Tanzer 16 Light Air "Racing" in a mixed fleet.

Tanzer 16 Light Air "Racing" in a mixed fleet -- September 4, 2016  My crew couldn't make it. He picked a good night to miss. The forecast promised rain and no wind; the forecast was the reality.  It was cold too.  Nobody answered my call for crew so I decided to work on the committee boat.  There were a lot of boats so Jim F., the dinghy fleet captain, gave them a really long line.  Don't know why, but they all clustered at the end that was not favored--not that it mattered.  They weren't going anywhere soon.  Even the 420's and Lasers struggled to move.

This is one of two "clumps."

Eric, T-16 #1304, is usually quite competitive and he struggled to find air as did the two Harpoons that weigh even more than the Tanzer.

One of the Harpoon guys, Kevin, did adopt a strategy that worked well.  He put his big, burly crew guy up on the deck.  That lifted the stern clear out of the water.  Then he shifted his weight leeward and as far forward as his hiking stick allowed him.  It looked funny, but the boat moved.

Kevin celebrating his finish with his favorite beverage.  Kevin has been
known to smoke a cigarette, drink a beer, and manage a spinnaker while
single-handing his boat in a race.  He's a pretty good sailor!

Jim F, the dinghy fleet captain.  He is a wily competitor himself. He really
knows the winds and currents in Budd Inlet.  One good race strategy is just
to follow him and his Lido--if you can keep up.

So--one regatta to go (next Sunday) and then the boat goes back under cover until spring.  That's okay there is plenty to do on the new Catalina 22.

Tanzer 16 -- Catalina 22 love triangle -- another boat -- mistresses

Tanzer 16 -- Catalina 22 love triangle -- another boat  -- August 31, 2016  I am blessed with a wonderful wife and now two mistresses.  Fortunately the mistresses are both boats.  Yesterday a Catalina 22 was added to the mix.  No plans to race the Catalina, but needed something to take out my young grandchildren, and friends my age who really just want to kick back and drink a beer while I sail.  Pat, my wife, says she may go out on this one--we'll see--she has never set foot on the Tanzer.

The big challenge with the Catalina is to leave it be.  It is ready to sail, and I don't need two boats as dialed in as the Tanzer.  Maybe I will have to actually retire--two boats is a lot -- well four actually, but one is an aluminum fishing boat and the other is a canoe and they aren't very demanding--more like flirtatious dalliances than mistresses.  Throw in a big yard and I might just be too busy to work.

Just about the max boat my little Dodge Dakota can handle.  The plan is to
keep this boat under cover most of the year and moor it in Budd Inlet May
thru September.  Boats are cheap--sails come dear.

Tanzer 16 Spinnaker wrap -- What a mess

Tanzer 16 Spinnaker wrap  --  What a mess  --  August 23, 2016  We installed a spinnaker launching chute and retrieval sock last winter; it was a big effort.  Slowly we have been learning how to use it.  Mostly it works pretty well.  Very mixed results in last week's race.

We didn't expect to do very well.  We had three guys in the boat, and the winds were light.  But we thought at least we will get to practice a bit using the spinnaker.

The spinnaker fits nicely inside the launching chute.  It is supposed to keep
the deck clean and simplify the launch.

There are a lot of reasons why we shouldn't use the spinnaker on our races--primarily because the courses are too short.  However, if we could get it up and down quickly, the spinnaker would be useful in the light air races where our weight is such a disadvantage.  (See our page on Racing the Tanzer 16 in mixed fleets.)

The first hoist during the first race was perfect.  We were dead down wind, the sail came out of the tube in a flash and immediately started pulling us down wind toward the finish.  When the wind shifted to a beam reach the sail still worked well, we brought the sail in with no fuss.  Great!

But alas.  Our joy was short lived.  On the second hoist the sail came out twisted.  I tried to fix it.  It got worse.  I tried to fix it more--it got way worse.  Eventually it was wrapped in a tight knot around the jib furling drum.  I got frustrated.  Briefly considered taking my sharp rigging knife to the sail. Recovered my sanity.  Abandoned the  race. Cussed--including the F word and the "What a CF!" words.  I seldom swear on the water (sound carries).

It got way worse than this before it got better.

At two in the morning, I had trouble getting back to sleep and thoughts of spinnaker screw-up stalked me in the dark.  Finally fell back to sleep with the realization that the initial twist was caused because the sail head had flipped over when the halyard was reattached for the second hoist.  Further realized that we should not have attempted to use it in such a short race.  Main lesson from all this: When the spinnaker is a mess, don't spend time trying to fix it, just retrieve it and sail on with the jib and main.

The committee boat appreciated our early retirement from the race.  "If you can't be fast, at least quit early."

Adding a Catalina 22 to my little fleet next week.  We won't be racing that boat--unless of course there is another boat on the water.  Then we will be racing even if only one of us knows it.

Tanzer 16 PNW Invitational--Pretty much a bust

Tanzer 16 PNW Invitational--Pretty much a bust  (but still we had a good time) -- August 16, 2016  Doggone there just wasn't any wind!  We sailed north for two hours and they called the race. One catamaran and four Buccaneer 18's managed to finish.  The rest of us just couldn't complete the 2.5 miles.  We had a great lunch.  Eric (T-16 1304) and I (T-16 1306) traded great Tanzer stories and looked over each others' boats.  The Buccaneers were all from out of town, and they read the wind better than we did.

The race back was worse.  I told my crew, Dan, "Well, either we will look pretty smart or very foolish because we are quitting first." At that point the race hadn't even started. It was the right call.  The little 2 hp Honda got us back to the dock in about 35 minutes.  The wind came up just as we turned into the marina--Still a good time.  Hope some more Tanzers show up next year.

Would you come down if there was a t-shirt?  Hats?  Free beer?

Yup, that's how much wind there was after we sailed 1.5 miles of a two and
a half mile race.

Gull Harbor, the lunch spot, is one of the most scenic little coves in Sourthern
Puget Sound.

Tanzer 16--Cover for the boat--nearly finished spending money

Tanzer 16--Cover for the boat--nearly finished spending money --  July 25, 2016  -- So finally there is a cover on the boat. Now it has three jibs, an almost new main, a spinnaker launching tube for the gently used spinnaker with a retrieval patch, some major repairs, a new paint job, some great graphics, and a nearly new Honda outboard. There really is no place where I could spend more money on this boat. (Except maybe some hiking straps and a better tiller extension.)  Oh, and the trailer is really nice too.
Maybe it's time to buy another boat!  At this point I am guessing that we have about eight grand in a boat that would only sell for $4000--tops!  Ah, such is sailing!  As addictions go, it is still pretty cheap.

Tanzer 16 Dinghy Dock and Roller Furling Genoa

Tanzer 16 Dinghy Dock and  Roller Furling Genoa  --  July 23, 2013  Life is sweeter on the dinghy dock.  We unexpectedly got a place on the dinghy dock--thought it would take years. Definite improvement in our dinghy sailing lifestyle.

Now we go down to the boat at 5:00 pm.  I used to arrive at the launch and 3:00 pm.  I would take my sweet time rigging, and we put the boat in about 4:30.  Even though rigging is much easier with a hinged mast, it still takes time. (Plus I like to fuss over every pin, line and knot.)

Now we bend on the main and go.  It is a little tight getting out of our berthing area, but it's quick. When we launched from the trailer, I would leave the boat in the water overnight and then go pick it up in the morning--Cost 25 bucks for launch and overnight space.  Total cost for the dock for four months: 80 bucks!

We are especially enjoying the furling Genoa from Schurr sails.   It took some dinking around to get the tension right on the shrouds and forestay (wire inside sail)* but totally worth it.  The only sacrifice is that you can't use it partially deployed.  It's out or it's in.  Last night we started out at 1830 with 16 knots steady and much bigger gusts.  All we used was a reefed main.  By 2030 it was a drifter, but we hadn't rigged the spinnaker.

Mostly this year we have had the bad luck of rain on race nights--not the finest Pacific Northwest summer, but we were spoiled last year when it was sunny from May straight through to September.

The Genoa is easy to deploy.

Easy to stow.

*My advice:  Have them make the wire inside the sail an inch or two shorter than your forestay and make up the difference with a longer shackle--it would save a lot of time getting the mast rake correct.

Tanzer 16 Handbook, remaster -- need illustrations

Tanzer 16 Handbook, remaster -- need illustrations  --  July 3, 2016  I am in the process of retyping the original Tanzer 16, Overnighter and Tanzer 14 Handbook. I thought if we had a nice copy in Word, it would be easy to share and make a nice enhancement when folks try to sell their boats.
I copied the handbook on the Tanzer 16 Owners Facebook page.  That's 18 pages and I am typing one per day. Trying to duplicate it exactly (almost).  Even the line spacing is the same.

 But, the illustrations are not so swell.  If someone out there has a good copy, I could use some good, repro quality illustrations.  Maybe you could scan them or make good copies.  If you can help out, please contact me:  jslosson@aol.com.

Thanks.

jim

Here's what it will look like. Only nicer of course since it will be in a text file.