Tag: Sailing Lake Tahoe

More Than A Sailboat; A Friendship

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

I got a call from an old friend last week — his granddaugher from North Carolina was coming out to visit and would I mind taking them out for a sail? “I’d love to!” I said.  So, on Saturday, June 29th, around 1 p.m., my friend Michael, his granddaughter Lauren, and her friend Dominique joined me on Splendido for a fun afternoon of sailing with gentle breezes, warm air temps, and a bit of swimming in Tahoe’s 60-degree waters, too. (A wee bit of swimming…that water is cold!)

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We set off southward, heading toward Meeks Bay, where I figured we’d throw down the anchors for a bit and let the girls take a dip in the shallower water near shore, with its white-sand bottom and interesting boulders here and there. On the way down south, the wind gusts were in the 20-knot range, but nothing we couldn’t handle with a little judicious use of the mainsheet. Since it was the first time on a sailboat for both young ladies, I wanted to keep it smooth and not get too heeled over.

girls-dareOnce we had the bow and stern anchors down, we broke out the sandwiches and chips that the girls had made for us the night before. As Michael and I ate, Lauren and Dominique dared each other to be the first in the water. I felt pretty comfortable that they’d be OK, since I discovered that both were competitive high school swimmers, and Dominique spent last summer lifeguarding at her hometown pool. Eventually, they both jumped in — and quickly surfaced, with very surprised expressions and a few choice epithets that can’t be printed here.

michael-inflated

While Michael and I were relaxing on deck, I suddenly heard a very loud hissing sound, and jumped up to see where it was coming from. It took a second to realize that it was Michael’s PFD inflating…while we were sitting on the cabin top, he’d accidentally sat on and pulled the “rip cord” for the waist-worn unit. I was amazed at how quickly (and firmly!) the CO2 cartridge had filled the PFD. By this time, the girls were back on board, so I had them take this shot.

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After their swim, the girls bundled up in towels and warmed up in the brilliant Tahoe sunshine. Michael and I cleaned up the cockpit and put away the food and drink, and got ready to head back north.

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Once we were underway, Lauren and Dominique went below decks to get out of the wind, as their damp suits were a bit chilly, in spite of the 78-degree air temperature. As Michael and I sailed along at a brisk 6.2 knots in freshening breezes, we noticed that the girls had stopped talking. I took a look below to see if everything was OK, and found the girls slumbering soundly as Splendido heeled gently, charging along under full main and the 150 genoa. All in all, it was a thrill to share beautiful Lake Tahoe with two new friends and one old one, and it was a day filled with laughter and memories I’ll cherish for a long, long time.

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Sail for 2014, Single-handed & Serene

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

First Sail 2014 First Sail 2014 photo 1[1]I was as excited as  a kid in a candy store to get up and actually sail this week. So, I worked through lunch on Thursday and left the office at 4 to see if I might catch a ride or two. The sky over Truckee was filled with big thunder-bumpers, so I wasn’t particularly optimistic about sailing. But, when I got to the lake, it was mostly clear, so I set about zip-tying all of the turnbuckles and taking care of the odds and ends that I hadn’t finished on my last visit. A delicate breeze came up around 6 p.m., so I motored out to the wind line and hoisted sail. To my chagrin, I had forgotten to attach the reefing lines, so there were two long ropes hanging off the back end of the boom, and all I could think of was what a mess that would be if it got gusty and I had to take in sail. So, I put her in irons, dropped the sail, and attached everything properly.

About four boats were out, dancing around a bit on the broad sheet of blue between the massive clouds to the north and also to the south of the lake. I decided to head south to visit my new friends at the Big Blue Tahoe Yacht Club, which is comprised mostly of sailors who put in and out at Obexer’s Marina. The wind picked up to where I was heading due south at 5.8 knots, so I just slathered on some sunscreen and enjoyed the relaxing sail. Splendido performed like a champ, and for a while I forgot about the depth meter whose transducer went out and the anemometer whose cups wouldn’t spin. I could tell it was blowing 10-15 mph and I knew the depth was in the hundreds of feet…Tahoe is so clear, you can see rocks way before you’d be on top of them.

I got down within a hundred yards of Cheeseburger in Paradise and Grand Cru, both sitting pretty out in front of Obexer’s, then decided to tack back north, as the sun was about to dip behind the mountains by Homewood.

About half way back, I decided to fire up the Perkins to charge the batteries, as I’d noticed #1 was almost in the yellow zone on the meter. As the boat made its way north, I did a quick check of the bilge, and noticed more water than usual flowing in. I checked the auto bilge pump, and it was working fine; now to source the leak. After poking around a bit, I found it: I hadn’t tighted the hose clamps enough on the 15 feet of new exhaust hose that I’d replaced a couple of weeks ago, and so the water in the hose was leaking out onto the hull and running down into the bilge. A few sweaty turns of the 5/16th socket wrench, and the mini deluge abated. Whew! Nothing gets your attention more than a leak on a boat. Who needs meditation when you’ve got stuff like that going on?

I kept a close eye on things once I was on the hook, leaving the engine on to continue to charge the batteries while I fluffed and buffed the boat and put everything to bed. The leaking seemed to have stopped completely, the batteries were charging, and the Perkins was humming gentlly as I went above decks and began to swing the boat port-to-starboard, to get the water into the bilge and out from under the floorboards (we’re not talking a lot of water here; less than a gallon all told. But still.). Satisfied that everything seemed OK, I buttoned up the cabin and rowed back to the beach, exhilarated after a nice sail and happy that I could find the problem and fix it. (Yay!) My wish is to get everything dialed in and ready so I can do a single-handed circumnavigation of Tahoe in late June or July. Every day on the water is another shot at working out the kinks!

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

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!

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Fair winds and smooth sailing, DB

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

First Sail 2011

On By David BranbyIn On The WaterLeave a comment

First Sail 2011 - David & Tracy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I took Debbie out on Splendido, I wanted to do a shakedown cruise with Tracy just to make sure we got everything right during commissioning. So, on Wednesday, June 7th, Tracy and my nephew Eric Hieber joined me on our first sail from Tahoe City Marina down towards Sugar Pine Point. Winds were light and variable, but we managed a top boat speed of 6.2 knots under her mainsail and smallest jib. For Eric, an A+ third-year law student at Boyd School of Law in Las Vegas, this was his first time on Splendido, so we let him drive, and he did great. You can see by his smile that he’ll be back for more.First Sail 2011 - Eric and Tracy

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB