[C320-list] Commitment #867

[Chris Burti]

lol Joe, but to paraphrase the old saw, if the Admiral ain’t happy, nobody is happy 😆 

Best Regards,
Chris Burti


> On Dec 2, 2021, at 12:53 PM, Joe M <smith.blazer.72 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
>>