Heeling

thanks for all the good info. I think we are both feeling better. We probably have a different comfort level when it comes to heeling because we are so new. We are sailing up and down from Finlayson Arm and up to Brentwood Bay on the east side of Vancouver Island and it is good practice. The water is fairly protected but the wind is constantly shifting due to the mountains.

Love the film. What a good looking boat. It is fun to see a well-kept Contessa. We have some work to do in that regard. It has been cold and rather miserable all spring but now the weather is starting to cooperate and we can get some work done on the trim, the deck, the port holes, the interior... well, the motor seems to be just fine, thank heavens! We figure by the time we have scraped and sanded and varnished and painted and whatever else it takes, we will become good friends and the boat will be a comfortable second home.

Next week we are going to make a concerted effort to find the hull number. We have tried hanging out the back with a camera to take a photo of the numbers there but there are several layers of paint over them so we are hoping to take an etching and see if that gives a better result. The boat has the name, Uhuru, in faded letters along the side. We believe the last owner was not happy with the name and had it painted over but never got around to changing it before he was unable to sail and the boat was left stranded on land in a shipyard on Gabriola Island where we found it. So the documentation is scarce - there are no registration papers from previous owners - but we believe it is from 1976. Certainly, it is the older model but with a wood cabin sole. We also are pretty convinced that it is a Canadian-made boat but even that is only a very good guess.

Thank you so much Jose for leading us to the registry for Uhuru. We have now found an e-mail address for the owner who registered the boat in 1993 and we have sent off a quick missive. I don't know how you register a boat when the current registration has expired and there are a couple of owners between us and the last registered owner and no paperwork... One would think that a 30 year old boat could have numerous owners and that paperwork dating all the way back could be difficult to find. The "chain" could easily break. There must be some method of registering an older boat even though the paperwork is no longer in circulation.

We'll see. But you have brought us a huge step forward, no doubt. We tried to do a search under the name and came up empty. Then again, we did not know anything about the ship registry or how to access it. This forum has already paid us back many times over in information and we are only 24 hours old.

Aja and Jens

Hi Aja & Jens,

I forgot to include that you also have to fill out a notarized Declaration of Ownership (Form 84-0002) along with the Form 6 Bill of Sale.

José

Hi Adrian,

What I've described above is pretty much what you have to do as it has happened to me first hand and thanks to the good folks at Transport Canada and Clifts Marine, I was able to put enough documentation to properly register my vessel.  People don't seem to realize that registration/licensing is a necessary component to operating a marine vessel much like owning and driving a car.

José

Hi Shannon!
Thanks for all the good information. We have decided to work with the working jib for the next little while and also practice reefing. That day, not only was the railing in the water, but the genoa was floating... pretty scary. No doubt we misread the wind conditions. It seems pretty tricky in the Finlayson Arm where one moment you have no wind at all and suddenly it blows right across and sends you in a quick heel. Boats north of Brentwood Bay were flying around with both genoa and mainsail up but we must have caught some winds in the south that were somewhat stronger. No other boat was reacting the way our little boat was. Our traveller is the old style and we couldn't let the wind out of the mainsail because the line got stuck. It all happened so fast that we had to step on the tiller to swing her up against the wind. Our hearts were pounding, that's for sure. We wear flotation gear all the time - we realize we are too new to take that kind of thing lightly but a trip into the drink in late April wasn't really our kind of sailing...

Jens is the big reader on sailboats and he has read that with an older Contessa you can risk having the iron ballast simply rust away from inside leaks, leaving you with one very light and very unstable boat. We are just hoping that it is operator error and, after all, we came home safe and dry with everything but our pride intact. It is definitely a steep learning curve. We have "sailed" on really big boats in the merchant marines and seen our share of hurricanes, even a couple of typhoons, but standing almost upright on the side of a little boat with your toes seemingly inches from the water certainly was a different kind of experience. I have a feeling we can thank the boat for being so forgiving of her new owners.

I always have visions of my boat going right over too....and yes, they can be knocked flat down so the sails are in the water if you have your boom, and therefore your mainsail, right in to centre line of boat.   It is always handy to keep the mainsheet right in your hand so you can let it out quickly and give yourself time to think!  She does have a big mainsail for her size, so you will notice her heel quickly.  Many times I leave the dock with the first reef already in, ready to hoist already reefed!   And I can roll a genny in faster than anyone, I bet! ;-)  So, "when in doubt, let it out", meaning the mainsail...let it out so far it is flogging and flapping, and then just pull it in so it just stops, and then you know you aren't in too tight...I was guilty of that too.  And, make sure both sails are the same width apart, ie: parallel to one another, so the "slot" between them is even...that makes a big difference, I learned that too!  And yes, in big wind, you do not need the big genny...go with almost the smallest sail you can...and then practice, see what she does...that's how I learned, by myself on a Tuesday afternoon...and yes, around here, no wind then 10k...good practice!  Have fun, and practice reefing!  A nice, tidy reefed sail will make you feel very safe! ;-)

I too learned the hard way this week, and a reef and just working jib worked wonders in 20 plus knots. She was trucking right along at 5.5 to 6 knots.
Here is another question: How do people handle gusts when the autopilot is steering? Do you set it up with one extra reef already in?
Is there a guide line for windforce that would knock down the boat? I have learned that the forecasters here in SoCal are more often wrong than right about windspeeds.
Did my first 6 and a half hour outing in 20 plus knots! yeah