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I took the old girl out today for a shake down before the BEER cruise. Winds were to be E-NE 11-15kt and falling off later in the aftrenoon. Gusty as hell at 1PM when I went out, well over 15. Ran the standard sail set for an hour or so. The gusts were so bad I thought about reefing. About 2 PM it settled down so I put up the 3 meter yankee and sailed with that a while. Took some gusts that made the lines creak some. Tacking is OK and the sail doesn't hurt performance that I could tell. I didn't bother with the GPS. By 3:30 the winds had died down and I decided to put up the tops'l. She set pretty well and is easy to tack; however, there sure is getting to be a lot of line on this little boat. After a half hour or so the wind suddenly just dropped to nothing. I rushed to heave to and quickly droped the tops,l,wadded it up and into the cabin it went. I had the yankee about half way down when the wind came blasting from the W-NW at least as hard as it had blown all day. I got the sail down and and into the forepeak locker as fast as I could. These boats will really lay to when you need to. I decided as the wind was staying up and the seas building it was time to go home. About 5PM by now. I kept to the starboard tack and turned north heading for the Eglin Ycaht Club Marina. The bay was throwing a 3.5 at me about every 10 waves or so with more gusts. I kept hearing that creaking sound from behind me but it didn't sound like straining lines anymore. A few seconds more and here comes another big gust. When I put the helm down to maintains course the sound was louder and the wheel suddenly went limp. I jeked my head around to see my new foil rudder blade washing behind in the slip stream. The boat of course sails right into a broach as I franticly try to get the big main down. Of course eveything wants to hang up just then. About the same for the jib; but, finally all the rags are down, lashed up and the ship safe. It is still rough as hell so I opted for the life jacket and lowered the iron jib. I lit the Honda up and headed back for home. Ever try to maintain a course in a high cross wind and rough seas with just an out board to steer with? I docked at 6:15 none the worse for ware. But wait! Theres more!!! Got the trailer in the water and tryed to step down on the bunk to pull the nose in with out standing on the cracked fender. Lost my balance and had to step over to the next bunk. Yep, kept right on moving to land in the water standing at the edge of the bottomless pit at the end of the ramp. Swam the two strokes to good footing and climbed back onto the trailer. Nosed her into the keel box and went for the winch strap. Got her out of the water without further incident and towed up to the lot to break her down. Went to the winch to pull her into trailering position and found the winch strap had ripped off the hook. Stitches had rotted. Glad that didn't happen in the slip. I tied it back on with and half hitch and set to winching. Thats when the bob stay turn buckle eyelet opened up and the hook came flying back towatrd me! Took the remains of the turnbuckle off and set the hook over the bolt and finished winching her up to the stop. At this point I am saying some really choice words. Finally got everything broken down and secured for the short trip home. I figured the old rudder box had let go but to my supprise the rudder blade failed along the lower side of the rudder box ripping some of the wood out vertically almost up to the pivot bold. This was a heavy 3/4 slab of perfectly clear white pine! I have never seen the like of this. I will put up some photos tomorrow. Yes, I did save the old blade! And what did you people do today?

Damn craig you have all the fun :lol:
I think Muphy was with You today, quite an exciting day,You allright?
I did honeydoos all day :roll:

Brian.

Wow Craig,

That was an adventure. You actually popped in my mind today. I was out on Lake Muskegon on my little Newport Blue Crab 12.

The wife wanted to go garage saling so I soloed it. It was a gorgeous day with steady 11 knot winds.

I sailed up to almost the channel mouth and then wing and winged it back to Hartshorn as my arms were shot. I bought fittings from some chandlery out in Mystic, CT and will be making a whisker pole when I get back home. Wing and wing with the mainsheet in my teeth, one hand on the tiller, and one hand holding out the jib was a chore. ( I was flying though!! :twisted: )

Glad to hear you got back safe and found out about repairs you need to complete in a set of circumstances that was non-life threating.

If you lived closer I would come over and give you a hand.

Dave G.

Ahoy Craig,

Glad to hear there was no mishap. Somehow, though, I think I remember reading a similar story about your boat before. Good to have you back. What an adventure!

I must tell you, Craig, that it is just that kind of adventure that Bill Olney is looking forward to. Bill has sailed these placid desert lakes long enough. What Bill wants now is some saltwater, white-knuckle adventure, the kind of adventure that will buckle a man's knees and turn his hair white. Take Bill out in the Gulf and let me see that 5-mile buoy up close like.

Bill thinks he's going on some holiday cruise. Adventure lies over the next crest of the swelling wave.

Damn Craig!

You didn't hit a sleepin' sea cow or something did ya?

Ever notice catastrophe happens in SLOW motion?

No Ang I didn't hit any thing. That's the funny part. I looked for the blade a bit but the chop as too high to find it. The remains in the rudder box seem to indicate a stress failure, like the board was pulled down and out of the box. A ragged failure if you will not sheared across the bottom edge of the box????? Maybe the rudder aspect (length) was too much for the area held in the rudder box. I sure wish I could have found the rudder blade to analyze the rest of the board. Alls well that ends well; however, it was quite a day. Proves again why we test. 8) 8)

Good sailing Craig,

One just has to love the size of the Vacationer. :lol: Every trip in and out is an adventure.

When I am tired, at the end of a sail, I've darn near killed myself ... umm...a couple of times :roll:

My crew and I hope to get the Wolf out tomorrow, I've been a bit busy, so I haven't even been out yet this season.

Today, I made a borosilicate glass canon, a red rose, and five Grecian vessels. Taking a break before I go back to the torch, I need to squeak out a couple of tops and a few marbles yet.

Oh yeah, I’ve been fostering my grand kids and I get to be the primary care giver. And they both swim, a grandpa’s dream come true. Crew and lucky, little fisher-persons 8)

Sounds like quite a ride, better than any amusment park Eh :o
All the fun I had Saturday, was to put another coat of spar varnish on my bright work, and do some work on my cabin. Now having second thoughts about the airfoil rudder I'm finishing hock: for Ginny Rae. hard to believe that three 3/4 pinewood laminations could let go like that. Wondering if the airfoil created some odd forces on the rudder box? Maybe too efficient for these boats.

Greg

I was wonderin' what happened to my luck... :lol:

Glad to hear from you Mike. Sara and I got our first grand child in Dec. A boy named Craig III to Craig JR and Susan in Houston. I call him 3. I discussed this failure with a couple guys on the BEER cruise this past weekend. Got home this afternoon. The consensus is too much lift and too high an aspect for the the 3/4" pivot surface. The board went withthe sprit Had a great time onthe cruise. High adventure there as well but I'll let that other participants tell the tail.