Good Old Boat Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022

Mail Buoy, cont.

where the three boats were docked. The couple on the sailboat at our bow said they had looked at the situation and decided to stay an extra day. The powerboat to our stern appeared to be unoccupied, the owners probably uptown at a coffee shop. I sized up the situation and thought the best approach would be to push the stern out with a hard-over helm in gear and a spring line from the bow leading aft. I thought if I could get the stern far enough out, I might have adequate room to get the boat moving fast enough to get past the boat astern as I was being swept toward it by the beam-on wind. I started doing the maneuver in my head, gauging vectors based on the exact angle of disengagement of the spring line, acceleration of the boat in a full astern command on the engine, the amount of swing to leeward of the bow as the speed of the boat increased enough to generate the full effect of the rudder, and the amount of room to perform the next maneuver so I didn’t have to back entirely out of the marina. I stood there for a number of minutes, gauging all of this, listening to the sounds of aggressive commands on engine controls of other boats leaving their respective slips (lucky for them, not in the U portion of the marina where we sat). I looked at my anxious wife and said hesitatingly, “I’d give us a two out of three for getting out of here without hitting something.” She looked back at me with an expression I should have expected. I looked at our lovely Watermark , unscratched in over 20 years of ownership. I looked up the bay with a dense field of breaking white- caps as far as I could see, and with a sudden feeling of conviction said to Mauri, “Let’s stay another day.” She concurred. It’s hard to say just how harrowing our exit might have been. At the very least, it would have been stressful and dramatic; at most we probably would have damaged the boat to our stern, as well as our own, and prompted a string of unhappy events that would have ruined our vacation and made us the conversation of the day for the entire marina. Instead, we won’t know if I was skilled enough to pull it off, but I do know I made the right decision. In addition to having an extra day in the lovely community of Ganges, we struck up a conversation with the couple in the sailboat ahead of us who had already made the same decision (probably with a lot less debate and calculation of vectors). They

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM PAYNE

for them is to provide a general view of the journey described in the story, with key points of interest and waterbodies noted, rather than as a map to be used for planning or routing. As such, we haven't felt a mileage scale was necessary, but we’ll take your suggestion into consideration . Remember September I just re-read your September/October 2021 issue and felt deeply rewarded for my efforts. The articles about Red Jacket (“Anatomy of a Legend”), the Newfie schooner escapade (“Captain Spontaneous”) and Einstein (“A Sailor, Relatively”) brought tears of gratitude to my eyes. Good writing and good stories. Thanks a lot! — Andy Vine , Cortes Island, BC Weather First It was good to read J.S. Veter’s comments on what they learned after that eventful sail (“No Mistake About It,” November/ December 2021). My dad, who I’m sure is sailing in heaven somewhere, would always turn on the VHF local weather channel as soon as we got on the boat. We could listen to it as we were getting the boat ready to make sure we were not venturing out in bad weather. I still do this every time I go sailing on San Francisco Bay or the ocean. I also installed a jam cleat on my 1980 Mariner 36’s jib furling line. It makes a world of difference when I am trying to furl the jib in high winds, and it frees up a winch to hold the furled jib in place. — George Sparr , Danville, California

have now become good boating friends whomwe probably never would have met under any other circumstance. What might have been viewed as a lost opportunity to see the next place turned into an even more rewarding experience by simply choosing the safer option. — Jay Miner , Watermark , Seattle Centerboard Advantage In his article on the Sabre 38 and two other boats (“Sabre 38…and Two More Centerboard Cruisers,” November/ December 2021), Rob Mazza does not mention an advantage to pivot centerboards. As a pivoting centerboard is lowered, it moves the center of lateral resistance forward. I sailed on a Morgan 28 and Morgan 35 for many years. After the sails were trimmed for the desired course, we were often able to position the centerboard such that the boat would be perfectly balanced. We could sail long stretches with minimal touching of the wheel or tiller. Loved the cruise article about Baranof Island by Andy Cross (“A Southeast Sojourn,” November/December 2021). I do wish that he had included on his map a scale of miles. It would have been most helpful in appreciating his sailing distances. — Ken Thorn , Carrboro, North Carolina Andy Cross responds: Thanks for the feedback, Ken. The maps in these stories are developed by the writer, the editors, and our designer. Our concept

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