Southern Endurance
We had arranged to meet at 10:00 am at the charter office to gain access to our sailboat. We arose a bit early, and spent a half hour re-packing our gear to reduce the amount of stuff we would need to bring onboard.
At the charter office, we met up with Crystal, the charter operator, and her small son who took us down to the marina and gave us a tour of Southern Endurance, the sailboat we had booked. We were a little nervous that she would be critical of our limited experience with large-ish boats such as this (for those not familiar, Debbie and I had a 22 foot Tanzer sailboat we sailed on Lake Ontario, so we are not complete novices. There is, however, a significant size and weight difference between a 22 foot (3300 lbs) sailboat and a 29 foot (16000 lbs) sailboat).
Our concerns were unfounded, as Crystal was happy to hand us the keys, give us a complete and detailed tour of the mechanical and electrical issues associated with safe handling of the boat, and then leave us on our own.
After Crystal left, we left the boat and headed into Picton (5-10 minutes) to have breakfast and do some shopping for food and supplies. Once saited and stocked, we spent a little while unpacking our gear into the various lockers of the boat and familiarizing ourselves with the boat's equipment.
With half the day ahead of us, we decided to go out for a get-acquainted cruise. Our original plan was to just spend a couple of hours motoring around the region and then return. After we were out for a half hour or so, we decided to put out the jib, as the boat had roller furling, and it is extremely easy to put out and take in.
With the jib out, we turned off the engine, and sailed jib only for a while. The wind was pretty stiff, and we were a little anxious about going under full sail, but there were several other boats out under full sail, so we decided to go for it. Crystal had suggested that the mainsail was reefed (shortened) so we thought it might be easier, but it turned out that the main was equipped to be reefed, but was not in fact reefed. When the full main sail was deployed, we had all of our sails fully deployed.
There was some short alarm until we were able to let sails out and spill as much air as necessary to get the boat under a level of heel that felt comfortable to us.
The inital period of mild panic was followed by a couple of hours sailing in fairly stiff winds getting comfortable with the capabilities of Southern Endurance. After a while, we dropped the sails and motored back to our slip.
I'm seriously digging the pirate look.
We had noticed a certain "Odeur" about the below decks that we had attributed to the boat having been shut up for a while. After we returned from our sail, we noticed that the smell had not diminished. We closed up the hatches and went into Picton for dinner.
Upon our return, we found the smell was stronger, but after a little while with the hatches open, the odour had receded somewhat. If you are wondering what the smell was, try to remember the last time you were in one of the blue plastic portable toilets they set up for special events. Then picture it sitting out in the sun for a while. Then open the door and take a good snootful.
After a short while, it became abundantly clear that the smell was too much, and so we decided to abandon ship, and to talk to the charter people in the morning. I left Debbie in the stink ship and headed out to Picton in search of a vacant motel room. Although Picton has at least 20 motels there was not one single vacant room available. I returned to the Southern Endurance, and Debbie and I made the best of our situation, and with fully open hatches, got a restless, stink filled, night's sleep.
How will things turn out? Will Debbie and Don choke to death on the evil portapotty fumes, much to the dismay of their friends and family? Wait and see ...
Don
At the charter office, we met up with Crystal, the charter operator, and her small son who took us down to the marina and gave us a tour of Southern Endurance, the sailboat we had booked. We were a little nervous that she would be critical of our limited experience with large-ish boats such as this (for those not familiar, Debbie and I had a 22 foot Tanzer sailboat we sailed on Lake Ontario, so we are not complete novices. There is, however, a significant size and weight difference between a 22 foot (3300 lbs) sailboat and a 29 foot (16000 lbs) sailboat).
Our concerns were unfounded, as Crystal was happy to hand us the keys, give us a complete and detailed tour of the mechanical and electrical issues associated with safe handling of the boat, and then leave us on our own.
After Crystal left, we left the boat and headed into Picton (5-10 minutes) to have breakfast and do some shopping for food and supplies. Once saited and stocked, we spent a little while unpacking our gear into the various lockers of the boat and familiarizing ourselves with the boat's equipment.
With half the day ahead of us, we decided to go out for a get-acquainted cruise. Our original plan was to just spend a couple of hours motoring around the region and then return. After we were out for a half hour or so, we decided to put out the jib, as the boat had roller furling, and it is extremely easy to put out and take in.
With the jib out, we turned off the engine, and sailed jib only for a while. The wind was pretty stiff, and we were a little anxious about going under full sail, but there were several other boats out under full sail, so we decided to go for it. Crystal had suggested that the mainsail was reefed (shortened) so we thought it might be easier, but it turned out that the main was equipped to be reefed, but was not in fact reefed. When the full main sail was deployed, we had all of our sails fully deployed.
There was some short alarm until we were able to let sails out and spill as much air as necessary to get the boat under a level of heel that felt comfortable to us.
The inital period of mild panic was followed by a couple of hours sailing in fairly stiff winds getting comfortable with the capabilities of Southern Endurance. After a while, we dropped the sails and motored back to our slip.
I'm seriously digging the pirate look.
We had noticed a certain "Odeur" about the below decks that we had attributed to the boat having been shut up for a while. After we returned from our sail, we noticed that the smell had not diminished. We closed up the hatches and went into Picton for dinner.
Upon our return, we found the smell was stronger, but after a little while with the hatches open, the odour had receded somewhat. If you are wondering what the smell was, try to remember the last time you were in one of the blue plastic portable toilets they set up for special events. Then picture it sitting out in the sun for a while. Then open the door and take a good snootful.
After a short while, it became abundantly clear that the smell was too much, and so we decided to abandon ship, and to talk to the charter people in the morning. I left Debbie in the stink ship and headed out to Picton in search of a vacant motel room. Although Picton has at least 20 motels there was not one single vacant room available. I returned to the Southern Endurance, and Debbie and I made the best of our situation, and with fully open hatches, got a restless, stink filled, night's sleep.
How will things turn out? Will Debbie and Don choke to death on the evil portapotty fumes, much to the dismay of their friends and family? Wait and see ...
Don
posted by Don at
6:20 pm
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