Commodores Cup 2025

 That sail was a Blast

Champagne Sailing at it's best, 5-8' seas, Ongoing Storm, Boat failures - but we had a blast!

Let's get the Boat failures out of the way.

When putting in the 2nd reef, I screwed up. When I loosened the lazy jacks with the intent of tidying up the sail shape after dropping the mainsail for the 2nd reef, I did not secure the bitter end of the port side Lazy Jack halyard. Later it ran out of the mast block and wrapped itself around the port Gib sheet, a big bundle of Dhoby hitches. The Genoa furling line jambed in the drum. That was probably due to the furling line not being taught enough to force the line to lay neatly inside the furler. I need to replace the furling line as it should be about 10' longer so that it's easier to manage when furling and unfurling the genoa.

Ok, that's it, considering the weather, easily solved issues:

• Secure the ends of the Lazy Jack halyards
• Keep the tension on the furling line when unfurling the Genoa
• Mark the reefing points on the Main Halyard and all 4 Reefing lines.

Thursday morning, a fellow member of the HISC assisted me climbing the mast to re-thread the Lazy Jack line, I plan to assist him when he has to scale his mast for the first time next week. Thanks Jim.

Friday morning I fixed the Lazy Jack lines, with stopper knots that prevent the line leaving the cleats. I hoisted the sail bag so that water drains out. All of the running rigging looks good, I inspected the shrouds and the attachments at the mast, all look good, however, my plan it to replace the standing rigging this winter. 

I also measured the Genoa Furling line and purchased 80' of StaSetX 1/4" Red & White line from the local marine store ( WM ) ready to install next week. The new line should have a significant tail on it so that it's easier to handle at the cockpit end.

Now for the fun part.

Our first crew for a race arrived early at the boat so were were able to leave at 8:55am to make the 9am Atlantic Bridge opening. Carol & Gail brought their own lifejackets, we had lunch, snacks and water/juice drinks in the cooler. Peggy & I had stopped by Publix on the way to the boat to pick up some Sandwiches and Fruit & Crackers, we would not starve.

The wind was expected to pipe up around noon. NOAA had forecast 10-14 knots of wind, so we set the 1st reef in the mainsail. Motoring up towards the start line we pinged the Port & Stbd pins of the line. The outer mark was a committee boat and the inner mark was a swim buoy. Our Starting line program was running on our Garmin Chart Plotter. 

Our start was the last of 3, first warning was at 10:55 for an 11:00 start, second warning was at 11:00 for an 11:05 start and our warning was at 11:05 for the 11:10 start. We nailed it, crossing line within 20 seconds of the gun. It was an eventful start for the other fleets but I'll leave them to write up their story, it was definitely eventful.

Even with the 1st reef, we flew down towards the first mark which was to be somewhere East of the Commercial Peer. The race committee said "The last known position of the South Mark was Somewhere East of the Commercial Peer", probably because we have had to chase that mark in some pervious races due to it not holding it's anchored position so well. Oh Well.

The night before, Peggy & I had reviewed the potential race courses and had figured that if it was a Southerly marked course, then the mark would probably be in the first deep water East of the Peer. We nailed that too!

Ok, back to the sailing. So we were flying down and holding our own, but the leading boats seemed to be heading quite close to shore compared to us. I should have held to my plan, instead I doubted my own plan and we gybed to head closer to shore and had to head back SE to where the mark was, pretty close to where we had put the mark in our plotter.

As expected, the wind was piping up, we were seeing steady 14knots of wind, gusting to 17 and heading up the scale. So we decided to put in a second reef once we had rounded the South Mark, which we did nicely. The wind had backed so we rounded the mark and then turned to 80ºm and worked at putting in the 2nd reef.

Carol, soaked but smiling.

The new crew had been great, Wet! Worked but still smiling. We plowed along nicely but then I screwed up. 

The process of putting in a reef on Eximius is:-

• Tighten the Topping Lift to stop the Boom from falling
• Lower the Mainsail to just below the next reef point
• Tighten the next Downhaul reef line
• Tighten the next Outhaul Reef line
• Raise the Main to the next reef point
• Ease the topping lift to improve the sail shape.

Easy! Unless someone ( me ) had screwed up  earlier. I had not secured the ends of the Lazy Jack lines and the Port side line had exited the mast block above the spreaders and then had tangled around the stbd lazy jack lines and the port side genoa sheet. Concerned about that, I had followed the reefing process but unable to get the sail down to the 2nd reefing point and unable to raise the sail back up. Now we had a wind bag instead of a sail! And the wind was now exceeding 22knots. Oh! When I tried to reef in the Genoa, the furling line became locked around the drum and so we could not reef the genoa.

At this point we basically had a wind bag for a mainsail and the genoa was fully deployed, this made controlling the boat a lot of fun.

The crew were still smiling.

Three times I went forward to try and release the lock in the furling drum but  the wind was just too strong. I made the decision that we should alert the race committee that we were starting our engine and bowing out of the race. Then we turned for the inlet.

For the next half hour, we fought the weather, waves and the squally conditions and did not make progress North, our intent was to anchor of the Hillsboro Beach till the weather dropped and then motor into the inlet, however, the timing was not good, Low tide was at 2:30pm, the waves were over 5' and the depths in the inlet were less than 6' in places and were were having sail issues that meant going in the inlet was risky. So I decided we should head south to Port Everglades and take the ICW north to our dock.

During all of this, we broke out the Lunch sandwiches and multiple rounds of hydration, we started to dry off too.  

It was about a 2 hour motor to PE, but enroute I was able to calm the mainsail and tide the sail into the lazy jack bag ( Cradle Cover ) and I was able to untangle the Genoa furler and get it fully furled.

It was lumpy and bumpy all the way until we were inside of the breakers of the Port Everglades Inlet. Of course, a giant Cruise Ship was heading out as we came in, but timing worked out and we had no issues. 

In very familiar waters for Peggy & I, we turned North on the ICW, we navigated under the 17th Street Causeway bridge, around the East bend and then North again up to Los Olas Blvd Bridge, we had to wait 25minutes but plenty of room, very little traffic. Up throttle and head to Sunrise Bridge, Oakland Park Blvd Bridge and finally Commercial Blvd Bridge. 

All of us were pretty tired but we got to the dock even if we did have to try it twice. 

I suggested to Carol & Gail that they didn't need to hang around, we were planning on securing the boat and heading home before it got dark. I think we got home around 6:15pm  Left over sandwiches for dinner and then an early night.

This was the most fun I had on the boat in a long while, self inflicted issues but we overcame them, everyone was smiling and the crew both said they would do it again. I hope they do. It was a great day.

See you on the water.

Paul

Intermittent Anchor Light

Fixing our Intermittent Anchor Light

On a recent 160nm trip with four nights at anchor, we noticed our anchor light was out. It's not a complex system. On/Off Switch (Circuit Breaker ) on the Electrical Panel, Wires inside the Mast and LED Anchor light mounted on a bracket at the Mast head.

Testing:

Using a digital AVO I checked the power at the Breaker - It was good and solid, no wiggly switch!

While Peggy watched the Mast head, I 'wiggled' the wire joint at the base of the mast - Yep! On and Off while wiggling ( the wires, not me or Peggy ) So I need to rework the joints of the wires at the base of the mast.

According to the Catalina's Owner's Manual ( Pg. 30 ) There is a 4 wire cable for the Mast Ground, Anchor Light, Deck Light and Steaming Light.

In practice there is also a Coaxial Wire ( Masthead VHF Antenna) and a NEMA 2000 Drop wire ( Masthead Wind Transducer )

At present, that 4 wire cable is a mess of electrical tape and probably soldered butt joints - I'll cut them open and rewire them as follows.

In practice, that will look something like this.

Sketch of Bilge area just in front of the mast.

I'm planning on mounting the Terminal block with Thickened Epoxy in a position that the screws are accessible from the top. Might have to put it on the Port side if the existing cable is not long enough.

Plan is to do this on Monday, same day that we'll work on removing the old head toilet and install a new one.

Well, it's done, working but didn't work out as expected.

My sketch shows the terminal block neatly affixed to the side of the bilge, turned out that's almost impossible! The access to that bilge area is very small and getting to the block if it is installed there is equally nearly impossible.  Also, the wire from the block to the electrical control panel is too short to reach down to that point.

The other issue ( non issue ) is that the wires from the mast are a 2 pair and 3 pair . The black wire in both are 'common'.

This is what I started with. those joints are soldered twisted wires covered with Liquid rubber and then two layers of electrical tape.

You can see the 4 wire brown sheathed cable in the lower right hand ( Port side ) of the picture.

With some careful pulling, I was able to extend the brown sheathed cable out another 1.5" but still not enough to be able to connect to the terminal block if it was secured to the side of the bilge and there would be no reasonably easy way to get a screwdriver in there to secure the wire terminals.

I elected to have the terminal float and secured by a zip tie.

First task was to document the wire connections.

4 Wire: 

Red - White stripe to Red Two Wire

Red - Green Stripe to Black Common two and three wire

Red - Black Strip to White Three Wire

Red - Solid to Green Three wire

Using a knife I peeled back the wrapping and then cut the wires close to the solder joints

Cut the outer covering of the Two and Three wire cables so that they were all the same length.

Stripped the wire ends for Crimped Ring Terminals

After shrinking the terminal covers, it all went together really easy.

I'm anticipating pulling the mast in December to do a few jobs on the mast and to replace the standing rigging.

Also cleaned up the sheaths of the two cables, just had to wipe them down with a Clorox wipe.

I put the terminal block cover on and secure it to with a couple of small zip ties.

Next: Test it!

Peggy operated the switches while I rushed around the boat on and off the dock to check the lights were working. 

Anchor Light 👍 

Steaming Light 👍 

Deck Light 👍 

Running Lights 👍  ( Tested but not part of the Mast wiring )

So all deck and Nav lights are working

With the wiring checked out, I secured the terminal block and the 2 & 3 wire cables to the P clip that is under that screw in the top left corner of the picture.

Yes, I cleaned up the deck support and the bilge before closing it up and re-testing - all's good.

Cross this one off the list and updated the Service history.

See you on the water.

Paul

Fixing the Crapper

Replacing the Toilet

We keep the bathroom as clean as possible, you never know when a visitor has to 'go', so our toilet is clean, but it leaks, and it does not matter how clean it is if it leaks!

We replaced the discharge hose from the Toilet to the Holding tank, but we keep getting a small amount of fluid on the floor in the head, pretty sure it's from the toilet, the cost of the bits to service the old unit, along with the work, just doesn't make sense when a new unit is less than $200 from Defender.

So we are now the proud owners of a brand new Jabsco Twist 'n' Lock Manual Toilet - 29090-5000. Ordered on September 1st and arrived on September 5th. I checked the condition of the product before taking it down to the boat as I had read that some recipients had reported damage to the toilet. This was very well packaged and the box showed no signs of external damage - well done UPS.

In theory, the hole pattern for the base should exactly match the old unit's so that should make it an easy task.

We flush the toilet with Fresh water - if you have seen inside the holding tank after the toilet has been flushed with salt water for a few years you'll understand why.

So I'll blank off the hose port on the back of the pump assembly.

Looking at the pic above, i can see that the Discharge port on the base of the pump assembly is pointing upwards but on the boat, the port is pointing to the right ( towards the bow ), however, checking the new toilet, that discharge port looks to be able to position in three directions by just removing the 3 screws, pulling the port off, rotating it and reassembling.   Fingers crossed!

I'll apply a thin film of Butyl tape to the underside of the base just to ensure there's no way for any liquids to seep under the base should there ever be a leak.

OK, as always, that's the plan.

Well that went really well.

Turns out that the Toilet was only secured by 3 lag bolts, the back left hand lag bolt was missing and when I removed the Toilet, that screw had previously broken off and I could see the old screw shaft had been leveled off so that it did not protrude. Oh, well, one less lag bolt to worry about.

The output port is not triangular, it's circular, so that means the port can be rotated a full 360º just by easing two screws accessible from the front of the toilet (one can be seen in the picture above )

The whole job would have taken about 10 minutes had I not left my socket set at home. Most of the time was spent unscrewing the lag bolts in the very limited area behind the toilet.

I used the 'old' toilet seat, it was only replaced comparatively recently.

All done with enough time to do the mast wiring fix for the Anchor light before heading home. 

A good day.

See you on the water. 

Review of Aqua Maps

Review of Aqua Maps Navigation App.

I have been using Aqua Maps for several years. Initially I tried it out when it first came to market, at that time I was not impressed, but a couple of years later I revisited it and was impressed. Very recently, they have updated the software with a new feature - Route Planner - which does what it says, use it to plan your route.

But first let me drool for a while about one feature that I use every overnight trip. The Anchor alarm.

Some background: I have probably tried at least 15 different anchor alarm apps and none of them have made the grade and compared to Aqua Maps they were complete failures, so I'm not coming from a blank starting point. Oh, and I'm not being sponsored in anyway by Aqua Maps.

Ok, about the Aqua Maps Anchor Alarm. Here's a typical use for me.

On my Samsung Tablet which has a built in Sim Card so it's always able to connect to the Internet, I'll open Aqua Maps and set the Anchor Alarm. The program allows for setting the alarm during the actual drop of the anchor, ie. The anchor is where you are! which of course is not where you will be when the rode is let out. 

Sailing in South Florida, most of the anchorages are pretty shallow - 8' to 16', taking tides into account, down here they are mostly less than 3' so our depth at the anchor will be around 8' to 19' with the tide changes. We typically put out a 5-1 scope but if the weather is likely to deteriorate, I'll go for at least a 7:1 scope. So it's quite normal to let out 80' of chain at anchor. I'll set the anchor distance to 100', just to give a bit of wiggle room.

Of course, there is also the option to set the alarm after anchoring. ie. The anchor position is not where you are! The app has an excellent method of setting the alarm by using GPS, angle to point to the anchor and the distance from the anchor. Both methods work really well.

Now the alarm is set, and if it goes off, then you'll know it, most likely if you are anchored nearby us then you'll know it too! It's like all hell breaking loose! It cannot be ignored. Let's be real, that is exactly what you want even if you're wrapped up in a comfy berth at 2-o-clock in the morning! It's a one touch button to cancel the alarm so that the issue can be dealt with.

This is all really good, several other apps do something similar but Aqua Maps certainly has real sailors working for them and it shows. 

But Wait There's More.  If I'm not on the boat then I won't hear the alarm - Alarm Mirroring to the rescue. I have Aqua Maps installed on my Samsung phone too! If I turn mirroring on in the app on the tablet and confirm I want to use the mirroring system on my phone, then Aqua Maps mirrors the Boat's view and alerts just as the tablet does on board. So if I'm within range of a cell tower, both on the boat and ashore, then I'll get the alarm reports ashore.

I use this feature whenever we go ashore in the dinghy and being able to mirror the alarm system is a huge stress relief.

In short, Aqua Maps is worth the money even if it's just for the Anchor Alarm system.

Ok. What about their new feature - Route Planning.

Prior to this new update, route planning was easy, just click on the chart where you want the next waypoint be and save it.  Pretty easy, it would take a while, perhaps a few minutes, if you wanted to plan a route that has a lot of turns, but generally very quick.

Route Planning - Click the Start, Click the destination, Save, Done! Review and tweak if you need/want to. 

Cards on the Table: We have a full Garmin system on our boat and a NavLink2 wifi server to connect our boat data with Aqua Maps running on our phones or tablet.  The beauty of this setup is that I can run Garmin Helm on my tablet to mirror the chart plotter or I can view the NEMA 2000 data ( Wind, Water Speed, Heading, etc. ) inside of Aqua Maps.

How do we use Aqua Maps on the boat?

When we are planning a trip while in the cabin or cockpit, Aqua Maps is on screen, we have a RAM mount at the helm which can hold either the Tablet or a Phone, so we can have Aqua Maps at the helm, we use it as a backup - we've had a Chart Plotter failure before and it's stressful here in South Florida where there a lot of high speed boats around, plus, our Draft is 5'7" ( plus our tools ) and it's skinny water around here in many of the inlets. That backup is important.

What features do we like the best. The amount of info about the local areas are a huge value and Aqua Maps digs in. Yes it has Satellite view ( like Google Maps ) and a lot of local user info too. 

If i did not have a Chartplotter, then Aqua Maps could fill those shoes, it does not link to our Autopilot that's not a surprise, but if I didn't have a Chartplotter then I would probably not have an Autopilot.

Oh, I forgot to mention the GEC account. We have the full Aqua Map system and that include access to maps around the USA and a GEC account. That's basically a file storage for map data - gpx or kmz files. This gives me the option to upload Route files from my phone or tablet to my GEC account, I can then review them on my computer.

Finally - What about Customer Service?

The proof is in the puddin.

I had an issue when they first released the Route Planning feature, I sent one email to their tech support and had a response the next day and a fix the next day. Nuff Said.

Ok, if you have not got the app yet, take a look at their website. https://www.aquamap.app/

The App is available for both Android and IOS.

All of the good stuff requires a subscription, it will not break the bank.

Paul Alcock

Skipper of the Sailing Vessel Eximius - 1987 Catalina 34 - Tall Rig Fin Keel mostly found in South Florida.

See you on the water.