October 30, 2018-Twenty Five Years Ago

bill baum image
Winning PSSC

Wings is sailing home to Shilshole Bay Marina on October 23, 1993, after winning the PSSC regatta. It was tough sailing that year with winds in the 24-30 knot range for the three races on Saturday, then light winds on Sunday and we battled it out with Bill Buchan’s Sachem, in the end beating them by .25 points. It was mostly crew work, including one glorious leeward rounding in the last race where we came into a big traffic jam at the mark in 6th place and did a perfect floater takedown keeping our speed up while the other boats were basically stopped and came out in 3rd then hung on to win the race and the regatta. We have a good crew now but we had a pretty good crew back then too, most of them had sailed with us for several years, some for eight years.

You can see who they were on our log book page for that day here.

That was our last season racing in Seattle and it was a good one; we got trophies in 35 out of the 48 races we did that year, including 14 first places. After this season we stopped racing for two years to completely remodel the boat for long distance cruising.

Those years were glory years of living full time aboard Wings and racing every week, going sailing or cruising whenever we were not racing, and still having time for jobs in the city (we had a 6’ hanging locker full of suits, men’s and women’s). We also loved the community we sailed in with all of our yacht club friends in Seattle, at the Corinthian Yacht Club, the Sloop Tavern Yacht Club and especially all of our crew, and racing 40-50 times a year. Those were the days.

Crew: As best we can remember the crew positions are as follows: Jim Bonnichsen, Foredeck, Jim Watson, Foredeck, Bryan George, Mast, Jennifer Wright, Halyards, Kathy Clotfelter, Halyards, George Harvey, Trimmer and Grinder, Mark Nuss, Trimmer, Robert Schuler, Trimmer, Scott Davidson, Mainsail and tactics, Carol Noel, Runners, Judy Jensen, Runners, Fred Roswold, Helm. They were family to us after eight years and we keep in touch with many of them.

Sails: The mainsail in this picture was one I made on the floor of CYC in 1993. This was its first season and it was a winner. It was Kevlar/Mylar, 52 panels, designed with a home-made Lotus 123 spreadsheet. Each of the panels were shaped before sewing. We used ultra-light graphite battens which had a nasty habit of breaking if we flogged the sail at all. It was last seen in Raffles Marina in Singapore in 2007 serving as an awning for a marine store. The spinnaker was the 1.5 oz runner that came with the boat and it was already old then. A wonderful sail which we used relentlessly for another 11 years, from 1986 to 2007, when it blew up two days in a row while winning the King’s Cup Regatta (with one all night sewing session between races.) We used a variety of headsails in this regatta, primarily the Fracker #1 and the Sobstad #3, both were paneled Kevlar sails, tough but heavy.

The Boat: There is not a lot of difference between Wings in 1993 and Wings today. It would look the same to you if you saw it back then however it was more stripped inside, back then, but Judy and I still lived on it, and we didn’t unload it to go racing back then either. Since 1993 we’ve added a bit of furniture, all of which is made of ultra light weight nomex and carbon fiber honeycomb panels we got from Boeing surplus. Plus we added tankage, ground tackle, wind vane, etc. Not a lot else.

Click here for a few more images (more to come later).

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Huancaxtle

October 13, 2015-In The Beginning

Kelly O'Neil Photography
Wings Sailing in Seattle

I had a good crossing from Victoria to Port Angeles that morning in 1985 sailing my Mega 30, Song of the Siren. At first it was a beam reach in a gentle northerly with the spinnaker up, riding the swell, and then a nice beat up inside the spit with salt spray in my face as the westerly filled, but now, as I folded my sails at the transit dock, the afternoon grew more blustery and I was glad to be in the harbor. Port Angeles can be a bit raw when the wind blows in off the strait. The smoke streams horizontally from the stacks of the pulp mills, the sea gulls wheel, the air smells of salt and fish and fresh cut fir logs, and the gusts of cold pacific wind blow directly into Yacht Haven. Sailors out in the Straits are happy to find shelter in places like Port Angeles but those seeking shelter there have one last test: landing in that small and gusty harbor.

I saw the first wind-blown boat coming in, a thirty something sloop with two sailors in foulies, salt tangles in their hair, flushed from the wind and then as they turned toward the long pier the wind caught their boat. I saw a crash on the way unless I did something and I ran to catch a line and got it on a cleat which snubbed their bow and they swung in alongside, safe.

The next one was close behind and this time there was some shouting on board as the skipper, just at the worst time, saw that his control was gone. Again I caught a bow line and another man hurried over to get the stern line and we got them safe alongside as well. There were more boats blown in from the Straits that afternoon, large and small, but the scene was always the same: the landings at Yacht Haven were near disasters but that guy and I worked all afternoon and into the evening without saying much to each other and we made the day turn out a lot better for quite a few boaters.

In the midst of all of this activity of rescuing boats I saw a sight which intrigued me: in this rather rough harbor, on a definitely wild day, there appeared on the docks a rather glamorous, and tall, young woman, dressed to the nines, who came down the pier, slipped off her high heels, and boarded one of the boats in the back of the marina. “Wow”, I thought. As she disappeared down the hatch I turned back to the business at hand with quite an image in my mind.

We caught a few more boats, that guy and I, and we enjoyed it, but the day was getting long and the harbor was filling up.

Finally things quieted down and I was standing there next to him and I stuck out my hand, “I’m Fred”.

He had a friendly smile, “I’m Jim.”

I guess Jim knew who belonged there and who didn’t. He asked, “You come in on a boat?”

“Yeah, that blue sloop down there. I guess I was lucky enough to get in without your help earlier.”

He laughed and he invited me to his boat for a drink, motioning towards a Choy Lee cutter in one of the permanent slips, the same boat I’d noticed that well dressed blonde woman boarding earlier.

I didn’t hesitate. “Sounds good.”

That blonde was Judy and striking up a friendship with Jim Jones, while working the docks of Yacht Haven Marina in Port Angeles, was how I came to meet her that night on board that Choy Lee sailboat.

Judy had come straight from the office to help Jim and his wife Jean plan a summer cruise and she might have been in a business suit then but she was a sailor and pretty comfortable in jeans and boat shoes too. We hit it off right at the start and we talked boats and racing for a few hours and then she accepted my invitation to see my boat. I told her that, by most accounts, it was an ugly boat, which she found incomprehensible, so maybe there was some curiosity on her part, but after seeing it she said she liked it. By that time I think I was already hooked.

She asked me if I liked Hurricane Ridge and I told her I’d never been there. She said we could drive up there the next day but I said I was leaving in the morning. She gave me her number and said if I stayed another day, I should call her.

I stayed and called Judy the next day and she drove us up to Hurricane Ridge and while we walked on the trails and enjoyed the view we talked about our dreams and aspirations. She said she wanted to own her own boat some day. I didn’t know any other women who said they wanted that. We had quite a few dreams in common too, including the dream of living on a boat and going cruising. She also told me she was moving to Seattle soon and I know we were both thinking that we might see more of each other then.

I did sail away from Port Angeles the day after that, but I came back before my trip was over and I saw her again and we made plans to see each other when she came to Seattle, which we did.

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Fred & Judy

And that’s how it began, 30 years ago.

Click here for more photos from the early days.

Fred Roswold, SV Wings, La Cruz Huanacaxtle



September 28, 2015-Eclipse of the Moon

On September 28 we watched a full eclipse of the moon. Click here for Photos of the Blood Moon including the full eclipse

March 30, 2012-Drinking with Russians

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Russian Sailors can sing too

Twenty three years ago, in July 1989, a group of six Russian sailors, who said they were the first sailors permitted to go cruising from Soviet Russia, and one translator, arrived in Seattle aboard a boat owned by their shipping company employer in Vladivostok. We found them circling outside Shilshole Marina on our return from Barkley Sound that late July afternoon. They had spent over 40 days crossing the North Pacific and they had just arrived in the USA and didn’t know where to go. We led them to the transient dock.

We were the first Americans they met and they became friends of ours.

We took them sailing on Wings a few nights later along with about seven other sailors from the Sloop. Lots of vodka was consumed on a tour around Winslow Harbor and the spinnaker reach back was a bit wild, the Russians sailing the boat and the rest of us riding. It turned out they knew how to sail and it was a memorable and fortunately uneventful trip, considering the chances we took with a few marks and navigation aids, all passed a bit close and one on the wrong side much to the consternation of Judy, who got quite frantic when they insisted on taking the inshore side of one of the green bouys in Eagle Harbor. “No Problem, No Problem” they said, ignoring her wild gestures to go on the other side of it, but we made it and with the pole on the headstay we reached hard into Shilshore Bay and stormed inside the breakwater with the kite still up, all hands to the takedown. Again, luckily, no incidents. Same for the “wodka “ drenched meal for 17 in Wing’s cabin afterwards, a record number of guests never since matched. My hang-over was also unmatched.

Those Russians were good sailors, good singers, good eaters and great drinkers.

Last night in Fortaleza we had a party with another bunch of Russian sailors. They had arrived in Fortaleza on a big inflatable multihull, bound for a round the world record for inflatable boats. There were also seven of them, (six official adventurers and one guest added here in Fortaleza) mostly scientists from Siberia, but the Captain, Anatoly, is a boat builder, navigator and the creative genius behind the trip. Given where they have been (they started in Thailand and expect to end up there as well) and their wild and exciting rounding of the Cape of Good Hope in 50kts of wind (they showed us video footage of it) and where they are headed, (Across the Pacific and back to the far east), we can presume that they must also be good sailors. Although we did not get a chance to go sailing with them we can say from our experience last night that that they are good drinkers, eaters, musicians, and singers. Judy and I joined six other cruisers and the Russians on the afterdeck of their vessel for a long night of “wodka”, sweet wine, warm beer and a lot of music. The Russians had a guitar and it seems like all of them could put it to good use. They serenaded us with Russian songs for hours. When they sang the Beatles’ “Let It Be” we all joined in and one cruiser, Robert, from the Dutch yacht, Mary Elisa, had brought his trumpet and also joined in.

I enjoyed the music and food but stuck to “wodka” for my drink. Remembering my previous experience with Russians and “wodka”, or maybe just being older and wiser, I paced myself and had no hang over today.

This morning the Russians headed out going north up the coast with a planned stop in Sao Luis, Brazil (where we plan to stop as well) for provisions and their next major destination is the east coast of Mexico. After that, the Pacific, Easter Island, and then on to finish where they started at Phuket, Thailand.

We wished them well.

Click here to see more photos from our party with the Russians.

Click here to read the log book page from our trip with the Russians in 1989

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Fortaleza, Brazil

Energy Diet HD, Departed March 30 from Fortaleza for Sao Luis, then Mexico, (port undecided)

Anatoly Kulik (Tola),
Evgenii Kovalevsky (Jack),
Yurii Masloboyev, (Gold Tooth)
Evgenii Tashkin (Video)
Oleg Blinov (Big)
Stanislav (Stas)Berezkin
Alexander Gainer (Professor)

Click here to go to thier web site