Ben Owen introduction
Ben Owen wrote:
I grew up around small fishing boats in the creeks and Rivers of the
southern mountains. One summer while in Grade school three friends and I
built a raft and spent three weeks floating the Poteau river with just
our rifles and fishing gear, A few cooking utensils and complete
confidence that we were Daniel Boone
Later I was introduced to Sailing by a fellow engineer who brought his
day sailer up to Quartz mountain lake in Oklahoma and a whole new world
opened up for me.
After a year's apprenticeship came a move to Seattle and my own day
sailer, a 11' Sea Scouter on Elliott Bay (Idiot's Bay?)
I gradually moved up to larger boats as my skill and Confidence improved
and settled on a Pearson Vanguard, a 32' Yawl that was begging to be
converted to a Cutter Yawl, which I did and loved it. With the larger
sailboats came longer trips; to Canada, Vancouver island, to Alaska and a
trip around Vancouver island.
I had read that the main deterrent to open ocean sailing was the fear of
being alone. To test this, I provisioned the Pearson, Took Navigation
courses at the University and joined US Power Squadron and became a "Full
Certificate".
I took off from Shilshole on April 15th after doing my taxes and headed
out toward the open Pacific. I spent the summer cruising out of sight of
land just getting in tune with the boat. Fortunately that year there
were few storms so I was not tried severely. The closer the time came to
return to land, the more I dreaded it. I came back to Shilshole in a fog
so dense that I steered along the western shore close enough to see the
bottom but could not see the shore only a few feet away.
I was elated at having passed this self imposed test and decided
to expand my horizons by doing deliveries both pleasure and Fishing boats
to Alaska and down the coast. My largest was a 375 ft Crab Processor with
a crew of 40 delivered through the Bering Sea to Adak in the Aleutian
Islands. With that under my belt I was ready to cross Oceans. I flew to
Holland and oversaw the final fitting out of a 75ft Ketch, the mono hull
"Orcella" and brought her back to Seattle via four months in the Med.
across the Atlantic, through the Canal and up the west Coast to Vashon
Island. Total time on the trip was 18 months!
I moved to Alabama, bought a house on a 23 mile lake, got a power boat
and did deliveries down the east coast including a 40 ft Catalac from Ft
Lauderdale to Choctawhatchie bay Fl. That was probably my most
"Interesting trip" of all I have taken. I was impressed with the
sturdiness of the Cat and decided I wanted one.
Because this lake is landlocked, I am confined to Trailerable
boats and want it to do the great loop trip and voyages from Puget Sound
to Alaska. Mostly we will be travelling the "Western Rivers" and
waterways. The "Tenn Tom" has sections that remind one of being in the
amazon. I joined the Power Cat group because I want as much information
as I can glean before committing on a particular cat. I need one about
30ft long with 10 ft and no more than 12 ft beam to take us around the
great loop, up the Arkansas to visit my Sister near Fort Smith and to be
safe and comfortable. Most of our cruising will be at 6 to 8 kts but
occasionally at 14 or more when we get in a hurry. Any suggestions I
can get from the group is welcome.
Thanks for the entertaining backgrounder, Ben.
There are quite a few folks on the List interested in trailerable
cats, so you'll be in good company.
You might try a search of the List archives. Go to Google and enter
the following search term:
trailerable site:samurai.com
To search for posts on a particular make of power cat, use the name,
as in the following examples:
motorcat site:samurai.com
excitecat site:samurai.com
tomcat site:samurai.com
Sometimes you will find that Google is out of synch with the archives
and you will get a wrong post. In that case, click on the "Cached"
link and you will get Google's own copy of the post.
Enjoy the List! And keep us posted on progress in the quest for your
perfect trailerable power cat.
--Georgs
Georgs Kolesnikovs
Power Catamaran World
http://www.powercatamaranworld.com