Tag: Good Old Boat

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

On the hunt for a buoy at Tahoe

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning3 Comments

Lake Tahoe remains one of the priciest places to moor a boat on a buoy in the U.S., with prices in the $1,500 range at the south shore to upwards of $8,000 for the five-month season as you clock around to the north shore. (The cost for slips in marinas is just staggering for working stiffs like me, so I won’t even go there.) For many years, we have been fortunate to have found a great mooring situation with a private resident on the west shore, but now our wonderful “buoy lord” is selling the family homestead, so we’re on the hunt once again to be able to sail in 2022.

I’m optimistic that something will pop up. I have an ad up on Craigslist seeking a buoy, and I’m tapping my sailing network to see if anyone knows anyone offering a buoy for rent at Tahoe this summer. The influx of remote workers from the Bay Area and inflation in general have driven up prices, and I don’t blame homeowners for asking what the market will bear. My fear, of course, is that we’ll be priced out and have to find somewhere new to sail … not a prospect I relish, let me tell you.

This spring, we’re having the standing rigging replaced down at Obexer’s, and Splendido is buttoned up tight under her shrink-wrap coat, waiting for spring to truly arrive. It snowed yesterday, with winds in the 45-60 range, so we’re not quite there, weather-wise. I’m starting to get excited about sailing once again, though it’s tempered by a bit of anxiety with this new wrinkle. But I believe everything will work out … fingers crossed. If you hear of anything, let me know.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. 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

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