"REACHING THROUGH LIFE"

We probably have more gear for classic boats than any other chandlery on the West Coast. Pictured is the 58' schooner "Samarang". I raised my two boys aboard it and had it in the family for over 20 years. An Italian clothing designer purchased it, put it aboard a ship and sent it to Italy. Photo was taken during one of the many Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico races we sailed in as a family. Little pennants flying from the foremast add up to 33 Ensenada races aboard various boats. "REACHING THROUGH LIFE" is a perfect caption for this photo. Happy Holidays....... The crew at Minneys.........

BACKSTAY LEVERS......

If you have a large boat perhaps a pair of the large backstay levers we have might be of use to you? The ones pictured are suitable for boats from 50' to about 80'. Twenty five years ago I purchased a set from Paul Luke for about $1000.00. There's a similar pair (the greenish bronze ones) priced at under $500.00. For thirty years we used a block and tackle arrangement on "Kelpie". I never knew how handy the levers were till I purchased the 68' schooner "Shearwater." Wow! Tacking up and down Newport Harbor was a cinch. Release one, set up the other. They always maintained the same amount of tension. No lines to coil or calling for more "beef" if you are late on the tack cinching up the tackles. There's one thing I want to caution you about when using them. The time to release one is when the boat is "head to wind" on the tack. If you are early, they are under a lot of tension. You MUST ALWAYS stand to one side of them. Once the lever passes the center point it will jump up at you. Serious injuries have resulted from using levers of this type by novice crew members. Being late on the tack can also cause you big trouble because the full force of the mainsail and boom will be on the lee backstay. Note also- we have several "quick release" levers for stay sail stays, baby stays etc.

YOUR AUTO PILOT CAN KILL YOU !!!

I recently made note about a woman delivering a fifty foot sailboat from Tahiti to Southern California. While motor sailing near the equator she came on deck one morning and found the watch stander missing. The boat was on auto pilot and traveling at eight knots. She had told Jim at midnight to rouse her at 0330. It was now 0630. The pelican hook was open and the starboard stanchion gate was down. Jim was probably taking a leak, leaned against the gate, it opened and he fell overboard. He was now treading water somewhere along a fifty two mile course line. Her radio was in operative so she couldn't call for an air search. She searched for three days and then headed for Hawaii dreading the heart wrenching phone call she must make to Jim's parents.

Every year auto pilots get boaters into trouble. Most skippers are lucky and only damage or lose their boats. Bill Kitchens, a good friend of mine departed the Dana Point harbor yacht club one evening at sunset. He cleared the red bell bouy marking the reefs off Dana Point. He put his Hans Christian 36 cutter on course for the Newport Beach break water and engaged the auto pilot. It was a chilly evening and spray was coming aboard. He ducked under the dodger and relaxed a bit. Two hours later he was startled awake as his forty foot mast, boom and rigging came crashing down and landed next to him. His navigation had been spot on. He missed colliding with the Newport jetty by about fifty yards, his boat continued on and went under the Balboa pier about a mile north west of the breakwater.

Captain Ron as the locals called him had raced his boat "Naughty Gal" in a series of races off Long Beach. Ron and his crew had done well in the two day series and partied a bit at the Long Beach Yacht Club before the trophy awards. After picking up his trophy and bidding his crew farewell he headed "Naughty Gal" out of the Long Beach marina, and put his finely tuned thirty six foot race boat on course for Newport and set the auto pilot. It had been an exciting and exhausting weekend. "Naughty Gal" was motoring nicely in the westerly swell and Ron perhaps dozed a bit as his boat ticked off the miles. A horrendous crash brought Ron to reality as his entire rig came crashing down on deck. It was pitch black. There was a strong order of diesel fuel and the sound of powerful diesel engines. "Naughty Gal" was trapped under what seemed like a monster out of a horror movie and was crashing and slamming into some type of pilings and steel beams. Then it dawned on our good captain. He was under oil platform Eva which was about a mile north west of the Huntington Beach pier.

Think these stories over. I've got dozens more and I'm sure you do to. The solutions and preventions are simple and basic but the accidents keep happening. I think often of Jim on his first and last ocean passage treading water in the warm equatorial currents as he watched the bright stern light of the yacht get dimmer and dimmer and finally disappear.

Pictured is a lovely boat we recently purchased salvage from. While a bit south of Bahia de Los Angeles in the Sea of Cortez off the Baja coast the skipper had his boat on auto pilot, thought he was further off shore and took a little nap. The eighty year old skipper was not injured, his boat was a total loss. I've got the mainsail and jib and some nice self tailing winches off it at the store....

PROTECT YOUR SAILS.........

While processing used sails the following thoughts come to mind. I see a lot of totally useless damage to first class sails that with a little prevention doesn't need to happen. It seems most boaters are using roller furling head sails. They hoist them on the head foil etc. and then forget about them. They think the cover will protect them from the elements and all they have to do is give the sheet a "yank" and away they go. Surprise, the sail opens up and they discover what I call the "green grundge". All winter, rain water has worked its way along the luff of the sail and a greenish moss has sprouted and is growing nicely in their $5000.00 North 150% genoa. Sun damage is probably the biggest problem I see with the furling sails. Quite a few of you with white covers furl the sail backwards and cook the leeches and save the covers. Also, the covers take a horrible beating from the sun. The cover material seems to hold up well but the stitching gets sun rot and the cover starts falling apart. Last winter we had quite a few stormy days. On one of them I took my binoculars and on the hill above the Balboa Bay Club I looked down on the harbor and counted 14 boats that had their roller furling jibs un-furled and turning to shreds in the squally weather. I noted that our harbor police did nothing to protect your property. Two boats had what was left of their jibs flying all month. It seems to me that it's kind of a "no brainer" for boaters to lower their roller furling head sails in the winter to protect them. We've got quite a few great head sails that have the leeches totally sun rotted about two feet in from the leech. Get your sail maker to re-cut the leech and you can end up with a practically new sail for peanuts.......