San Juan 21 Class Association

This is a mostly accurate recounting of the events of 29 January 2017 at Lake Logan Martin in central Alabama. There may be some embellishment and minimization of stupidity on my part but it’s basically how I remember it. I didn’t think this belonged in the cruising section because it was just a day sail and I’ll be asking for input at the end. Be forewarned, it’s going to be a pretty lengthy post so buckle up.

I’m not a very experienced sailor to start with. When I bought Quixotic Juan I had a grand total of four hours crewing in a Thistle. That’s good enough to warrant buying a boat right? I’ve had it in the water with the First Mate and Swabbie six or seven times and each time was fun and a learning experience. There are a number of things I’d like to improve on the boat like new sails and getting the control lines back to the cockpit. Both of these improvements became more urgent after yesterday’s trip. Having recently replaced the keel winch and cable I was comfortable that nothing catastrophic would happen and really wanted to get it in the water.

My regular crew had other plans so earlier in the week I invited a friend to go out with me. He’s in his early 60’s and wasn’t terribly coordinated in his prime but he’s hounded me since getting the boat to take him out. This was his first time in a sailboat but I thought he would be an extra pair of helping hands. When he was invited the weather reports were calling for cool weather and winds in the 10 knot range gusting to the upper teens. This sounded perfect based on my experience so far. As the week progressed the forecast called for more wind but having already made the plans I thought we should just tough it out.

I picked up my first mate for the day at around 0700 and we arrived at the launch a little after 8. I usually rig the boat by myself while the wife and swabbie explore so I was glad to have some help in the setup. This proved to be unwarranted. Since I had some help I didn’t bother rigging the bow block I use to raise the mast and instead just muscled it up and had my buddy put his shoulder into it while I attached the forestay. He apparently misunderstood my directions and as I jumped from the deck to the cockpit I heard an “uh oh”. I looked up to see the mast lazily arcing back and instinctively threw my hands up to catch it. As it picked up speed I realized that wasn’t the right move but couldn’t make myself abandon the effort. I managed to catch it but succeeded only in guiding it into the crutch… and wrenching my back.
After recovering from a tourette’s type tirade I checked everything over. No discernable damage to the deck, compression post or the rudder gudgeons. I demoted my new first mate to deck hand and decided to press on. I rigged my pulley system and got the mast up. I completed the rest of the rigging then, as I fixed the sail, I discovered that the boltrope track had been crushed by the crutch and that the mast was slightly bent above that spot. Aiming to persevere I pulled the mast back down and worked for half an hour to get the track back open. There were no visible cracks in the area so I was hoping we were good.

By 10:30 we were floating and the wind was building. The deck hand cast off the lines and we shoved off. I failed to notice that when he tossed the stern line that the end was dangling in the water. As we backed away from the dock the outboard shut down. It took several cycles of cranking, putting it in gear and it shutting down to realize that the dock line was tangled in the prop. As a steady breeze pushed us toward a line of docked (very expensive) boats I worked to free the prop. With only seconds to spare before collision I got the line free and cranked up. We motored away from danger and out into the lake making for the barge channel. I was sure that the worst was behind us and was looking forward to the day on the water.

While motoring I gave my buddy instruction on how to operate the tiller and thought he could handle that while I dropped the keel and raised the sails. With the keel down I pointed us into the wind and watched him run the helm a bit. Comfortable that he had it down I jumped up on deck and in a steady 15 knot breeze raised the sails. The only headsail I have is a 155% Genoa and the moment that that I got it raised and the halyard cleated two things happed simultaneously. My friend lost track of which way he should direct the tiller to keep us in the wind and a nice gust hit the beam. The boat heeled over more deeply than I’d ever seen it and I held on to the mast until we rounded up. That was my first experience with a round up and it was a little unnerving. Luckily I’d have the opportunity to get more comfortable with it as it would happen several more times that day.

I collapsed back into cockpit and took back the helm. I calmed myself while going over the genoa sheeting procedure again and after a prophylactic beer we got under way. The first half hour under sail was fantastic. Steady winds and smooth water. There were very few fishermen out and no PWCs. As the day progressed it became clear that the winds were gusting higher than predicted and that I had way too much sail up. We were fairly close hauled most of the morning and were heeling quite a bit. We never got water in the cockpit but there were enough close calls to concern me. My buddy was having trouble with the head sail sheeting anyway and with no reefing points to reduce sail I concluded dropping the genoa was the thing to do. The opportunity presented itself after a really good gust rounded us up for the second time. I jumped up on the deck and dropped the sail. I should’ve just stowed it but I didn’t want to spend any more time on the deck than I had to. I used the shock cord I keep tied to the deck to lash it down and got off the deck.

We continued with just the main for a while but the wind gusts kept getting bigger and in a shallower part of the lake the water was white capping. It was great being able to hit the waves heeled up but without the headsail I couldn’t get the boat to point. We did a lot of reaching and wound up getting buffeted by waves on the beam. We were sailing along fine until a much bigger gust pushed the genoa overboard dragging it into the water. I put the deck hand back on the tiller and rushed up to the deck to do what I should’ve done to begin with. I pulled the headsail back in but while still on deck my buddy again lost his bearing with the tiller. After another fairly dramatic heeling episode we rounded up again. Taking advantage of the break to unclip the genoa I noticed he was directing us back off the wind. While making my way back he had us running with the main sheet pretty far out and as I slid down into the cockpit he steered the stern through the wind causing an accidental gybe. I managed to fall under the boom just as it swung across unimpeded. There was a jarring crash as it settled on the other side but luckily nothing failed. The deck hand was demoted to swabbie and relieved of the helm.

With my nerves frayed and the wind building we set off again. At this point you’re probably cursing me for not posting any photos. I assure you that many, many were taken that day. In fact the swabbie was using my phone to take majestic pictures of me guiding my vessel in a steep heel when another sustained gust rounded us up for the last time. I saw him place my iPhone on the deck so that he could brace himself. I leapt for the phone as I saw it sliding through the toe rails but I never had a chance. According to the charts it’s now resting comfortably in about 130 feet of lake water. Defeated, I dropped the mainsail and attempted to start the motor. It took a half a dozen yanks before I recognized that the kill switch key was not where the kill switch key was supposed to be. The blaze orange float it was attached to was nowhere in sight. I fished out the tool box where I’d seen a spare sometime in the past. It too had disappeared. After a few minutes staring at the contents of the dumped out tool box I spotted a flashlight lanyard that might work. I whittled on the plastic tab until it resembled the key and shoved it into place. No one was more surprised than me when it actually worked. We motored around for another hour while I soothed myself with a few Yuengling’s. After decompressing for a while we pulled the boat out and in a formal ceremony on the dock my friend was demoted to ballast.

After the fact, it was determined that the winds had been in the high teens with gusts over thirty. Even with all the adversity I have to say that it was the most fun day of sailing I’ve had yet. I wouldn’t want to do it this way every time out but I was looking for adventure when I bought the boat and I got a steaming pile of it that day. Most of the drama was caused by incompetent skippering but I got a lot of invaluable experience and was lucky enough not suffer any serious damage. I learned a lot about the boat and a lot about how I’d like to set it up. Before it goes back in the water, at the suggestion of Kuriti, I’ll be resetting all the deck hardware and I now know that I need to be able to control the boat from the cockpit. The sails are 30 years old and need replacing. I’ll have at least one reefing point in the sails and the genoa will be ditched for a working jib. After seeing the pressure on the rig I think I’ll replace the standing rigging and chain plates as well. The only damage suffered was a slightly bent mast and a cracked gooseneck.

Well, if you’ve read this far I thank you. Any comments, observations, suggestions, criticisms or general lampooning at my expense will be taken with good cheer and will be appreciated.

Your humbled Skipper
KM

Ok, most of my reply will be intended to make you feel better. First, I almost dropped my best friends carbon fiber mast on his 21 foot Hobie cat. It was my job to hold it steady while he pinned the forestay. That would have been vastly more expensive than your damage. While I have never actually tangled lines in my outboard, I have had inumerable issues with my outboard, often at important moments as have been chronicled here on the bulletin board. I had a lot of dinghy and other small boat experiences before I had my SJ 21, which probably gave me an advantage from the sailing perspective. That said, I was absolutely terrified the first few sails on my SJ 21, particularly in large wind.

The first modification I would recommend would be a jib downhaul. This will solve two of your major problems. The first is it would work as a mast raising system. A jib forestay runs from a cleat in the cockpit to a block on the bow chainplate. You can use it to pull the jib down from the cockpit, or to attach to the forestay as you raise the mast acting as a break if you run it through a cleat near the cockpit. This will avoid your mast crashing issue.

I have lost one iPhone while jumping into a pool and one while falling off a boat. I switched to a waterproof phone, and never had an incident after that required a waterproof phone. This is called Murphy's Law.

I have lost my safety lanyard on my outboard and replaced it with a thin cotton line. That got the engine running, but when I went to shut it off the next time, the cotton had dried and the knot was extremely tight. I had to cut it off with my knife to get the engine to shut off. I slipped and deeply cut my finger which caused a bloody slippery mess the rest of the sail.

Accidental gybes suck. The quickest way to stop having them is to have enough that you avoid them subconsciously. We have all been lazy about tying foresails down when we believe they will be used in the future. Best practice is to tie down in big winds because it's easier than fishing them out of the ocean.

You definitely need some reefing. Below is my my 13-year-old and me in 15 kts sustained, gusts in the mid 20s and the rudder kicked up. Plenty comfortable in cold weather with the right sails up. I have been out in similar by myself and felt excited, but competent. I didn't start that way, I just love to sail. If you enjoyed yourself on this cruise, you can learn to love that weather. That is actually the best weather for this boat, but you're right you need a working jib. Don't forget that dropping the main and sailing with the jib only is also an option. That is something I overlooked for a long time, but can make a big difference in strong weather.



I have felt like a complete amateur, scared shitless, and hated my crew at different times. That's all part of the process, but it is worth the final result. You just seem to have learned several lessons in one trip. How efficient! There will come a time where you know exactly what you're doing and feel awesome the whole time. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the encouraging words Kuriti. I'm not down about it as my friend and I both had a lot of fun. I learned a lot in a fairly compressed time frame and there's the added benefit of us having a lot of ammunition to rag one another about.

The jib downhaul would be great. I had ambitions of rigging one when I got the line and block I use to raise the mast by myself. The problem is that the deck fitting doesn't have room for the shackle the tack attaches to, the forestay pin and the block. I have to remove the shackle to pin the block in, then after pinning the forestay, trade the block out for the shackle. I need to somehow make more room on that chain plate. Maybe a heavy split ring to extend the shackle? I have an unused cheek block on the deck that I could move a little further outboard to direct the downhaul line around the forward hatch.

The video you posted looked very much like us but a lot more cursing and frantic action by the crew. My girl would love it but if I took my wife out on a day like that she'd force a sale of the boat.

I really like that bridge/organizer? you have over the companionway hatch. That's what I'd envisioned to run the lines back to the cockpit. Have you done a write up on here about it? I'd like to plagiarize your work.

I've had 2517 out about ten times, but I wouldn't go out if winds would be gusting over 15 knots. Kind of reminds me of when I first began to fly RC electric planes and would take out a plane when the winds were too high. It took me a while before I developed the discipline to stay home. That's scary that you could give the tiller to someone who would not understand what to do. I've always been out solo in my boat. It makes me wonder what to expect from someone who isn't a sailor.

Tough about the phone. Seems like something goes over the side every time I go out. I lost a Uniden radio the first time I took it out. It emphasized to me the distinction between "submersible" and "floating." It was what I called a $100 day on the water. My sister gave me one of those plastic case/bags for my cellphone, which works surprisingly well and should keep the phone from sinking.

I hear you Condre but if I'd used good judgement and stayed home I wouldn't have learned as much as I did. And I certainly wouldn't have had as much fun! I don't believe it would've been too much to handle if I had the ability to reduce sail and could've worked everything from the cockpit. I'll be sorting that out before I get it back in the water. It may have been a better option to drop the main and just use the head sail but it never crossed my mind at the time.

And as far as handing the tiller over to someone who isn't a sailor... I'd be reluctant to refer to myself as one right now. I think his problems stem more from a lack of coordination and a little bit of panic. This is a man I've seen fall going UP stairs... multiple times. He did fine until the pressure was on then he saw white and did what seemed instinctively right to him. I think the fix is to install a tiller clutch as part of the single hand setup. Then he won't have to do anything but enjoy the ride.

And losing the phone is no big deal. I was considering going back to the smaller one anyway and that just made the decision for me. I just regret not having the pics that were on it. I would've loved to see my wide eyes and white knuckles to refresh the experience for me. I did see this Atwood inflatable phone case at Walmart. That might be a good investment for the next trip.

Thanks for the input.

Shucks, QJ, you over in central Alabama? If you are ever going to be over on the Mississippi coast give me a call and maybe we could go out in Bucket List. It gets slow having to sail solo all the time.

Yeah Condre... I try to make it down to Gulf Port whenever I have a little change in my pocket. That's not as often since getting the boat as you can imagine.

Wouldn't mind picking your brain about how you're set up to single hand too. Even when I have the family with me I'm doing it alone for the most part.

The bridge organizer is just some aluminum plate welded to aluminum i-beam. I bought both online, then cut them to length with a grinder. I found a guy who will weld little stuff like this for $20-30. I think it's about 4 in wide, but I just recommend mocking it up with cardboard to get the dimensions you like then ordering the appropriate pieces.

Thanks for the info kuriti. You happen to have a close up pic of the organizer?

Pretty sure that what I want to do. It'll allow the lines to be organized in the cabin instead of cluttering up the cockpit.

I'll see what I can find. I may go out on Sunday since it is supposed to reach 57 (?!), so if I can't find a pic I will take one.

Edit: here's one, I might take another if I go out