[C320-list] Commitment #867

[Joe M]

You can use winches for the sails and they have a power winch handle these
days.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Joe 2002 C320 hull #902

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
>