Sea-Kindliness

camaraderie · #1 (**permalink**) 08-31-2007

We often talk about blue water boats here vs. coastal cruising and also talk about sea-kindly boats vs. uncomfortable ones. I ran across the following excerpt from Liz Clark's log and I think it perfectly describes what you experience on a boat that is not sea kindly in NORMAL weather as you try to go to windward. Here it is with a link to her whole surf and sail log at the end. Good reading!

Well, by this time we were quite familiar with the affliction and its symptoms. We rotated between lying prone in the cocoon-bed of the settee to what we deemed the 'throne' in the cockpit. The 'throne' was in the one corner of the cockpit that was almost completely dry. The harsh heeling of the boat caught you in the gravity mitt of the throne's stack of cushions. The person on the opposite side fought the steep incline with all four limbs while an infuriating drip of water spilled down on your head or neck when Swell's movement guided the droplets to the gap in the leaky bimini top. As badly as either of us wanted to try to entertain the other to distract from our surrounding misery, the person opposite the 'throne' would soon give up and go to the 'cocoon'. The lurching and slamming made it too uncomfortable to be standing for any extended period of time. It was either sit down or lie down.

As the miles reached less than seventy-five, the wind chop grew even taller. It didn't help that we were sailing as tight to the wind as possible and usually making only three measly knots. Poor Swell, she'd get so excited to move forward with the consistent 15-25 knots of wind. She would lurch forward in a burst of lift and then hit a water wall in what felt like a momentum-curdling fender bender. Then when the waves lined up just right, we'd launch out over a deep, short trough and the water would explode up underneath the hull like the wind soldiers were throwing hand grenades below us. It was unnerving to say the least--a full-on battlezone. As I cursed myself for not paying better attention to the wind patterns, the words of more than one old salt at the handful of yachting affairs I'd attended, echoed in my head. "A Cal 40, huh? Those are great boats, but they sure slam going to windward." Okay, so they were right.

http://www.wetsand.com/article.asp?l...&SubTabID=1495

southerncross31 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-31-2007

I just sailed the SC on Wed for the first time ever, after slaving away since last october. It was awesome...talk about sea-kindliness!!! It doesn't pound at all.....just like i thought. Although the following seas did make her roll a little more than i am used to. But going to windward is awesome...smooth as a cadillac and very dry. I set all 3 sails, balanced everything and walked away from the tiller without even lashing it..it held 210 degrees on its own until i had to tack. Overall i am very pleased but now i need to build a little more confidence in myself before i take out my 3 & 6 yr olds!

camaraderie · #3 (**permalink**) 08-31-2007

SC31...we have an SC31 at our docks here and they are pretty and sea kindly for sure. Since you've been slaving away for a year..first congrats on the splash...and what exactly have you done to her in the last year? Before and after pix??

bestfriend · #4 (**permalink**) 08-31-2007

There's an "I told you so." floating around out there somewhere. I haven't checked the site yet, but I imagine that she is on her Open Ocean leg? I got lucky and found out in the 8-10 foot swells in the Gate, 15 minutes from the Marina, that my boat pounds pretty hard. She's a brave girl, gotta give her that.

southerncross31 · #5 (**permalink**) 09-01-2007

Thanks Cam.....it's been a long road but the payoff was worth it. I paid 10k for the boat because the area under the mast was compressed and 100% wet. So i re-cored the cabin top and laid down several extra layers of glass for some crown. Then i replaced all the ports, installed a Lavac with a gravity drain holding tank, redid all the teak with bristol finish ,rebuilt the teak and holly sole,emptied 1500lbs of the previos owner's crap, pulled all thruhulls and seacocks and put in new epoxied backing blocks, stripped and rebedded all deck hardware and drilled every hole in the boat oversized and filled with 404 thickened epoxy, sealed hull/deck joint with 5200, put on new handrails and stanchion bases, a new traveller from Garhauer, rebuilt the tiller- rudder assembly, put roller furlers on the headsail and staysail, sanded down bottom and applied barrier coat and E-Paint, redid engine exhaust, drained deisel tank and scrubbed clean... oh and a few other things but i don't want to bore you

bestfriend · #6 (**permalink**) 09-01-2007

Thats awesome SC. Hellova lotta work. Post some pics when you get a chance.