[Public-List] First time at the Syronelle

Eric Chavigny eric.chavigny at hotmail.com
Tue Jun 24 08:22:21 PDT 2014 

We got her at the Marina Sieur the Champlain on the Richelieu river.  We are at 1 miles on the Us border, so intend to get some experience the Champlain Lake.

Eric
#541

> On Jun 24, 2014, at 11:19, "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello Eric - 
> 
> Where do you sail Dimanche Matin?
> 
> Gord #426
> (I really want to try to instigate A30 racing here at home now...)
> 
> 
>> On 24/06/14 11:16 AM, "Eric Chavigny" <eric.chavigny at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi folks, 
>> 
>> Thanks for the story. i can only imagine how stressfull it was.  I just bough
>> A30 Dimanche Matin hull number 541 and we got the mast up last weekend.  As it
>> is my firts boat I was quit nervous.
>> 
>> I will take your advise in checking more then twice the knots and having the
>> mind clear before undergoing such task
>> 
>> Eric
>> 
>> 
>> A30 Dimanche Matin
>> #541
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jun 24, 2014, at 11:07, "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Thanks Mike - so I have to come to Annapolis to hear your story?  That's not
>>> so subtle coercion!
>>> 
>>> We'll try to make it happen.
>>> 
>>> G
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 24/06/14 10:58 AM, "Meinhold, Mike J." <MICHAEL.J.MEINHOLD at leidos.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Gord
>>>> Thanks for sharing the story and your self-analysis. That's a benefit to us
>>>> all. That's an awful thing to experience, especially imagining how much
>>>> worse
>>>> it could be. (If you don't know my parallel story I will tell you next year
>>>> with a rum in my hand)
>>>> 
>>>> I replaced my spreader "roots" or tangs and can provide them to you for
>>>> models
>>>> if that helps. 
>>>> 
>>>> I had a great time at the Syronelle and enjoyed sailing against Surprise and
>>>> socializing with her skipper and crew
>>>> 
>>>> Mike
>>>> Rinn Duin 272
>>>> 
>>>> Michael J. Meinhold
>>>> Senior Naval Architect, Leidos, Inc.
>>>> 4321 Collington Road, Bowie, MD 21076
>>>> michael.j.meinhold at leidos.com
>>>> 301 352 4734 office  240 350 6974 cell
>>>> 
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: Gordon Laco [mailto:mainstay at csolve.net]
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2014 09:38 AM
>>>> To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Public-List] First time at the Syronelle
>>>> 
>>>> It's my own club! I think I'll make an opportunity to go and talk to them
>>>> directly.  A friend doing his term on the board was present so I reckon
>>>> there will be something official too.   I can't order a flogging alas...
>>>> 
>>>> I'll say again - the racing was great and it was wonderful to see some of
>>>> you folks.
>>>> 
>>>> Gord
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On 24/06/14 9:33 AM, "John Birch" <Sunstone at cogeco.ca> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sorry to read you were so shabbily treated by a few inconsiderates. Suggest
>>>>> you write their Club Board.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Touching someone else's mast - 6 dozen of your best boson, and lay into it
>>>>> man.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net>
>>>>> To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2014 9:16 AM
>>>>> Subject: [Public-List] First time at the Syronelle
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hello friends -
>>>>> 
>>>>> Well our first participation in an Alberg 30 regatta is behind us.
>>>>> Surprise
>>>>> is home at her jetty at Midland Bay Sailing Club now (not quite safely but
>>>>> more of that later).
>>>>> 
>>>>> First, let me say on behalf of my crew Clint Nielsen (with the Viking
>>>>> tattoo
>>>>> on his arm)  Steve Parm (who can almost reach the spreaders without strain)
>>>>> and Peter Laco (my eldest son) that we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.
>>>>> We
>>>>> had no idea how we¹d measure up as a racing crew in a One Design fleet...
>>>>> We¹ve done well racing PHRF here but we¹d never been up against an Alberg
>>>>> 30
>>>>> in fighting trim, let along a mob of them.
>>>>> 
>>>>> It was great to see other boats Olike us¹.   Alberg 30¹s are quite capable,
>>>>> shippy looking sailing vessels; the way sailing yachts should look.  We
>>>>> kept
>>>>> saying to each other when on various points of sail ³wow, I guess that¹s
>>>>> what we look like².  This reminded me of my brother in law¹s comment after
>>>>> visiting Holland, homeland of his parents: ³everybody looked like me; tall,
>>>>> awkward with receding hairlines....²
>>>>> 
>>>>> The moments before the first race on Saturday morning were filled with a
>>>>> degree of tension... I had no idea how it would go.  We finished fourth but
>>>>> were starting to calm down and do what we do.  When we got to the start
>>>>> sequence for the second race, we¹d designated JAZZ as our target to beat
>>>>> and
>>>>> set ourselves to start aggressively with her.  The action in the last
>>>>> moments was every bit as exciting as anything I¹ve ever experienced.  It¹s
>>>>> great when crossing swords with an expert ­ you can both trust each other
>>>>> not to do something un-ethical or dangerous... So you can push.  An
>>>>> opportunity appeared in the last seconds and we started in a very good
>>>>> position.  we managed to stride away from the others but with JAZZ in close
>>>>> combat all the way around the course... But she nipped us with apparent
>>>>> ease
>>>>> during the run to the finish.  Second in that race was our best finish.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The rest of the races were in lighter air, some with a chop that I was used
>>>>> to during the days we lived and raced in Toronto, but I guess I¹d lost the
>>>>> knack of dealing with.  We had difficulty keeping SURPRISE moving and my
>>>>> attempts at casting the dice didn¹t pan out.  We were very pleased that our
>>>>> worst race, third on Saturday I think, was also one of SAM¹s best, so our
>>>>> team mate dragged us up enough that we finished fourth overall in the final
>>>>> reckoning.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Somebody asked me Owhat happened to you guys¹ after the first day ­ all I
>>>>> can say is the chop in the very light air was difficult for me and I think
>>>>> I
>>>>> became frustrated and wasn¹t making good decisions with regard to tactics.
>>>>> During our best race, aside from still being optimistic, there was enough
>>>>> air that we were sailing in the area of 4.5 to to 4.7 knots most of the
>>>>> time
>>>>> we had enough air to keep SURPRISE trudging along and we were able to keep
>>>>> up.  A skipper I sailed for and learned a lot from once told me Olight air
>>>>> sailing is what really separates the good from the not so good racing
>>>>> skippers...¹
>>>>> 
>>>>> It was a great experience.  I told my wife when I got home yesterday that
>>>>> the regatta combined the two elements that make yacht racing fantastic.  We
>>>>> had great battles out on the water; with good sportsmanship... And
>>>>> comradeship and cooperation in the evenings.   I learned a lot and with
>>>>> luck, may be a more consistent threat to the leaders next time.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So Sunday afternoon came.  With John Kitchener¹s and other¹s help we
>>>>> lowered
>>>>> the mast onto SURPRISE¹s deck and motored away to the commercial marina for
>>>>> hauling out Monday morning.  On the way across Toronto Bay we crossed paths
>>>>> with an Alberg 30 named MADRIGAL III which I recall racing against when I
>>>>> crewed in SURYA, an A30 which won the Syronelle when I was a boy back in
>>>>> the
>>>>> early O70¹s.  I thoroughly approved of her colour scheme and told her
>>>>> skipper, who turns out to have owned her since she was new (same colour as
>>>>> SURPRISE).
>>>>> 
>>>>> I slept by myself in the boat and by mid morning Monday we were on the boat
>>>>> transporter and rolling up to Midland.  Two hours later we were in the
>>>>> water
>>>>> in Georgian Bay again.  Last night we motored over our Club¹s mast crane
>>>>> and
>>>>> that¹s where things began to go wrong.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The yacht transporter had brought our mast over to the club so we wouldn¹t
>>>>> have to carry it off the boat ­ very kind of him.  Upon arrival we found a
>>>>> bit of a disturbance going on... An old member with a drinking issue was in
>>>>> the fourth hour of trying to raise his mast and was in an altercation with
>>>>> a
>>>>> responsible member who was trying to intervene to resolve their tangled rig
>>>>> and get them out from under the crane and clear  the dock.   When we
>>>>> arrived
>>>>> with SURPRISE on the tractor trailer rig, the difficult member accosted me
>>>>> shouting Oyou can¹t launch that boat here!¹  I thought he was kidding so
>>>>> said with a laugh Osure we can, it¹s only 10,000 lbs, I¹ll use the high
>>>>> jib²
>>>>> (normally only used for masts)  Then I realized what was going on and tried
>>>>> to explain I was only dropping off the mast... He wasn¹t listening.  We put
>>>>> our mast on horses and left.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I went by an hour later to see if the crane was available and found the
>>>>> difficult member gone, and another yacht I¹d never seen raising her
>>>>> mast...and my mast (complete with new genoa on the furler) thrown on the
>>>>> ground; my horses under their mast.  I asked if they¹d done that, they said
>>>>> yes.  I said Olet¹s put it back up again please¹...they complied with poor
>>>>> grace.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I went home for supper and when I came back found the mast on the ground
>>>>> again with the masthead only on a block of wood.  Not very nice.  Feeling
>>>>> cranky, but with the help of friends we began the process of stepping ­ a
>>>>> simple job.  We had the mast over the boat horizontally about five feet up
>>>>> (the jetty is high) and were beginning to raise it.  Then a remarkable
>>>>> thing
>>>>> happened.  The knot I¹d tied for the crane hook sling line, which I thought
>>>>> was a bowline, began slipping and apparently in slow motion snaked itself
>>>>> out and we dropped the mast diagonally across SURPRISE.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I was holding the heel of the mast and received quite a wallop as the heel
>>>>> bucked upwards when the mast landed on the cabin top and the head went down
>>>>> into the water.  We all stood still for an instant... What an embarrassing
>>>>> and potentially very dangerous incident.  Damage?  Only slight luckily.
>>>>> The
>>>>> mainsail, bundled on the boom and laying on deck, took most of the landing
>>>>> impact.  The portside lifeline, somewhat slack without the shrouds
>>>>> spreading
>>>>> it, took the rest.  Mysteriously the starboard spreader was broken off at
>>>>> the tangs, which were bent.  I didn¹t see this happen but reckon that the
>>>>> sling line must have snaked around the shroud/spreader and for an instant
>>>>> bore the weight of the mast before breaking and letting the mast complete
>>>>> it¹s fall.  If that is what happened, I reckon the spreader contributed to
>>>>> the relatively soft landing the mast made across the cabin top.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Looking back on the mast raising operation, I considered the cascade of
>>>>> events that led to the accident.  The RCN trained me to watch for such
>>>>> things as part of the Bridge Resource Management regime of thinking the
>>>>> Navy
>>>>> uses; regardless, I didn¹t see any of the signs.  They taught us that one
>>>>> can be on the road to trouble long before one is aware that the cascade has
>>>>> started
>>>>> 
>>>>> I was tired.  I was upset by the drama happening at the mast crane when I
>>>>> arrived at the club.  I was further upset by the behaviour of the people
>>>>> who
>>>>> put my mast on the ground (new members it turns out ­ probably didn¹t know
>>>>> any better)   The result?  I tied a bad knot. I remember checking it but
>>>>> obviously didn¹t really look at it and feel it as I normally do.   That is
>>>>> the only explanation I can offer for the sling line releasing.  I don¹t
>>>>> believe it is possible for a bowline to snake through itself as we all saw
>>>>> that one do.  I tied it with a long tail, so we all had time to see it go.
>>>>> 
>>>>> We¹re lucky the mast wasn¹t higher...we¹re lucky we didn¹t have the mast
>>>>> vertical with people on the boat kneeling to shoot the pins in to secure
>>>>> the
>>>>> shrouds and stays when it came down.  I am very lucky nobody got hurt, I
>>>>> would have been responsible for what might have been a tragedy.  I am lucky
>>>>> the damage isn¹t worse.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So, the ending not withstanding, it was a terrific weekend.  I¹m sorry the
>>>>> explanation of the accident seems to have overshadowed the good stuff ­ but
>>>>> I¹m still getting used to the idea that it really happened!!!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Gord
>>>>> Surprise 426
>>>>> (yes, I will race with you folks again.... Can¹t wait)
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>>>>> 
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