• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Five Minutes of Summer at Christmas

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
So you say the garbage can is welded to the sidewalk? Your hair froze on the way home from the gym? Your car key's in in the other coat and one galosh is missing, maybe eaten by the dog? Outside it's sleeting and inside it's too warm, and the boat is 40 miles away and needs a boarding ladder 12 feet long?

Here are five minutes of summer, a thousand miles offshore. Winter is fine. But it's mostly for remembering summers.

https://vimeo.com/248672052
 

Teranodon

Member III
Nice video, a pleasure to watch. Our Ericson boats are so great!

Here's the thing, though: I sailed offshore with a friend a few times, on his 34- and 37-foot boats. Once, we did an Atlantic crossing, and he absolutely INSISTED that the hatch boards be in the companionway at all times, in the event of a sudden wave from behind. This even as we were rolling downwind in the trades. Similarly he never opened the forward hatch when offshore. Never. Now this man sailed his C&C34 around the world singlehanded (including Cape Horn, the wrong way) so he knew what he was about. Too much precaution? Maybe. But something to consider.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Nice video, a pleasure to watch. Our Ericson boats are so great!

Here's the thing, though: I sailed offshore with a friend a few times, on his 34- and 37-foot boats. Once, we did an Atlantic crossing, and he absolutely INSISTED that the hatch boards be in the companionway at all times, in the event of a sudden wave from behind. This even as we were rolling downwind in the trades. Similarly he never opened the forward hatch when offshore. Never. Now this man sailed his C&C34 around the world singlehanded (including Cape Horn, the wrong way) so he knew what he was about. Too much precaution? Maybe. But something to consider.

When under way, we started dogging down our forward hatch many years ago after it inhaled a wave top from a tug-boat-wake. Boating on a river (fresh water) does not provoke the cleanup hassle that it would be in salt water, but still.... bit of a mess. :)

OTOH, having a high bridge deck, we never worry about the cockpit area. That's the beauty of our design (and yours) -- any boarding sea would run out the transom before any significant amount would enter the cabin.
Even with that much hubris, I do put the board in when crossing a bar in rough conditions. I have been on one delivery where we took a "green sea" over the transom and filled the cockpit of a Cascade 36. Boards were all in and secured for gale conditions. No harm and a good story.

Romping along in the open Pacific on a sunny day, like Christian, I would not have a hatch board in, either.
Looking nonchalant like him would be the difficult part! :rolleyes:
As a writer put it so well, long ago, "I am not With It, it leaves without me."

We have a layer of ice and snow all over our area today.... oh my that video looks enticing...
:egrin:
 
Last edited:

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
A half dozen folks, some of them experienced, have complained about videos showing the hatchboards not in place in 30 knots.

To each his own, and no harm done.

I do find it absurd. With the sliding hatch closed on most Ericsons, very little salt water enters the cabin. In 10,000 miles on Ericsons, zero salt water has ever entered the cabin, and I don't have a dodger.

Rain squalls? Yes, of course. Gotta put the one-piece hatchboard in then, but even so only the ladder and sole gets wet much. And when it's cold, doggone right the hatch board is in.

I guess if I were sailing in the Roaring 40s in a gale with 30-foot seas, where being rolled or pitchpoled is on your mind, the hatch board would be in. I'm sure if streaming the Jordan Series drogue in a full gale, running with waves breaking into the cockpit, I would have the hatchboard in and the sliding hatch locked. But that's not the kind of sailing most of us do.

Besides, a singlehander is in and out of the companionway every hour, day and night. The inconvenience would be severe--and for what? , In Fastnet '79, highest seas and wind I have experienced, the hatchboard on Tenacious was never in. Need communication and a quick passage for crew and navigator. A tiny dodger kept water out.

Practical reality: With the hatch board out and the sliding hatch closed, if a 12-foot sea breaks directly abeam, stunning the boat like an auto accident and showering the cabin house with green water, only a sprinkle of water enters the cabin.

If the boat were knocked down and its spreaders touching the water, no salt water would come in either. This is a design element of offshore boats.

In the end, keeping hatchboards in is a great idea for anybody who concludes it is necessary.
 
Last edited:

Joliba

1988 E38-200 Contributing Member
Christian,
Thank you for the pleasant tropical day at sea. You were spot on with your description of winter. The present temperature here is -1° F. The boat is half an hour away with the lock for the ladder quite frozen and the bilge filled with a solid block of ice (despite -100° rated antifreeze.) My dog actually did chew the strap, buckle, and side of my overshoe last week. I sewed the strap, replaced the buckle, and made a waterproof patch for the boot side. Were it summer, I would be repairing similar items aboard the boat. Boat projects will resume when the temperature is above 40°F.
Have a Happy New Year.
Mike Jacker
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Summer is coming

The days are already getting longer.

You can almost feel it around here.

Almost.

winter.jpg
 

KTROBI_VALHALLA

Member II
Christian, Thank you for the vimeo 'fix' while I sit here gazing at 5 inches of snow 25 miles outside of Seattle. How many more days of winter?
 

mjsouleman

Sustaining Member
Moderator
OffShore in 5 minutes

Christen,

It's 28 degrees here on the Chesapeake and watching your "Gift" warmed me up.

From Discovery and I, Thank you
 
Top