Part 1: Stupidity and Relief.
They Family and I had quite an adventure this last Labor Day weekend. Things started out badly with a late start getting out of town and heading up to Bear Lake on the Utah/Idaho border. We were caravanning with 2 vehicles pulling the P18 and the Frank-N-Boat P16. A short ways up the canyon, just before Rockport reservoir, the wife had pulled ahead to have me take a look at the P18 she was pulling as she had thought something was flying around on the trailer. This turned out to be nothing but when I went to pull out to go around her I heard and honk from someone who was hanging out in my blind spot. I quickly moved back into my lane but the front crossbeam of the boat trailer caught the SUV in the other lane on the front passenger tire.
This did a couple things. First it instantly shredded the tire and twisted the steel beam like a noodle. At the same time something ripped the ratchet mechanism out of the rear tie down. This put some nice gouges into the fiberglass on the rear of the boat that went into the foam but not all the way through the hull. It also caused the P16 to shift half off the trailer and drag the bottom of the port hull down the freeway.
When I got out I though there is no way this boat is sailing anywhere this weekend and figured I'd have to find a place to stop it off along the way until I could take care of it later. I was sure the bottom was breached. We quickly unhooked the mast which seemed fine and lifted the boat off the trailer and onto the side of the road so we could inspect the trailer. After doing this I lifted the boat onto it's side and inspected the bottom. To my surprise the damage was minimal. There was a smooth flat spot where maybe a quarter inch of glass had been removed and was sanded to a very smooth flat spot. Plenty of glass left. That and the gouges made by the busted ratchet were the only damage to the boat.
The trailer was another story the left from crossbar was a twisted wreck and would not straighten for anything. The rear crossbar came off the frame where the rusted bolt holding it on had sheared off. The rear right of the beam also seemed bent but I'm not sure how.
By this time another couple from our group had come by with their P18-2 and stopped to help. Andrew who owns the 18-2 managed to find some deadfall off the side of the road that when cut down was the perfect shape to fill the gap between where the twisted crossbar was and and where the hull should sit. Will the help of one the Highway patrol officers we lashed the the branch to the trailer with a towel around the end and put the boat back on the trailer. Shortly we were back on the road.
Part 2: Good Wind and Good Food.
After getting to our campsite and settling in I was able to fully inspect Frank-N-Boat and get some opinions of others. After doing so I patched up the gouges in the fiberglass with some duct tape and called it good for the weekend of sailing.
The next day was the Lebeau's LeMans Grand Prix 20 where we start at noon with a LeMans start where we all line up on shore and run for our boats at the sound of the horn. We were rushed to get ready since we had 2 boats and were behind from our lateness in getting to camp the previous day. We got boat boats on shore and I had to spend a fair amount of time helping my son get Frank-N-Boat ready since the boat is new to us. The sails are kind of finicky and tend to pull out of the track when going up if you do not take them firmly in hand guide then up the track. Also the cable slipped off the sheave at the top of the mast at some point and we had to flip the boat over to fix it.
This left me a bit behind getting the P18 ready so that at the start my son and his girlfriend had an excellent start whilst I was still fiddling with getting my mainsheet and boom attached to the sail. My youngest was sailing with me and we eventually got out ok but well behind the pack. That's ok becasue I'm used to that. I make no claims to being the fastest boat or sailor.
We had an excellent sail make much better time than the previous year. The wind was at our backs for this leg and we made long broad reaches across the lake as we made our way north from Rendezvous Beach to Garden City. There is usually a split of fleet in this regatta. Some taking a line up the west side of Bear Lake to make a screaming reach across the lake to the finish and some, hugging the east side of the lake. A few sometimes end up in the middle. I keep telling myself to follow the Hobie 20 that goes up the east side. The owners have a house on the lake and spend a lot of time sailing there. They nearly always place high if not first but I did not follow them this time either. I just my long broad reaches up the lake.
I forgot my phone, so I am not sure how fast we were going, but I think we set some speed records for my boat since I have had it. Towards the end we were flying hulls like I had only done solo in high winds before. My son and I had a great time though he had a very wet ride when i started fling a hull while he was on the leeward side the water split by the hull was hitting the lip and shooting across the leeward side hitting him full in the chest like someone turned on a fire hose.
We were close after this bit of flying but had to gibe around and make a slower approach to get north of the flag so we could land on the beach. My son had done an excellent job on Frank-N Boat coming in only 10 minutes behind the leaders most which rode their spinnakers all the way up the lake. To top it off in my haste I had rigged his traveler backwards and no one had ever unpinned his mast after raising it so he had no mast rotation at all.
We walked up to Lebeau's for a well earned burger...
Part 3: Storms and Rocky Shores.
As we congregated on the beach for the return trip we were all feeling a bit overfed as the terms of the race state " a fowl will be called on any man merely ordering a glass a water." So we hefted our overfull bellies and looked to the sky only to see dark clouds full of lightening moving in over our campground the south. We got a call from one of the wives at the campground that hail was coming down. It was decided that we would wait it out so we dropped our mains and made our way to the Hobie 20 owners lakeside house to lounge on the lawn until things looked better. I had tied a red ribbon to the ring ding on the top of my mast for trailering and to ask as a wind guide. Unfortunately it tangled in the sheave making it impossible to drop the main without tipping the boat over to fix it. As it turned out the storm seemed to be one that hits hard and fast and leaves just as quick so before long we thought we had our best window to finish the race.
The second legstart is not a LeMans we all meander around north of the flag until the horn then go. The shore is very shallow so we need walk out a bit to get going and sail out even farther to get the rudders locked down. Since it can be very difficult to steer well without the rudders locked in and we would be heading into a crowd of sailboats we held a back a bit so that we would not be in endangering anyones gelcoat. This proved to our benefit as the 5 min horn sounded while we were still standing next to the boat. We were able to stall a couple minutes then push off and sail right up the line til the horn sounded giving us an excellent start. We sheeted in and took off with the pack. Leaving my son in the dust on the Frank-N-Boat as he happened to be coming around and was facing the other direction when the horn sounded.
All the fancy round bottomed boats slowly began to outpace us as expected since they are faster and we had the misfortune of having to haul my overlarge derier as extra ballast. The wind had shift to be coming from the southwest so we were all on a screaming reach heading towards the southeast side of the lake. I thought we had set some records on the way up but that was nothing compared to the trip back. We were literally hauling ass, mine. Easily faster than anything I sailed before only without my iPhone and GPS app I had no idea how fast we were going. My son was up the windward hull with me and we were flying a hull through 3-4 foot rolling waves. The windward hull was just skimming the tops of them. This was very difficult to maintain as I have been struggling with my rudders on this boat. Thye seem to have a hard time locking in especially the leeward one that my son has to do. The pull the helm was very had and by the time were flying through these waves my arm was already tired from battling the helm.
About this time I looked over my shoulder to see that a storm 3 times the width of the one we waited out was approaching form the southwest. My son was still a ways behind us and I was a bit worried about him so we slowed down a bit to let him catch up and let my arm rest a bit. Unfortunately the storm would not wait the previously steady wind was quickly becoming very gusty. I later heard from some of the leaders that they thought the gusts could have been in the 30-40 range. I was struggling for control because after dumping wind like crazy the mainsheet and boom would then be very slack and would be bouncing all over the place and I would have sheet in like mad to get control of it. I was travelled out all way and on several occasions was sheeted out so that I had no mainsheet on the tramp at all.
We were approaching the southeast shore of the lake which has no sandy beaches just losts of big hull crushing rocks. Not pebbles either I'm talking 5-50 pound boulders. We had a conversation about putting ashore an waiting it out. The shore was not very inviting but neither was a swim. My son had caught up yet and if I was going to go ashore I wanted him to do so as well. We decided at the last minute to try a tack and head back out till he could get closer but when we tried this the wind was to much and the tack failed by then we were to shallow to try again the rudders were kicking on the bottom and we had to just ride it in. The approach was to fast to turn into the wind and walk it ashore so I got to cringe as I heard the hulls scraping the rocks. Thank goodness for Prindle keels. We got it turned into the wind the jib furled. I saw my son following in to shore a about a hundred yards down shore. I left my youngest sitting on the tramp and headed down see if needed nay help but he had the main down and Frank-N-Boat pulled up from the water before I could make it half way there across the rocks.
Instead I flagged down passing to vehicle to see about getting word to the campground that we were on the east shore and all ok. A truck stopped and agreed to take my son and his girlfriend back to camp to let them know and come get the rest of us. Before they could go though park ranger pulled up and agreed to take them. A bit later my wife brought the truck and we loaded sails and gear and left the boats till morning. We were all very cold and worn out by then.
Part 4: Clear skies and MOB.
The wind was scarce the next day. We didn't get back to the boats till 11 or so. As it turned out Frank-N-Boat was put to shore about 100 yards around the bend from a boat ramp. We paddled it to the ramp and put it on the trailer. By the time we had finished this a little bit a beeze had begun to ripple the glassy water. We went back to the P18 and by then we could see the other boats setting for a sail. We decided my son and his girlfriend would sail the P18 back to camp. He had a good sail back to camp but pulled in with a dripping wet girlfriend who fell off the boat during a gibe and was successfully rescued by my son. I was so proud and happy he found a girl than can outlast getting dunked in the lake.
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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
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