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hisker poles. They are typically used with spinnakers or foresails. Usually while underway. But one cruiser who visited the Town Dock this week, finds more use for the whisker pole while the boat isn’t moving.

Alternative use for the whisker pole.

Michael Briggs bought “Emily”, a CSY33, in Wilmington two-and-a-half months ago. For a while, he stayed at anchor in the Banks Channel, at first using an inflatable dinghy to ferry to and from shore.

Michael Briggs at Oriental’s Town Dock.

Then, the inflatable got punctured by the boarding ladder and his kayak became the dinghy. Thing is, there was a lot of wake in the Banks Channel, Michael says, and “it was slamming the kayak in to the side” of the CSY.

“Emily” at the Town Dock. .

Which is where the whisker pole comes in. From the far end, a line holds the bow of the kayak in the air, while its aft it tied to the lifelines.

This arrangement also took care of another issue. Michael says the kayak was getting huge algae growth, after being in the water less than 2 weeks. Floating in the air, it doesn’t.

Algae-free and bang-free kayak.

A few months in to owning the boat, there’s not been much chance to use the whisker pole for its intended purpose. Michael stopped in Oriental en route to Little Washington where “Emily” would be hauled, get a new coat of bottom paint and stays. He’s aiming to head south this fall, and live aboard “Emily” in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Michael Briggs

Buying the boat in Wilmington marks a return to NC where Michael was born. He’s been living in recent years in the Bay Area. And while living aboard is new, the sailing is not. About ten years ago he spent five months crewing on a 100+ foot long tall ship, the “Hawaiian Cheiftan”.

It was a ‘coastal trader’. The tall-ship and crew plied the coast of California — at times with 15 sails in the air — doing educational programs about the days when otter pelts and abalone from California were traded in China for spices.

The CSY 33 he now owns was built for the charter trade in the Caribbean. Built in 1979, Michael says it’s one of only about 60 CSY 33’. (The CSY 44’s were the most popular model.) Michael says the almost-30-year old boat is in good shape generally, though, “cosmetically a little challenged.”

Colors of the era are on the original main sail that came with the CSY 33. Its current owner describes it as “late 70’s Hobiecat.”

For the moment, he says he’s sticking with the name “Emily”, in part because he’s yet to find another “name that I just love.”

And at some point, Michael says, he has to get the inflatable repaired. While that whisker pole system works well for the kayak, the kayak-as-dinghy has limitations: a perpetually wet seat is one. Another, is that there’s not much area in which to ferry things. He’s kayaked a 5 gallon container of diesel to the boat, but not much more than that. At least, though, there’s no having to scrape the bottom….

CSY33 as asymetric multi-hull.

Posted Wednesday August 20, 2008 by Melinda Penkava

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