Category: Splendido

Photos, stories, and interesting things about Splendido, our 1993 Catalina 270, who has lived and sailed her whole life on Lake Tahoe.

High and Dry: Diving into Winter Projects

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, SplendidoLeave a comment
Photo of SV Splendido, a Catalina 270 sailboat, undergoing winter repairs on the deck.

We pulled Splendido out of the lake a little early this season as Debbie and I were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary by taking a 10-day road trip down the gorgeous California coast. When we returned, I went to work on some projects that were adding up, including replacing the fasteners for the fairlead tracks, which had been letting condensation through the deck into the cabin, and staining the curtains and ceiling with a “tea” comprised of dirt and maybe rust or corrosion from the so-called stainless steel barrel nuts, some of which had just decomposed and fell out of the ceiling after all these years. Splendido is, after all, now 30 years old, so the working of the boat must’ve done its thing to the hardware.

While winterizing the boat, I noticed (not for the first time, mind you) that the boom gooseneck assembly had really worn down over the years, to the point where my sailing buddy Ancil remarked, “I’m surprised it hasn’t broken off yet.” So, the process of finding a replacement began for venerable Isomat boom parts. At length, I did find a source (and this, after contacting Catalina Yachts’ factory in Florida and another party who evidently purchased all the back stock of parts from Catalina’s factory, both non-responsive to my inquiries) and that was at Rig-Rite, Inc. I found what I was looking for on their website, but as luck would have it, their shopping cart wasn’t working today, so I’ll have to wait until Monday to call and complete the transaction.

I do want to express my thanks to Ancil, who is graciously renting me some space in his pasture once again to store Splendido this winter. I didn’t write about it before, but my experiment of keeping her up at the lake last winter was an unmitigated waste of resources. She got far more beaten up by the storms at elevation — even though she was (expensively) shrink-wrapped — than she ever has wintering on the hard down here in Reno. I was stunned at how the storms up there blew debris up and under the tight “skirt” of the shrink-wrap and so she was just filthy when I went to uncover her last spring. And, the areas that were covered by this “skirt” had a weird pink mold growing, which was a delight to clean off, let me tell you. So, I learned my lesson and she’s staying close to home this winter so I can get some work done. The list, as always, is long, but so is the dark season here, so I’ll just chip away and see that I can do. For now, it’s sealing the fairlead track holes with epoxy and re-drilling them so they’re watertight.

Additional thanks goes to Ancil, who is one of the most mechanically inclined people I’ve ever met. He’s helped me out of half a dozen mechanical fixes already, and for that, I am grateful. It’s a small community of sailors here where I live, but not a bad one in the bunch so far. I’m looking forward to getting back on the water as soon as I can. Until then …

Fair winds and following seas. DB

Escaping the heat

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, Overnighters, Splendido1 Comment

It’s been well over 100º F. at home this week, so we have been taking every opportunity to get out on the water to cool down. Tahoe has been hot as well, recording temps in the high 80s — something I’ve never seen before in our 12 years of sailing here. I brought our old hot tub thermometer with us and recorded a water surface temperature of 72º F. at Sugar Pine State Park. I swam around for hours, snorkeling a bit in the area where we dropped the hook and checking out Splendido’s hull. Even Debbie jumped in and swam around for about 20 minutes without getting chilled, which I believe is a new record for her.

I love it when I have uninterrupted time on the boat, like when we do an overnight stay. Tahoe was like a mill pond all night, so I woke up fresh around 5 a.m. and got the coffee going so we could enjoy the sunrise. Debbie took up her favorite spot on the foredeck and I joined her as we soaked in the silence and serenity of the early hour. I noticed the nylon pins on the hinges to the foreward hatch had worked their way out about an inch and a half on both sides, so I went down and got a screwdriver and an adjustable wrench to gently tap them back into place. Splendido seems pretty dialed in this summer, but I’m always thinking about the next project. Right now, I’m thinking about a fall project to refurbish the sea hood, and another project to repaint and upgrade the trailer before we pull Splendido in October. I saw a funny line on the Catalina 270 forum that said “the only thing guaranteed to work on an older sailboat is the owner,” and I enjoyed a real belly laugh over that. But, as someone who has worked at a desk as a writer for 35 years, I actually relish the chance to do hands-on work and learn a few things. I think that’s what I appreciate most about owning a sailboat: I’ve learned a bit about diesel maintenance, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, gel coat repair, plastic fabrication, and lots more — mostly in a clumsy, oh-ffs-what-have-I-done-now? way. But I digress. For now, I’m just grateful that the fire season hasn’t been too bad, and that our exposure to smoke has been minimal. You can see the start of the smoke that came in from the Oak Fire near Yosemite July 22, and I am happy to say the fire crews really jumped on that one and knocked it down within a week. It looks like there’s a break in the heat dome today, and before we know it, the sky will change mid-August and that first hint of fall will hang in the air.

Fair winds. DB

A recipe for summer sailing at Lake Tahoe

On By David BranbyIn SplendidoLeave a comment

Debbie and I have been getting out on the water this season at every opportunity — almost to the point of exhaustion. (Yes, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.) 🙂 Seriously, though, at our age, you really do notice the physical effort involved with sailing at 6,224 ft. above sea level, so you’ve got to keep your strength up.

To that point, I want to share an amazing recipe for olive oil cake that Debbie makes (with all credit to legendary pastry chef Jennifer Shelbo), which is a perfect snack for munching on when you’ve thrown down the hook and have a chance to rest your hands and eyes in the cool shade of your boom tent to beat the dazzling sunshine and heat that’s now a part of summer sailing at Lake Tahoe.

Olive oil cake — yum!
Debbie’s ready to sail.
First sail of 2022.
Sandy and Ryan, first-time sailors.
Ryan Green hoisting the flag, July 4, 2022.
A toast to Tahoe.
Southbound again.
Shaking the reef.
A singlehander’s snack.
Motoring.
Happy faces after a long winter.
Cruising at 5.5 knots.
We’re flushed with excitement over the new marine head.
Yes, this is my happy place.
Shady characters.
Blackwood Canyon, near our home buoy.
One day we forgot the boat key, so opted for a picnic instead.
That’s our girl.
Chasing faster boats to the north.

Two things come to mind about sailing so far this summer:

  1. The performance of the new standing rigging and CDI furler installed and tuned by Pete Lewis of Tahoe Sailboat Service is amazing. Our previous boatspeed record was 6.4 knots. Yesterday (7/16/22), I hit 6.7 knots while singlehanding in 19-21 knots of breeze. While expensive to do, the upgrade was worth it. Thanks, Pete!
  2. I have yet to meet my sailing heroes Brady Trautman and Alex Blue of SV Delos/Cruisers Academy fame, although their Catalina 22 teaching boats are moored only 100 yards away from Splendido’s buoy. As a total dork fanboy, I wear my SV Delos rash guard shirt on a lot of sunny days.

    Fair winds, DB

Friend Ships: Gary Hamilton’s Catalina 270, “Nothing Like This”

On By David BranbyIn Friend Ships, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, Splendido2 Comments

If there’s anyone I’ve encountered who embodies the phrase, “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats,” it would be sailor Gary Hamilton of Wabamun Lake in western Canada. I have followed Gary’s Sailing in western Canada blog for years, and each visit leaves me in bewildered awe at the way Gary has tricked out his lovely Catalina 270, Nothing Like This, with ingenious upgrades and improvements to the already wonderful Gerry Douglas design. He’s also one of the most generous folks out there on the Catalina 270 forums, keeping the conversation going about all things related to sailing the C270. I reached out to Gary for some insights on his philosophy and process, and he was kind enough to share, in words and photos, his passion for making the most of his time on the water.

Q&A with Gary Hamilton, Skipper, Nothing Like This

Q: How did you come about owning Nothing Like This? 

A: I was looking on Yachtworld one day, saw a 270 for sale in Denver and this adventure began. The trailer was home-made, and the border guys wouldn’t let it into Canada, so it went to Seattle, got tossed in the big lake (ed note: the Pacific Ocean), the trailer got hauled across on a flatbed, the boat got motored to Vancouver, reunited and driven home. Take that, border people!

Q: Did you own a sailboat before you bought her? How did you start sailing, and how long ago?

A: I’ve owned boats almost all my life. I had a brand-new MacGregor 26 in 1993, and discovered a tippy, smallish boat with no headroom. But it trailers easily and we went a lot of places with it.

Q: I know you’ve done a bunch of upgrades to your boat and trailer over the years … can you give us a rundown on them?

A: The list is long quite long. A full RayMarine electronics installation with autopilot and tactical. A home-made top down furler with home-made bow sprit for the asymmetrical kite, upgraded virtually every sail-handling system, and added back winches, making it a pleasure to sail. Designed and built a dodger and a Bimini while learning how to sew; bought a TechSew machine that is cheap offshore and finicky as all get out. Solar installation, and pretty much redesigned the trailer from the ground up, lowering the boat over 20” and allowing a trailer launch, with three axles for on the road peace of mind.

Q: Are you an engineer by training? A lot of your projects seem quite involved. Are they projects anyone could do?

A: I am a technical director for an electronics company by trade. I have no issue diving into almost any kind of project; the trick is to do sufficient research, understand, or go find out the issues that exist for what you want to accomplish, have a goal, and be prepared to make and correct mistakes.  The trailer project was way, way out of my league, but the basic shape was already there, and the placement of the new axles was a calculated guess. The boat was close and has had two relatively minor adjustments since.  The dodger was probably an order of magnitude harder; I had literally no idea what I was doing, had really never operated a sewing machine, and I spent a good month building stuff, watching and copying ways of doing stuff. Now I can do a French seam. Is it straight? It’s straight enough for me. 

Q: What do you love most about Nothing Like This and sailing Wabamun Lake?

I’d rather be at the coast. Wabamun Lake is an inland lake that is close to the foothills. It’s shallow, so there isn’t much fetch, there’s no current, the wind shifts can be 180 degrees, which is why there’s a top-down furler for the kite, and when weather rolls in, it sometimes does so with a vengeance. What I love the most is that I can be on the boat in 35 minutes from my house, and the sun doesn’t set till 11 in July.  

Q: What would you change about your boat/what upgrades do you have planned?

A: I’m not happy with the bilge pump arrangement, and will likely yank it all out and do something else. If I were to change anything, I’d make the berth access like that on a 28mkii and get rid of the door. This business of turning sideways and contorting yourself into a hernia to get in there is rather annoying.

Q: What was your most fun or interesting time on Wabamun Lake?

A: I’d have to say exercising the controls on the boat to the fullest and having people try to keep up.  No smugness there — ha ha!

Q: What was your worst experience sailing western Canada?

A: Breaking rudder cables on the MacGregor. There are lots of shallow spots, and you need to know where they are. We hit something in the Catalina 270 last year (that was a first!) and put a little divot in the keel. Yikes!

Q: What would you tell people about sailing western Canada they might be surprised to know?

A: It’s like sailing a mountain lake. Don’t tack on the wind shifts. We had some world class sailors on the MacGregor once, and they didn’t believe it, and we were dead last on the Wednesday night series, where we were usually top five. Go figure.

Q: Any final thoughts?A: I still think that everybody out west should plan a get-together at the coast. Get a mortgage and buy some fuel.  Let’s go!


Thanks so much for the inspiration, Gary. Fair winds and following seas! DB

At least the wind is free

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, SplendidoLeave a comment
Pumping out is generally free, too, although a tip of $5-$20 is much appreciated by the dock hands.

As I begin planning our spring commissioning, I am thinking a bit about the costs associated with sailing here at Lake Tahoe. Our 1993 Catalina 270 is a relatively small sailing vessel, but nevertheless, I have kept spreadsheets over our nearly 12 years of ownership to track what it costs to keep her up and sail her during our 4-5 month season here. I’m interested in learning how our experience stacks up to other small sailboat owners out there, so feel free to comment or post your own records if you’re comfortable doing so.

Every hobby comes with its price tag, and I think there is the impression out there among the general public that sailing is either a rich person’s sport, or that it’s “free” because the wind is free. This year, it’s likely to be a bit more spendy because we’re having the standing rigging replaced and we’ve kept her on the hard over the winter at Obexer’s on the west shore of Lake Tahoe while that work is being done. Oh, and I did decide to splurge and get a new furling headstay, so there’s that. But for now, I’m going to share my 2019 spreadsheet, as that’s pretty typical for what it costs us to prep, moor and sail at Tahoe each summer.

Let me know how your sailing season runs — and if there’s something wonky-looking about my expenses, let me know.

Here’s to fair winds, following seas, and (hopefully) a smoke-free sailing season! DB

Mooring secured

On By David BranbyIn Splendido1 Comment

Just a note of gratitude this Sunday morning as I am putting together my commissioning checklist after securing a buoy on majestic Lake Tahoe. (Whew!) The sailing community at Tahoe is small, but their reach is wide, and I am grateful to the folks who pinged me to let me know about different mooring opportunities around Lake Tahoe. Special thanks goes out to Mike Levin of Sailing On Sunshine for the tips and support. Thank you, Mike!

This year will mark our 10th season of sailing at Tahoe, and we’ve cherished every moment, even the tough ones. Can’t wait to get out on the water—and praying that we’ll have fair winds and smooth sailing, hopefully free from wildfire smoke.

Looking forward to seeing you on the water! DB

A break in the smoke, a sail and a splash

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

My uncle Ken Holland was a crab fisherman in the Bering Sea from the early 1960s through the 1980s. He always told me that in fishing, you “plan for the worst and hope for the best.” That’s this sailing season in a nutshell. We got lucky and got a mooring buoy in June, got a few sails in, and then the Dixie Fire and then the Caldor Fire hit, blanketing the lake and nearly our whole state of Nevada in thick smoke. At our home in Reno, we saw air quality indexes over 300, and closer to the fires, we saw numbers in the 400s, 500s and even 700 for a brief period. Today, after nearly a month of not sailing, I saw a break in the smoke with some westerly winds hitting around 4 p.m., so I rocketed up to the lake and found our beautiful Splendido covered in ash—inside as well as out.

I primed the Perkins, fired her up, and headed out to the nearly empty lake. Out past the wind shadow of the west shore, I picked up some nice breezes that went as high as 21 knots and blasted northward at 6.2 knots til the gusts softened. I tacked near Sunnyside and blasted back down toward McKinney Bay, catching the Blackwood Canyon winds and putting Splendido through her paces. I was hoping the strong breeze would blow away all of the ash, but alas, our beautiful girl still needs a good vacuum and a scrub, which I’ll be happy to do another day.

As the sun set in the west at about 7:20 p.m., I got her back on the hook and buttoned her up as the pink glow settled over Tahoe. I’ve been filming a bit on my GoPro, so I decided to take a plunge with the camera. The photo above is a frame from that very refreshing splash over the side. I’m keen to milk every last bit of sailing out of what remains of our summer here at 6,223 ft. above sea level, and praying for cooler temperatures and lots of rain to quench all the fires.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

Splashin’ around the old sailing grounds

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

Debbie and I headed out on Saturday, July 17 to visit Calawee Cove at D.L. Bliss State Park and Sugar Pine State Park on the way back. On our way down south, we encountered (yet again) a couple of SUP paddlers about two miles offshore with rising winds. We hailed them to make sure they were OK, and asked if they were fatigued, as we’re always happy to pick folks up so we don’t have to read about them in the papers the next day. They said they were fine but a bit lost, so we pointed out Bliss, Meek’s and Sugar Pine to help orient them, and pulled in the mainsheet to get underway again.

We threw down the hook in 15 feet of water at D.L. Bliss, which was (predicably) a parking lot of speedboats on this warm afternoon.

Debbie made some sandwiches and I poured her a glass of wine, and we sat out under our instant sunshade for a couple of hours, watching the neighboring boats and merrymakers having fun.

I had the binoculars out and was keeping an eye on the paddleboarders we’d met earlier. After about 2-1/2 hours, they came straggling in to the beach, safe and sound.

To the southeast, the Tamarack Fire began sending up a new plume of white and gray smoke, and we knew that eventually that smoke would cover the lake. We decided to weigh anchor and head north, so I moved the traveler to port and we sailed on a bowline up to the south end of Sugar Pine, where we dropped the hook in about eight feet of water. The crowds were thinning out and the wind was tailing off, so I took the opportunity to replace three busted sail-slides on the lower mainsail. Evidently, the winter and long layup had made them fragile, so it was well worth the effort. Afterward, I took a quick plunge to cool off, and finally felt like summer sailing season had begun in earnest.
Our “secret” cove on the south end of Sugar Pine State Park.

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

A fun sail and sandwiches at Sugar Pine State Park

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

Now that we’ve got the thermostat issue worked out (thank you, Jamie Filbin!), Debbie and I got out for an afternoon sail in 16-21 knots on an ESE heading to Sugar Pine State Park. The breeze—at 90º F.—was as warm as I’ve ever felt at Tahoe, and even in the gusts, Splendido sailed like a thoroughbred as we made our way down to the area just north of the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion. An enterprising American robin had made a massive nest in the anchor locker, which I’d only partly cleaned out a few weeks ago, so I let the entire anchor line out and cleaned out the rest of the hay, grass, feathers and dirt that had accumulated in the locker. Debbie broke out some yummy caprese sandwiches on thick crusty bread, and we lolled about for about an hour watching the changing light, sipping on Lagunitas IPNAs ( a refreshing new favorite N/A beer) and munching on Kettle chips.

The sail back was epic, with Tahoe’s classic canyon winds kicking in for the final boost toward home. I was struck by how few boats are on Lake Tahoe during the week, even at the height of summer. We counted four sailboats besides ourselves and only a handful of speedboats, so it felt like he had the whole place to ourselves—a welcome relief after the rock-and-rolling craziness of July 4th weekend.

Fair winds and following seas. DB

Sneaking up for a sail after work

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

I start my open-water scuba course this weekend, so I wanted to sneak in a sail with Debbie before classes start. Last night, Debbie picked me up after work and we zipped up to Splendido for a balmy evening’s sail around McKinney Bay. Winds were in the 11-17 knot range becoming light, so we had a fun sail and were just able to ghost back to the mooring buoy, where we caught the hook on the last puff of the evening and didn’t have to turn on the engine.

It is supposed to be hella hot here over the next four days (102-106 in Reno, about 10-12 degrees cooler in Tahoe), so we were eager to escape the heat before the weekend starts. I’ll be sailing a lot next week (summer break for me), so we’ll try to find some adventures and hopefully some good photos to post.

Fair winds and following seas. DB