I am blessed with a First Mate/Starfleet Commander/Admiral who is a real 'super trouper' when it comes to launching and retrieving, as well as road trips in general. We work as a team. I've been trailering sailboats in and out of the water since 1998 and the Albin since 2014. We've got it down to a science. It was even more complicated with our last sailboat, since even though it was a shoal draft wing keel, the waterline was 4 feet off the ground when sitting on the trailer. We had to do a "strap launching routine" with that boat to keep from backing the truck far down into the water, even though the ramp at the lake is fairly steep.I am looking for Hood Canal property with a deep water dock. This trailering s..t leaves a bit to be desired.
Strap launching procedure:
Step 1) Back trailer up to water's edge at the ramp, stop & chock trailer wheels.
Step 2) Unhook the trailer from the truck, pull forward & attach sturdy 14 foot web tow strap between trailer and truck hitch. Trailer had a pair of small fixed wheels with hard rubber tires attached at the tongue that would allow the trailer roll back straight without fishtailing.
Step 3) Take up slack in the tow strap, pull trailer a few inches forward to be able to pull chocks.
Step 4) With the Admiral at the wheel, she backs trailer down to float the boat off while I handle bow & stern lines.
Step 5) Pull trailer back out for the water, chock trailer, remove strap, hook trailer back up to the truck & park.
We got so we could do all that in 10 minutes or less. Lubbers were amazed.
There was however one time when we first started doing this shortly after we bought the Catalina in 2008. At the time I had a Chevy Tahoe, before we switched to the Dodge. We had gotten as far as Step 3, floated the boat off, pulled the trailer back out of the water. But then my wife got in the truck, and forgetting about the need to re-hitch the trailer started to drive up the hill to the parking lot (the ramp is at the bottom of a steep hill) before we had re-attached trailer to the truck. I'm standing on the dock jumping up & down yelling STOP! STOP! STOP! But she didn't see or hear me & realize what was happening until she got to a hairpin turn going up the hill. And of course by then the empty trailer is careening out of control being towed by a strap. Luckily it coasted to a stop & just brushed up against the front tire of the then nearly brand new Tahoe without otherwise doing any damage. We look back now & laugh, but it could well have smashed into our truck or someone else's vehicle & done real damage.
South Ramp at Lake Pleasant, AZ, which itself is challenge to get turned around to back in, and a bit of a hike to go fetch the trailer after coming in and tie up at the ramp dock. The "service road" runs atop the earthen dam that forms the lake. Sailboat mast-up storage lot can be seen at upper left. (click on picture for full frame view). The floating ramp dock is attached to a rail & can be adjusted for changes in water level. The lake level is currently 40 feet down from full, approximately as seen in this photo, which makes the hike back to the parking long even longer.
Overall view of the lake, with the ramp at bottom right.
Haulout procedure was essentially the same process in reverse. We would do this each time we went out on the lake, since fresh water was less detrimental to the trailer than salt water, and the difference in moorage was $87.50 per month for dry storage at the lake where we could leave the mast up compared to $360 per month for slip fees in the marina. Now we do the same thing with the Albin except we don't need to strap launch, and we can dry store for $50 per month at a private acre lot "horse property" residence (where the photos in the earlier post were taken) two miles from our house & 15 miles from the lake. Since I'm a Navy vet they waive the usual $6 gate fee at the lake & only costs $2 for the boat, plus we don't have to mess with mast raising. We generally don't go out on the lake between May and the end of October, since doing all that in 100 to 110 degree desert heat is not my idea of fun, especially coming in after a long day out on the water & packing up. That's what the Pacific NW is for.
We did have fun with our Catalina 25 "Orinoco Flow" though. Here's us hove to off Shelter Island in San Diego in 2008 as the late, great HMS Bounty went by as it arrived for a Festival of Sail tall ships event. By sheer coincidence one of or sailing club friends happened to be there on shore and took this picture. It looks like we were about to be run over by the big motor yacht, but in reality we were safely out of the way.
Here's a picture we took from our point of view. Sad that the Bounty is gone & her captain went down with the ship.
But I digress..
