Cruises with Kathleen by Hamilton Donald 1916-2006

Author:Hamilton, Donald, 1916-2006
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Kathleen (Cutter), Sailing, Sailing
Publisher: New York : D. McKay Co.
Published: 1980-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

the sail, and for changing its shape under way, but I've never yet been shipmates with a Bermuda-type mainsail that would run freely down the track of its own accord, and Kathleen's is no exception. A visit to the cabin top and a little pulling and hauling is always required to get the sail all the way down. I suppose a downhaul could be used here, too, but I have visions of it fouling aloft, and I'd rather sacrifice an occasional fingernail to the green gods below. Again because of the rat's nest of tangle-prone lines that would be required, I can't pull down a reef from the cockpit. The jiffy-reeling lines installed involve the clew cringles only. The main halyard is marked, and when it's time to reef I slack it off to the indicated point. Then I move up to the mast and pull the tack cringle, by hand, down to one of two large hooks installed at the boom gooseneck. From the same spot I pull down the clew cringle by means of the reefing line that cleats at the inboard end of the boom, and also take up the slack in the second clewline, if this is the first reef down. Back in the cockpit, I set the halyard up taut again, sheet in the flapping mainsail, and I'm back in business.

Except in a true shipwreck situation, for a singlehander to mess with a life-jacket is, as far as I'm concerned, a waste of good kapok. Wearing a flotation device around the deck only makes sense if there's a chance that somebody will wake up if you go overboard and turn the boat around to pick you up. When you're sailing alone offshore, using any kind of self-steering apparatus, you know damned well that if you part company with the ship, she's not coming back, so you might as well sink like a rock and get it over with. It's not considered nice to say such things, but that's this sailor's opinion. Since you're a goner if you fall overboard, it behooves you not to fall overboard. Therefore, whenever I head offshore I run a hefty dockline along each side deck from the cockpit to the bow, firmly secured at each end but slack enough that it's easy for me to pick up and snap on the hook of my safety harness. I don't wear the harness constantly, but I do buckle it on, and hook it onto one of the jacklines— which allows me to go forward dragging my rope tail behind me— whenever I have to leave the cockpit in breezy weather. In a real blow, of course, even with a crew on board, everybody snaps on religiously any time they're on deck, even in the cockpit.

I had singlehanding in mind when Kathleen was built. My big worries didn't concern Kathleen, they concerned me: was I really up to handling the boat alone, and even if I was, might I not find it a

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