Hi, Lee:

Got your Hughes Nughes #'s 4 and 5 and am enjoying them immensely. Will start Monday's Weekly Whiffle with you. More stuff in red below. Best wishes for happy sailing,

Uncle Al (W3854)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: lhughes@ihug.co.nz 
To: Al Schonborn 
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 2:32 PM
Subject: Wanderer wandering

Hi Al, 

thanks for the good advice. Frank may have sort of anticipated you on the mainsheet - it runs from the traveller up and down and up to the boom and then along to a point above the back of the centreboard case.  Perhaps this is a centre mainsheet? Also the traveller is in fact tied off, so that the sheet always pulls from the centre of the traveller, too. I thought the centre sheet was good but the tied traveller was odd - until I fitted the motor and realized that a moving traveller was more likely to foul the sheet on the motor. So all in all, the mainsheet arrangement is working very well. 
Al: What I actually meant re: mainsheet was to totally bypass the boom end as shown in the 1971 pic of my W852 below - i.e. run the mainsheet only between mid-boom and the thwart or the aft end of the centreboard box - the aft part of the rope seen below runs to the swivel cleat. This was legal for racing W's in North America until '72 or so, and makes gybing a lot simpler. BTW, that's me 30+ years ago, steering.
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Yes. I have practiced heaving to and have found it very useful. I back the jib and put the tiller to leeward with the main and it's all very comfy. Haven't raised the centreboard yet but will try that next time I heave to. 
I wasn't exactly referring to heaving to but rather those windy day emergencies such a sudden loss of rudder, broken shroud when you may not want to take the time to heave to and when it is definitely fastest to simply put the board full up and let the sails fly. Heaving to with the board full up is also much more relaxing since the boat drifts to leeward so fast that the rudder can be left pretty well unattended because the leeway pushes the rudder into the right angle (luffing up position) automatically. And in a blow or puffy conditions, the fully raised board is safer since the boat won't have the board to "trip" over.  Of course, the trade-off is that you do make leeway rather more quickly than when you heave to with the board down.

I'd love to meet up in Florida if possible. I might be in northern Florida by the end of Jan and would love to meet someone who can show me how to sail a Wayfarer properly. 
Doesn't sound as though you need any showing but I thought it might be fun to meet, have a few beers and get a few digital pics of you and Wanderer using the official CWA camera. Marc and I plan to leave here early in the morning on Fri 31 Jan and reach northern Florida along the Atlantic coast Sunday or Monday depending on the weather and how much the spirit moves us. As you state in HN #5, relaxation is the name of the game! The place we're going is Tavares on Lake Eustis, in the middle of Florida, SE of Daytona Beach, where we expect to be no later than Tues 4 Feb. It will likely be easiest to drop off the boat and then come out to try to find you.  By that time I imagine you might be as far north as Fort Pierce or even close to Melbourne. If we were to "connect" on the evening of Thurs 30 Jan (you could call me collect at 905-844-2150) you would know how things are progressing and we could figure out a place and time to meet. What do you think? Then we could fine-tune the arrangements by having you call us collect in our car at my crew's cell number (416) 575-6896 - will have to check with Marc (my crew whom I will copy) to see if that could be done? Anyways, we can organize better as the end of the month approaches.

I must be doing some things right because I covered 12 nautical miles in 1 hour 45 minutes today. Lovely sailing - with only a main, too. No jib as there seemed to be no need.
Pretty nice and relatively speedy boats to sail, aren't they??!!

Sorry I have no cell phone but I will clear email more often now I know that libraries here close on Sundays and Mondays. I'm sure we can arrange something. 
see above

There's a nice strong blow coming tonight so I may not sail tomorrow. Oh yes, I'm in NewFound Harbour on Big Pine Key about 30 miles north of Key West and should be in and out of Key West by the end of the week. 
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Must now go and write to my gal. 

Toodle oo

Lee
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: Adrienne Faherty 
To: ... Uncle Al ; ... Frank Dye 
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 3:32 PM
Subject: Hughes Nughes 4

Hi folks, 

Here I am in Big Pine Key - about 30 miles NW of Key West. There's a blow coming tonight so I'm in New Found Harbour for the rest of the day and maybe tomorrow as well. The library is closed on Monday so I'm paying for this email at $3 for 15 minutes - Yow! 
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I've been flat out since I left Wyoming on Dec. 7 and only now have I really had time to relax a bit. I got good winds today and yesterday and finally realized what I hard time I'd had with fickle, gusty and feeble winds previously. Yesterday and today I sailed a total of 31 miles in only 3 1/2 hours! And I didn't get cold or wet or have to lean over too much and was able to stay on one tack almost the whole time.  I puttered underneath a bridge with the mast down to get into the ocean side of the Keys today and sailed down at 6-7 knots. Nice and dry and lovely - until I turned into harbour and couldn't sail into the northerly. I opened the box of wind and motored up, getting sprayed and soaked for 45 minutes, but at least I had the satisfaction of having sailed the Atlantic for a bit. 

No recent dramas to report but I find now that I handle the sails much more easily and can keep a much tidier ship. I'll have some more stuff to unload in Fort Lauderdale - I always pack a lot at the start and then discard stuff. Better to be safe than sorry but Wanderer will sail better with less in her. 

Weather here is cooler now and that's nice - no sweaty hot nights and no bugs. The water is much warmer than the air so it's Ok to get wet. Most people are helpful but one or two don't like the sight of my little tramp steamer so Wanderer and I turn our noses into the wind and trundle off to more congenial places. Have only stayed in a marina once (apart from Black Point marina where Gary Greene and Jesse combined to get the rudder fixed). Mostly I slip into a wee nook or cranny and put up my boom tent. Yesterday though, I pulled into a lovely marina (Sunshine Key Marina on Ohio Key next to Bahia Honda Key) and had a shower and caught a bus to go shopping in Marathon. 
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Toodle oo

Lee
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: Adrienne Faherty 
To: ...; Uncle Al ; ...; Frank Dye 
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 4:08 PM
Subject: Heading North Now

This is being written on the computer of Phil DeClue who is another of the outstandingly generous people that I have met. I found him by chance. I sailed into Newfound Harbour (on Big Pine Key, 30 miles north of Key West) on Monday afternoon after a lovely sail down the Atlantic coast from Bahia Honda Key. 
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Anyway, I tied up to the bank by a vacant lot, walked to the library (closed as it happened), then did my shopping and came back to the boat, planning to move away to another spot as I thought the neighbours might not want me overnighting on that spot. I found another lot and was sneaking in to tie up when I hit the bank harder than planned and this fellow appeared and said -"What's the matter?" And I explained that I am a bear of little brain and that steering and turning down the throttle were two things and I could only do one thing at a time, and thus hit the bank hard enough to put a dent in the hauling-out ring on the bow. He said, "Well, you can tie up here if you want." and indicated his dock. So I did, and that was good because it turned out that he owned the vacant lot as well.

I went to bed and the next day the weather was too windy for sailing, I thought (20 knots + and gusty) so I walked to town and emailed from the library, etc. Then I returned and did some plotting of courses and diary work when Phil came by and said, "Boy, you look like you could use a beer." (Insightful fellow.)

Well, we sat in the sun and yarned away till we were joined by his friend, Bernard (who lives on a boat and reminds me of my older brother, Malcolm). We drank Phil's beer and he ordered pizza and finally I pootled off to bed at about 10.00 pm which is extraordinarily late for me these days (I'm usually in bed by 7.30 pm these days and up at 5.30 am). Anyway, after all this hospitality, I sailed away on Wednesday for Key West in perfect conditions. 

I made a steady 5-7 kts all the way and was in the premier yacht harbour by 3:00 pm. I spoke to the Dockmaster who said, "We have a minimum length of 30 feet at $1.80 a foot which would be about $60 a day for you to tie up." Too much says I. "Well, call the marina in Garrison Bight on this phone - they're cheaper". So I did, and they said "20 foot minimum - cost you about $36 plus tax per day."
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as far south as you can go before you become a communist - South Beach, Key West

Thursday was supposedly a sailing day - 10-knot winds from the west forecast, but actually they never appeared. I motored out of the harbour at 7.30 am though, past all the giant cruise liners and around the headland and turned north, waiting for the wind. I was still waiting when I motored back into Newfound Harbour five hours later. I had all the sails up but they just barely filled and added maybe half a knot. The water was smooth and clear and I could see coral and sea plants as I puttered along. The wee engine did all the work and in five hours it averaged 5.5 knots at 2/5ths of full power. Burned 2 1/2 gallons of gas and ran like a sewing machine the whole way.
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Sorry to go on at length about cooking but it really was surprising for me. And I haven't anything else to say because I'm not sailing today, either, it seems. Winds forecast still 10 kts from the west, but actually there's not a breath yet so I'm typing away on Phil's PC.

I'll try and sail again as soon as the winds come because, now that I've finished the shake-down cruise and am headed north, I have a strong desire to go as fast as I can. Trouble is, it's still way too early in the season to go north very far. Even at my slow speed, I could be in Georgia in 3-4 weeks, and that state is still getting snowed on. Plus, if you move too fast, it becomes like work. Therefore I have to linger and take it easy and that is hard for me. I'm constitutionally unable to loaf unless all the work is done, and that won't happen until I'm in Eastport, Maine next July. So the next few months will be a battle between my desire to get on and my need to avoid racing ahead of the climate and weather.

I looked at the Weekly Whiffle website and was tickled to see pics of myself posted there by the author - Al Schonborn, who got them from Brian McCleery in Canada.  A word of explanation - the Canadian Wayfarer Association have a newsletter and website called the "Whiffle" (who knows why, but that's what it's called - ed. note: a whiffle is a small breath of wind) and they have weekly updates to it... Go there and look at the index and then go to the latest weekly bulletin and the one for Jan 6 2003 has pics of me and the boat taken with Brian's digital video camera in Sarsfield near Ottawa. If that doesn't work, just search "Whiffle" and you'll find the whole website with all sorts of news and info about Canadian Wayfarers and the Weekly Whiffle is part of that.

Well, that's it for now. Must check the weather and see if there is any chance of sailing. If not, then I shall twiddle my thumbs. Despite delays, I still plan to be back in Fort Lauderdale by about 16 Jan.

Toodle oo

Lee