Subject: [Catalina-22] [DAY SAILING] [GREAT LAKES] Day sail log

From: "Robert Bemben" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:54:01 +0000

Mackinaw City -> Mackinaw Island (& return)
Sunday, 09/16/2007
15.4 nautical miles, 4.7 knot average speed

Every trip has a different flavor. This time 6 of us (me, my wife and son, a 
friend of ours and 2 of her children) set out from Mackinaw City in 
relatively mild conditions (air temp. 62, 10 knot WSW wind and 1-2 ft. 
seas). Since the wind was moderate, I decided to set the gennaker, although 
based on the forecast I should have realized it would probably build to 15 
knots the further we got from shore (offshore wind, and we would eventually 
pick up some weather blowing down the Straits of Mackinaw). So I had my wife 
take the tiller as I set up on the foredeck, and we deployed the sail on a 
broad reach heading NNE toward St. Ignace. My (in hindsight ambitious) plan 
was to eventually gybe to the ENE and sail “wing & wing” to Mackinaw Island 
harbor, keeping the gennaker on the starboard side.

Sure enough, the wind and waves picked up some, and I decided it would be 
better to head downwind (“down in the gusts”) and gybe the main. The wing & 
wing set worked just fine for a few minutes, but then at one point the 
gennaker collapsed behind the mainsail and wrapped around the forestay – 
from starboard to port, forward around the forestay and back to starboard. 
Uh oh. Now what? Below the wrap, the gennaker was filling and bouncing 
around like a wildcat.

I gave my wife the tiller again, grabbed the end of the gennaker sheet and 
headed back to the foredeck. First, I prepped the sock control lines to see 
if I could just pull the sock down over the sail, but these lines just got 
tangled aloft too as the sail took more wraps around the forestay, and now 
there was a rat’s nest of lines at the tack as well. Every so often the 
gennaker would fill below the ‘hourglass’ tangles, making it difficult to 
work. I tried to lower the whole mess by releasing the gennaker halyard, but 
the tight wraps of gennaker and sock line around the forestay about 15 feet 
aloft made it impossible to lower. This makes a skipper think hard! Do I get 
the knife? What would I cut? Do I need to wrap the gennaker around the 
forestay even more to keep it from filling?

If conditions had been rougher, or if my wife hadn’t been so great at 
steering with 2-3 foot waves abaft while under sail, I probably would have 
wrapped the sail around the forestay and resolved the mess at the island 
dock. But the wind had lightened somewhat (about 12 knots), and I decided to 
continue working on the sail on the foredeck for as long as I could. We were 
making good progress toward the island harbor under mainsail alone, and were 
well clear of a freighter that had appeared at Round Island Passage and 
turned west toward the bridge.

Well, it took me about 20 minutes to sort out the lines in the rat’s nest at 
the gennaker tack. Every so often my legs would get tangled in the lines – 
and I diligently (and quickly!) untangled them to avoid being pulled off 
deck by a filling gennaker.

Side note: This crew had never sailed with me before, and I cringed as I 
imagined what they were thinking of their skipper's’credentials about now! 
But practical thoughts prevailed, and I sat there bouncing around on the 
foredeck, humbly doing what I felt needed to be done.

After separating and securing the sock control lines, sheet line, tack line 
and halyard, I was able to unwrap the sail and sock control line that were 
intertwined in tight wraps around the forestay. I maintained a steady 
downward pull on the gennaker to keep it from filling as I worked. Then I 
pulled the sock down over the sail, lowered it, stuffed it in the turtle, 
tidied up and sent the sail packing below with a stern warning not to do 
that again.

As I returned to the cockpit I discovered that one of our crew – the mother 
of two of the children – was seasick and throwing up in a plastic bag. Now 
that’s a helpless feeling. Not much a skipper can do to for a crew at that 
point except get to land as quickly as possible. We sailed on to the island 
harbor and tied up at the Arnold Ferry dock (the state marina is closed for 
the rest of the season for repairs).

Getting land legs again was good for everyone, and we walked the island, 
visiting the island school playground that overlooks the waters around the 
bridge and St. Ignace and often gets a fresh westerly breeze, strolled 
through the gardens of the Grand Hotel and climbed up the 70’ vertical of 
stairs leading to the hotel itself. The island is very relaxing with just 
horse carriages and bicycles – motor vehicles are prohibited. This was the 
off season, so the streets weren’t crowded with tourists either.

It was interesting to me and my wife that the 8 year old son of the seasick 
mother handled the sailing conditions best. He appeared to be a born sailor, 
enthusiastic and cheerful on board as the others were ‘wilting’ (my son 
decided to take a snooze in the V-berth for much of the passage; I find it 
amazing that he can sleep there while underway). It was a pleasure to have 
‘Asa’ aboard.

Despite an offer to send the seasick crew back by ferry boat (I keep a 
supply of ‘emergency ferry tickets’ as standard boat equipment), she decided 
to tough it out and try the return trip by C22 and was sick again, but quite 
not as sick, since the waves were down to 1-2 ft. again. Since the wind was 
now coming directly from our destination and was lightening, we motored back 
and hauled the boat out about ½ hour before sunset.

Not the best of trips, but certainly instructive. Moral of the story for me: 
Don’t set the gennaker in winds over 10 knots! (I’m sure I’ve read this 
before, but now I’ll take it to heart). A quick and well-timed trim of the 
gennaker sheet might have avoided the wrap around the forestay in the first 
place. Another lesson: It’s not so easy to judge whether a new crew will be 
prone to seasickness. Before heading out, I had thought this lady would 
really take to Great Lakes sailing – athletic (former speed skater), 
enthusiastic, native northerner, always up for new adventure and all. But 
then it turned out she had been prone to seasickness and motion sickness 
before, but hadn’t told us before heading out. It’s not so easy to ‘tough it 
out’ when it comes to seasickness.

Robert Bemben
Bliss Twp., Michigan
1991 C22 wing keel
Sail #15185
"Jib Dance"

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---

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:51:31 -0700 (PDT)

Interesting story Robert,
   
  Glad all turned out ok. I've been there and done that with my Gennaker. I really pick the conditions I'll fly one in. Wing and wing with the Gennaker is very tricky and best done with at least one other experienced crew to help. likes to wrap the forestay. Best to keep the wind abeam with that sail from my experience.
   
  Had a few seasick passengers aboard over the years and know what you mean by feeling helpless other than the suggestions of not going below and looking at the horizon.
   
  Glenn Hedmark
  12533 sk
  DiZire
  Wauconda, Illinois

Robert Bemben <[email-masked]> wrote:
  Mackinaw City -> Mackinaw Island (& return)
Sunday, 09/16/2007
15.4 nautical miles, 4.7 knot average speed

Robert Bemben
Bliss Twp., Michigan
1991 C22 wing keel
Sail #15185
"Jib Dance"

---

From: "Robert Bemben" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:24:08 +0000

Glenn,

I think you're right about the gennaker not being an "all purpose" sail. The 
standard C22 spinnaker with pole is probably best for running with the wind. 
At least there's a pole (and guy lines?) to stabilize everything!

Robert Bemben
Bliss Twp., Michigan
1991 C22 wing keel
Sail #15185
"Jib Dance"

>From: <[email-masked]>
>Reply-To: [email-masked]
>To: [email-masked]
>Subject: Re: [Catalina-22] [DAY SAILING] [GREAT LAKES] Day sail log
>Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:51:31 -0700 (PDT)
>
>   Glad all turned out ok. I've been there and done that with my Gennaker. 
>I really pick the conditions I'll fly one in. Wing and wing with the 
>Gennaker is very tricky and best done with at least one other experienced 
>crew to help. likes to wrap the forestay. Best to keep the wind abeam with 
>that sail from my experience.
>
>   Had a few seasick passengers aboard over the years and know what you 
>mean by feeling helpless other than the suggestions of not going below and 
>looking at the horizon.
>
>   Glenn Hedmark
>   12533 sk
>   DiZire
>   Wauconda, Illinois
>

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:18:22 -0400

Found this timely advice in an e-mail today:

Congrats to Bill Nokes, who will receive a new BWS hat for knowing what 
to do when the genoa looks like an hourglass...

"Unfortunately this has happened to me enough that I have become an 
expert. I fly a 160, on an IOR design, so its squirrley running.

If it is just starting or not too bad, simply bring the boat to a 
reach, and tighten the leeward sheet.

If its bound up, crank in both sheets (not too hard, but somewhat 
firm), and play the furling line in and out, while continuing to take 
up slack on the sheets; bringing the boat to a close reach or even a 
flogging stall will frequently help. Be prepared to slack the windward 
sheet as the sail slips past the tangle.

So far, I haven't had to drop the sail, nor have I had to go forward, 
since practicing my above tactics."
© 2006-2007 Cruising Compass - Blue Water Sailing LLC - 747 Aquidneck 
Ave. Middletown, RI 02842 - 401-847-7612

Cathy Lee Brandstetter
Kenosha, WI
"Aeolus"
1982 S/K #11173

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Sent: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:51:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [Catalina-22] [DAY SAILING] [GREAT LAKES] Day sail log

Interesting story Robert,     Glad all turned out ok. I've been there 
and done that with my Gennaker. I really pick the conditions I'll fly 
one in. Wing and wing with the Gennaker is very tricky and best done 
with at least one other experienced crew to help. likes to wrap the 
forestay. Best to keep the wind abeam with that sail from my 
experience.     Had a few seasick passengers aboard over the years and 
know what you mean by feeling helpless other than the suggestions of 
not going below and looking at the horizon.     Glenn Hedmark  12533 sk 
 DiZire  Wauconda, Illinois

Robert Bemben <[email-masked]> wrote:  Mackinaw City -> Mackinaw 
Island (& return)
Sunday, 09/16/2007
15.4 nautical miles, 4.7 knot
 average speed

Every trip has a different flavor. This time 6 of us (me, my wife and 
son, a
friend of ours and 2 of her children) set out from Mackinaw City in
relatively mild conditions (air temp. 62, 10 knot WSW wind and 1-2 ft.
seas). Since the wind was moderate, I decided to set the gennaker, 
although
based on the forecast I should have realized it would probably build to 
15
knots the further we got from shore (offshore wind, and we would 
eventually
pick up some weather blowing down the Straits of Mackinaw). So I had my 
wife
take the tiller as I set up on the foredeck, and we deployed the sail 
on a
broad reach heading NNE toward St. Ignace. My (in hindsight ambitious) 
plan
was to eventually gybe to the ENE and sail “wing & wing” to Mackinaw 
Island
harbor, keeping the gennaker on the starboard side.

Sure enough, the wind and waves picked up some, and I decided it would 
be
better to head downwind (“down in the
 gusts”) and gybe the main. The wing &
wing set worked just fine for a few minutes, but then at one point the
gennaker collapsed behind the mainsail and wrapped around the forestay 
–
 from starboard to port, forward around the forestay and back to 
starboard.
Uh oh. Now what? Below the wrap, the gennaker was filling and bouncing
around like a wildcat.

I gave my wife the tiller again, grabbed the end of the gennaker sheet 
and
headed back to the foredeck. First, I prepped the sock control lines to 
see
if I could just pull the sock down over the sail, but these lines just 
got
tangled aloft too as the sail took more wraps around the forestay, and 
now
there was a rat’s nest of lines at the tack as well. Every so often the
gennaker would fill below the ‘hourglass’ tangles, making it difficult 
to
work. I tried to lower the whole mess by releasing the gennaker 
halyard, but
the tight wraps of gennaker and sock line around the
 forestay about 15 feet
aloft made it impossible to lower. This makes a skipper think hard! Do 
I get
the knife? What would I cut? Do I need to wrap the gennaker around the
forestay even more to keep it from filling?

If conditions had been rougher, or if my wife hadn’t been so great at
steering with 2-3 foot waves abaft while under sail, I probably would 
have
wrapped the sail around the forestay and resolved the mess at the 
island
dock. But the wind had lightened somewhat (about 12 knots), and I 
decided to
continue working on the sail on the foredeck for as long as I could. We 
were
making good progress toward the island harbor under mainsail alone, and 
were
well clear of a freighter that had appeared at Round Island Passage and
turned west toward the bridge.

Well, it took me about 20 minutes to sort out the lines in the rat’s 
nest at
the gennaker tack. Every so often my legs would get tangled in the 
lines –
and I
 diligently (and quickly!) untangled them to avoid being pulled off
deck by a filling gennaker.

Side note: This crew had never sailed with me before, and I cringed as 
I
imagined what they were thinking of their skipper's’credentials about 
now!
But practical thoughts prevailed, and I sat there bouncing around on 
the
foredeck, humbly doing what I felt needed to be done.

After separating and securing the sock control lines, sheet line, tack 
line
and halyard, I was able to unwrap the sail and sock control line that 
were
intertwined in tight wraps around the forestay. I maintained a steady
downward pull on the gennaker to keep it from filling as I worked. Then 
I
pulled the sock down over the sail, lowered it, stuffed it in the 
turtle,
tidied up and sent the sail packing below with a stern warning not to 
do
that again.

As I returned to the cockpit I discovered that one of our crew – the 
mother
of two of the children
 – was seasick and throwing up in a plastic bag. Now
that’s a helpless feeling. Not much a skipper can do to for a crew at 
that
point except get to land as quickly as possible. We sailed on to the 
island
harbor and tied up at the Arnold Ferry dock (the state marina is closed 
for
the rest of the season for repairs).

Getting land legs again was good for everyone, and we walked the 
island,
visiting the island school playground that overlooks the waters around 
the
bridge and St. Ignace and often gets a fresh westerly breeze, strolled
through the gardens of the Grand Hotel and climbed up the 70’ vertical 
of
stairs leading to the hotel itself. The island is very relaxing with 
just
horse carriages and bicycles – motor vehicles are prohibited. This was 
the
off season, so the streets weren’t crowded with tourists either.

It was interesting to me and my wife that the 8 year old son of the 
seasick
mother handled the sailing
 conditions best. He appeared to be a born sailor,
enthusiastic and cheerful on board as the others were ‘wilting’ (my son
decided to take a snooze in the V-berth for much of the passage; I find 
it
amazing that he can sleep there while underway). It was a pleasure to 
have
‘Asa’ aboard.

Despite an offer to send the seasick crew back by ferry boat (I keep a
supply of ‘emergency ferry tickets’ as standard boat equipment), she 
decided
to tough it out and try the return trip by C22 and was sick again, but 
quite
not as sick, since the waves were down to 1-2 ft. again. Since the wind 
was
now coming directly from our destination and was lightening, we motored 
back
and hauled the boat out about ½ hour before sunset.

Not the best of trips, but certainly instructive. Moral of the story 
for me:
Don’t set the gennaker in winds over 10 knots! (I’m sure I’ve read this
before, but now I’ll take it to heart). A quick and well-timed
 trim of the
gennaker sheet might have avoided the wrap around the forestay in the 
first
place. Another lesson: It’s not so easy to judge whether a new crew 
will be
prone to seasickness. Before heading out, I had thought this lady would
really take to Great Lakes sailing – athletic (former speed skater),
enthusiastic, native northerner, always up for new adventure and all. 
But
then it turned out she had been prone to seasickness and motion 
sickness
before, but hadn’t told us before heading out. It’s not so easy to 
‘tough it
out’ when it comes to seasickness.

Robert Bemben
Bliss Twp., Michigan
1991 C22 wing keel
Sail #15185
"Jib Dance"

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's 
FREE!
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---

From: "Robert Bemben" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:01:02 +0000

Thanks, Cathy!

Gybing back and bringing the boat to a reach (& trimming the leeward sheet) 
before it wrapped tighter might have worked in my case. The other tips sound 
good too.

BTW: I'm sure C22 racers never let anything like this happen to their 
spinnakers ;-D

Robert Bemben
Bliss Twp., Michigan
1991 C22 wing keel
Sail #15185
"Jib Dance"

>From: [email-masked]
>Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:18:22 -0400
>
>Congrats to Bill Nokes, who will receive a new BWS hat for knowing what to 
>do when the genoa looks like an hourglass...
>
>"Unfortunately this has happened to me enough that I have become an expert. 
>I fly a 160, on an IOR design, so its squirrley running.
>
>If it is just starting or not too bad, simply bring the boat to a reach, 
>and tighten the leeward sheet.
>
>If its bound up, crank in both sheets (not too hard, but somewhat firm), 
>and play the furling line in and out, while continuing to take up slack on 
>the sheets; bringing the boat to a close reach or even a flogging stall 
>will frequently help. Be prepared to slack the windward sheet as the sail 
>slips past the tangle.
>
>So far, I haven't had to drop the sail, nor have I had to go forward, since 
>practicing my above tactics."
>© 2006-2007 Cruising Compass - Blue Water Sailing LLC - 747 Aquidneck Ave. 
>Middletown, RI 02842 - 401-847-7612
>
>Cathy Lee Brandstetter
>Kenosha, WI
>"Aeolus"
>1982 S/K #11173
>
>Interesting story Robert,     Glad all turned out ok. I've been there and 
>done that with my Gennaker. I really pick the conditions I'll fly one in. 
>Wing and wing with the Gennaker is very tricky and best done with at least 
>one other experienced crew to help. likes to wrap the forestay. Best to 
>keep the wind abeam with that sail from my experience.     Had a few 
>seasick passengers aboard over the years and know what you mean by feeling 
>helpless other than the suggestions of not going below and looking at the 
>horizon.     Glenn Hedmark  12533 sk DiZire  Wauconda, Illinois
>