NHCAD

Above is my 1964 Oday Javelin. First time in water in at least 4 years. I have spent close to a year fixing her up and learning about boat repair and tracking my expenses. It's great to have this boat out of my garage finally.

What great luck to be at the camp on a calm Saturday afternoon. A light breeze was blowing from the east which gave my dock a very protected shelter to start from and return to. I gathered my hat, sunscreen, life jacket, paddle, water bottle, and set off for my first voyage in the old Javelin.

From my dock, I made it across the lake (its very narrow at camp) and even tacked once, before I realized that the centerboard was still tied up. With just a slight breeze I had probably 6 minutes or so to work on the problem. Without a tiller extension, I kept my left foot on the tiller while I scooched forward to untie the cleat holding my centerboard up. The wide seats are nice for moving around and laying ropes on to keep close at hand.

So I'm balancing on my hip, left foot on the tiller, an eye on the approaching shore, and I uncleat the centerboard... nothing. It didn't move. Of course it hits me, I have a bolt holding it up. Normally this bolt is used to secure the cb in the up position for trailering, and I had forgotten to take it out. Sliding back to address the bolt and make a correction to the rudder I unscrewed the nut on the bolt and tried to slide it out. I couldn't budge it.

The weight of the centerboard was putting a fair amount of force against the threaded bolt so I couldn't budge it. Knowing that the pivot pin is about 1ft back on the cb trunk, I thougth I could push down on the front of the centerboard, which should raise up on the back end where my bolt was pinched.

Sliding back up front, left foot on the tiller, right foot on the floor for leverage, I pushed the best I could down on the cb. Using my only free hand to pull and rock the bolt from it's secure hole. Well it finally did come loose, and the centerboard came crashing down!

Without me letting it down with the block and tackle (used to raise it) it fell down unhindered, aided no doubt by my forward speed. I could tell the cb went past vertical because the top of the cb had wedged itself back into the cb trunk, underneath my jib sheet cleats (see pictures on web pages).

My heat sank because I know that the hull can be damaged if the cb goes beyond vertical, a poor design characteristic of 1964, which I think ODay may have fixed with the thru hole style cb. All this time, work and money, was being tested rather harshly in 10 minutes of sailing. The fact that I was still moving forward and the boat didn't appear to be sinking was the good news. The bad news was that I had to make another turn quickly or crash into the oncoming shoreline.

I made my turn, out of necessity. I then had a calm moment without wind, allowing me to grasp the cb lines with both hands. With two firmly planted feet, and I was able to unbind the cb getting it back to a vertical position. Of course I was prepared for the worse with hull damage and repairs, but as I said, I wasn't sinking.

I spent another hour sailing, getting used to all the lines and steering nuances of the Javelin. I tacked my way up to the North end of the lake and headed back without incident. Back at the dock, I pulled the boat out of the water and concluded that the cb never hit the hull underneath. My hardware at the top of the cb got jammed in the cb trunk, made a few new dents, but actually dampened it's impact by wedging itself in. I took the free end of my cb raising line and tied it off to an eyelet at the base of the mast. The cb will never be able to lower past center now. It may make it a bit more awkward to cleat off because the line is not loose, but I think its a good trade off.

Later that same afternoon (after I was done), the wind picked up fiercely. It didn't last long, but hit like a freight train ripping across the lake from North to South. I don't believe there were any boats on the water at that time.