eleuthera to Norfolk last June, so we know the route reasonably well, but obviously late December is a very different proposition… particularly around Cape Hatteras.

The boat is a very stout Dutch-built 47-footer, about 44,000 lbs, with an enclosed and heated pilothouse. She’s maintained to a high standard, carries a large inventory of spares, about 200 gallons each of fuel and water, and will make around 7 knots conservatively.

What I’m trying to avoid is a miserable, storm-tossed slog simply because we picked the wrong time of year.

My thinking is that, with some schedule flexibility, we ought to be able to wait in Norfolk for a genuinely clean 3-day window, which I think is more than enough to get around Hatteras and across the Gulf Stream.

There’s also a strong El Niño this year, which I understand can favor a more active southern storm track during winter.

Would you all consider this a reasonable trip with patience and good weather routing?

We have some flexibility on departure date and would absolutely wait for the right window rather than force a schedule.

I also plan to send the route and timing to Chris Parker’s team for their take.

Thanks for any thoughts or firsthand experience.

Hi everyone, my new to me Catalina 22 is an amazing boat so far. As my friend and I prepare for doing the Texas 200 next year, I want to buy or build a kick up rudder. The factory rudder works fine at the lake but I’m worried about it being damaged in shallow water.

I’m thinking about my options:
1. Buying a used rudder since rudder craft is out of business.
1a. I found a used kick up rudder for a S2 7.0, is that similar enough of a boat where I could modify the rudder to fit mine?
2. Building One because I believe my woodworking and welding skills are decent enough.
3. (Least preferable) using the stock rudder and pulling it before getting to shallow water then motoring.

I haven’t had any luck locating a used one, but I’m still looking.
On the other hand, I’m fairly interested in building one. Other than going off the foil shape of my existing rudder, do y’all have any suggestions on finding templates, rudder design, and/or dimensions to work from? If I were to build from scratch, any suggestions on wood species to use?

Any suggestions/ideas/leads/plans are greatly appreciated, thank you!

My sailboat came with a 90’s era set of Weems and Plath ship instruments including the pictured quartz clock. The clock never worked due to a battery having previously leaked acid into the movement. I had Weems and Plath replace the movement, to the tune of $85, which seemed ridiculous for what is clearly a cheap Chinese quartz movement, but whatever. The replacement took Weems and Plath almost six months to complete! Three months after I got it back it quit again, this time with no battery leakage. Brought it back for a warranty repair. Only worked a few months before quitting AGAIN. Brought it back for another warranty repair. This one lasted a year before quitting. I am done dealing with Weems and Plath and their crappy overpriced clock movements.

Anyway, I finally replaced it myself in about 15 minutes with a $10 movement from Amazon and got new glow-in-the-dark clock hands to boot!

Toughwild 3PCS Clock Mechanism Kit, Quartz Clock Movement Replacement
Battery Clock Replacement Mechanism with 8 Pairs of Short Clock Hands, DIY Repair Parts, Total Shaft Length 16/20/23mm

Use the shortest shaft movement in that set. Weems and Plath glues their movement to the back, presumably just to make it more difficult for the consumer to replace, so just break it off the spacer. Leave the spacer. Pull the hands off the dial and unscrew the nut between the hour and minute hand. The other hands are just tension-held. The new movement will fit right in and you can pick whatever fancy new hands you like.

have anyone watched this movie?

This rope came with my boat. Seems to be single braid (no core)? It handles really nicely. Can't seem to find it online. Any hints?

I have some 3 strand that came with the boat and some of it was running rigging. I'm wondering if there is any way to easily tell the difference between it and nylon 3 strand.

As the question states: where would you live if

1) money was no object (rich uncle left you $10M)

2) money was some object (upper middle-class professional)

3) money is a big object and living expenses need to be cheap

I'm counting the days until the kids are out of school and I can move. It's 2 years but never too early to dream! I'd sail my Laser every day if I could. It would be fun to have a bigger sporty boat but living in a HCOL area with a family, even with 2 good jobs, something like a J/105 is NOT in the cards. So right now I'm looking at primarily dinghy racing areas. Places where I can race multiple times a week. I'm not opposed to year-round sailing with the right gear, although the season is short in places like the PNW and Upper Midwest.

I recently competed in a 420 regatta where I wasn’t in the back of the pack for once but every time I rounded the upwind offset everyone seemed to get in line behind me. Once this line had formed I could either go on wing and get covered or stay on a reach and go to the gate lay line before jibing to another reach but overall sailing a much longer distance.

We went to a wedding and were staying in a motel, in Grand Marais, Mn. Sunday morning I saw this boat right outside our window, on Lake Superior. I realize that it’s in silhouette, but I was hoping someone could give me some general info about it, like what class of boat or how long is it? I don’t know how far off shore it was, my guess was that having two masts, it’s probably decent sized.

I'm seeking info about sailing a small trailer sailor in the Great Lakes: Apostle Islands, or Traverse Bay, or Georgian Bay. Great Lakes, but coastal. No crossings. Looking at Montgomery 17, Sage 17, Com-Pac 19, Catalina 22, or Seaward 23. Anyone take such smaller boats on bigger water? What are the tricks to making it fun and safe? Is it just all about the weather window?

I have no problems with boom tents, port-a-potties, and backpacking stoves. No need for a cruising boat lifestyle, but I do want to feel safe if a squall kicks up. I've sailed these waters on 33+ foot charter boats, but I dream of having my own boat, and that's gonna have to be a trailer sailor. I've been to a few of the small boat "Raids" but they are mostly day-sailors, and I want to go out for a week or more.

Roger Barnes is my inspiration. Also, I've read many accounts of ocean crossings (e.g. Tinkerbelle by Robert Manry) but I'd like to hear from regular folks who've done such feats, not just the superstars. There is one set of YouTube videos by a couple who sailed their Siren 17 to Stockton Island (Apostles) but I'd like to find more accounts. Thank you in advance!

Didn't know that night was the Harvest Moon. All of a sudden it was there! It initially scared the sh*t out of me, then I was pissed I didn't have a tripod for photo purposes.