Another fabulous day in Howe Sound and the Straight of Georgia. After the morning rain stopped, the skies cleared and the afternoon turned sunny and windy. That’s Bowen Island dead ahead.
Tag Archives: sailing
North Sails transformation
Madsu’s like a completely new sailboat.
Dave Miller at North Sails Vancouver loft set me up with a perfectly cut, new 150% foresail.
I couldn’t believe the difference when I hoisted and trimmed. The boat took off, and is way better balanced now. 5+ knots in a light breeze, no problem today.
Oh yeah, this is sailing…
Old Dogs, New Tricks
My mom and dad are both in their eighties and grew up on the prairies. Even though they live in an area where there are lots of lakes and rivers, my family heritage is not water based.
Definitely flat landers.
Aside from a short and wet ride once on a Laser, my dad’s never been on a sailboat. My mom is super uncomfortable in anything smaller than a BC Ferry.
So, I really wasn’t sure how they’d take to Madsu, our 22 foot Catalina sailboat.
Both of them totally loved it. I couldn’t get my dad off the tiller, and my mom actually claimed to be relaxed, even when the boat heeled in the puffs. The latter is a feat of immense proportion.
I have an old sailing text book in my nautical library (a corner of the shelf in the living room) and dad feverishly devoured every page in the evenings. Out on the boat, he quickly got the hang of things. Like any beginner we had lots of snake wake, but I was surprised at how fast he got the feel for the boat. It’s no rocket ship, but the little Catalina 22 is certainly forgiving and a perfect little boat for the old dogs (and me).
Watching my 80 plus year old dad head up to the fore deck to change the head sail made me both nervous and proud all at the same time. And the fact that my mom, deathly afraid of small boats, actually pestered me to go out “look, the sun is shining, we can go sailing now” is something else.
All I can hope is that when I’m in my 80’s I’ll still be game to try something new.
Pick a card, any (operator's) card
I see there are some issues with the Canadian government’s program aimed at improving safety on the water.
Critics say the pleasure-craft operator card is being hawked by providers who charge $40 to $60 to take a multiple-choice exam of dubious worth, under a system with so few controls that stories of cheating are as common as ducks on a dock. Full story here
As a former professional sailing instructor, I’ve seen pretty much everything out on the water, and anything that helps improve safety is a welcome.
The biggest issue really is this: providing an operator’s card without ever being required to prove yourself on the water is a bit of a joke. You certainly can teach the theory in a classroom or on the internet, but putting that theory to practice in a real-life situation on the water is completely different.
The problem is compounded by the amazing array of pleasure craft out there, and they’re faster than ever before. Powerboats sporting 60’s era muscle-car engines are common, as are sailboats weighing several tons.
Every time we go out sailing – EVERY TIME – boaters either ignore or don’t seem to know the simplest rules of the road. When I was teaching CYA certified courses, I told my students to assume ‘the other guy’ didn’t know the rules of the road – since most of the time that’s the way they behave. It may be cool to clip across someone’s bow doing 30 knots in a jet boat, but it certainly isn’t the right thing to do, and it certainly isn’t safe.
Now, add in a little booze, and no operator’s card in the world is going to make a hoot of difference. In my experience, the concept of designated driver doesn’t seem to have taken off in the boating world. Nor has the notion of actually wearing the PFD you’re legally required to have on board.
For the uninitiated, in Canada while you’re legally required to have a PFD for everyone on board, you aren’t required to actually be wearing it. So, the vast majority of boaters don’t. As you might surmise, they do little good to you in the locker on the boat after you’ve fallen overboard.
The thing is, the government was reluctant to institute a licensing system. So they did a half-assed job and come up with the operator’s card, and then farmed out provisioning to the private sector where every card issued means revenue. I’ve seen the ‘take the boating test’ tents set up in the parking lot at Canadian Tire, and the goal certainly doesn’t seem to be education – it’s about getting you a card as quickly and easily as possible.
I fully support the idea of licensing boaters – but only boats of a certain size or power. Its ridiculous, for instance, that my 13 year old can’t operate our 6 ft. long Zodiac tender because it has a 2-hp. motor on it.
The whole idea here is that people go out and have a fun time and a safe time on the water. Knowing that someone driving a boat heading towards me has actually taken a course and passed a license would make me feel a lot better. As it stands now, I assume they know very little about the rules of the road of safety at sea.
Operators should be required to take a course offered by an organization like the CYA or The Canada Power and Sail Squadron, and testing should be similar to a drivers’ test. Until that happens (and it probably never will) no amount of ‘clamping down’ on the way operator’s cards are issued is going to make much of a difference to safety on the water.
Another Crappy Day in Paradise
On board Madsu on a sunny and windy Saturday afternoon in Howe Sound heading out to the Straight of Georgia. We’re beating to windward doing about 5 knots and heeled about 12 degrees. Britannia is outbound from Squamish to Vancouver. The foredeck was packed with young girls yelling hello. In the foreground, clamped to my BBQ mount is our solar battery charger – it works like a charm.
EB’s on the tiller doing a respectable 5.2 knots SMG – got to like that GPS.
Meanwhile, the boys were up on the weather rail cooling off with a little toe dip in the salt chuck.
What Sail Lofts Need to Know About the Internet…
The North Sail loft in Vancouver (Richmond actually) is my new favourite business.
Even though things like the America’s Cup and those crazy-assed French sailing superstars make you think sailing is big business, it isn’t. Sure stuff for sailboats is expensive, but the business itself is pretty small.
Sail making in particular is relatively small, highly labour intensive, and competitive. For instance, Quantum sails claims to be the 2nd largest sailmaker in the industry, and they only employ 500 people world-wide.
Most other businesses of this size have found the internet to be a powerful help in reaching customers. Sail makers are using the internet well to explain how their products differ from their competitors, but with the exception of North Sails, they are failing miserably on one simple step; the follow through.
On July 4th I sent emails or filled out forms on the web sites of 4 well known sail lofts. In the case of North Sails, and one other, it was actually their parent web site in the US.
Only North Sails followed up. In fact, even though it was a holiday there, I got an email back from someone at North Sails in the US telling me that Dave Miller at the local loft would be in touch. And he was within a couple of days. He got my info, and followed up promptly with an online price estimate that included a cool Flash animation showing what the sail would look like.
The other lofts never bothered to reply – even though their web sites all invite online quotes. Because I live in North Vancouver about 2 miles from one of the big lofts, I called them by phone a week later. They couldn’t help me right away on the phone, so they took a message. It took them a few days to get back to me, and another few days after that to send me a quote. I never did get a reply to my original email.
Keep in mind, my boat is small and the sail I’m ordering isn’t a pricey high-tech racing number. It’s a cruising sail for a decidedly un-sexy boat. Total cost is well under $1,000 with taxes. But still.
Today’s consumer looks for service and quality along with price. Miss one, and you will probably miss the sale. The internet makes it possible for large and small businesses to offer high-touch service. But you’ve got to actually reply when the customer shows up with credit card in hand.
Dave Miller and North Sails got my little contract – it certainly isn’t going to make a big difference to North Sail’s bottom line. But I can guarantee Dave’s getting all my future business too. And that makes a difference to any business.
Madsu Speed
Our little sailboat is no speed demon. For one thing, Madsu is a few decades old and of fairly conservative design. She’s also a swing keel with not a lot of aerodynamics at play down at that end of things.
And with 7 weeks to wait for our new 150% genoa, we’re stuck with a tired 100% foresail.
All that said, we’ve had some really fun nights the last few days, playing with the inflow and/or outflows of Howe Sound – sometimes both over the course of an evening.
We use our handheld GPS in lieu of a knotmeter – here’s a shot of our respectful 5.2 knots on a beam reach heading towards Bowen Island. Fun.
Point Atkinson Light
We had a lovely evening sail on Madsu, our Catalina 22 on the 4th of July. We toasted all our US friends and relatives as we munched on pizza and sushi while on a lazy sail in light winds.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
Forespar Tiller Extender and Lock Box
We’re really happy with the Forespar Tiller Extender, purchased on a recommendation from the guys at Martin Marine in North Vancouver.
The lock box is super handy and means we were able to get rid of a mess of lines used for the ’tiller tamer’. The lock box is simple and works like a charm.
Garnet driving with the tiller extender. It’s particularly handy for someone small like he is.
Where Were Your Feet on Canada Day ?
Mine were dipping into salt water, hanging off the bow of a sail boat in the Straight of Georgia.
Where were yours ?
Reaching
Matthew’s doing hand jokes for Garnet who’s in the cabin having a bit of a rest after hard work grinding in the foresail.
EB’s looking pretty intent on keeping Madsu going on a nice flat reach about 5 minutes out of our slip at Thunderbird Marina.
For Two Departed Sailors
Our new little boat has a new name.
For my sister Madeleine and my friend and mentor Susan, who both loved sailing the west coast. I miss you both every day. You’ll be with us in spirit when we trim the sheets and crush the egg shells.
Small is the new Big
We’ve jumped on the bandwagon. Small is it.
Our new (to us) sailboat is small – just 22 feet. That means less to maintain, tiny little winches even the kids can manage, and fewer $ paid for moorage.
Consequently, our new tender is the smallest Zodiak made – the C200. It’s just 6 feet long and can be pulled out of a bag and inflated in less than 5 minutes flat. Tired of rowing ? We push it along with a 2 hp Honda outboard. The fuel tank is a whopping 1 litres.
And we get to the marina and back in our tiny but mighty Yaris – a five-passenger five-speed ball of fun that seems to never need gas.