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    The Upside Down Spinnaker: Ups and Downs of Cruising, Racing, And Buying Cruiser Size Sail Boats
    The Upside Down Spinnaker: Ups and Downs of Cruising, Racing, And Buying Cruiser Size Sail Boats
    The Upside Down Spinnaker: Ups and Downs of Cruising, Racing, And Buying Cruiser Size Sail Boats
    Ebook150 pages2 hours

    The Upside Down Spinnaker: Ups and Downs of Cruising, Racing, And Buying Cruiser Size Sail Boats

    By Ned Rosen

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    About this ebook

    This book is about the thrills, fun, nature's beauties, unwelcome challenges, and serious risks in cruising and racing cruiser size sailing yachts. "Cruiser size" is defined as boats whose length ranges from twenty-four feet to forty plus, and whose cabin includes most of the comforts of home, e.g., marine toilet, kitchen, bunks for sleeping, shower and more. Based on their many years of sailing several different yachts in varied waters, two salty skippers illustrate and bring to life the subjective side of sailing sizeable yachts, and its psychological rewards.
    On the other hand, they also describe some of the unpleasant, even dangerous circumstances that can be encountered on the water, especially when venturing far from one's home port. They make clear that a sailboat cruise is not always romantic and free from stress.
    Describing the human element in racing as crucial, their book includes a detailed treatment of racing crews as a critical success factor. Emphasis is on developing teamwork, and avoidance of many human errors that lose races, cause injuries, or can result in loss of life.
    Over a period of many years, the two skippers separately purchased several cruiser size sailing yachts used in their various racing venues. They had to deal with design shortcomings, manufacturing errors, and dealer installation deficiencies. These, and others they heard about from other sailors, are described in a separate chapter. It augments another chapter that provides much information to help prospective buyers and individuals planning a charter.
    The book includes numerous photos and several amusing cartoons. While the text is non-technical, a Glossary is included for readers having limited sailing experience.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJul 12, 2017
    ISBN9781543907469
    The Upside Down Spinnaker: Ups and Downs of Cruising, Racing, And Buying Cruiser Size Sail Boats

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      Book preview

      The Upside Down Spinnaker - Ned Rosen

      another.

      Chap 1: How We Got Started and Dumb Things We Did

      NR’s Recollections

      Trial and error was learning strategy: My interest in sailing began at about age twelve when my older brother took me sailing one day on Biscayne Bay on a fourteen-foot, homemade plywood sloop. A small stingray jumped out of the water into our open cockpit. The tip of its tail was a scary threat. Its stinger is painful and can make one very sick. Fortunately, there was a paddle on board that my brother used as a pancake spatula to throw the creature back into the water. When my brother and his friends sold their boat, I should have purloined their paddle as you will see below. Anyway, I did some research and found Dr. Alan Brown’s valuable book, INVITATION TO SAILING, in the public library.

      Complete with diagrams, Dr. Brown showed me most of what I needed to know about making a sailboat go where I wanted it to go. However, his book was geared to sailing in his favorite freshwater lake (Cayuga Lake). It did not deal with the effects of South Florida tide changes, currents, and drawbridges. These were some things, plus others, I had to learn by trial and error, mostly error…

      My first boat, bought in partnership with two teenage friends for $200, was a wooden Snipe equipped with a centerboard. It had two canvas sails and had languished for many years, on the ground, at a boatyard two or three miles upstream, alongside the Miami River. My two partners, a year older than I, left me the job of making it seaworthy. I caulked the large gaps between the planks on its bottom, and applied anti-fouling paint. The boat then was launched into the river and left for a week so its wooden bottom would swell, thereby securing the caulk material. When the leaking stopped, a friend joined me for a journey to our intended mooring place.

      Up the creek without a paddle - Miami River: We started at an upstream location on the outgoing tide, but without a paddle (or engine). We used cockpit floor boards as paddles to augment the river’s flow toward Biscayne Bay, and steered with the boat’s rudder. There was very little traffic on the river in those days due to lingering effects of WW II fuel rationing. Upon exiting the river mouth and entering Biscayne Bay, we turned north. With a Southeast breeze we sailed North without benefit of paddles. We soon reached the County Causeway (renamed the MacArthur Causeway after WW II ended) where we sounded a horn to request a drawbridge opening. The breeze was blocked once we got partway through the opening. Therefore, we then had to paddle against a strong outgoing tide.

      Despite our strenuous efforts against the current, we could not propel the boat through the small opening provided for the mast by the bridge tender. He had not lifted the bridge to full vertical position, and was leaning out of his perch and laughing.

      Eventually he raised the bridge to vertical so we could maneuver the boat to a side rail and pull our way through. Auto traffic, with many drivers leaning on their horns, was backed up… By the way, we had neither life jackets nor flotation cushions… Dr. Brown would not have been pleased.

      Anchor line scope? What’s that? The above journey was only the beginning of my fiasco as a teenage novice on his maiden voyage. Once through the bridge we reached a nearby established anchorage (now the Miami Boat Club), located on the MacArthur and facing the Venetian Way causeway. We had permission to drop a concrete cinder block there for mooring purposes.

      Hank, the anchorage caretaker and sailboat rental manger, brought us the cinder block and showed us where to drop it. We attached an appropriate line and floating marker, and made the drop. We added a little slack to the line that connected the boat to our makeshift anchor before cleating it on the boat’s foredeck. We did not add enough slack line, nautically known as "scope," I learned later.

      During the night, while sleeping with great self-satisfaction at home with my parents (who did not know of my part ownership of a sailboat), the outgoing tide turned. Indeed, as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. In this instance, it raised our boat and its cinder block mooring with it. This was really dumb on my part, but hold your judgment until you see what Jack did with his first boat.

      The Venetian Causeway bridge neon lights wipeout: Upon my return to the anchorage the next day, the Snipe was no longer there. Hank, obviously disgusted with me, pointed to it, several hundred yards away, where it was secured to the Venetian Causeway Bridge. The combination of a wind and tide shift during the night had carried it and the cinder block over there. Before the bridge tender managed to secure it, the Snipe’s mast had managed to wipe out several of the big neon light bulbs that spelled VENETIAN WAY for all to see.

      An insurance company claims agent appeared: With stomach in mouth, I went by bus to get there. The claims agent was waiting for me! Fortunately, the expenses were covered. He knew how embarrassed I was and did not give me the tongue lashing I deserved. Thankfully, he also did not report the incident to my parents. The entire episode demonstrates another old adage - A little knowledge can be dangerous. I clearly was underprepared for the river voyage, the drawbridge, and anchoring activity.

      Becalmed in a strong outgoing tide (without an anchor): Will we be dismasted and swept out to sea? The three owners managed a few outings on Biscayne Bay in open areas between the two causeways. One day two of us sailed in very light air from our mooring on the Miami side of the Bay most of the way to Miami Beach. The wind died - we were becalmed. Once again yours truly was caught short. There was no anchor on board so the outgoing tide carried us South toward the MacArthur Causeway fixed bridge that was much too low for our mast to

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