Holy Crap! I would never have thought you could go that far up the creek with 6 foot draft - but the spar on deck, I assume.
Bill Coleman C&C 39 animated_favicon1 From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of J.P. Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 1:13 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List A joy Hi, That's one of the things about the Snake River that most people don't realize is that the sailing is good here. The Snake river was modified in the '60's and 70's to be one long flood control project. So it's at least 40' deep in most places, and up to 120'. The river is also wide, and the whole 104 mile length back down to the Columbia is all good sailing with lots of great scenery. There is plenty of prevailing westerlies, and the run down river is a lot easier than up. And that down river run leads to the Columbia, which leads to the Pacific. So, we took it as far UPRIVER as we could, are going to spend the winter getting the boat ready (you can sail here in the LC Valley in the winter time as the river doesn't freeze and the weather is fairly moderate - we have a permanent thermal inversion here which keeps the weather unusually mild in the winter). And then sail down to Portland/Astoria, back up to Seattle, and maybe a California trip.. So yeah the sailing is good. JP From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Della Barba, Joe Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 10:07 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List A joy Great story! I just have to ask - now the boat is way up a river, is there sailing to be had where she is? Joe Della Barba Coquina From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of J.P. Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 12:27 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Stus-List A joy Hi All, I have never been a C&C owner until this past week. I recently purchased C&C 34 (1978) s/v Gabriela from a fate worse than death. She had been consigned to a boat charity and was in a backwater boat slip in Seattle.. and was in some need of repair. I purchased the boat last week, and dismasted it in Seattle, and prepped her for trucking to Pasco Washington, where the Columbia and Snake rivers converge. I had 3 days to check out the boat in Seattle and make the most needed repairs. She is powered with a Yanmar SGM30 (I think that's the model) with 670 hours showing on the Hobbs meter, a folding prop, the original C&C sails and 9 more to boot. She had been some what known as a racer in the Puget Sound and actually has a couple of bronze plates on her inner bulkhead where she was award prizes for racing in the area in the 80's . but had not been used much (from what I could tell) since about 2007-2008. The running rigging was in rough shape - so we redid a lot of that. put on some new dock lines, loaded it on a truck and sent it to Pasco. The goal was to run up river to a small town in Eastern Washington called "Clarkston". This would be about a 104 mile UPRIVER run. This would entail navigation among the barges, moving up 4 sets of locks, and enduring the heat of August in eastern Washington (it often reaches 100+ degrees here. Also running up river is against a varying current depending on the season, rains, and shifting sand bars. Although I have done everything from coastal cruising, to blue water sailing to sailing on the Great lakes, I have never done a river run on the Columbia and Snake rivers before. Besides the work entailed in moving through the lock system, the levels on the river change quite a bit. There are bridges that have very low clearances.. one is at 52 feet. 52 Feet if the water hasn't risen. With the wind instruments and antenna, 52 feet seems pretty close. We left the docks at Pasco and headed down the Columbia at noon on Saturday, then went into our first lock at 15:00. This was the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. A cabin cruiser about 30' - was "mis tied" against the lock and almost turned turtle after getting caught on the side of the lock wall by swim platform. After that, we fired up the Yanmar and went on up river. Gabriela ran flawlessly and we got to Windust park by dark, just ahead of a thunderstorm. The cabin stayed dry and the boat rocked along at the dock in 40+mph winds. The next morning we moved on to the Lower Monumental Dam, and through Little Goose Dam and finally came to rest at the Byron marina just short of the Lower Granite Dam. Since this was my first C&C I was apprehensive about the whole process because of the river sand bars, and the feat of bringing a sailboat upriver into territory that was unfamiliar. Also there is very little in the way of any kinds of repair services along the route. I had spares of "critical pieces". but still after having the boat only 2-3 days, and it being in 6-8 YEARS of disarray, I was a tad nervous. Sitting at the tie off in Byron, reflecting on the day, the weather cooled down to 70 degrees at dusk, I was eating a sandwich and drinking a cold Coke.. The music was wafting up out of the cabin, and I realized the trip had been uneventful and pretty good so far. Settling down to sleep with a gentle rocking motion at the mooring, we watched a paddle wheel boat carrying a couple hundred tourist passengers, barges full of wheat from the harvest, and fisheries barges carrying "juvenile fish" to deposit in the river. We had seen huge rock outcroppings, deer, eagles, herons, cranes, huge fish breaking the water. The next day we left early, transitted the lock at Lower Granite, and headed home. After tying off at the dock and securing the boat, (in about 100 degrees heat) I was washing down the decks, and these thoughts occurred to me . the engine purred like a kitten (not one hiccup, running at 2850 RPM we produced hull speed at about .65 gallons per hour) , the boat was dry, and very comfortable. The tiller worked well with the little Simrad auto pilot, all the gauges worked (with a little twiddling on the wiring terminal blocks), the pressure water systems were perfect the boat slept well, handled well, and - every piece of it for being out of use for 5-7 years, were in a thought - far better than expected. In short, the trip was a joy in a good boat. I'm glad I bought a C&C. JP Gabriela C&C 34 Clarkston Wa.
<<image001.gif>>
_______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
