[Rhodes22-list] Wow this is a boring night

[iweb86 at aol.com]

Wow, you should ask just as I had the most fun in a long time on my boat Sunday
 
My wife (of almost three years and came after I got the boat) and I went out on my ‘72 Rhodes Continental, Pleiades last Sunday. Now mind you it may have been blowing a little too hard. Actually they did say there were SCW. (Small Craft Warnings) To me that means the there is a bit of so me wind for a sailboat. Kind of like a bigger engine.
 
Well we were about 15 minutes out and my wife. Mind you know she is not much of a sailor and actually likes it when I keep it flat and not tacking, well she comments how it is a beautiful day, even though it is blowing about 15 knots.
 
Then after a bit of a gibe I look and the bottom of the roller furler has come loose. Oh what a bummer. That dang this is now flying in the air and I basically don’t have any steerage. Oh not that it has come off before so this is a new experience. Best part was my wife did not know that there was a problem but trust me when she figured it out, Boy was it a problem.
 
Well first I thought I would go forward and see if I could get it reconnected and roll in the jib but after almost going in myself I was forced to retreat to the cockpit. First tying a quick knot in the furling line so as to keep the bottom of the furler from completely flying all over the place.
 
I then tried to start the Honda 9.9 (Oh Michael that baby is doing great most of the time. You know once I got it home from down south. That in itself was an adventure. Flying to CT and then not being able to get on the plane and having to fly back to Maine, driving 10 hours with a car that had a blown head gasket. Got rid of that car very shortly after that adventure. Next time you get board I can tell you about my adventure with the hood popping up on us two weeks ago.)
 
Well I think that since we were rocking so much I could not get it started and by this time Susan, That would be my wife who was all calm and sitting on the float cushion 5 minutes earlier is pressing for me to call someone. Like her mother....
 
At this point I got to the mic for the radio and called for the CG. No response. I look up and the antenna to the radio, which usually sits happily on the top of the mast, is bending north and not straight up north. I find out later that if you want to call the CG on a cell phone that you can dial *CG and it will get you to them. (Disclaimer: I understand today that this is at least for the first district which is up here in the northeastern US. I do not know if this for all regions)
 
Well I started to look for my handheld which I could not find right away. Susan, had found her cell phone and requested me to call someone, One of her suggestions remember was her mother. 
 
I finally found my handheld and was able to call the CG. One of there first pieces of advice was to drop an anchor. Oh what a novel idea. Once I did that most of the excitement went away.
 
Well kind of. Turned out that since there was not any pressure on the mast cap that it came out of the mast and this allowed both the jib and back stays to come down. Now I have the jib and roller furler in the water. Yet help is on the way. I tried to start hauling the jib out of the water yet you would not budge. I found out a bit latter this was due to one of the jib lines had a figure eight in the end of the line to prevent it from coming out of the block. Therefore preventing me from pulling it from under the boat. This in turned helped to bend the reefing tube under the boat the boat as well. Now I have a 25 foot curved roller furler. 
 
For those that may be a little new to the list and this vintage of Stan and Phillip Rhodes design. This model had a roller furler design that has a long, about 25’ 11/8 inch aluminum tube with a flat round plate on the bottom. The sail is cut with a sleeve and the tube is put into. On mine I then have it attached with screws at the top and the bottom. 
 
Thanks to Stan I have started to try and figure out what I am going to do to repair the furler. I am trying to find a place that maybe able to straighten it but I think I am going to have to build one from scratch. Any ideas on straightening the furler would be welcomed.
 
Long story short, we were towed to our mooring and then I was able to get the boat to the dock, by this time the motor was starting again on one pull, and demast the boat for now. As we did this my loving wife commented how my beloved boat now was a MB (motor boat). Oh it may be a while before I let her on the boat again. 
 
Well for the most important point no one got hurt and Pleiades is still floating. 
 
As for that, when this first started to happen we were healing at one point almost with water coming in the cockpit. (Actually I have been on the boat when we had water coming. For the person on the helm was not letting go of the tiller as we took on a great header. No neither myself nor my wife were at the helm at the time.) at least 35 to 40 degrees and the boat just came down on its own. I personally felt comfortable that it was not going to go over. 
 
First thing is to have a surveyor look at the boat and work out with the Insurance Company a claim. Then get it repaired so I can get on with the season. Up here in the north they are short. 
 
Well, that was my excitement. I may not be a regular on the list here but I have always enjoyed the posting and knew I had to tell my story. Especially since Michael thought it was little boring around here? Not to mention there are repairs needing to be made.
 
I wish you all the best and I hope you are having a better season.
 
Scott and Susan
SV Pleiades

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Meltzer <mjm at michaelmeltzer.com>
To: 'The Rhodes 22 mail list' <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 21:28:12 -0400
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Wow this is a boring night


Everyone is out sailing?

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