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Lunch With George!

Talkin' About Sailing!

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DISCUSSIONS

• April 4, 2002: The Obsession Begins!

  Last week, we had no lunch since both George and I traveled to New Mexico (see below), and the week before, my daughter was ill and I stayed home with her. George did not waste his lunch hour, however-- instead, he went to look at the object of his new (renewed?) passion: A J/24 sailboat for sale at Lake Pleasant!

  The J/24 has been the boat of George's dreams for many years. First produced in 1977, J Boats continues to offer this classic racing boat. 24 feet in length, it sports a fixed keel, a relatively flat deck, and four sleeping berths below deck. There are some great pictures of the J/24 at j24class.org. George even managed to find 10-year old J/24 sales brochures somewhere at home.

  George is fully immersed in his new hobby-- he is already taking a sailing class at the Sailboat Shop in Scottsdale and on lake Pleasant, and he's actually has made reservations for a sailing lesson aboard a J/24 in San Francisco! He has located a few J/24s for sale around the western US, and will no doubt track down the perfect deal soon.

  He could be biting off quite a bit! During sailing school, the instructor told them "...if you like to do wood working, buy a wood boat. If you like to sail, buy a fiberglass boat." Needless to say, the J/24 is wood!

  George found a couple of great books: The Complete Sailor, by David Seidman, which provides all sorts of great information for a person new to the sport (delightful illustrations, too), and Inspecting the Aging Sailboat. The second book may prove quite valuable in George's search for the perfect boat.

   

• April 11, 2002: More Sailing News

  The sailing saga continues! On Monday, George drove to Los Angeles to get a close

  Captain Sandeep

  look at a J/24 for sale. Raced regularly by two young pups (I think George said the guys were in their early twenties), Pandora's Box is a real racer. Acccording to George, the hull is beautiful, she has all new rigging, and is very well maintained. The only problem? She's stripped bare on the inside like a NASCAR stock car. she's in perfect functional condition for racing, but not much comfort. The deck has seen a lot of wear, and the hatches would need to be replaced.

  Still, it looks promising! The trailer is in good shape, and the seller and his buddy offered to tow it to Phoenix ("Road trip-- Gnarly!").

  Merit 25

  Last Saturday, George and Sandeep finished their sailing class with a session on Lake Pleasant. They are now certified keel boat sailors!

  Not yet content, George and Sandeep also attended the monthly meeting of the Arizona Yacht Club. They met a lot of middle-aged, boat-racing party dudes! One fellow wanted George to buy a Merit 25 instead of the J/24, so they would have enough Merits to fill a single-class race, i.e., have a "fleet" (I don't think George is convinced). They also met a gentleman who is planning to race his boat in a couple of weeks in Los Angeles. He has invited George and Sandeep to meet him there after the race an join the crew for the sail back to San Diego. They're going! It sounds very exciting, and I'm sure we'll get a full report.

   

• April 18, 2002: San Francisco Trip Report

  

  This last weekend, George and Toni ventured to San Francisco to check out a J/24 for sale, and most importantly, to take a sailing lesson aboard a J/24!

  The weather was perfect (in George's book) for sailing-- a light wind, blue skies, and good temperatures. Toni spent a lot of time on the tiller, and George spent his time climbing around the deck adjusting the sails and familiarizing himself with the boat. Even though the J they took their lesson on was one of the earliest models (circa 1978), it was in GREAT shape.

  They were sailing in the bay, and had a great view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate (George took the photo of the bay above). They also saw some very nice boats on the bay. By all accounts, it was a great day! George is now convinced that the J/24 is the boat for him.

  Unfortunately, the J/24 for sale was in lousy condition-- it had really been neglected. The hunt continues!

  George and Toni made up for the disappointing sailboat by visited a Mini dealer (there are actually three Mini dealers in the bay area) and got to see several up close! Too bad they're already on the waiting list in Phoenix-- they probably could have drove one home.

   

• April 25, 2002: San Diego Cruise Report

  One Design 35s

  You may remember that George and Sandeep were invited by a member of the Arizona Yacht Club to sail as crew members from Los Angeles to San Diego on a One Design 35. Well, they are already back!

  Driving a rented a car from Phoenix, George and Sandeep arrived in L.A. on Tuesday evening. They slept on the boat, and set sail the next morning on the 35-foot racer. After 11 hours, they arrived in San Diego, flying home to Phoenix that night.

  Upon their arrival, they were ferried around on a Duffy boat-- an electric-powered golf cart for the water which is perfect for the 5 mph speed limit in Newport harbor. I don't know about you, but they look like the boats on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland to me!

  Wednesday morning, they set out aboard Center of Gravity. Once they reached open water and had a good tail wind, the spinnaker was raised. Our newbie crew members were surprised to see it emblazoned with "Arthur Andersen"! It seems the Center of Gravity had been hired out (along

  Separated at Birth?

  with several other boats) to some corporate clients taking some of their employees on a dream team-builder-- a sailboat race. Each team flew a spinnaker displaying the name or logo of the company aboard each boat, and it just happened that Center of Gravity carried the Arthur Andersen bunch. At least they got to keep it!

  Our boys managed to find work aboard ship. There wasn't a need to man the tiller, since the Captain brought Otto along to keep them on course. Otto is a mechanical helmsman! "He" is attached to the tiller, the desired heading is set, and Otto keeps them on course. Very cool!

  Pandora's Box

  Sandeep was amazed to discover there was only one rope on board, and even that was a part of the mast! The boat had plenty of lines, though. Sailors don't seem to like calling them ropes.

  Along the way, they spotted dolphins and seals. George's old Hobie sunglasses came in handy-- thanks to their polarized lenses, he was able to follow the movements of the dolphins under the water when others couldn't.

  In response to Sandeep's renewed passion for sailing, George lent him a copy of Cruising in Seraffyn, a book written by a married couple who set out to circumnavigate the globe in their sailboat, Seraffyn.

  Teri talked about a week-long sailboat cruise which she took (twice) in the early '80s. She traveled with some co-workers to the Caribbean where they boarded a 65-foot sailboat! They all worked as crewmembers, learning a lot of the nuts and bolts of sailing. They visited the Bahamas, and also dropped anchor at some uninhabited islands where the captain led them ashore to relax and barbeque. Let's go!

  George is pretty sure he's going to make an offer on Pandora's Box, the J/24 he first looked at in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. The seller found a photo of the boat in action, and George was kind enough to forward it on to me. He's not too keen on the name of the boat, though-- so if you have any ideas, please e-mail us! I suggested "C shell", since it refers both to the ocean and to George's chosen profession as a Unix guru.

  I don't remember who brought it up, but pirates are still a problem in the Caribbean! It reminded me of the movie Captain Ron, which starred Kurt Russell in the title role as a down-and-out sailboat captain hired by Martin Short to sail an inherited sailboat home from Bermuda. It's pretty goofy, and you have to put up with Martin Short, but I really enjoyed Russell's portrayal of the eye-patched captain. One of the many plot complications, of course, is a group of modern-day pirates who steal the boat.

   

• May 3, 2002: Pandora's Box Update

  Alerion Express 28

  Not much to report on this week. George has worked out a tentative offer for the J/24 known as Pandora's Box, successfully getting the seller to significantly drop his asking price to allow for a refurbishment of the deck and other items.

  Meanwhile, George decided to take a chance and contact the harbor manager where he and Toni took lessons on a J in San Francisco (read about it in the April 18th Lunch Notes). He inquired to see whether the boat they sailed on (the Blue J) was for sale. It turns out that it just might be! George hopes to hear back early next week.

  George also sent me a photograph of his favorite boat ever (I thought the J/24 was his favorite-- but I guess it is the favorite one he could actually own), the Alerion Express 28. It sure is pretty!

   

• May 9, 2002: Another Pandora's Box Update

  The boat upon which George made an offer, Pandora's Box, had been for sale for a full year before George came along. When he made the offer, he felt pretty safe not bothering to give a security deposit... but this turned out to not be so safe. The night before he and Sandeep were to leave for L.A. to inspect the boat and close the deal, the owner called George to inform him that someone from San Diego had put his cash on the barrelhead. Bummer! Since George has pretty much exhausted the current used J/24 market, it looks like it's back to square one.

  I forgot to mention a couple of lunches ago that George has a couple of boat names he's kicking around. His favorite is "Rocket J", named after the diminutive member of Rocky & Bullwinkle (his full name is "Rocket J. Squirrel"). He also likes the name "Lazy J", and would design it to look like a cattle brand.

   

• July 27, 2002: George Gets his J!

  Well, Events have overtaken the LWG Lunch notes... George bought a boat. I still have reports to post which chronicle the hunt, but they are academic now.

  George set off on a marathon drive to Muskegon, Michigan, where he and Sandeep hooked up the trailer carrying Persistence and towed it back to Phoenix. I'll provide more details on the trip itself (including the interesting restaurants) as a part of the lunch notes.

  Persistence is a 1978 J/24, complete with a new trailer, 6HP outboard, two sets of sails, and self-tailing winches. George and I visited her in the storage yard at Lake Pleasant. She's not been treated well for a while, but there are not many problems that can't be solved by hours and elbow grease. George hopes to have her in the water VERY soon!

  I'll have more details later... in the meantime, enjoy this photo album!

    

    

    

• July 25, 2002 - Field Trip: Lake Pleasant

  George is back, and he has a J! He and Sandeep spent more waking hours together than any two humans should in such a short time, but they're still friends! I got in to work on their first day on the road to find a voicemail message from George: "Howdy, Paul! Could you find us a place to get Barbeque in Tulsa? We're gettin' mighty hungry!" I immediately fired up a web browser and searched Google for "Tulsa Barbeque". I found several options, but the one that looked the best was only a half-mile off the Interstate. And hey-- they had a great logo! I called George's cell phone, and Sandeep answered almost immediately. He pulled out a map (I had one from MapQuest up on my screen), and I directed them to the restaurant. The funniest part (I learned from George later) was that Sandeep had written "Naughty Pine" on a scrap of paper. I guess that name seemed a little suspicious to him! The food at Knotty Pine BBQ was great, they reported.

  For lunch this week, George picked me up at Honeywell in his RX-7, and we stopped at Arby's on our way to the lake. Before I get into the boat stuff, I need to mention that Arby's Market Fresh sandwiches are great! They seem like something you would NEVER find in a fast food restaurant. My personal favorite is the the Roasted Turkey & Swiss. The sandwiches are made with tasty sliced meat, big tomato slices, fresh leaf lettuce, spicy mustard, and are served on thick honey wheat bread. Yum!

  After the meal, we buzzed out I-17 to the Lake Pleasant turn-off, finally making our way into the marina. George has a special pass card, so he can get right in (the marina is private, and charges an access fee for each visitor... unless you have such an annual pass). We entered the boat storage yard, and found Persistence! It's very cool. It sits so high in the trailer, since it has a fixed keel. The mast is lying on the deck, but it is still easy to imagine

  A Pleasant Lake Lake Pleasant is a pleasant place, but that's NOT where it got it's name. It seems the dam (and subsequently the lake) were named after Carl Pleasant, an engineer who helped to design the dam. The dam itself was later renamed Waddell Dam. Now you know the rest of the story!

  being out on the water. It's definitely a project boat-- George will have plenty to keep him busy over the next 52 weekends. His time will mostly be spent cleaning, varnishing, and making small repairs. He also must wait to put the boat in the water until the title arrives from Michigan (there's a long version, but the short story is that the owner was out of the country when George bought the boat, and a new title had to be requested from the State of Michigan).

  George's friend Dave (another J24 owner) has a beautiful boat (which looks like he must spend many hours keeping it that way). Dave is a great resource-- he always knows what repair to make, where to get replacement parts, what brand to buy, you name it.

  Dave's J24 - Bad Idea

• October 10, 2002 - Show and Tell

  George forgot his show & tell-- a canvas bucket from SAILNET.COM, the cyber hangout for sailors! I'd never heard of a canvas bucket before, but George says it hold water pretty well. Needless to say, it packs a lot better than a galvanized bucket! Hopefully I'll get a look at it next week.

• October 17, 2002 - More Show and Tell

  This was Show & Tell day. First, George showed me the canvas bucket. Cool! but it was nothing compared to his new Rugged Razor. George bought a scooter! Out at Lake Pleasant, it's a loooooong way from where George parks his car to the slip where he keeps his J24. It's also mostly down hill... so he bought a scooter to ride down to the marina. The Razor bottoms out occcasionally, and George has to be careful not to ride the brake (he smelled smoke last time...), but it's an idea that seems to be working.

  Myerchin B001 Offshore System Knife

  Finally, George showed me the new rigging knife that be ordered for himself (it seems sailors are always cutting something). It's a fixed-blade knife, and comes with a Marlin Spike ( a sharp, pointy thing that you can use to get difficult knots out of lines). It has a cool image of a whale engraved on the blade, too! Both items fit into a nylon sheath. Click here for more information.

• February 28, 2003 - Spring Lines

  George was telling me why he now uses "spring lines" on his sailboat:

  "Spring lines are lines used to tie a boat to a dock. The typical recommendation is to use a bow and stern line, running more or less perpendicular to the dock, to hold the boat against the dock, and then a pair of spring lines running from the bow aft at a shallow angle to the dock, and from the stern forward. They always say these are to keep the boat from surging fore and aft.

  I was only using the bow and stern lines, figuring they work just as well to keep the boat in place - it's not going anywhere as long as it's tied to the dock - but as I was resting on the boat one day, feeling it shifting around, it occurred to me that while the bow and stern lines worked fine for keeping it from going too far forward or aft, they did so at a much greater tension than would be needed by spring lines. Since spring lines lie more in line with the force they're opposing, they don't need to go nearly as taut to resist it. And I was thinking about that weak forward chock on my boat that the bow line runs through, and thinking that maybe a spring line might be less likely to pop it loose. So now my boat sports spring lines as well as bow and stern lines."

Last modified 08/06/2003.