Bazza’s email

Back in May Bazza flew over from North America to help do the delivery trip to Scotland

He is a retired copper and life time great lakes sailor (27 footer) and had started watching the films back when I was on the Humber and he was still working.

the other day he sent me an email now that the journey has fallen into perspective

I'm going to the boat tomorrow to sail and varnish some topside trim pieces.

"I tell everyone about our sailing adventure. They are all, even the sailors in my marina, amazed at what we did. I tell all of them about your website. If they are interested I show them a couple of your films. Hopefully you will get some followers who will help you with your adventure. I have the smallest sailboat in the marina. All the others are much bigger and the owners are filthy rich. They can afford to send a little your way.

I have been sailing in conditions I would not have sailed in prior to sailing with you in England. Nothing dangerous, but I have more confidence in the sea (lake) conditions. I recently talked to the skipper of a 40 footer that was amazed I sailed solo in conditions he deemed too extreme to leave the harbor. I never felt concerned because I knew what the boat could handle and I knew what I could handle. It was a fantastic day of sailing, one of the best I've every done. I traveled 42 miles that day.

On Saturday I talked to a man at the marina who has a 33' cruising sailboat (ok, yacht for my English friends), and he has never done anything but a day sail from the marina! It seems like such a waste of a beautiful cruising boat.

I hope you are having a good time in Scotland. The pictures of Portree on Skye were amazing. It looks like your weather has been pretty crappy. The butcher in Oban was right when he told me the weather in May was unusual. The weather here has been hot, dry and still. It's been terrible for sailing. I've had pretty bad sunburns even with copious amounts of sunscreen.

Say hi to Jill. I'll send her some more chocolate covered cherries.

This is about Dylan Winter's Blog.

6 Responses to “Bazza’s email”

  1. 23 August, 2016 at 8:23 amTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    Yay! Baz.

  2. 23 August, 2016 at 9:34 pmTomH says:

    Bazza’s paragraph beginning “I have been sailing in conditions I would not have sailed in prior to sailing with you” is the best real world example of what it takes to become a better sailor — getting well outside your comfort zone.. Thanks for sharing that fine example.

    Secondly, that paragraph speaks volumes to the previous “Sailing on a budget” thread. Bazza’s experience illustrates how much more one can do with the boat they already have – than they ever though possible at least.

    Great stuff as usual, thanks Dylan.
    TomH

  3. 23 August, 2016 at 9:45 pmdylan winter says:

    he is also a very nice man to share a boat with

    keeps his stuff in order, smells nice, cooks weird stuff, never shows fear, I slept well when he was on watch -0 he thought that twin keelers like Lily M need a lot of steering – especially downwind.

    he is correct.

    he had never really experienced tides such as those you get on the west coast – really bunnas they are

    he is planning on doing the great loop and had planned on buying a 33 footer to do it in. I have been trying to get him to use his existing 27 footer. That way if he dings it…. as he will… it will not matter that much. Us old blokes can chose the weather as we have no fixed time scale so a big boatm to cope wwith big conditions is less important

    D

  4. 24 August, 2016 at 4:47 pmTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    The Great Loop is an amazing adventure, but it’s a LOT of motor-sailing for a sailboat — even with a quick-drop-rig like you have for KatieL. Much of the Erie Canal and the Canadian Canals have to be sailed mast-down, and you should draw more than 5-ft of water. Most of the Mississippi is about 50-ft air-draft, but you can’t be taller than 20-ft to get through Chicago to the Mississippi.

    One oddity I read about the loop is there’s a stretch of the Mississippi where there’s no fuel-dock for 400+ miles, so you need lots of fuel capacity and a sound engine that can run for days. And most of the Mississippi will requiring motor-sailing.

    http://www.captainjohn.org/Looperboat-b.html

    Then you have to be able to coastal-sail along the Atlantic Coast some stretches since the ICW isn’t dredged-deep in-places…or at-all above Norfolk VA.

  5. 26 August, 2016 at 12:44 amBarry Getzen says:

    The England/Scotland trip was absolutely amazing. Let me know when I can come back. Flights to London are pretty cheap since you all voted for Brexit.

    Baz

  6. 26 August, 2016 at 12:58 amBarry Getzen says:

    D is actually a year off on my Great Loop adventure. I plan to start the loop in September 2017 and follow the geese south from Lake Michigan. I have been doing a bunch of the Lake Michigan bits this summer. The Great Lakes are more than 10% of the entire journey. I will un-step the mast at Chicago and step it in Joliet. There are plenty of places to sail along the inland rivers. I’ll take at least two years for the journey so I can explore the Florida Keys, the Bahamas and the Chesapeake. I’m not sure how I will finish. I might actually do the St. Lawrence route as I have a son in Boston. Although, cruising the New York and Canadian canals would be fantastic. Which ever way I go and however long it takes it should be a great adventure just like Dylan’s

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