It must be Spring; the boatyard is going crazy, the phones are ringing and people are thinking sailing.
At last the new Annapolis Yacht Sales Web site is complete ( well almost complete) but it is up and running at Annapolisyachtsales.com.
Please visit the site, we have tried to make it as user friendly as possible, it should not take more than 2 clicks to get somewhere, and on each page is an “ Ask a question” button which will allow you to contact us direct. Please give us feed back and use the scrapbook page, under the About heading to send us Photo’s. I would like to thank Peter Davis who built the site for us and if any of you need a great web master his link, Hometek is at the bottom of each page.
We have all sorts of news of regattas, events and some great technical tips in this, our second Annapolis Yacht Sales newsletter. Some might think that this edition is slightly Racing biased, but please be assured that this is not intentional. Before we start I would like to share this thought with you:
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a
pretty well preserved body, but rather to skid-in broadside, thoroughly
used-up, totally worn-out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW.... What a ride that was !”
TRIVIA QUIZ
What was unique about Mir's finish in the 1969 Transpac? Answer below.
OPENING OF ANNAPOLIS YACHT SALES SOUTH!!
Annapolis Yacht Sales is proud to announce the opening of its first branch
office, Annapolis Yacht Sales South in Deltaville, Virginia on the 1st June.
This exciting development will be the culmination of several months of
careful planning and development of our new facility "down the bay". Since
we are already the dealers for Sabre, Elan, Wauquiez and Beneteau Power in
the Southern Chesapeake, when the Beneteau Sailboat dealership for the area
became available, it made sense to establish a permanent presence in the
fast growing boating center of Deltaville.
Our offices will be located in
Deltaville Marina on Jackson Creek, one of the region's finest deep-water
anchorages. The office will be headed up by Jonathan and Anne Hutchings, who
look forward to welcoming members of the AYS family. Deltaville is a
comfortable three-hour drive from Annapolis, or an easy two-day sail. There
is some outstanding cruising to be had in the area. For further information ,
contact Jonathan at AYS or on his cell (804) 436-4484.
jonathan@annapolisyachtsales.com
Office (410) 267 8181
Cell (804) 436-4484
Key West Race Week 2005 by David Sill
37 to 2.7 (knots of breeze that is)
Nearly 300 boats from at least 36 states and 14 countries were registered for Key West Race Week, January 17-21, 2005 with an expected schedule of nine races, in boats ranging from 24 to 75 feet.
We raced Dame Blanche, a Beneteau 40.7 skipped and owner by Othmar von Blumencron, in Division 2, which had the Transpac 52’s and the 75-foot Reichel-Pugh designed Titan in our circle - a great show.
Our class, PHRF 4, consisted of five Beneteau 40.7’s, ratings of 46 (long pole) to 49, which was considered a Sub-Class for the regatta; a Sydney 36, the previous year’s class winner, rating 51; a Mumm 36, rating 45; a Hadley 40, rating 48; and an Andrews 38 with a rating of 72. We knew going in that the Muller Brothers’ boat, the Andrews 38 Pamlico, would do well in heavy air yet was susceptible in lighter air. We also expected the Mumm 36 and the Sydney 36 to have good performance in lighter conditions. Our strategy was to have clean starts in clean air, max hike, and impeccable crew work, enjoy the tent and the town but show up on time, well hydrated and fairly rested
A cool, cloudy howling northerly consistent at 25 knots with gusts to 37 knots were received two days prior to the start of the regatta so practices on Saturday and Sunday were in “don’t break anything and don’t get hurt” conditions. The regatta’s initial start was delayed in the morning for safety issues yet one race got off on Monday in steady 25+ knots. Two races got off on Tuesday, with winds ranging in the upper teens to low 20’s, three on Wednesday (we call this moving day as boats always move in the standings on Wednesdays), with winds ranging 20 knots and two on Thursday, with winds going light to 2.7 knots.
After four great days of racing it came down to the last race day, Friday. We prayed for light air, less than 10 knots, and for our competition to do well as we needed to pick up 3 points on the lead boat, Pamlico. The wind gods were not with us on this day as it ranged in the 12-14’s. Despite sailing a great regatta, where our throw-out was a 3 rd, we came up short. The boat did well in all conditions and we all felt good about the week as we left it all on the race course (we did win the Beneteau 40.7 Sub-class). Ahh , to race one design.
IRC Handicap news
For those of you that don’t keep up with the latest news in Yacht Racing, the talk of the town is IRC. What is IRC? you might ask. Well it sort of stands for International Rating Certificate but that’s only half the story. IRC started in England and France as CHS (Channel Handicap System) and as it spread worldwide they needed a more international name. Unfortunately the word International is owned by ISAF as far as yachting is concerned so they simply called the new rule IRC and you can decide for yourself what those initials stand for.
IRC has at last been accepted by US sailing authorities and there is a huge groundswell of acceptance and energy to get this moving as fast as possible.
A number of major races, such as Block Island Race Week, have adopted IRC as their Handicap rule. Unlike PHRF, some measurements are taken from your boat along with weight and other factors and entered into a secret program in a computer at RORC in England. Yes that’s right - Secret - this is to try and stop those clever designers from building rule cheaters (sorry, I meant rule beaters)
I have long been a proponent of the rule and am excited to see this rule, which is now almost world wide, make it into USA.
IRC Certificates Available Through US Sailing: Although our races are scored under PHRF, some of you may want to consider an IRC Certificate for other events in which you may participate. US SAILING, the local IRC Rule Authority, working in relation to the Royal Ocean Racing Club, is offering IRC Ratings in the United States. IRC is capable of applying a rating to any mono-hull yacht. In doing so, it respects such features as asymmetric spinnakers, carbon masts, canting keels, and water ballast; all of which have been permitted for several years. For more information and to obtain your IRC rating for the U.S., please visit http://www.ussailing.org/offshore/irc .
TROUBLESHOOTING ELECTRONIC DEVICES by Fred Wagner.
One of the most frustrating things that boaters face is when an electronic device does not work. Nothing can put a damper on a weekend quicker than getting to the boat and finding that the radio or the depth finder is not working. Over the years, we at AYS have found that more often than not there is simple solution to what seems like a daunting problem. Remember it’s just an electronic device, it’s not smarter or stronger than you.
Let’s go through a checklist of things to look for when a particular device is not working.
- The unit will not even turn on:
- Is there adequate power to the device?
- Check batteries, switches, fuses and circuit breaker.
- Check and clean connections.
- Adequate power but still not working:
- Check the contrast control. (Someone may have turned the contrast down and now it appears that the unit is not working.)
- Check transducer pick-ups and antenna base connections.
- Consult a specialist - the problem may be the device itself.
- Unit comes on but gives incorrect or no data:
- Is the unit getting the right data?
- Is the antenna (GPS, VHF) or transducer (depth, speed) cable connected cleanly and correctly?
- Try a unit re-set or reboot. (Consult your owner’s manual. They are on board aren’t they?)
- Is the problem intermittent? Try and isolate when the problem occurs:
- During SSB transmissions, autopilot maneuvers or refrigeration cycling?
- Re-wire device to a dedicated circuit or battery.
- On different tacks?
- Antenna or transducer may be improperly located.
- No pattern to the problem?
- Check all wire and wire connections, especially ground connections.
- Try cleaning all transducers pick ups and look closely at antenna base connections.
- If there is still a problem, it’s time to call the experts.
By no means is this little checklist exhaustive. It is meant to be a quick diagnostic tool to use so you can solve the most common reasons for problems with electronics. Often the best source for diagnosing electronic problems is the owner’s manual or the manufacturer directly via phone or web. As is often the case, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Please contact us at AYS and we will be happy to go over your boat’s electronics and make sure they are wired properly and running with the best software available.
For those of you who do not know who the author of the above troubleshooting guide, Fred Wagner, is, let me explain.
Fred joined AYS early in 2005 in the after-sales department. As we continue to sell more yachts and grow our customer base we are constantly in need of people with technical knowledge to answer customer’s questions and trouble shoot problems. Fred was previously with West Marine where he was the resident expert on Electronics. I believe Fred will be a valuable asset to AYS and hope you all get to meet and work with him.
Confession
I need to explain the source of some of my news, articles and trivia.
I am extremely lucky to have as a friend, (I hope he feels the same way), a sailor of renown who is also a Beneteau and Sabre dealer up north on the shores of Lake Erie and Ontario. His name is Don Finkle and he owns and runs RCR Yachts, and produces weekly Sailing and Racing newsletters that have become famous in the sailing fraternity. Don has kindly allowed me to plagiarize his newsletter from time to time, so if you like an article in the AYS newsletter, there is a good chance that it came from Don. Here is a link to RCR’s newsletters, go to www.rcryachts.com and click on the button that says:-
For the Latest
RCR News, Events Calendar, Tips
and more...
Weekly Newsletter
Boat Names: Here are some of my favorite boat names
Sea Section - OB-GYN doctor
Master Baiter - as seen on a sport fishing boat
E Baby - the owner bought the boat via E-Bay
Gwen's Horse & Gwen's Ranch - I'm sure you know the story behind these
Sweet Tooth - owned by a dentist
Mistress - so named because the owner spends more time and money on the boat than his wife
Off Call – This boat belongs a Doctor and that’s where you can find him when he’s not On call.
We all love to hear clever boat names, so e-mail me your favorite and I will include it in this list.
DE-WINTERIZING THE MARINE HEAD
One of the most frequent calls we get this time of year is “My head won’t pump.” While admittedly frustrating taking the following steps in all most all cases solves the problem.
- Make sure that the inlet seacock and overboard seacocks are open. Make sure the “Y” valve is positioned for direct overboard discharge.
- Get some head lubricant from the boat store and follow the directions for adding to the bowl. If you can’t find the lubricant add a quart of water to the bowl along with a few squirts of PAM or other cooking oil.
- With the flush control lever in the wet position give the pump handle 20-25 short quick (I mean QUICK!) strokes.
- This should get the water flowing. If not sit back have a beer, then review that you have followed the steps as outlined.
- If you are still having problem give us a call at 410.267.8181
Beneteau 40.7 still the boat to beat.
ST MAARTEN HEINEKEN REGATTA
There was no overall regatta winner at the 261-boat St Maarten Heineken.
Instead the Race Committee fight and argue (sorry, rationally discuss and
analyze) the relative performance of the class winners, looking for one that
won in a very hotly-contested class. For the three days of the 2005 St
Maarten Heineken Regatta, that class has been Spinnaker 3 and so the trophy
went to Sergio Sagramoso with the Beneteau First 40.7 Lazy Dog.
36.7 San Diego NOODS
What's New? By Don Finkle I got home at 1 AM this morning from my trip to the San Diego NOOD. Can't tell you how great it is to get a start on the sailing season in March. It gives one a bit more encouragement to start working on the boat in anticipation of launching. The weather in San Diego was better than forecast and we got in seven good races. As usual the SDYC was a perfect host and the race committee did a fine job. We also extend our thanks to the crew at Southwestern Yacht Sales, host Beneteau dealer for the 36.7s and 40.7s, who kindly loaned us their stock boat for this series. The highlight of the event was the fact that the NOOD committee judged the Beneteau 36.7 fleet to be the most competitive class in the entire regatta. That meant that the winning crew, Chick Pyle and his team on the 36.7 Kea, won the free trip to the NOOD championship regatta to be held in Antigua in January. Top local crew was Tom Lewin and his Hammertime bunch from Buffalo who finished third: Paul Battin, Eric Christensen, Doug Bienko, Pat Augello, Louis Johnson, Al DeClerq, and the owner Al Simon from San Diego. We were one point behind in fourth place. I will have a full report on this event below, at least Part One of the full report. Results can be found at http://www.sailingworld.com/
TRIVIA ANSWER
Q: What was unique about MIR’s finish in the 1969 Transpac?
Mir, George O'Brien's 78-foot ketch from Vancouver, B.C., is the only boat
ever to finish sailing backward. After a knockdown destroyed the main mast
400 yards from the finish line, the crew rigged a sail to the mizzen .
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