Came across a few photos from ONKAHYE's Corpus Christi days. We liked to launch downtown at the L-Head ramp, the ramp location has since been moved. Some days we never left the breakwater, other days ONKAHYE would romp in the bay.
Skipper would tend to the boat while I drove the truck. She'd get ONKAHYE spun around and pointed out. If other folks were launching she'd walk ONKAHYE down to the end of the pier and move her around the end, to be clear of other folks who preferred the same side of the ramp.
Once the truck and trailer were parked we'd send out the bumkin, ship the rudder and drop the centerboard a bit. Then Skipper would get ONKAHYE a little walking start, step aboard and unfurl the jib. We'd crawl away for the dock on some jib while the main went up, and we'd be off sailing.
We have a friend restoring his Drascombe Lugger and he needed information on where to place the bootstripe, so here it is. 1980 MKII Lugger Bootstripe ONKAHYE Style, applied by Capn Jack. Measurements taken from a galloping horse. Bootstripe "approximately" 4 inches wide, with variations for optical illusions.
32 inches down from the bottom of the gunwale along the curve of the stem. Or about 7 inches down from where the bottom of the third strake hits the stem. 4 inches high.
Place the bootstripe right about there...
Corpus Christi, TX T-Heads.
"Approximately" 4 inches wide. Sometimes it might look better for the bootstripe to be a little wider at the bow and stern and/or to rise up a touch.
7 inches down from where the bottom of the third strake would fair into the stem.
32 inches down from the bottom of the gunwale along the curve of the stem.
Put the bootstripe even with Skipper's shorts pocket.
Put the bootstripe just above the waterline, with the boat unloaded.
Bootstripe barely touches the bottom edge of the scupper strake.
These 2 hooligans will be of no help whatsoever, they can't even spell butestrype.
Transom, bootstripe lower edge touches bottom edge of third strake. Measure 4 inches up from there.
This is what the bootstripe looks like from inside the boat.
Here is Skipper's bronze winch that she got from her parents, who got it from Grandpa. Grandpa used it on his boat trailer, then it got used as a centerboard winch on the family built sailboat, now it has been on 3 different trailers for ONKAHYE.
We did some yard sailing for Father's Day and it was time to get ONKAHYE out for a little cruise. We planned to just launch and tie up, then sail later, but the winds were nice so we decided to sail for a bit.
Took some pictures for our upcoming knot book.
Anchor line.
Jib sheet.
Main halyard.
Side stay.
We still love the ease of the sliding gunter rig, easy to set up.
Every boat needs a pin rail.
Saw about 20 dolphin today, they circled us for a while.
We practiced beaching and dropped the hook for a while. ONKAHYE was well behaved.
Heading to the ramp? We have a pre departure checklist for each boat as some are different sail rigs and some are motor. Some of the most important prep is before leaving the driveway during Pre Departure, to avoid getting to the ramp and finding out the boomkin was left on the varnish bench (might have happened) or the Skipper doesn't have coffee (never happened). Here is an example of the van and boat load out for a day sail on our 1980 Drascombe Lugger ONKAHYE.
First we need the boat ONKAHYE, then the priority items:
Skipper
Coffee
Sailing knife
I think I need a motor starting checklist, printed out, on waterproof paper and tied to the motor. Pretty much every item on the list has been overlooked during the excitement of launch, the most interesting event was when WILLOW's motor wouldn't start because the safety switch clip was not installed. Crank crank crank crank crank.....why won't it start? Skipper figured that one out. I haven't tried to start on dry tanks, yet. So I made some notes....
And here's the list, so you can print one out too.
MOTOR START CHECKLIST
SAFETY CLIP
BATTERY
FUEL (1/3 TANK OUT, 1/3 BACK, 1/3 RESERVE)
OIL
VENT CAP OPEN
TANK LEVER TO RUN/SOURCE
PUMP BULB
NEUTRAL
CHOKE
THROTTLE SET
PRIME
START
CHOKE AS NEEDED
WARM UP
CHECK WATER PUMP
REFUEL
Spoiler alert, we sailed ONKAHYE today to get some photos for a digital magazine, the pictures should be published soon. We watched the tide all morning, 7 inches at the wet end of the dock early in the morning but the ride was flooding. I walked around in my Muck Boots and took a few measurements, time for coffee.
Since the tide was out I got a chance to look over ONKAHYE's bottom. Looks pretty good, bottom paint is over 25 years old and we have some more to apply, maybe next week if the tide is still low. Capn Jack put the bottom paint on a long time ago when ONKAHYE stayed in a slip, but since then she has been a trailer sailer.
The Lugger draws 9 inches with the centerplate up, but we need around 30 inches to drop in the rudder. Once the rudder is in is can swing up for the shallows, but we run a risk of bending things if we spend too much time there. We also need 30 inches of water to remove the rudder. Luggers rudders were also made with a fixed blade, but it is smaller.
We finally got 10 inches at the wet end of the dock, so we off we went, under power of the Suzuki 6, tilted up to the shoal tilt notch (2nd). Could have rowed out or poled out for that matter.
On the way out we dropped the centerboard about halfway, the Lugger draws 4 feet with the board all the way down, couldn't go out that far because the Skipper was on the dock with the zoom lens. Shipped the rudder once we go to about 3 feet of water, then worked bow to stern on the sails. Unfurled the jib, raised the main and loosed the mizzen. Once under sail we killed the motor, raised it to the sailing tilt notch (3rd)) and started the high speed passes for the photog. Here is one shot but the rest will be published once the magazine picks the ones that they would like to use. We took over 100, so there will be plenty.
Running wing and wing to reposition for the next pass....not by design, just worked out that way :)
After about 20 minutes of tacking, jibing, whifferdilling and donutting I stowed all the sails and went to take out the rudder. During the sail I had to raise the centerboard several times but the rudder would swing up on its own. It was dragging aft in the shallows so it wouldn't come out, so we motored out to deeper water where it could drop vertical and I removed the rudder there. By removed I mean I pulled it vertical so the tip cleared the bottom of the hull and put in the rudder chock to hold it in place. If I had bent it I would have just jumped overboard and swam out the sea, never to be seen again, rather than face the Skipper and stand before the mast. On a note of importance, this was the first time she had seen her boat under sail, a proud moment for her to see her cherished possession out sailing the high seas.
ONKAHYE went back on the strap lift, we downrigged her and took a break. Here's a little common sense tip, when raising or lowerin the mast, we tray to make sure that the area we'll be walking on is clear and the stays, sheets, sails, fenders, lifejackets etc... are not going to be in the way or snag something.
Before tidying up, sails and lines underfoot.
Ready to walk backwards while lowering a 16 foot mast.
Strap lift ramblings. The strap lift lets us drop a boat all the way to the bottom, whereas the cradle lift adds about 10 inches because of the cradle. The straps work great on the fiberglass boats, but we like a cradle with bunks under the wooden boat.
Rowed back over to the trailer, loaded up in about 18 inches of water. The drop frame/drop axle trailer that Eddie English built for us make loading and unloading easy.
Fresh water rinse for the boat and trailer, teak oil for the teak, ran a motor in a bucket, a great way to end the day.
