Old Member Becoming Legit

[Roger and Patsy]

We joined last year when we were contemplating the purchase of an A 36. We then fell in love with a Kadey Krogen Manatee. Falling in love is a bad idea with boats. We did far too much work on it, more work than cruising time. It still needed a lot more than we could give it so we sold it.

We hope to be back in a week to ten days as owner of an A 36. Our offer has been accepted and we'll be spending three days next week inspecting and doing sea trials.

I'm a retired naval architect, designer of several vessels many of you may have seen around the East Coast, mostly oceanographic research vessels. I cruised about 25,000 nm in my 32 foot sailboat, writing extensively about my cruises for "Points East" print magazine and a forum dedicated to my travels on sailboatowners.com. Patsy is a former NYC school teacher and part time career counselor who has been with me for an additional 5,000 miles or so. All this cruising was between Halifax, NS and Florida.

Some of my designs you may have seen:

"R/V Gulf Challenger", University of New Hampshire
"SSV Corwith Cramer", Sea Education Association Woods Hole
"R/V Tioga", Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
"R/V" Connecticut, University of CT out of Avery Point
"Susan B. Merryman" 39 foot schooner twice winter of her class in the Chesapeake Bay schooner race.
"R/V Rachel Carson", University of Maryland based in Solomons, MD
"R/V Fay Slover", Old Dominion University out of Norfolk
"R/V Weatherbird II", Oil vessel conversion operated by University of South Florida

I also wrote the sidebar on rolling motions in the current edition of "Passage Making Under Power".

I responded today to someone over at Trawlerowners.com whose anchor windlass was overheating. I was surprised to have a couple people thank me for passing on my anchor break out method so FWIW, I'll repeat it here.

Poor Lofrans indeed! I think it is poor practice to break out the anchor that way and it said so right in the manual for the Lofrans I bought for my last boat.

I use Mantus anchors which I love but which are the very dickens to break out. (If an anchor is going to have a flaw, that should be the one.) I keep a chain hook on a short line handy. SOP is to pull the anchor to straight up and down, put this line on, and back off the chain a few inches. In calmer conditions and open anchorages, I often do this before breakfast. I then break the anchor out under power. With the Mantus, I usually see the bow go down a few inches and then bob back up when the anchor breaks out. Bump the chain in a few inches, remove the chain hook, and retrieve. Doing it this way every time saves strain on the windlass and keeps it a smooth and practiced operation.

If we return next week still boat-less, we'll still be looking for an A 36.

[Russell]

Welcome Roger and Patsy. I hope you will be staying with us this time as you seem to have a wealth of knowledge that will benefit our members.

[Roger and Patsy]

Darn! Once again, it didn't work. We drove all the way from Albany NY to Savannah GA to look at an A 36. I found the Sampson post rotted enough that I probably could have kicked it over and the water had run down in and taken out the forward bulkhead.

We really liked the boat and I'm sure the owner wasn't aware of the problem (as an old wooden boat guy, I know where to look for trouble) and is proceeding with repair. However, the timing isn't going to fit our schedule and the experience got us thinking about a slightly larger boat. We've signed a contract on a Gulfstar 43 so, unless that fall through, I probably won't be back this way again.

[DesertAlbin736]

Roger & Patsy,

Well, I would say Welcome Aboard, but now it looks like Albin ownership is not in the cards for you after all. In any case, this is a fun site to lurk once in a while, so come back & see us. If you do see this, I wonder where you plan to keep whichever boat you get. On the Hudson at the Albany YC marina, or elsewhere?

It's been nearly 40 years since I first heeded Horace Greeley's advice and moved out West to Arizona, but before that I lived for several years near Ballston Spa & Saratoga, so the "Capitol District" is familiar to me. We took our Albin 25 back East last year (2015) and did extensive cruising, including some on the Erie Canal from Seneca Lake to Fairport & back. Then trailered down to Rhode Island, passing by Schenectady & Albany on the Thruway, and eventually down to Delaware for a two week cruise on Chesapeake Bay before returning to Arizona.

From Albany you could go anywhere, down the Hudson to NYC and points South, or up the Mohawk to Erie Canal and do The Loop.