Introduction - New DS 1 owner

[itsmeken]

Just wanted to introduce myself as a new DS 1 owner and member of this Forum. Just brought her home yesterday. I have already benefited greatly from this community of DS owners and it was instrumental to me purchasing one. So, thank you! Since I am new to this boat and this type of sailing I have much to learn. I may break the Search feature of this forum.

[tomodda]

Welcome aboard! Where do you sail?

[itsmeken]

Welcome aboard! Where do you sail?

Thanks Tom for the welcome! I sail out of Alamitos Bay, California. However, I purchased the DS 1 for Utah lakes while teaching some of my grandchildren how to sail. Until I move it up there I'll be shaking out the rigging and learning how to sail it safely and moderately. As an adult I've been sailing larger boats (35'-45') and haven't sailed a dinghy since the summer of my 16th year (laser). Also, I have only sailed in open ocean and coastal harbors. So, I'm on the front end of this learning curve. My primary goal is to offer my grandchildren a safe and fun sailing experience so the will want to continue sailing and ultimate learn how to sail.

Thank you again for the welcome and all the knowledge you have shared on this forum.

[tomodda]

DS is a great boat for teaching new sailors. Large enough that you're sitting IN it, not on it - with apologies to your Laser sailing days, but I don't like getting my tuchus wet. Beer and sandwiches stay nice and cold/dry under the cuddy. Easy to get going under sail, but lot's of nuance to play with as you get better. The only "fly in the ointment," at least in my humble opinion, is no ballast and not really self-righting. Design choices, I can live with them. Just means being conservative in your sailing, at least till the grandkids get the hang of it.

What's your sail number? My girl is also from 1958, number 37.

[itsmeken]

DS is a great boat for teaching new sailors. Large enough that you're sitting IN it, not on it - with apologies to your Laser sailing days, but I don't like getting my tuchus wet. Beer and sandwiches stay nice and cold/dry under the cuddy. Easy to get going under sail, but lot's of nuance to play with as you get better. The only "fly in the ointment," at least in my humble opinion, is no ballast and not really self-righting. Design choices, I can live with them. Just means being conservative in your sailing, at least till the grandkids get the hang of it.

What's your sail number? My girl is also from 1958, number 37.

My Laser days were great days! I found it behind the barn of a home where I tended horses and milked goats. The owner agreed I could use it so I did just that. Took it to Newport Beach Harbor. While I could have identified the mast I would not have been able to tell you what the boom was called. Funny story (now, not then). I "rigged" it on the slip deck. Meaning I tied the sail to the top of the mast and "stood it up the mast hole" and put the "horizontal thing" on the mast. Then I moved it closer to the edge before putting one "end" in first. When I did this the boom swung around and came off the mast and sank to the bottom of the harbor! I spent the rest of that day diving, diving and diving until I found it. A rich older man on a beautiful motor yacht, was kind enough to loan me a mask. He laughed the entire time repeatedly telling me I'll never find it in the ten feet of "gunk" at the bottom of the harbor. I learned the hard way to always tie the "end" of the sail to the "horizontal thing" before floating it.

You know, I never thought I'd buy a boat older than me! She was from Fleet 31 (Fresno, CA.) and her sail number is 311.



She has quite the racing pedigree as she was originally owned and raced by Lewis Wagoner ('70 & '71 national champion). From what I understand, Lewis recently passed and his friend purchased it and refurbished it with the assistance of David Keran (also a multi-time national champion). So, she will sail on but not nearly as fast as she used to!

I agree on the "fly in the ointment" and would add no self-bailing. I've never sailed on a lake nor on high elevation lakes. It's been since 1976 since I sailed a dinghy. I'm planning on learning locally how this boat handles in various conditions in SoCal before I trailer it up to Utah and load up a grandchild or two.

I have some rigging to do as it currently utilizes the furling boom for reefing the main and I do not feel this is safe for my purposes. I am researching main reefing possibilities now.

Again, I really appreciate all the great information on this site. I have already benefited a great deal from you and others. So, very much appreciated all the efforts to share knowledge and experiences with this boat.

[tomodda]

Great lineage! Dave Keran is a genius, I've more or less copied his under-cuddy "tree" for line handling + stiffening the hull. Looks cool too...

Don't cut your mast (I expounded on why not in another post), if nothing else to stay "true" to the lineage.

As for your learning experiences with the boom, most sailors learn how it's called via a nasty crack to the forehead (I still have a scar, 50 years later!). So consider yourself lucky to just learn via diving Reminds me of when I "learned" how important a retaining nut is.. the one at the top of the rudder post on my old quarter-tonner. Cost me $500 to get a professional diver to retrieve it out of the Delaware River, he found it by touch since the water is 0 viz with 4 knots current!

As for self-bailing, Ye Ol' Cut-down Milk Jug is all you need, if that. We're not racing, so a few gallons sloshing around the bilges is no big deal. Anyway, I've not yet shipped enough water to really care about bailing it out, it's mostly spray. The one time that I dipped the rail enough to ship water into the cockpit was on purpose (let's see how far we can safely heel) and resulted in a maybe 10 gallons coming aboard, a few scoops of the bucket to clear it out. I hate the entire concept of auto-bailers anyhow, it's extra holes in your hull. Very nice in theory, downright shitty when they get clogged (With all due respect to Mr Elvstrom). Good for racing, where a few extra pounds matter and you're doing constant maintenance between races anyhow.

Roller-furling is the devil's handiwork as well. Yes, I'm very opinionated and overall negative . Rig yourself some slab (aka jiffy) reefing, it's not hard if you have the right cringles in your leach and luff. Reeflines themselves (the short bunting lines) are nice to have but not absolutely necessary. You can get teh cringles (holes) put in by any decent sailmaker, make sure to ask them to sew in some re-enforcement tape as well.

[itsmeken]

@tomodda...unfortunately, learning the name of the boom did not protect me from learning why it is called that! I'm sure my DS 1 will remind me too!

Roller furlers are absolutely fantastic on bigger boats. I have no experience with them on a small boat like the DS 1. I can see where it would complicate stepping the mast and for this reason I will likely stay away from one (not to mention I have not seen one for the DS 1 that allows reefing which was my primary interest). On the bigger boats, where most of my sailing experience is, a roller furler is absolutely fantastic! If the wind increases reefing and sail balance is a line away all while staying safely in the cockpit.

I will embrace manual bailing!

I'll have to research the under-cuddy tree you mentioned.

Thank you for the reply and opinions. Keep them coming!

[tomodda]

Ahn, I see we've mixed metaphors - I meant that roller REEFING is a real bear. That's the original DS design, you reef by rolling the mainsail around the boom. Several problems with that, but the main one is how do you attach the mainsheet to a rolled sail? With a "reef claw," which is every bit of a sail-cloth destroying kludge you'd expect it to be. Steer clear, get slab reefing.

I'll leave my rant about roller FURLING to another day, another thread. Suffice to say that you don't need it for your jib on a DS, and the DS mast is (thankfully) not designed for in-mast furling.

As long as I'm on my soapbox, though, be careful and aware of your cold Pacific water. The other big change from our big boats to the DS is that you're in much closer contact to the water with no "going below" to warm up. And you cant' just re-right the boat in a flash and sail away shivering like you'd do in a Laser or Hobie, etc. If you flip the boat, you're going to be wet for a while. And although the DS is not a "wet" boat, she'll kick up enough spray to soak the crew when beating hard into a chop. The usual "rule" for hypothermia is the "100 degree rule" - if the air and water temperature combined are below 100F, then wear survival gear. I'd take it one step further and say that if the water is below 50F, then wear a wet or drysuit, according to your preferences. Obviously, you know your Pacific Ocean nearshore sailing conditions a lot better than I do, but just saying to plan ahead for getting dunked and then make sure you never get dunked!

BTW, George O'Day deliberately designed the DS with a high boom, he wanted a "family-friendly boat." You'd have to be standing up during a sudden jibe to get yourself clonked, and why would you be doing that? Might spill your beer.

Tom

[itsmeken]

Yes, very easy when discussing furlers to mix terms. On big sailboats, I've used roller furlers for the head sail and in mast furlers for the main sail. I've never used a boom furler for the main. I would not have a large sailboat without a roller furler. An in-mast furler for the main is very convenient but not deal breaker for me. On this DS 1 the boom furler just doesn't seem practical so I'll be adding reefing cringles and rigging.

As for the boom, I'm sure I'll hit my head on it before it's in the water!

[GreenLake]

Never hit my head as long as I've owned the DS. Good decision on slab reefing.

[tomodda]

In-mast furlers mean you can't use regular battens. I don't at all understand the utility of vertical battens, but they exist. But I digress

[GreenLake]

Next we are going to discuss square rigged sails. Lot's of fun things that aren't part of the DS experience