Month: June 2013

Thursday Sail & Dinner With The Waddingtons

On By David BranbyIn SplendidoLeave a comment

girls-docked
We met Matt, Krista, and Rachel Waddington at the boat around 4:30 p.m. on June 19th for an evening sail and dinner aboard Splendido. Winds were steady in the 10-15 kts. range, so the sailing was smooth and Tahoe was in her early summer prime. The temperature was about 77 degrees out on the water, and the water was just warm enough for a few plunges for Matt and me before we set sail. I always tell people who’ve never done it that swimming in Lake Tahoe is like swimming in Champagne…it feels that good. (Debbie would argue with me on this point…she thinks swimming in Tahoe is for polar bears and crazy people.) We sailed down to Ehrman Mansion and turned back, wanting to have enough daylight to cook dinner, clean up, and put Splendido back on the hook for the night. (Plus, we both had to work Friday, so we didn’t want to get back to late.) Debbie made wonderful caprese sandwiches on thick, crusty bread, followed by an orzo pasta salad with chicken. We feasted, then I took a few photos of our crew before packing up for the night.

matt-pier
Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

A Work Day That Turned Into A Sailing Day

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

Debbie aboard Splendido, her 1993 Catalina 270, at Lake Tahoe.
Saturday morning, Debbie and I got up early and had a bunch of chores to do around the yard, including planting a pine tree, moving several other shrubs and replanting them, watering, and general yard clean-up. The day broke clear and bright, and it didn’t take long to work up a sweat. Around noon, we took a breather and contemplated just staying home and continuing on with our chores, or heading up to do some housekeeping on the boat. (Guess which one appealed more!)

We loaded up the oars, tools, drill, and drinks and headed up the Mount Rose Highway toward Tahoe. We stopped by the 7-Eleven in Carnelian Bay for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and a bag of ice. The Cool Ranch Doritos are kind of a summer thing for us…we enjoy them once a year, and they remind of us of the brilliant but brief summer season at Tahoe. We were curious how much traffic we’d find in Tahoe City, as the cars started backing up at about Dollar Point, but things moved smoothly, and before we knew it, we were headed south on 89 to Homewood where Splendido was bobbing peacefully, and where there were a number of good places to park along the beach.

The main thrust of the day’s trip was for Debbie to give Splendido the woman’s touch in the cabin, as I had stowed most of the household goods but was a bit confused as to where everything really belonged (this is true at home as well. Must be a guy thing.) She wanted to get everything squared away because we had invited her sister Krista and brother-in-law Matt out for a sail next Thursday, so time was of the essence. When she finished up with her tidying and stowing, I got busy with the drill and the seat benches. They are held to the hull with stainless-steel screws, but these screws have been in and out so many times, they had worn bigger holes, so there was no “purchase” any longer. I modified some of those drywall plastic expander deals by clipping off the ends and then screwing the screws into them. It was a perfect solution; the screws now hold the boards in rock-solid, the fiberglass is intact and protected from splintering; and God forbid if the boat ever flipped, everything would stay in place.

Debbie got a little woozy working down below because of the all the ski boat chop, so when I came up for air, she was nearly asleep on the pillows in the cockpit, hat pulled low over her eyes. The boat was looking pretty “showroom” at this point, so we agreed that a little sail would provide a nice change from the chop. The forecast was for light winds in the 10-12 kt. range, but the winds freshened a bit when we were out on the water, so I reduced the jib to about 60 percent and pulled the traveler high to the windward side to twist off the not-infrequent gusts. It was a comfortable and fast combination. As we neared Sugar Pine Point, we decided to tack upwind to Obexer’s for a pump-out, as we were getting the occasional earthy wafting from the head. Alas, when we arrived at Obexer’s at about 5:30 p.m., the pump station had been locked up for the night. The young man on the dock advised us to come back in the morning, so we glided on and motored the mile or so up the west shore to our buoy. With our little Perkins Perama gurgling and pushing us along at 4 kts., we were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the west shore. We had used a fair amount of electricity with the CD player and the cabin lights and the water pump running, so this gave us a chance to recharge the batteries, too.
David sailing Splendido, the 1993 Catalina 270, at Lake Tahoe, June 22, 2013

Back on the hook, I laid down for a mini-nap in the cockpit while Debbie enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay. The corner of the lake where we find ourselves this year is very peaceful and visually stunning. I was tempted to stay the night aboard, but we felt the pull of our two cats at home, and we wanted to see the Supermoon rise from the Tahoe Meadows on our way back to Reno. I must’ve read the time wrong in the paper, but the giant moon popped up over Slide Mountain as we were enjoying fish tacos at our new favorite casual joint, El Sancho in Tahoe Vista. The perigee moon is apparently 13 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than its counterpart, the apogee moon, and it looked it. It was so bright, in fact, that driving home, I had to avert my eyes to avoid seeing spots. All in all, it was a wonderful though tiring day, and we both slept like rocks. Can’t wait until our next sail this Thursday!
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Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Classic Tahoe Sailing With Michael Salley

On By David BranbyIn Food & Drink, On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

photo

Last Wednesday afternoon, I had the opportunity to take a half-day off and so invited my dear friend Michael Salley out for a sail on Splendido. We loaded up the gear at 1 p.m. and arrived at the boat at 2 p.m., spending the time in the car catching up. Michael is the CEO of International Lining Technology and was my very first client when I opened my ad agency in 2003. He’s also an enthusiastic waterman and lover of sailing, so it was a pleasure to have him out on the boat. Winds were predicted in the 10-12 kt. range, but we were happily surprised to find them in the 15-20 range all afternoon. Our floatplan took us south of Sugar Pine Point and then north to Tahoe City, where we watched the “big boys” play at racing the Wednesday night beer can races.

The big adventure on this sail was actually getting to the boat. The Walker Bay dinghy is only rated at 360 pounds for two people, or 425 lbs. for passengers, outboard motor and gear. Since it was flat water when we arrived and we both had PFDs on, we distributed our weight and gear and I rowed “backwards” toward Splendido. It took a bit of gymnastics to get from the dinghy to the sailboat, but we managed unscathed and quickly got our gear stowed, the Perkins Perama diesel running, and the sail cover off to start our voyage.

Michael brought along a whole bag of goodies to eat and drink, including cheese and crackers, beef jerky, cow elk smokies, and a huge bag of salt-and-pepper pistachios that I spilled all over the cockpit (but didn’t waste a one!) Washed it down with my classic Old Milwaukee N/A “red beer.” Life is good!

Here’s the video clip:

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Sailing Tahoe – The Sequel

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

A short little video from Saturday, June 15, 2013 showing David and Debbie’s first outing of the season together aboard Splendido, our 1993 Catalina 270 sailboat, along with our sailboat’s new sidekick, Splendi, an 8-ft. Walker Bay dinghy.

Loading In & Fitting Out

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning1 Comment

load-in

Last Saturday (June 8th), Debbie was out of town so I rose early and took care of all my “honey-dos” so I could get up to the lake and load Splendido with the cushions, housewares, sheets, blankets, and fleece stuff to keep everybody comfortable out on the water. I borrowed Debbie’s “princess van” from The Cheese Board and loaded up all the stuff that was in our garage (after rinsing and drying everything…amazing how dusty everything got sitting in the garage for over a year). One thing I’m really grateful for is the neat set-up we were able to find renting a private buoy near Hurricane Bay. The folks we rented from have access to a private pier with a passcode that is a straight shot from where you can park. It was actually an easier load-in than when we were at the marina before.

The day was not without incident. When I rowed the Walker Bay dinghy out to Splendido, I almost swamped it. What a damn tippy thing that dinghy is! I was holding onto the swim ladder on the sailboat and made a move to step from the dinghy to the sailboat, and under went the gunwale and filled the dinghy about four inches deep in the startling brief amount of time it took me to sit back down. (That’s one reason why I wear a life preserver even when rowing out.) After a few deep breaths, I was able to safely step on to Splendido and get her ready to take over to the pier.

The whole “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” quote from Wind in the Willows is wonderfully true. Even though it took four or five hours to load in and stow all the stuff, the time flew by. Some of the local residents stopped by for a bracing plunge off the pier (the water temp was 64 degrees) and we’d end up chatting about life at Tahoe and how beautiful it is. I took three plunges myself over the course of the day…I’m a bit of a polar bear anyway, and the water was a great way to cool off.

After getting everything aboard (though not stowed…a lot of the stowing of the household items is a bit of a mystery to me; I don’t know where Debbie puts it or seems to make it disappear until needed (there’s not that much storage on a Catalina 270, frankly)), I motored back over to the buoy and put her on the hook. I turned on the cabin lights and the anchor light, then rowed in to go find something to eat after a long day. I ended up going to Westside Pizza (nice folks there), downed a personal pizza and some big glasses of water, then headed back. It was a bit eerie rowing out in the dark, but I managed without incident and then decided to try sleeping up front in the V-berth. I’d like to say I fell asleep instantly (I was that tired) but it took a while to get used to the boat bumping up against the buoy (boom!) or hearing the dinghy touch up against the hull at the other end (a more muffled boom).

Morning Aboard

When I woke up, I was a bit appalled at the mess of stuff that still needed to be stowed, but my craving for hot coffee (the one thing I forgot to plan ahead for) inspired me to fire her up and head about a mile north to Sunnyside in search of java. The lake was like a millpond, and the early-morning beauty as I motored along at 3.8 knots was thrilling. I tied up at Sunnyside, but there was no coffee to be had, so they directed me to stroll across the street to the Fire Sign café, where I had three cups and a bagel with cream cheese. The nice receptionist gal at Sunnyside said I could come up anytime for an end-tie on their public dock and step in for lunch. I’m planning on it!

june-9-13
Fair winds and smooth sailing, DB