[C320-list] Commitment #867

[Jerry's Iphone]

Chris. I’m glad you are staying on the forum. I have always appreciated your helpful responses and suggestions. We would surely miss you here. Thanks also for your service to the association. All the best in your next adventure. 

Jerry Sheets 
JellyRoll 

> On Dec 2, 2021, at 11:00 AM, Allan Field <allanfield47 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Chris - Congrats on the sale of *Commitment*. And many thanks for
> sharing your story with us. Linda and I also are realizing that we will
> eventually be aging-out (I'll be 74 next week) of sailing and wonder what's
> next. But most of all, I want to acknowledge your commitment (no pun
> intended!) to the Association for so many years. It was a pleasure to serve
> on the Association Board with you, to always value your wisdom and input,
> and to know that what you put back in was so appreciated and always
> spot-on. Best wishes always in your sailing retirement and may "what's
> next" always "float your boat!"
> 
> Allan S. Field
> Sea Shadow - C387, #103 (formerly C320, #808)
> Columbia, MD
> 
> 
>> On Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 9:39 AM Chris Burti <clburti at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Commitment has a new Owner, Richard Sloop. Hopefully, he will join the
>> Association. I'll continue to stay on the forum for a while as we shop for
>> a trawler.
>> 
>> For those wondering why...We loved Commitment, but last June we were
>> crossing the Pamlico Sound with a forecast of SW winds at 16 -17 kn, which
>> should have been a perfect reach to Ocracoke. Unsurprisingly, NOAA got it
>> wrong. What was surprising was how wrong.
>> 
>> By the midway point, the winds had increased to the 20-25 kn range and by
>> the time we reached the entrance channel into Ocracoke, they were steadily
>> in the thirties with gusts into the mid forties..Needless to say, it was a
>> fast and rough crossing. Preparing to go into Big Foot channel, it took all
>> my strength in the big Lewmar's low speed to winch in the genoa (something
>> I rarely do)  and we had to crab all the way up the channel to avoid being
>> blown out of it into the shoals (another sailboat coming in 9 Foot channel
>> was blown out of the channel and had to be pulled off by the USCG).
>> 
>> Our C-320's are great sailing boats and with the sails properly trimmed,
>> they can handle far more than we can. As we were heading in crab style
>> under WOT, I was thinking to myself: "This is the time a lot of less
>> experienced sailors decide it is time to sell the boat". Sure enough, as
>> soon as we were tied up at the dock and things were settling down, the
>> Admiral shocked me by saying it was time to think about it. Well, the rest
>> of the trip was great, good weather and good sailing, but the seed had been
>> planted.
>> 
>> We are in our seventies, the Admiral is petite and I came to the
>> inescapable conclusion that if i were incapacited in those conditions, she
>> could not have gotten the sails in and in those winds, the engine would
>> have been inadequate to overcome the sails, so rescue was improbable.
>> 
>> I'm not ready to limit my sailing to light wind days, a little daysailer is
>> fine for that, and I ascribe to the wisdom of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry
>> where he observes that "A man has gotta know his limitations." The Admiral
>> is capable at the helm and can get a powerboat to safety, we are not ready
>> to give up being on the water, so ...stinkpots. here we come.
>> 
>> We've made a lot of friends, virtual and in person from this group over the
>> years and wish everyone fair winds and following seas...
>> 
>> Fair winds
>> Chris Burti
>> Farmville, NC
>>