Tag: 1993 Catalina 270

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

A Taste of Tahoe on a Holiday Weekend

On By David BranbyIn Food & Drink, On The Water, Overnighters, Ports Of Call, Splendido1 Comment

This could be a story about changing out a thermostat on a 1993 Perkins diesel (and how it took two strapping midlifers 48 hours to tear down the engine in a wildly rocking boat on a busy Fourth of July weekend), but to hell with that. This is a story about Tahoe’s unexpected delights—places, pizza, tacos and thirst-quenching libations.

The good news is, we replaced the wonky thermostat. The better news is, my buddy Jamie and I discovered some Tahoe treasures, including a front-row seat at Chambers Landing Grill for an awesome sunset. I tucked into a veggie pizza and a Coors N/A, while Jamie devoured a plate of their amazing tacos and a crisp glass of Kim Crawford sauv blanc. Chambers was hopping with relaxed familes and lots of kids running around, climbing trees and playing paddle ball on the golden sand. The food was yummy, the service was outstanding (despite the fact that we had on Eau du Boat fragrance, two-day beards and grimy boat clothes, amidst the finery of the folks around us). The setting, of course, was pure summer Tahoe: pinkish light settling over the Sierras, the scent of warm sugar pines, and the sounds of happy families sharing stories and talking with their neighbors, largely vaxxed and relaxed, a prelude to a return to normalcy.

Not gonna lie—it wasn’t hard to become a member of the Clean Plate Club at Chambers Grill.

After dinner, we made it back to Splendido and decided to sleep on the lazarettes in the open air—something I had rarely done before. The view was spectacular as the sky darkened and the Milky Way appeared.

After a great afternoon sail in balmy 14 kt. breezes, we slept out in the cockpit in sleeping bags.

I woke up about a quarter to five to absolute silence and the stars overhead fading quietly into the dawn. Jamie was out like a light, so I chilled and just watched the light come up over the lake.

About 5:45 a.m., the first water ski boat roared to life, breaking the silence and the millpond surface of the lake.

After a couple of cups of hot coffee, we rowed in and drove up to Fire Sign Café to see about breakfast. Not surprisingly, the place was packed with holiday guests, so we wandered across the street to West Shore Market and picked up provisions for the day.

Back on board, I put up the shade tent to beat the heat, then we got after swapping out the thermostat. Jamie and I both ended up getting a little “green” from the constant tossing and turning, so we alternated “coming up for air” in the cockpit. Mission accomplished, we ran a number of tests, made sure everything was tight, then buttoned her up and headed home.

I can’t wait to get back on board with Debbie and friends and get some more summer sailing in! Huge thanks to Jamie for helping wrench on the engine and sharing a classic couple of days at Lake Tahoe.

Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate—and fair winds to you and yours. DB

Sail & Steam

On By David BranbyIn SplendidoLeave a comment
Not a lot of wind, but lovely to be out on Lake Tahoe (June 26, 2021).

Last Saturday (June 26) dawned bright and clear, with high temps forecast (as all of our West Coast neighbors can attest), so I knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of wind. Debbie and I threw back some coffee and motored the mighty Prius up to Tahoe, where we loaded two full sailbags and two storage bins of cargo into our floating summer home. While Debbie put things away below decks, I replaced the turnbuckle on one of the shrouds (thank you, Pete Lewis of Tahoe Sailboat Service) and got out the Loos Gauge to tension the shrouds and stays, attached the reefing lines, then fixed a broken latch on the galley under-sink door. As my good friend Ancil Sigman says, it’s always something on a sailboat.

We motored out a 1/4 mile or so and set sail, but the winds were light and variable at about 2-3 knots, so we drifted hither and yon for about an hour and decided to get out out the sun and back on the hook. I fired up the Perkins Perama M20 and headed back to the mooring buoy.

When we arrived, Debbie said, “Hey, what’s that burning smell?”—five words you never want to hear on a boat. I jumped below and realized the engine had overheated. All the water in the reservoir had evaporated, and the smell was from the very warm rubber tubing. I vented everything as best I could, and after a while, gently opened up the radiator cap with a thick towel, as we’d only had the engine running about 10 minutes. A blast of steam came out, followed by a small eruption of rusty goo splattering all over the fiberglass above the engine.

Still cozy after all these years.

What I suspect happened was that the thermostat got stuck closed, maybe rusted from the long layup. After she cooled down, I topped off the reservoir with water once again and she fired right up, and I could feel from the sea water pump and the tubing that cold water was running through her once again. I ran it for about 10 minutes, and everything seemed to be OK. Nevertheless, I ordered a new thermostat from Trans-Atlantic Diesel and intend to put that in this coming Saturday morning—after first removing the old one and flushing out the water channels which likely got rusty/gunky during the long layup.

Still working on that sunscreen thing.

I always try to seize a victory out of the jaws of defeat, so one thing I am proud of was rigging a shade sail to keep us out of the sun when the boat was on the hook. I had a triangular woven “shade sail” from Costco ($29) and used eight WalMart carabiners ($12) to attach it to the boom, lifelines, and backstay for an excellent, airy boom tent that was just delightful to hang out under after the work was done. We lolled about for a couple of hours in the 85º F. heat, and I even pulled on my shorty wetsuit to take a dive, on the hunt for that dang impeller I dropped overboard (No luck as yet!). I’ll keep you posted.

Fair winds and following seas. DB

Back On Lake Tahoe After 634 Days

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Mechanical Stuff, On The Water, Splendido1 Comment


It feels awesome to have Splendido back out on Tahoe. Tracy and I launched her last Wednesday, June 16, and had a relatively smooth time of it. Launching every year is an exercise in project management—I had a three page pre-launch checklist, and still, we somehow lost a shroud turnbuckle on the drive up. Tracy, who started his working life as an iron worker before earning his degree in civil engineering, pulled out some high-tension wire and rigged a temporary latticework wiring to hold the shroud in place while we put in an order for a replacement turnbuckle. It was a work of art.

There’s a new rigger at Obexer’s named Pete Lewis, a mechanical engineer by training and a helpful guy. He put the order in for the new turnbuckle, and he and I got to talking about rigging in general—which made me think about the last time Splendido’s standing rigging was replaced. Short answer: I don’t know. So, that is also on the list for fall 2021.

I actually had a lot of fun getting her ready to sail last week, but I had to laugh—after more than a year and a half on the hard, a robin had made a beautiful, elaborate nest in the anchor locker! I just discovered it when Debbie and I went up yesterday to install the 150 genoa and attach the lines to the newly-tailored lazy bag. I gently picked up the tangle of hay, feathers and broken egg shells and set it out on the water—an avian Kon Tiki that gently floated away.

As soon as we get the new turnbuckle delivered and installed, it’s sail time. Grateful to our new buoy owner, Chris Champas, and hoping that the summer fire season is mild. Fingers crossed—South Lake Tahoe hit 91 degrees last week … six degrees warmer than the last same-day record of 85 degrees, set in 1985.

And, as happens when launching, I dropped a brand-new $38 impeller over the side at our buoy. It will be the first thing I dive for when I get my PADI scuba certification in mid-July.

Fair winds and following seas! DB

Getting the old girl ready to splash

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Splendido1 Comment

Life is what happens while you’re making other plans. 😀 I had all but despaired of not being able to sail this summer because the influx of folks at Tahoe during the pandemic meant that buoys were scarce, and competition for them was fierce. After putting out feelers for buoys since February with zero results, Debbie and I had begun making plans to do other things—road trips to rural Nevada, hiking, biking, etc.—in lieu of sailing. Last Saturday, out of the blue, our old buoy owner reached out to say his neighbor had a buoy for rent, just 40 yards from where we’ve been moored for the past few years.

Now, the push is on to get the boat ready for launching next week. Fingers crossed—she is dusty and dirty and I have a list of 36 pre-sailing checks to do. I’ll shoot a little video to try to capture the fun.

I cannot express how excited I am to get out on the water again.

Fair winds and following seas! DB

Baby Needs A Bath

On By David BranbyIn Keeping Up Appearances2 Comments

There’s nothing like a pandemic to make you rethink your priorities. Right now, our priorities are getting to the other side of this thing – and if that means keeping Splendido on the hard this summer, so be it. I’ll be working on the interior and fixing all the little things, and maybe giving this girl a bath. How are my fellow sailors holding up in 2020? Drop me a note in the comments and let me know how it’s going for you and yours. Mask up, stay socially distanced, and we’ll see you on the water when all this is over.

Fair winds and smooth sailing, DB

Once again to Emerald Bay

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, On The Water, Ports Of Call, SplendidoLeave a comment

On Sept. 14, our last sail of the season, Jamie Filbin and I cruised down to Emerald Bay on a glorious Saturday morning. Lake Tahoe has rarely looked more magnificent, and we pretty much had the lake to ourselves as we made our way south about 11 miles to the entrance of the bay.

Before we set out, we pulled Splendido up to a nearby public dock and offloaded a bunch of stuff for the winter – spare anchor, chain and rode; pillows; blankets and linens; kitchen supplies and bathroom décor; basically, anything that wasn’t nailed down. To me, it always feels like Splendido springs to life when she’s lightened of all the boat-camping gear. She’s a little livelier, a little more “yar,” as they say.

When we got to the entrance of Emerald Bay, it seemed like every boater left on the lake had had the same idea. These photos don’t show it so much, but there were dozens of boats hanging around Fannette Island, anchors down, girls sunning themselves on the backs of speedboats, guys trolling around, admiring the scenery.

The wind came up and we had a strong sail back north with the wind on the quarter. We averaged 6 knots all the way home, and Splendido sailed like a champ.

Once we tied up, Jamie and took off the sails and boom and stored them below for the winter ahead. I’d scheduled a pull-out later that week, so this was the last hurrah for the season.

Grateful for every day on the water, and for friends to share it with.

Fair winds and smooth sailing, until next time. DB