Sailing : Rowing Is Within His Reach Again : But Some Repairs Were in Order Before Hitting the Water
The Skipper Says: I prefer not to use a long reach forward with the blades--the lighter and faster the boat, the more reach I use; the heavier and slower the boat, the less reach. A very long reach wastes power. You should sit straight, as if a board were down your back . . . kicking your elbows out as you feather. On your recovery, bring the blades forward again, no higher above the water than is necessary to clear the water. On the pulling part of your stroke, lay back a little, but just at the end of the stroke, as you feather the oars, straighten up. -- R. D. (Pete) Culler, on rowing.
Rowing is a pleasure I’ve dearly missed for more than a year. Operations on my abdomen prevented it, but more to the point was that my 16-foot Swampscott dory boat, Pooh, was simply too heavy to get her launched off the sand. And neglect turned Pooh into a sorry mess. Hauling her some 250 pounds to a dry spot to work on was beyond me until I’d regained my strength and my I was fit enough to lift heavy weights.
At last, Pooh is repainted with a red bottom, black sides and grand banks on gunwales and inside. I took her out for about a mile’s row the other day, starting out from her mooring in Balboa Island’s Grand Canal.
The canal is newly dredged. The clamshell dredge piled the sand and muck along the sides of the seawall, making a steep embankment on both sides of the canal. Old-timers along the canal have disapproved of that method of dredging. The old-timers contend that at least 50% of the dredged material that deepened the narrow channel that divides Balboa Island from Little Island should have been barged off to another location.
As it stands now, they claim that tidal action will wash the banked sand back into the channel, shoaling it again in a couple of years.
They’re probably correct. Meanwhile, the new embankment, with a ledge nearly above high tide level, offered me the advantage of hauling Pooh up the embankment with block and tackle, and turning the boat bottom up for me to work on. A week later, she is almost as good looking as the day I built her 14 years ago.
Sailing Notes The State Department of Boating and Waterways has loaned $400,000 to fund a new 53-berth marina in Huntington Harbour. The money will pay for the first phase of the $2 million Seabridge Marina, located across from the Sunseat Aquatic Marina off the Bolsa Chica Channel.
Spike Africa, the 70-foot schooner home ported in Newport Harbor, has a new skipper--Jim Harris, who recently obtained his 100-ton license. The schooner is owned by Monika Sloan, widow of Bob Sloan, who built and operated Spike Africa.
California Boating and Waterways has released statistics on 1985 boating accidents in Orange County. There were 52 accidents, resulting in five injuries and one death, with $326,4000 in property damage. Statewide, 349 accidents resulted in 132 injuries and claimed 21 lives. Property damage amounted to $2,567,400. Major cause of fatal accidents was attributed to intoxicated boat operators.
The publishers of America’s Cup Report, a nationally distributed newsletter from Newport, R. I., devoted to the 1987 12-Meter race, have placed their best bets on four finalists. They are America II, New York Yacht Club; Eagle, Newport Harbor Yacht Club; New Zealand, Royal New Zealand Yacht Club; and Sail America, San Diego Yacht Club. Two long shots, according to the publication, are Canada, Secret Cove Yacht Club/Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club; and Heart of America, Chicago Yacht Club.