Re: [bolger] intertainment

In a message dated 11/7/00 8:09:40 AM Central Standard Time,
sailormon@...writes:

<< Hope the rest of you folks don't mind my humble attempt to make things
fun. Brad. >>

I enjoyed your good and instructive sailing yarn - Bolger is after all the
author of "100 Small Boat Rigs" and "103 Small Boat Rigs" - so I think you
are even techically "on topic!":-)

Bill in MN
Dave, I will insert my own story to entertain and comment on Chinese lug rig.  I am sorry this was not on a Bolger boat, but it was home made.   Going back to my 34' wharram catamaran of the early 70's.  I was fascinated with the lug rig and researched it;and in fact built it with deadeyes made of heartwood and had nothing modern on the boat.  Even the mast was held in place the same as the original vessels.
I might have mentioned at another time this was a fast rig off the wind, but not when beating.  I had to use a jib to tack and this was only marginal.  If you remember back I told a story of the little engine that wouldn't.  Start that is.  I was very dependent on the sails as a result to go places or to get me out of situations.  On a few occasions, I actually swam ahead of the boat pulling it accross the harbor to my anchorage with a line ties around my waist; this in northern MI at drummond island.
To the story.  As no one up there was into sailing, I would take the cat out by myself into lake Huron and race the freighters, or just surf on their wake.  This was great sport as well as making the boat seem like a little day sailor due to the size difference.  On this particular day, the wind was really up and I was having the time of my life.  I would enter into one of their wakes with such speed that the boat would seem to fly  when exiting.  One moment pointing down the the next the bow would shooting skyward.  Great fun.  Feeling high, I decided to swoop in near the three outer islands that skirt the southern boundaries of Whitney bay with the idea of then comming in my normal route along the peninsula and by my cabin.
On this day the winds were boring northward and the ride downwind towards the islands was exhilarating.  So much so that I misjudged the distance and went to close before realizing I would have to go to windward to get back out into  safe water.  There are channels between these island where I was, but they were narrow and you had to dodge huge boulders and rock piles.  All this debris left after the last glacier made it's retreat.  Most of the debris does go more or less in a north-south direction however.  I had been through the area in calm condition in a small sailboat and even then had problem negotiating .
Well here I was, in large waves, driving in on this pass and knew I was going to go aground (Rocks) at high speed or beat my way out.  Turning the boat somewhat southward the true nature of the lug sail made itself apparent, it would not go.  After several minutes of wallowing around and making headway only slightly and boulders just off my starboard side only fifty or so feet away and comming up fast, I made a decision.
I would never get back out against the incoming sea.  I reacted instantly, knowing the boat would be chewed up on the rocks in a few short minutes.  I jibed hard to the right which almost put me on the rocks I was hoping to avoid.  I had already tried to tack and could not with these sails.  Also wharrams are not to famous  for their tacking ability.
At this point both the main and mizzen snapped over violently and the boat jumped ahead at an amazing speed.  Having both sails up with the jib was way too much for this adventure, but I was alone and things were happening fast.   Latter, I tried to judge my speed and I still claim, it was doing plus 15 knots on this broad reach.  At any rate I skirted the island that was now on my port side and had to enter the pass which I knew in my heart I could not get this boat through safely.
The waves in here were being compressed as well and were really wild.  Actually a part of me was having  fun in a perverse way.  Not only the waves were compressed, but time as well.  The whole trip through the invisible and visible reefs took only a few minutes, but seemed to stretch into a slow motion scene from a movie.  I remember thinking of where the boulders and rock piles were in relationship to the islands and anticipating their arrival.  Just when I thought I would hit them, I would slam the rudder over, jerking the boat to one side or the other.  As suddenly as it began, I was past into calm water.  The sickening sound of splintering plywood I was anticipating never happened.  Another journey completed with no one around to share the moment.  As usual when I went back to the cabin, I would tell my then wife, nice sail.
Sorry this was not A Bolger boat, but I would have done the same had it been one.  Would the boat have been easier to handle with a more modern rig?   I think so as this lug rig left a bit to be desired, at least on this type of boat.  Hope the rest of you folks don't mind my humble attempt to make things fun.  Brad.