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Boat Delivery Part 2

bigtyme805

Member III
The motor seems to be handling great and the boat has survived so far and the owner is under the dodger with me telling me about his bad luck the past few years and I am starting to wonder if he really does have bad luck as the waves crash over the beam.

At the 5 mile marker of our destination the winds completely die and the swell starts up and I give the helm to the owner and go below to relax, finally.
It becomes a gorgeous site cruising under the moon next to Route 1 seeing the Santa Monica Pier and lit up amusement park. I know we are close and I start to reflect on the trip. But before I can reflect the engine dies out of the blue. It will not start and we are close to a jetty 2 miles from Marina Del Rey. The beach is 1000 feet away and we need to act fast. I immediately call the Coast Guard and ask for a tow, they dispatch Baywatch and I give the order owner to throw the anchor, the stern anchor has no line attached to the chain so he goes to throw the bow anchor and finds that the chain has been tied down with some type of rope to stop it from shaking. All I hear is swearing about something. I have no idea where that came from but he gets it deployed. Baywatch pulls up and tells him to pull the anchor up, he starts laughing because he just got it down. What next? Oh, in all of this the swell is 4-6 ft every 7 seconds so he has to deal with that while pulling up the anchor. With everything happening I have the tiller trying to keep us pointed into the swell.
Baywatch gets us under tow at 7-8 knots and we finally get into Marina Del Rey at 815pm. Then it was immediately off to LAX for the trip home. After getting to the dock I asked the owner what was with the anchor and he says, “I don’t think the people that sold me the boat ever took the boat out.” I laugh and say what gives you that idea.
What a trip. The good news is the motor died because of a fuel filter that looked like mud and the owner was happy to be in port at his new home safe and sound.

Moral of the story no matter how far you go make sure all systems are a go, be prepared for any event. Don’t assume anything including the weather forecast.

The End!
 

Meanolddad

Member III
Sounds like it was not that nice of a trip. I had offered to crew on that same trip and the owner never let me know when it was. I assumed that he never found a slip and was staying in his current slip. I also have made the trip down. My daughter was also hoping to go, she is my normal crew. Sometimes it is good to have some esperienced hands along.
Greg
 

Rob Hessenius

Inactive Member
Don- It's easy to be an armchair quarterback. I would not have pushed off from the dock that day. I'm glad that your day ended up okay. Rob
 

sleather

Sustaining Member
P P P P P P!

Don, Glad everything worked out OK!:rolleyes_d: This is a GOOD example of Murphy's Law, ..it can happen anywhere, any time!

There are a number of lessons to be learned here! Obviously the boat was not-quite-ready for an adventure such as this! Whenever taking ownership of a "new" vessel a stem-to stern inspection of all equipment and safety related gear should be done, including the "ground tackle"! Being able to sail out of a given situation is paramount, weather forecasts can be wrong any-old-time so allowing enough "sea-room" for a quick change of plans is critical! I don't feel comfortable THAT close to shore unless I'm resonably sure about what's happening next!

Upon taking ownership I would have drained, cleaned, and refilled the tank and replaced all the engine filters along w/ a extensive "road-test" before heading out on such an adventure! One has NO idea what maintainance had been done in the past, and the ol'-iron-wind must be up to the challenge!

As strongly as I believe in checking and being aware of "weather-forecasts", this is a excellent example of being prepared for ANYTHING!

I'll bet the new owner has a much better appreciation of his "new" boat!:eek:-:egrin:
JOB WELL DONE!;):clap:
 
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u079721

Contributing Partner
I had my own experience with a delivery where I felt that skipper had not prepared quite as well as he could have. I posted this account of my own "delivery from hell" on the Ocean Navigator site some time ago.





Offshore Preparation

You always hear about the need for thorough preparation before heading offshore. But what do you do when it’s not your boat? How far do you go in questioning the skipper’s preparation?

Last December I helped a friend of a friend deliver his boat from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas for the start of his retirement dream in the islands. The boat was a 1978 Perry 47 center cockpit cutter that he had bought two years before. The skipper had been living aboard the last year and had upgraded with boat with professionally installed electronics, new sails, cushions, gen set, fridge and freezer, and even two air conditioners. What he hadn’t found time to do was to sail the boat much or give it more than a two-day shakedown cruise.

When I reported aboard the boat had just been checked out by a local rigger and was pronounced ready for sea. With that reassurance I limited my inspection to learning the running rigging and systems. I did make a couple of suggestions about changing things, but the skipper was unreceptive, having spent the last two years making everything just perfect. After waiting a few days for better weather we got tired of waiting and took off motoring across the Gulf Stream into a 25 kt headwind.

The ride was wet and wild, and once at sea the deck leaked everywhere, soaking our bunks and threatening the electronics at the nav station. The owner was surprised, saying it hadn’t leaked at the dock. Up on deck the wind finally backed enough for us to sail, but we found out that the boat went to weather like a barge, with a tacking angle between 120 and 130 degrees. The main winches were so underpowered that it took two of us working together to sheet in the genny. And try as we might we just couldn’t get the boat to tack without starting the engine to motor across the wind. There was also something wrong with the wind indicator instrument, which was about 120 degrees off from true. No problem – just use the masthead Windex, right? Except that the cockpit enclosure was so big that you couldn’t see the masthead without leaning out of the cockpit and being soaked by the sea spray.

The toys aboard were great, but they used up more of the battery bank than the skipper expected, which forced us to run the gen set for hours a day. (We were running nav lights, auto pilot, instruments, RADAR, two chart plotters, laptop computer, fridge, and freezer.) At one point on the third day out the skipper even suggested we start hand-steering to conserve power, but the boat was so hard to steer that we crew just pretended not to hear.

On the fourth day out the masthead lighting arrestor, which the skipper knew had been a bit loose at the dock, finally came free and was bashing about the masthead, threatening to break the wind instrument. So we had to heave to so the skipper could go aloft in lumpy seas to secure it. Soon after that one of the deck leads shorted out the controller for the freezer, leaving us with just the fridge.

One morning two of us were up at about 5 AM during a 30 to 35 kt gale, and decided to roll in the staysail after getting headed. The furler stuck a bit, but we were able to get it rolled in. Just then the entire staysail - stay, drum, and all - came undone from the deck and flew across the foredeck, threatening to smash in the cabin windows. We jumped out of the cockpit, clipped into the jackline and ran forward to tackle the mess of rigging and secure it to the side deck - where it stayed for the balance of the trip. At daylight when we examined the mess we found that the turnbuckle at the base of the stay had not been pinned in place, and had simply come un-screwed with the action of the furling line. (Just the sort of thing a “professional” rigger should have caught.) I then checked the standing rigging and found that two of the eight shrouds were also not pinned in place, and had in fact already loosed, potentially threatening the entire rig.

Things were blessedly uneventful from then on. After ten days of bashing to windward (including 123 engine hours) we made it to “highway 65” and turned south for a glorious two days reaching at over 7 kts to the islands. If only the entire delivery had been like that! On the afternoon of the 12th day we made landfall at St. Thomas, and were anchored in paradise by nightfall.

Since the boat was still sound and nobody was hurt it qualifies as a successful delivery. But I’ll never again assume a boat is ready for sea just because someone says so. I still don’t know how you go about your own inspection without offending the owner, but your safety is too important to trust to others.

Steve Christensen
 

bigtyme805

Member III
I am sure this post will generate many inquiries. I liked reading about your boat delivery Steve, not uncommon. I find that people that want to cruise never venture out for 24-48 hour cruises to see how their boat will respond or themselves. I mentioned to the owner that he should have taken the boat out and see how she handled, but his limited experience was just that, limited.

Quick story that all of us will find humorous. In the Channel Islands Harbor there is a Chandlery that is owned by a sailor who wanted to go on a circumnavigation with his wife. He outfitted his 42 or 46 foot with every known gadget possible. This boat was pristine. They had a big party at the dock for him and his wife before they headed out. It was a big bash with lots of people.

The funny thing about this is, I never saw his boat go out, but never thought much about it. Plus I didn't want to gossip about him and his ability, I envied him.

They never made it past Catalina Island, he got so seasick that his wife had the helm the entire time. They holed up in King Harbor for 4 weeks before coming back to Oxnard, California to make things look good for the Captain.

The harbor had a blast with this one, since he was the owner of the Chandlery and very visible among the boaters.

Steve wrote about the skipper and fixing his boat but never sailing it. Not uncommon!

If you are going to go offshore for Gods Sake do some daysailing with the vessel to see how she handles and any kinks that may be wrong.

If for some reason you bought it and need it transported sail it a few times and see if any problems arise. Take it out in some rough weather and see how she handles. Not where it's flat and 5 knots of wind.

Happy Sailing.
 

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
If you are going to go offshore for Gods Sake do some daysailing with the vessel to see how she handles and any kinks that may be wrong.

If for some reason you bought it and need it transported sail it a few times and see if any problems arise. Take it out in some rough weather and see how she handles. Not where it's flat and 5 knots of wind.

Happy Sailing.

Great posts and great stories! My wife is more timid than I am and much more inclined to stay in the harbor when it pipes up to 20+kts, gusting to 30kts. Thats when I insist on going for a sail. How else will you know what to do when you are inevitably caught out in that or worse? RT
 

Martin King

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
we examined the mess we found that the turnbuckle at the base of the stay had not been pinned in place, and had simply come un-screwed with the action of the furling line. (Just the sort of thing a “professional” rigger should have caught.) I then checked the standing rigging and found that two of the eight shrouds were also not pinned in place, and had in fact already loosed, potentially threatening the entire rig.

This reminds me of when Hetairos (125' cold molded ketch) had some
trouble. The backstay terminates below deck and rumor has it that
someone forgot the cotter pin. The clevis pin stayed in place for
hundreds of miles until one fairly mild day in the Tasman sea it
popped out and down came a million dollars worth of faux finished
carbon fiber spars.

Martin
 

mrbarnard

'72 E-29 in sweet condition
My bad!

Arghhh... I apologize. It "slipped through the cracks" that you had offered (those cracks in my head).

I was scrambling to make something happen under pretty severe deadlines. I had to be out of one slip by a certain time, and in another port at a certain time, and had only a one-day window when I could make the sail. Too, I spent a lot of time simply trying to get things coordinated with my sons, neither of whom were able to make the trip after all.

I apologize that in that mess that I forgot to follow up on your offer, although obviously it now appears you're lucky that I failed! :)



Sounds like it was not that nice of a trip. I had offered to crew on that same trip and the owner never let me know when it was. I assumed that he never found a slip and was staying in his current slip. I also have made the trip down. My daughter was also hoping to go, she is my normal crew. Sometimes it is good to have some esperienced hands along.
Greg
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Future musings

Hmmm....
I just realized that trying to recruit Don or Michael to help me deliver out boat up the Washington coast next June might not produce very much enthusiasm!
:hoppingmad:

Christmas Cheer to all,

Loren in PDX
:cheers:
 

bigtyme805

Member III
I have a boat delivery scheduled for San Francisco from Channel Islands after Christmas. Will let you know how this goes...

Happy Holidays Everyone;)
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Hi Don,

How are ya? Thanks for the great deal on a sail a few years back. Got all new ones now. Wow, glad you got through that delivery unscathed. Great read, great adventure! I have really been busy at work and have seen the heading for your Boat Delivery posts for a couple of weeks now but I just haven't had the time to read them. I think that there seems to be this common misconception by many that haven't really sailed off the Southern California coast, that we have pretty mild sailing conditions most of the time. I as well used to think that until I got caught in a Santa Anna at Santa Cruz Island back in December of 2001. Just like your experience, NOAA's forecasts were less than accurate. Sustained winds of 30 knots, gusts to 45. Big Seas as well. Way too small a boat. That was a day that I will never forget and I learned a valuable lesson about sailing in So Cal. I think over the past seven years I have got to be a better sailor and much more prepared. You can read that story at this link:

http://showmyboat.com/blogs/11/WHY-...-THE-CHANNEL-ISLANDS-IN-TOO-SMALL-A-BOAT.aspx

When I finally purchased my real boat, the E-27 I now own, I had to bring her up from San Diego, 100 miles to San Pedro. My E-27 was also lacking attention to things like the standing rigging and even the sails. Since I knew I would be beating into the wind and the current up hill to San Pedro most of the way, I put most of my attention into getting my little Yanmar up to snuff as well as polish the tank. I replaced the filters, fuel pump, injector, thermostat, battery and so on. I also had to do a lot of work on the cockpit scupper. I as well did that delivery in November but I was spared Santa Anna's. It was almost impossible to make any kind of headway in the afternoon with 20 knots on the nose, so I mostly motored at night and it was very calm. I averaged 5 knots. It took 17 hours to get from Chula Vista to Dana Point the first day. Left Chula Vista at 10:30 am and arrived in Dana Point at 4:30 am. Man it was cold and dark. Ever heard that old saying, "Never enter an unfamiliar port at night"? I had no radar at that time as well and relied on a hand held GPS. Well I can see I am starting to ramble on about my own Delivery Story and I don't want to do that right now. I think what's on my mind is that when every you undertake a lengthy delivery with any kind of dead line you may be setting yourself up for trouble. On my delivery from San Diego, I too was under a deadline of only two days to complete the trip in. I also had long stretches of coast with no real safe harbor along the way. All and all that trip went with out a hitch but I don't think I would ever do a trip of that length with out thoroughly going through every aspect of the sea worthiness of the boat. I was lucky that the seas did not pipe up while I was off one of those stretches of nothingness coast in the middle of the night. By the way, I had not even had the boat surveyed yet. Money was also a factor at that time for me. Oh yeah, my crew mate was my Father, who was at that time 76 years old. He was my un official surveyor and navigator. While I relied on my GPS, I asked him if he would also do the plotting the old fashioned way with charts and a scratch pad. His plotting was almost dead on to the GPS. He was and still is a great sailor.

After reading your accounts and the accounts of the owner, it seems to me that you handled it very well. Good Job! Oh yeah, I remember that weekend, it was blowing like stink down in San Pedro as well.
 

bigtyme805

Member III
Hey Jeff it was nice to see you finally post didn't know what happened to you. I am sure most know that you have a well equipped E27 and have really pampered your girl. You have made many trips to Catalina, probably more than anyone on this list in the So Cal area, seems like you are out there all the time.

So you know the waters very well. It's usually so pleasant and we tend to forget what the Pacific has to offer.

Plus what I didn't bring up is Michael the Owner was totally limited on funds and I was trying to do things to help him the best that I could. I have been there myself.

Well will close this off and get to reading your story. Thanks and Happy Holidays
 

Sid

BOATBUMMS
Lost relitive

Hay Don

Was that guy who was in Channel Islands name John?
Sid and Manuela
In and On "Paradise"
36c #51
 

bigtyme805

Member III
No, ironically his name was Michael also. Michael Ditton! I am sure you are referring to the owner of the Chandlery?
 
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