Odalisque - August 10, 2004 Log

Log 2004 – August 10th

Tuesday August 10, 2004 – “Ripped My Shorts and Aft Chain Plate”
Crew: Matt, Laurie, Caleb and Jessica

We arrived at Odalisque at 1230 and beat Matt and Laurie by 20 minutes. I applied some varnish to the toe rail I had worked so hard to restore. It is probably not the best practise to apply any varnish before heading out; it can get wet, it can get under foot and tracked around by the crew who (through no fault of their own) did not know which sections to avoid. It would be a better practise to apply varnish before you leave your vessel. I am still learning the ropes. The forecast was for 5 – 10 knots with higher gusts and thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Matt and Laurie needed to get back in the early evening to relieve their baby sitter.

We set out at 1330 having considerable wind for our sail and quickly passed Execution Rocks and got as far East as the mouth of Hempstead Harbor. At 1500 we began tacking back into a southwesterly wind. It took several tacks into winds that our wind meter clocked at between 20 – 25 mph. There were ribbons of foam on the sea surface and white caps.

On our final tack after fetching the southern point of City Island the wind seemed especially fierce. The rigging had been strained by strong 25 knot gusts and we had been at a 45 degree angle at times. Laurie had been occupying a perch atop the aft lazarette (hatch) where she did not have to switch sides as we tacked. Suddenly, there was a distinct thud in the rigging as the aft stay lurched a little, right in back of Laurie’s “safe” spot on the boat. She felt the aft stay and it did appear to be a little looser than it had been and the chain plate moved about 1/8 of an inch. We immediately furled the jib and let the main sheet out to reduce the pressure on the rigging. The Atomic 4 sprung to life and began pushing us back towards our mooring. The wind and waves were strong enough acting on the freeboard that it was a little difficult to maneuver until the main sail was taken down as well. We fetched our mooring and prepared to leave Odalisque and discussed repair strategies.

During the sail I had ripped my faded jean shorts on the starboard back pocket so that my underwear (salmon colored) showed through. Fortunately the hole in my underwear was not in the same spot as my right rear wallet pocket had been so my privates had been kept private. The salmon underwear complimented my outfit I thought.

This had been a nice, more vigorous sail than our last together and I really had sea legs when I finally got back to the dock although it could have been augmented by the red wine we had on this sail.

After extensive checking on the Tartan 27 owners website I understood that there was 5/8 inch plywood which was bolted to the chainplate and the whole thing glassed in. We could replace the plywood, which was probably rotten after 37 years with 3/4 inch stock.

This was our second Tuesday “hooky” sail and we were all disappointed that now the rigging on our fine boat was compromised. This meant the end of all sailing until the aft chainplate could be fixed. So for a few weeks, Caleb and Noah made visits to Odalisque to make sure the bilge sensor was working and contemplated the work to be done on the chainplate. Peter Youngblood from the T 27 site had put me onto this kind of tropical wood he spelled as “epay”, but is Spanish in origin and is actually spelled ipe. It is very dense and stronger than oak and does not float. Some 2 x 6 stock found its way into my greedy hands for free and I milled a piece down to 3/4 inch stock and shaped it roughly the way I suspected it should be at my friend Godfrey’s wood shop.

— Caleb Davison