Messages

It is very sad to hear about Bill. - My condolences to all his friends & families! I chatted with Bill on the phone a bunch of times, and I also spent time with him on several Association events. - Hoppe regatta awards dinners as I recall...

He was a great steward of this site and the Community. He will be missed.

I see postings have slowed dramatically here... It must be that everyone is now on Facebook? (I dumped that long ago, unfortunately!)

Hello everyone! - I've been having a peek around the site after quite a while...

Lots of developments and lots of 'new' boats. Some beautiful work out there! - It is really great to see. The boats are hard to beat. They are not the fastest, but if you have wind - they'll move!

Also some bad news... I was very sorry to hear about Bill's passing. He was a very enthusiastic steward of the site and of the community. We spoke Ariels & Commanders a few times over the phone during the time of my ownership.  I also had a chance to meet him at several events.

I see little traffic on the site over the last few days. I wonder what everyone, and every Ariel / Commander are up to... I know I've been 'gone' for a while (Kids offer lots of distraction!) life also away from the Bay and from the country for a few years. I've been doing some exciting sailing from the East coast to Mexico and while living Australia. These oceans are beautiful wherever you go!

One of my highlights was two days sailing (with wite a bit of time at the helm) on a VOR boat (Volvo Ocean Race). Man - what a thrill! Even the toilet was carbon fiber on those beasts!

I have lost track of the Mephisto Cat after the family that bought it from me sold it on... I do wonder what she is up to these days... I had a great time sailing and working on C-155 during my tenure!

I had C-187 ('Assigned Risk') on the dry for a few years awaiting my return, but as I mention in C-187's thread, I've lost everything due to a fire at the place where everything was stored. The whole building went. Sadly, only the hull and the trailer remain.

Everything burned and everything that was metal, simply melted into a puddle. I hope to find a path forward for C-187 - but it would need to make sense... I have not decided on what path to pursue. It is, very sadly sitting on a trailer awaiting its future.

Reach out if anyone has good bits, but needs a (very solid) hull. C-187 is available. (See its thread for details.

I am currently in San Luis Obispo. We have a 17' trailer-able catboat. (A 17' Hermann Cat). It is a pretty little boat  I am working on it to get it sailing. I need some gaff rig hardware to get it going peoperly.

I hope everyone is sailing-on and enjoying the water!

Greetings All!

I am the bearer of bad news. Assigned Risk (C#187) has suffered a loss. She had been in storage for a while while the fam relocated to Australia. During that time, it was undergoing its refurbishment and a fire destroyed all its hardware (including the aluminum mast base), all sails, and all the wood except the coambings.

I am back in the country again and have had a look to see what was left and pretty much it is only the hull, I think the mast is ok and my trailer is also ok. (The hull and trailer were not at the fire location).

I am assessing what to do now...

While I evaluate next steps - If there are any hulls beyond repair, I'd be interested in the hardware and bits available.

Awesome day out with good crew!

Hey Kyle!
I'm Still stuck on the 'Wrong Coast'!
I've done little Sailing since the move... However - I do have to tell the story of how I ended-up at the helm on 'INTREPID' (the famouns 2-time Americas Cup winning boat) and beat Chris Nicholson (of Volvo Ocean race skippering fame) to the finishline in Newport RI...

Well done Nemesis!

Good Catch ED - Thank you...

Wow! - Clearly -A bargain at twice the price!

- What a beauty!

I'll have to check-in to see what the story is with the current owners...

I'm not one to buy into the 'It's a Sign' bit... - but if one were at all of that sort of persuation - one could well argue that good ol' Craig is encouraging the notion of a return to the BAY, eh?

Hey - that's even me and my crew in the picture!

The friction on my nissan o/b never really worked well... I eliminated the issue completely by installing a couple of tiny dinghy cam cleats with fairleads on small blocks of teak and I then epoxied this onto the bulkhead - One each on each side of the motor. I ran small 1/8" or 3/16" lines with a stopper knot through the holes on the o/b 'handle' and into these cams via the fairlead. It worked like a charm...

This Secured the motor straight as an arrow, but it could also be released completely in a fraction of a second when needed. The lines came off tthe motor for starage right away as they were only help by the stopper knot - I highly recomment this route.

I'll look for some pictures to post... I'm pretty sure I took some at some point... I must have!

Wow! I'm sure someone here will have some details...
(But will surely need more pictures! - Or at least the rest of us will!)

FYI - There is a thread on the plusses / minuses of the bridgedeck - along with hull numbers having this feature.

Welcome #4 - Nice bright green - I like it!

I need a sail...

Here are a couple of pictures of the mast climber / ladder:

Lucky Boat!

Welcome!

Essentially new condtion. "Captail Al's Mast climber" Made in USA

This is a webbing based mast climber that attaches to your sailtrack to essentially provide a ladder to climb your mast. It is very handy and simple to use. I have the 36' version which would work for up to a 40' mast.

The Climber is a pretty basic but basic idea... It is basically a webbing ladder you thread onto your sailtrack. and hoist-up with the halyard.

- This particular one was featured on "Good old boat" magazine a while back.

It is the best convenient alternative to installing mast steps on your mast...              

A mast ladder has most of the advantages of the fixed mast steps, without the drawbacks of windage, aesthetics, and halyard fouling. It allows for the simplicity of climbing steps...

It works very nicely. You can get your shoulders level with the top of the mast so you can actually do work at the very top. Most mast climbers fail at this... I used it only a few times to fix my windex after hitting a bird, and to check my rigging a couple of times. I really liked it - AND it is much cheaper than many inferior alternatives.

You can use this by yourself without strong grinders to hoist you up on a chair... and it will get your hands to work the very top of the mast. It is very practical. No time to set-up or stow away. It has steps at every 12" so it is easy to climb, and has even steps at the top (pictured) so you can stand comfortably.

Offering for $100 to this group! I was thinking e-bay, but this is great for Ariels / Commanders!

The mast The mast is not that heavy (100 - 110lbs is about right) But it is unwieldy, an donce it starts moving it is hard to stop...

You do not need a prefessional rigger, but having a picking point above is important to keep the task simple & easy...

The mast is locked in to the mast base to prevent lateral movement simply by a key at the bottom of the mast fitting which fits into the mast step. This is only about 1" deep. Once you take the load, the mast is essentially free at the bottom... (No need to pull-up). If you are usong the spreaders as a picking point watch out for it may want to flip on you...

One more thing... The mast fitting should stay with the mast!!! (there are some screws at the bottom fitting and often people think this has to come apart.... - It does not.

Also, Be aware that if you have lights / instruments at the top, you'll have to disconnect wires once the mast is clear of the deck - so don't let the crews yank the mast off assuming it is all clear or they'll destroy the wiring. Hopefully you'll have neat & quick plugs connecting the wires at that point to avoid cutting them... - If not it may be a good time to install some!

Good luck!