>that I have done it safely for many years and thousands of miles.
I'm exhausted from my winter trip. It's amazing how much sailing takes out of you physically. My father ruined a beautiful old wooden dory towing it behind. In 1969 or 70 we sailed his Queequeg from Boothbay to Cape Cod. Made it in 23 hrs to the canal. He had a masters ticket and was experienced but nothing would save that dory! weather said 3 foot seas but we got out there and they were mountains. he guessed 15 foot. I was 7 or 8 years old and they looked bigger than that. we surfed down them in a 45 foot ketch. I helmed most of the way, and it was fun steering. (he tied me to the mizzen- a practice I should self inflict today). the seas were following us and at night the dory started to surf down them and smash into our double ended stern, thud. He tried taking it in along side, but she would swamp. He let her way out, I think 150 feet but she'd still catch up. we got her there and back but she ended her time overturned beside the fish house on the Sheepscot river, broke. I think it was then that he bought a small avon raft. but he hated it and it became a toy. years later I luckily got the identical avon and use it as my dink. on my first 50 mile solo trip last spring I hauled in in over the fore deck. but it made a mess of things. I towed it from then on last summer. I never found fault with towing it- but stayed put in nasty weather. going to cape cod last summer my son and I were 30 miles offshore and I pulled it in and deflated it halfway but didn't like the feeling of having no immediate back up. though what a raft would avail offshore I'm not sure. it feels good is all. I run a solar panel off the stern rail so i can't lift her out much so have to tow her behind at 15 or 20 feet. next time I'm offshore I might drop the panel down and hoist her as high as possible up the stern rail. That seems the easiest place to ride. What are you going to do? almost every single boat I pass in Maine in the summer tows a dinghy behind. it's SOP around here. I just tie her to a stern cleat (without a chock). I need to replace the painter with nylon line this year. currently it's dacron. a canvas sea cover would probably be a good project to keep her towing light. I have to keep her behind as she is constanly used and anything else would be a complete PIA. Caleb Crosby B27 Brigadoon Belfast Maine _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
