Another New Cruiser -looking to crew in 2014

[msalvucci]

Hi - In the past, I've found some useful info on this site and felt it was high time I joined. Great site, lots of helpful people.

I took up sailing two years ago after a Zen moment watching some boats in Reykjavik Harbor during a vacation to Iceland. Went into it with both feet, bought a used MacGregor 26M for use on desert lakes (Powell, Mead and Pleasant). It is a fun boat, I have learned the basics with it and through ASA 101 & 103 (104 next month). I am planning to retire in January at a relatively young age and hoping to crew and charter as much as possible. I will be scouring the crew wanted pages this fall, but contact me if you need crew in 2014.

Mike

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum Mike. You're doing it the right way...starting off small and jumping on rides on other boats.

[msalvucci]

Hi,

Thanks for the greeting and the kind words of encouragement. I seem to learn something new every time I step on a new boat.

Hey, I enjoyed your blog. FYI - I bought a 25# Rocna for the Mac to deal with the funky bottoms here.

Mike

[Celestialsailor]

Thanx...I havn't tried mine yet but I hear good things about them. I'm contemplating an anchor out for the July 4th weekend.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
I want to hear more about your Rocna. Isn't that a bit large for a 26 footer? I heard they hold very well so will want to learn more.
kind regards,

[msalvucci]

Hi John,

Thanks for the greeting.

Actually, West Marine sizes the Rocna 10 (22 lb) for boats of 23 to 36 feet. The MacGregor is at the low end of that range, but with only a water ballast system and a dagger board and with its high freeboard, the boat likes to move even with the sails down. After dragging a Danforth anchor while overnighting in a rocky cove and having to motor back at 3 AM, I wanted a better anchor for the rocky conditions here. I can handle the 22 lbs, even without a windlass, so I decided that bigger in this case was better.

I have only used the Rocna once, but I read a lot about it before purchasing. I recommend a book called The Complete Anchoring Handbook by Poiraud et al. which talks about the new generation roll-bar anchors including the Rocna (and everything else you EVER wanted to know about anchoring). The Rocna anchor has an attachment point for buoy retrieval, which makes it very easy to pull up, and attachment points for a tandem anchor and for securing to a bow roller. They advertise that the anchor sets very quickly - that was my experience the first and only time I used it. In the end, the design of the Rocna just made sense to me.

Mike

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Mike.