Category: On The Water

Cruising Tahoe Wooden Boat Weekend with the Shrivers

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

Sailing Tahoe 2012 aboard SplendidoDebbie and I pulled Splendido up to the dock around 3 p.m. yesterday to await the arrival of our guests, Bob and Pam Shriver of Reno. As we gussied up the boat below decks, I was startled to feel a jarring “thunk thunk thunk” as some swells from a passing speedboat caused Splendido to smack her keel against the rocks about a foot below. I quickly “beat feet” above decks and pushed the boat back about 10 feet so there was a little more room beneath her keel. Clearly, the lake level has dropped from where it was just a few weeks ago, and the reminder of my mistake can be seen by the blue bottom paint on the rocks just off the pier. I put on my goggles and jumped overboard, swimming down to inspect the keel on both sides. Nothing major to report–luckily–except a little chipped bottom paint. I ran my hands over the keel bottom and everything seemed OK, then did the same thing along the keel-hull interface. I was a bit rattled by the experience, but that seems to be a weekly occurence when owning a sailboat.

Bob and Pam arrived and we shoved off. Winds were light and very shifty, so we headed north to Dollar Point, hoping to see some of the classic wooden boats celebrating the Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance at Sierra Boat Works in Carnelian Bay. We were thrilled to see a number of beautiful woodies, including the famous Thunderbird of Thunderbird Lodge fame.

The winds were so twitchy–swinging wildly from WNW to S–that I decided to tack right off Dollar Point, rather than go deeper into Carnelian Bay with all its boat traffic. It was 5 p.m. at that point, and I figured it would take a couple of hours to get back, tidy up, and get dinner going. The winds picked up considerably on the ride home, so Debbie drove while I manned the mainsheet. My rule of thumb with guests onboard is to keep the boat relatively flat and comfortable, so it was a bit of work to get upwind in the face of some pretty good gusts. We had spray coming over the bow from time to time, but we managed to stay dry and sailed over to  within view of Obexer’s, then tacked back toward home. Because the gusts were getting a bit hairier, I had Debbie fire up the engine and motor into the wind while I did my best to flake the sail over the boom. After finally getting her buttoned up, we tied up to the dock and sat down for some amazing ribs and fresh corn salad, courtesy of Bob and Pam, while Debbie served up a rich, fruity Zinfandel. Afterwards, she broke out a fresh Marionberry pie with a wonderfully flaky crust. I sat back and could’ve fallen asleep in the cockpit, exhausted but fulfilled after a fun afternoon on the water. The winds died down completely; Tahoe’s skies took on their rosy hue, and we bid our guests a safe trip back to Reno. I shooed Debbie off the boat with our bags and baggage, as it was getting dark fast, and I was a bit concerned about finding the buoy without a deck light to guide me (still haven’t replaced that #@&! bulb!). But, I just took it slow and got the line on the first try while Debbie watched from shore. I went through my security checklist one more time (Seacocks closed? Check. Head pumped dry? Check. Boathook put away? Check.), turned out the lights, and rowed the dinghy in the blackness toward shore.

Next weekend, I’m hosting some folks who won the “afternoon sail aboard Splendido” silent auction at Reno Chamber Orchestra’s 2013 Derby Day celebration…which means I’ve got a couple dozen things I need to do to make the boat pretty. Nothing like a hard deadline to inspire massive action!

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Sailing Tahoe With Phil Campbell

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, Splendido1 Comment

ImageI had a great time sailing last Thursday with Phil Campbell, owner of Lawn Ranger (Legendary Yard Care!). I hadn’t seen Phil in a few months, as he’s super busy during the spring and summer. I met Phil about five years ago when he worked in sales for Integra Telecom. We just kind of hit it off, and it turned out that Phil actually has a very interesting life story. In his early twenties, he ran away and joined the circus—literally! The thing is, Phil is this amazingly gifted musician—he plays trumpet and piano—and he was hired by the Ringling Bros./Barnum & Bailey Circus to play in the band! So, for 10 years, Phil lived on the train with the lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!), chugging from town to town, and organizing a few local musicians at every whistle-stop to play with the circus while it was in town. Phil’s got some great stories from his life as a traveling musician, and I just enjoy being around the guy. Being a bit of an amateur guitar player myself, Phil and I will get together and butcher the best of the Beatles, Dire Straits, Van Morrison, and anything else we can think up and try to play together. Actually, Phil always sounds great—he’s one of those perfect-pitch musical types who can hear a song once and play it note for note. Me, on the other hand, well…let’s just say I’ve got about 10,000 more hours of practice to achieve any level of mastery. But we have fun, and lots of it.

ImageBut back to the sailing. Both Phil and I are 200+ lb. guys, so rowing out to Splendido was a bit of a comedy act in our 8′ Walker Bay dinghy. But, with catlike grace and athleticism, we managed to lumber aboard without getting wet. I walked the dinghy forward and tied it off on the buoy and cast us free, where some gentle afternoon breezes took us easily out over toward Chambers Landing. We gobbled up some Subway sandwiches and talked, talked, talked…and then the wind died. Completely. So, we just sort of bobbed around the bay for an hour or so and talked some more, while the sails hung lank and Tahoe began to take on its telltale pinkish hue as the sun got lower and lower. Finally, I turned on the motor and we started back…and the wind picked up! So we had “bookend” winds on this particular outing. They actually picked up pretty good, to the point where we were getting over 5 knots on the gauge and a bit of a heel, too. I made a complete hash of flaking the sail as we drew near to the buoy, so I had Phil make a big circle, which gave me time to tidy things up a bit and dive below for the boat hook. By this time, Phil was an “old hand” with the wheel and throttle, and we made our approach. Phil steered us perfectly to the buoy, then gently hit reverse to stop the boat. I got the mooring line on the first try. It was awesome. Looking forward to more music and sailing magic with Phil in the future!

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.

Riding The Storm Out

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

The Gathering Storm at Lake Tahoe, Sept. 24, 2011The first of  autumn’s low-pressure systems came to Lake Tahoe this weekend, so Debbie and I went up to Tahoe City Marina on Saturday morning to get in a quick sail before the stormy weather hit. We sailed down to the area around Sunnyside, enjoying the balmy temperatures and blue skies on the west side of the lake, and keeping a watchful eye on the darkening sky in the southeast. Winds were light and variable with a few gusts to around 25, so we got in some good sailing. After about an hour, and with memories of last fall’s squall, I decided we’d better head back, as the winds were starting to swirl, and the dark clouds were quickly moving north and west. Within minutes of getting back on the buoy, the rain began, and gusty winds that boxed the compass had Splendido spinning around the buoy one way, then back in the opposite direction. We went below and discussed our end-of-season strategy, as the boat needs to come out of the water around October 2. It was actually quite cozy hanging out in the gently rocking boat, so I stretched out on the port cushions and dozed a bit. Debbie was a bit more restless, though she finally crawled into the aft berth to nap for a while. Around 4:30 p.m., we decided it was time to pack up and go. We’re hoping that our Indian Summer will come back and last at least another week so we can get a few more sails in before Splendido needs to be winterized and trailered down to Reno for her long winter’s rest.

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Boat Camping On Labor Day Weekend

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, Overnighters, Ports Of CallLeave a comment

Summer goes by much too quickly in the high Sierras. It’s already Labor Day, and we still don’t feel we’ve had enough time on the water this summer. Actually, we’re averaging two days of sailing per week, which, considering the hour-there and hour-back drive to Tahoe City from Reno, is about what we figured when we were thinking about such things last winter. At any rate, we felt the need to try boat camping at D.L. Bliss State Park again, if only to see if we could both get a good night’s sleep once the hook was set, dinner was served, and we’d gotten a chance to stargaze after moonset, lying on our backs and staring at the heavens in general and the Milky Way in particular. Splendido in a slip at Tahoe Keys Marina

We arrived at Tahoe City Marina about 1 p.m., and took our time loading food and water on Splendido. Fortunately, a slip opened up by the gas dock, so that made things easier. Winds had been non-existent all day, so we had motored down the west shore of Lake Tahoe, enjoying the blue skies but a little surprised there weren’t more boats out. A Hunter 380 was already anchored when we arrived at D.L. Bliss; another Hunter joined it about an hour after we set our hook. I had let out 155 feet of anchor chain and rode, which caused us to swing widely when a light breeze kicked up, so we pulled in half of that before nightfall and tugged back on the Danforth anchor to really sink it in to the soft sandy bottom. Splendido at sunset, looking north from D.L. Bliss State Park.After a dinner of yummy steaks and salad, we double-checked everything on our lists, and tucked into the main berth, which Debbie calls “the MRI machine built for two,” and I fell right asleep. Debbie, on the other hand, was kept from getting a deep sleep by the slap-slap of the wavelets against the hull, which I have to admit, are amplified by the drum-like interior of a fiberglass boat. In the morning, I was very refreshed, and wanted to go for a swim. David ready for a morning swim.Debbie took  a little more time to wake up, but she ended up getting in a great swim as well. About 2 p.m., Debbie noticed the wind coming up, so we set sail and headed back.  Surprisingly, we averaged over 5 knots all the way home, so we were back early, and even stopped by Cable Car Ice Cream for a cone before heading back to Reno.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

Debbie swimming at D.L. Bliss State Park, Sept. 4, 2011.