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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

New memeber, new sailor, first boat.

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cudamank
1st Mate

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USA
55 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/02/2015 : 23:55:31

Hello all,

First time posting here, but long time lurker. I just got my first sailboat after looking and for about 4 years. Jenny, is a 1982 Catalina 25, standard Rig, Fin keel, Honda 10hp 4 stroke and She is docked at my locallake marina.
Confession time. She is not only my first boat, but I have never sailed a boat before. Windsurfed in my younger days, and Lots of reading, (4 years worth), and lots of videos. I picked her up about 2 months ago and today was our 5th time out.

First Day out: Today was pretty much checking the boat out. It came really clean and was purchased through ebay and Boat Angel. All cushions in great shape, interior and exterior. Came with Jib, Genoa, and Spinnaker but no Main sail. Honda started on the second pull and we went out on the lake. We ran up the Jib, and pretty much sailed around the cove and the east end of the lake. Though we did pretty good.Saw a high of 2 knots. Realized sailing up wind wasn't happening and motored back to the dock as light fell. A good first day.

Second day out: Motored out further on the lake, knowing the limitations now of our sail. (Or our experience or both). Had another couple of hours of good sailing under light wind.Maybe hit 2.5 knots but doubt it. Motored back to dock.

Third Day. Excitement as I had acquired a main sail from Joe in Florida, a craigslist find. (Did I say I live in California? I had spend the previous week looking online and learning how to raise the sail. We motored out to the middle of the lake, raised the Jib and the Main, and had a great day. My first mate, (a pretty redhead gal) and I quickly learned to tack back and forth across the lake, with good communication. Anchored off sandy beach for some lunch and swimming. Retrieved anchor and continued. Today we saw a high of 6 knots on the not meter, and we heeled over, big smiles all around. Sailed back to the dock and was feeling pretty proud.

Side note. We understand that we are barely scratching the surface, but we both love it and are having fun learning together.

Day 4. Motored out of marina, and sailed across the lake. We had some good wind and were seeing up to 7 knots on the meter. (I know this thing is probably not accurate, but it keeps us smiling). We go on the lake at around 11 and decided to anchor in our same spot for lunch. I didnt set the anchor right, nor did I realize it till we were both in the water, scrubbing down the hull. I should have immeditlay got back in the boat, bulled up the anchor, moved back to our anchorage location, and tried again. Instead we continued to clean the hull under water, as we were not drifting to bad. I sure you can imagine what happened next. Once back in the boat, we tried to retrieve the anchor, with no luck. For 2 hrs we worked on it. Sailing back across the anchor and pulling. We finally gave up, and ended up cutting the line. We headed back out onto the lake disappointing and tails hanging. This is when we met John and his friend, on his Catalina 27. John sailed up along side and we had a running conversation. Once he found out we were new-beys, but willing to learn, He gave us some pointers on Jib car placement, trimming the sails, and other advice. We spent the next hour or two sailing up and down the lake, with John, just to the back, or sometimes in front. It was a great finish to a great day. Ended up sailing back to the dock, following John and his boat in. Great day.

Day 5 Today was just off from the get go. We raised the main and used to slide lube on the sail slugs, but the water was choppy at the marina from all the powerboats on the lake today. We only motored out of the marina and then raised the jib and the main to head out to the main lake. Almost immediatly we caught a puff, and my first mate got her ponytail in the water when we heeled over. Was a complete to surprise, and surprises would contine. By the end of the day, we lost 1 nonlocking wench handle, the nice heavy chrome one overboard, lost 1 hat, Jib tore about 8 inches on the seem 2/3 up. This should have been our sign to maybe all it a day. However, after heaving to for lunch, and storing the jib, we decided to put out the Genoa and sail some more. Bad Idea, and where our lack of experience showed. I pulled into a sheltered cove to get the Genoa up, but left the main up and pointed up wind. Well trying to the the lines ran through the jib cars, the boat turned and a big puff caught the main. We didn't have it tight and it caught and we had our first knock down. Not sure if the mast touched the water, but it felt like it did, with us both hanging onto the port side. Most of the main sail slugs snapped and she righted back up. Game, set and match. We stowed the sails and drifted back to dock. Worn out a little bruised and knocked down a peg.

So I set here with my list of things we need to replace. Jib, sail slugs, wench handle, and Rereading my "The sail Trim Users Guide".

If you got through all this, thanks for reading. Your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms and pointers welcome.

1982 Catalina 25 SR FK
"Jenny"

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 08/03/2015 : 04:38:48

Welcome to the forum! It's always fun to see newbies fall in love with sailing.

If your jib parted at the seam, you might be able to salvage it without buying a new one. After a few years in the sun, sail thread deteriorates from the effects of ultra violet. If the sailcloth isn't torn, you can re-stitch it yourself, often with only a home sewing machine. If your sewing machine isn't up to it, a sailmaker can probably repair it much less expensively than replacing it. Even if the sailcloth is torn, it still might be repairable. It's good to learn on your old sails, and get new ones after you learn how to use them and care for them properly. Make your mistakes with the old ones.

John sounds like an excellent resource for advice, and he's generous in offering it. Keep in contact with him.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Bladeswell
Captain

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USA
490 Posts

Response Posted - 08/03/2015 : 11:19:15

Hi Cuda,
And welcome aboard. I'm new here too having just bought myself a project boat. I am also in California. Will probably be sailing out of Redondo Beach when she is seaworthy again. Though I have some sailing experience, it was some years ago. And with quite a different boat.An Olympic Snipe. 15 ft. That's the boat I learned to sail with. Please understand that I had no training at all, just read some "how to sail" books. First couple of sails went well with no surprises. Then I suffered an uncontrolled jibe in some moderate wind. This resulted in a snapped boom and an immediate capsize. Talk about a little excitement.
I'm glad to see you have found a coach. But for me, I will be in contact with the ASA sailing school in Long Beach to get setup with the first 3 courses they offer. It's an investment in my and my crew's safety as well as the safety of my boat and the other boats around me. I don't want to loose my boat or see anyone injured due to my lack of experience.
Good luck with your boat and enjoy.
Bladeswell

C25 TR FK Hull #973 1979 L-Dinette. So.Cal.

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 08/03/2015 : 14:43:22

I can't quite picture what happened, and have some suspicions... But I'd definitely recommend a sailing course (ASA is the gold standard). I believe you'll learn some important basics very quickly, and understand what went wrong on Day 5. Books are useful for theory, but sailing with an expert on teaching the process is much more than that. Nobody I've talked to has been sorry they did it. Bladeswell makes an excellent point about your responsibility to everyone on and around your boat. (I was self-taught from about the age of 8, and taught a number of other people to sail over the years, but I realize I was no where near as good at that as a certified ASA instructor.)

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

JanS48
Navigator

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USA
141 Posts

Response Posted - 08/03/2015 : 21:53:48

Greetings from RI Cuda
I too have an 82 STD Rig FK - purchased it last fall and just got it in the water July 23rd. I'm still learning how to sail it, getting used to the roller furling which is great - never sailed a boat with it before, now I would not sail without it.
Sailing from Newport harbor out into the Atlantic on occasion. Had her [Pixie] out yesterday Sunday [8/2]and what a surprise both sails up heading out the harbor and the wind decides to blow - what a ride. I didn't break anything and had it 'way' over a few times. I then decided to head back in the harbor and just enjoy the stiff wind.
No stories like yours to share (yet anyway).
Welcome - this is a great group.
Jan

82 C25 SR FK
Sailing out of Newport Harbor.

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3367 Posts

Response Posted - 08/04/2015 : 03:37:01

I am not quite sure where to start after reading your posting. First off, welcome to this Forum !

I guess reading thru your post, seems like normal experiences until we get to day 4 and 5. On day 4, when you say "sailing" back across the anchor, do you mean "motoring" across the anchor. Generally, you do not raise the sails until after the anchor is secured. Motoring up to the anchor, you would have control over your approach. The anchor should come up fairly easy when directly over it. It is rare that it would be hard pulling up the anchor under motor control and possibly running straight over it heading into the wind would free it if it were really stuck. The anchor sets windward and so the best way to pull up the anchor is to approach it in the same line heading windward. Assuming this is a Danforth style anchor it would most easily free when running over it directly into the wind.

Day 5 ......Let's just say that as a newbie, it is best to check the wind conditions for the day and while wind conditions may change by the time you get down to your boat, probably best that you stick with not more than 10 mph winds with no wind gusts predicted. Besides as what was recommended, taking a sailing course, the fact is that you learn quite a bit from your experiences. Even going out in relatively mild conditions, there are always some upset conditions that can occur and you learn from those experiences. For example, you may have a relatively calm day but there are two small dark clouds approaching - When overhead, the wind may pick up significantly. I guess what really gets me is that if you experienced wind significant to tear the jib, then you would have been better off calling it a day or sailing just with the main sail rather than put up the genoa which is larger than a jib. Some would have reefed the main and then used the genoa or the genoa alone. But the safest course of action would have been to just sail with the main and keep your hand on the main sheet in case a puff came out and you had to let out some wind from the sails - Getting knocked down is not a normal sailing expectation.

One of the first lessons a sailor needs to learn and unfortunately it usually comes from many sailing days gaining experience is to have respect for the sea (which includes the wind conditions).

Larry
'89 Robin's Nest#5820, Potomac River/Quantico, Va
http://catalina25.homestead.com/olarryr.html

cudamank
1st Mate

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USA
55 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2015 : 11:33:22

Hello all, and thank you for your comments, and suggestions. I believe the jib is just an issue with the stitching. I don't know how old it is, but hopefully we can repair it or have it repaired.

I just check the weather underground web page for Aug 2 and there were some gusts up to 15mph at the time of our, "incident". Our lake averages wind in 8-10 mph usually. I don't think we are back to square 1, but for sure square 2. It was a learning experience we would not like to repeat. Looked up the ASA school up on the coast in Monterey or San Francisco. Since one of our goals is to sail from Stockton to the bay, it would be a great place to get some instruction.

1982 Catalina 25 SR FK
"Jenny"

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2015 : 14:45:56

quote:
to have respect for the sea (which includes the wind conditions).

Larry nailed it. A member a few years ago put it this way, "The sea is always trying to kill you, It's your job to prevent that from happening".

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

cudamank
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
55 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2015 : 17:40:11

quote:
[i]
Larry nailed it. A member a few years ago put it this way, "The sea is always trying to kill you, It's your job to prevent that from happening".

Great quote!

1982 Catalina 25 SR FK
"Jenny"

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2015 : 20:27:00

Agreed on that quote... But a few people turn that into, "If the sea gets me, then it was worth the adventure." The problem is that "me" is almost never all who are involved. We have guests, significant others, and other boaters around us to consider. Then when something goes really south (due to circumstance or ignorance), there's everyone who tries to save us. The responsibilities of a skipper of a boat are to every one of these people. No amount of preparation is too much. And on that note, the quote is significant--especially if it said "The sea is always trying to kill US.)

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

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