[TSOJOURNER]

I'm not sure if this post belongs here or in the Off-Topic forum, but I am trying to find an old article that appeared in an issue of "The Favored End" (newsletter? magazine?). The article is about the capsize and sinking of a Venture 23' of Newport named "Chiquita." Does anyone here have an electronic copy of that article? It was supposed to be accessible at a site on Yahoo Groups, but you need to be a member--and my membership application has gone unanswered.

 

[AjariBonten]

http://www.bbyra.com/newsletters/JanFeb05.pdf

30 seconds on Google

 

[AjariBonten]

not a bad article, by the way

 

[TSOJOURNER]

Haha, thanks! I can't believe it...can you guess how many times I tried google and never got that hit? Perhaps I was looking too hard and needed the extra set of eyes. Thanks a million, AjariBonten!

 

[AjariBonten]

No Problem, it was on the third or fourth page of hits

 

[bljones]

Weird. This boat has been popping up all over recently- in the latest issue of SCA, and also in the Durabak thread in the "Gear" forum here.

 

[heinzir]

Weird. This boat has been popping up all over recently- in the latest issue of SCA, and also in the Durabak thread in the "Gear" forum here.

That's probably because I got laid off last month and have been spending my time playing on the computer instead of looking for a job! Bad time to get laid off--I can't sail because the ice is 3ft thick and I can't afford to go where it's warm. Bummer!

I put the full article about Chiquita's sinking and some others in the Macgregor 23 Knowledge Base: MacgregorOwners.com - 23

 

[TSOJOURNER]

Whoa! Hey! Imagine that, you go asking about a guy's boat, and then the owner pops up and replies to your message thread! Glad to meet you, Heinzir! I just found that full article on sailboatowners.com. How is your boat doing? I saw in an issue (date?) of "the Favored End" that your boat got hit by a drunk boater (and I cringed at the sight of the picture, too). Did you get the damage all repaired? Beautiful boat, by the way. How long have you owned her?

 

[heinzir]

Thanks, Mike,

Nice to meet you too. I see that you are in NY. How did you originally hear about my article in "The Favored End?" It is a local newsletter of the White Bear Lake Yacht Club here in Minnesota. I had never heard of them but a guy I worked with is a member and he asked if they could run excerpts of the original article in "Great Lakes Sailor."

Chiquita is as good as ever. I have owned her for over 30 years but she is still a "work in progress." The dismasting took about a month out of my (already too short) sailing season. I replaced the mast and lived with the cosmetic damage until the fall. I redid and repainted the entire exterior that year and tackled the interior the following season. I'm pretty happy with the results but there are always new ideas to try out.

How long have you had your V222? I think the interior layout of your boat is the same as mine. They are reasonably comfortable boats, given their size. We used to trailer to Lake Superior or Lake Michigan every year but are now content to leave the boat on her mooring a couple of blocks from our house.

 

[Boasun]

Were the hatch boards in place? The picture indicates that the hatchway is large. And in any kind of seas they should have had it closed up. And then possibility they may not have sunk.

 

[heinzir]

Were the hatch boards in place? The picture indicates that the hatchway is large. And in any kind of seas they should have had it closed up. And then possibility they may not have sunk.

No, the hatchboards were not in place. And yes, having them in place could possibly have saved the boat. I included that in "Lessons Learned."

Note that the article in "The Favored End" is just an excerpt from the original article in "Great Lakes Sailor." See the full article here:
MacgregorOwners.com - 23

Don't be misled by the picture. The staff artist at the magazine used a little "artistic freedom" in his depiction. There were no seas of any size at all. Chiquita went down on a small inland lake. Even if the wind builds to 40+ knots there is not enough fetch for waves much bigger than 2 ft. Our biggest waves actually come from powerboat wakes. It was the wind, not waves, that caused the capsize. Local law enforcement called it "wind sheer."

Of course there are things I coulda shoulda done that would have avoided the situation altogether; I just never saw it coming. That's why I wrote the article and included the section "Lessons Learned." I'm older and (I think) wiser now but, like Chiquita, I am also a "work in progress."

 

[tager]

Now I feel like less of a nerd for filling underneath the cockpit and v-berth with air bladders. (It's a balboa 22')

 

[trecksail]

It is a small world

We have that issue of great lakes sailor with the article in our magazine rack in our office "head". It was a good read and would like to think that I'd follow all your shoulda's but have to admit that I doubt I will either! It does look like a beautiful boat and I'm glad she's back in action.

 

[TSOJOURNER]

Henry,

Glad to hear that your Venture is doing well, and that you got her pieced back together again. Did the authorities ever catch the boaters that hit your boat?

How I heard about your boat was quite a round-about and accidental way. My father sent me an email at work about sail bags for jibs, and included links to pictures that showed what the bags looked like. I forget who sent the email to him, so I don't know how he got it. Anyway, the links took me to your community webshots page. Naturally, seeing pictures of a Venture, I kept looking through more pics until I came to the artists' rendition of Chiquita's capsize, with your caption about the accident and where to find the article. So, I immediately went looking for the article--but that Venture 23 site would not allow me to access the files section. I tried to join up to gain the access, but never got a reply. So I took back to the internet, and just today was able to find this forum. AjariBonten was able to find the Favored End article; and once I had your name (being the author), I was able to Google the original full article from Great Lakes Sailor. I found your story interesting, even more so because you got the boat back and got it sailing again. Capsizing in heavy winds has been my biggest fear out on the water, since I started sailing by myself 3 years ago. Up until then, I sailed with either my dad or my grandfather, who always had control of the boat. I don't let her lean too far, but I'm getting braver as I try to coax more speed out of those old sails.

I started restoring my V222 three years ago, when my parents still owned it. They let me put it in a slip and use it to my heart's content (since I was doing all of the maintenance and restoration work). I did a major refit of the boat's running rigging and the cabin back in the spring, and got a lot of use out of her over the summer. Then, in the beginning of September, my father bought a 1982 S2 8.0. At that point, he knew I wanted the old Venture, and that I had put countless hours of work into it, so he gave it to me outright. Like Chiquita, my Venture is still a work in progress. In fact, I'm going to do some keel work before it goes back in the water this year. Since MacGregors are notorious for keel bolts failing and dropping keels to lake bottoms, I'm going to replace the pivot bolt and the cable as a precautionary measure.

 

[TSOJOURNER]

Here she is in action...(sails loosened to slow down enough to have the picture taken )

 

[heinzir]

Awesome pictures! Thanks!

 

[Kittiwake]

Henry:

I'm restoring a Kenner Kittiwake 23 and love that cedar ceiling you installed. Any chance you could share some of the lesson's learned? In particular, how did you attach to the hull, did you insulate, did you leave air space, etc.?

 

[heinzir]

Thanks for the compliment!​

I had been thinking about doing the wood ceiling thing for a long time and finally got around to doing it a couple of winters ago. I was able to remove the bulkheads from the boat to make the job easier -- they needed replacing anyway.​

I used 1/2" or 3/8" plywood cut into 1-1/2" strips for the backing ribs. I cut kerfs in them half way through from the back side to facilitate bending. I glued them into place with Gorilla Glue. Epoxy would have been better (it would have actually strengthened the hull) but the Gorilla Glue has held up ok so far. I put lengthwise backing strips along the sheer and at the berth tops.

I thought about putting some closed cell foam insulation between the ribs but just went ahead without it. I got lazy and didn't even remove all of the carpet liner in some places. (I had replaced the original carpet hull liner with a foam backed waterproof carpet some years ago so I knew it would not hold moisture.)​

The cedar I used is tongue and groove wainscotting from Menard's or Home Depot. I attached it to the ribs with brass screws starting at the bow with full size pieces at the top and cutting the lower ones to fit. It was not necessary to get a perfect fit at the bottom since the berth cushions would cover that area. I cut the cedar ends off square at one of the ribs to make a uniform seam of butt joints that could be covered with a single batten.

The picture shows the unfinished cedar going in for a trial fit. I ended up pre-finishing all of the cedar in my garage with a couple of coats of varnish before installation.​

Henry​