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There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:40 am
by klb67
Got my DS II out of winter storage. I'm heading out of town for the weekend, so I wanted to get it out of my driveway and up to the lake (30 minutes north). Rushed out of work yesterday, trailered the boat to the lake, prepared to raise the mast and realized I LEFT THE HALYARDS AT HOME! :evil: I debated whether to try to raise it myself without the jib halyard for assistance, then decided what's the point, I'd have to de-mast anyway to install the halyards. So the boat is dry moored in its spot with the mast on the crutch, waiting for my next trip to the lake. Hopefully I won't get in trouble for not having the mast up (thankfully it doesn't stick out much).

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 10:18 am
by Alan
My sympathies. I've left the battens home on one trip and the Windex on another, and sailed anyway, since it would have been a ten-hour round trip to go home and get them.

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:23 am
by GreenLake
Crew lost the jib halyard up the mast one time when we were docking at the far end of a daysail. We pulled the boat over at an angle and he got on a step ladder on the dock to get enough reach to reattach it.

On a beach, we would have been able to put the DS fully on its side without issues like flooding the cockpit.

I have another dinghy with better flotation (so it can be put on its side on the water). I've installed a Windex "after the fact" on that one.

The most forgotten item, by far, I found is the PFD. :oops:

I do use a kind of mental check list where I group certain items in a manner that seems logical, and then go over each group to see that it is "complete". As I leave the rigging in place during the season, even though I launch off the trailer each time, that gets kind of easy, except for the start of each season.

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 3:51 pm
by klb67
I find I'm a bit rusty early in the season and don't have my mental check list in good order. My worst forgotten by far is the boat plug. I try to have at least one in every towing vehicle I own, and when the plug gets pulled at the end of the day, it goes back in the glove box. That day I scoured unused club boats with similar sized plugs and finally found one. Now my plug on my DS is on a length of thin vectran or the like and always attached to the boat. At least we can learn from mistakes (most of them).

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 4:36 pm
by GreenLake
Lanyard for the boat plug was about my first modification to my DS!

I hang the plug over the coaming so the lanyard is a visible reminder that the plug is still out.

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:05 am
by jeadstx
I put plugs on lanyards as well.

With my DS II, everything is in the locked cuddy cabin including the sails, so I rarely forget anything for that boat.

The DS I however, being more open, I don't keep much on it. I have to remember what is going with it. I'm finding a few places to store things "out of sight". As far as storage in the forward compartment above the flotation tank, I haven't used it yet as I have trouble crawling up there do to my size. I have been in the cuddy cabin however, just wasn't sur I was going to get out again (but I did).

John

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 5:41 am
by klb67
At the risk of derailing my own thread, John I have been meaning to ask you, do you have a preference sailing and otherwise using the DS I or the DS II? I've wondered if I would prefer the more open cockpit w the DS I or the ability I have with my DS II to store stuff "away" in the cuddy. I'm not a big guy but I still don't go in the cuddy unless I have to.

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:53 pm
by GreenLake
Haven't had anything disappear off my DS1. Most of the stuff is bulky, like a boom, and or strictly of use only to another sailor (and I don't leave my boat near the water). Even things like paddles have not walked.

The forward compartment on the DS1 hasn't seen any use either. Might, if I were to take the boat out overnight somewhere; should be a great place to keep light weight stuff that one needs once a day and that should be kept well clear of the bilge.

I duck into the cuddy at every launch, because I have a mast-jack on my boat.

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 2:39 am
by jeadstx
klb67, to tell the truth, I've only sailed the DS I once. That was in a race in mid March. Saturday will be my second time sailing it and that is for a race also. The race in March was in slow motion with virtually no wind and a really bad main sail. Sail came with the boat, looked and felt virtually unused even though it was 20 years old. Turned out the sail was very poorly made with a leach that was 11" too long. Winds that day were 0 to 1 knot with puffs up to 2, so I didn't get a real feel for the boat.

Despite the poor wind on my first sail with the DS I, these are my initial thoughts on comparing my DS I to sailing my DS II. You sit lower in the boat since there is no raised cockpit deck. Leg room seems to be a little better on the DS I. When I race, since I am a large man, I usually work the jib sheets and have a lighter weight helmsman to better balance out the boat. Sitting forward with the open cuddy on the DS I was definitely more comfortable for me. When racing the DS II, in light winds I have to kneel across the centerboard to help control heel. With the light winds we had the day I raced, I sat on the centerboard trunk (note to self, remember to bring the cushion this time) a lot. Although a bit uncomfortable (without a cushion), it was way better than kneeling. I have bad knees and kneeling is painful at times. The thwarts were nice to be able to use as well. Only real problem I had was sitting on the jib sheets, but I tend to do that on the DS II as well. This last week, I cams inside the cuddy on the roof. I looked at pictures I had of some DS I boats from the Wurstfest Regatta and observed different methods of mounting jib cams just inside the cuddy to get them out of the cockpit. This modification would be difficult on the DS II due to the cuddy bulkhead. I will find out Saturday if this change works. I left the centerboard cams in place for when I single hand as they would be easier to get at. Getting the jib sheets out of the cuddy may help when I raise the spinnaker (I think) since it will be less lines to clear. I didn't get a chance to use the spinnaker in the March race since other boats didn't have one, the two of us with spinnakers were asked not to use ours.

Of course, centerboard operation is easier with the lever, although initially it took some getting used to. I kept forgetting the locking pawl. I originally got the DS I as a loaner boat when we race Day Sailers as a class (which our yacht club allows regularly), but that may fall to my DS II. The DS I does seem to handle a little better. My main competitor in our DS Fleet 135, David commented that even with our bad mainsail we were ghosting ahead of his DS II in the light winds. David and my friends having a running joke that he and I are having an "arms race" with our DS II boats. I upgrade, he matches or tries to make an additional improvement. My helmsman asked him what he is going to do if I switch to the DS I for racing. When rigging for the March race I teased David that there was DS I for sale nearby. He and his crew laughed at me. David's new (old) DS I currently sits in my yard awaiting being set up for racing. His DS II is for sale.

Hope that answers some of what you were wanting to know of my observed differences. I'll have a little more feeling about it after the Saturday race. I'm using a brand new main and my new hardware installs.

John

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:59 pm
by TIM WEBB
Always used two checklists of threes:

CB cleated up, rudder cleated up, motor up.

Bilge drain plug in, mooring drain plug in, bailer drain plug in.

The Red Witch never sank, so I guess I must have been doing something right?

Re: There's a reason for check lists

PostPosted: Mon May 01, 2017 1:16 am
by GreenLake
Grouping and numbering items helps a lot.