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How To Sail A Cayman CatboatWith Kem Jackson
Paul Lawrence puts SkinnyLeeLee's mast up during Pirates Week 2000 off Hog Sty Bay Beach(left), Close-up of a typical Cayman Catboat beached at Hog StyBay (right), (Leslie Bigelman photo)
H.E. Ross
It is not as difficult to sail a CaymanCatboat as you would assume. It might be a little bit difficultto keep it upright, but that is the challenge, and the water iswarm. Kem Jackson will give you a simple, straightforward approachto the joy of sailing these Caymanian innovations.
William Kemuel (Kem) Jackson was born in Botabanoo, West Bay,on the 9th of November, 1937, to William Leslie Jackson and EunaIrene Jackson. Kem is happily married to Ola Sandra Ebanks Jacksonand they have three children - Joseph, Patricia and Priscilla.
He started sailing Catboats when he was 11 or 12, and has beenracing Catboats "...many, many years...". Since thosetimes, Ken has been, and still is, a seafarer, adventurer, treasurehunter and with his friend, Bob Soto, SCUBA pioneer.
Kem Jackson and Asley Ebanks handled David Foster's Brac Cat toa first place as the Best Cayman Catboat and are presently conductingCayman Catboat sailing lessons on North Sound, out of Morgan'sHarbour.
Kem shares his views about sailing, what the uninitiated calla tender sailer, the Cayman Catboat: "We used to do it likeSaturdays and Christmas just for the fun. And, if you had a five-Poundbet... well, that was a lot of money then, you know. Usually,it was a couple of Shillings or a couple of Pounds and we werehappy. We also used to race for nothing. Just to win."
Structural Terms:
On these little boats, we use threethwarts( boards across the boat) - fore sheet thwart, middle thwart,after thwart. The rudder at the stern or rear of the Catboat,is used to steer in the water. The yoke is a board that crossesthe vessel, attached to the top of the rudder and guides the directionof the rudder by the use of a continuous line attached to it'sends.
There is the main sheet, and maybe a fore sheet, to control thesails. An eyebolt is planted in the inside of the stern post.The gunwale is the top of the sides of the boat. The bilge isat the bottom inside of the boat. The keel is a plank that runsalong the bottom outside of the boat. The mast holds the sailup and the boom holds the sail out. The mainsheet is fastenedonto the boom.
For Ballast (weight):
We use pig iron or chain. I don'tthink sand is a very good thing, because you've got to find thetrim of the Catboat. Some sail by the bow, some on an even keel,some by the stern, so we keep slipping the ballast up and downuntil we find the trim. Of course we use a weather board for ballast,too.
To Get Going:
You put the rudder on; you put theyoke on; and you step the sail. How we used to do it, was to rollthe sail and boom together and put it up, and then drop the boomand sail down all at one time. But, that was not when you areracing. When you are racing, you have got a bigger sail, so youput that up when you are right there ashore. You hoist it up themast because that is a big sail. They usually had two sails ifthey could afford it: one for fishin' and one for racing. Of course,then it wasn't made out of that good dacron material like now.
When stepping the mast alone, you start around midships and putthe foot of the mast in the hole, then keep walking it on up.You've got to be careful, though; you have to have good balance.Now, you've got to be careful also because the boat is slipperybecause of the paint. I guess we should use anti-skid paint.
You run your sheet through the eyebolt. With only one aboard,we used to have a weather-board and long yoke lines, and we wouldpull the sail in and get out on that weather board and go. Oneperson. And hope you don't fall overboard.
Without the weather-board, you would sit on the gunwale, on theside of the Boat, to try to keep her up. You had to stay justforward of the last thwart, if alone. Back then, when they wentout to draw fish pots and they would finish, they would put thesail up and tie the yoke line on their toes and clean the fishcoming in. That would mainly be just coming in, running beforethe wind.
With two people aboard, one would be as close to the middle aspossible. We used to also get down in the bilge, get the weightas close to the bottom as possible.
Going To Windward
If you get a good wind, the secretto it is to get as close to the wind as possible, so you watchthe sail. And, whenever you get a good wind, you ease her (theboat) up as far as she can go, easing her up into the wind; goinginto the wind. When you see her start to shimmer, you ease heroff. It's not good to trim her in too much; they don't sail goodwith the sail too far into them. That's when the rocker comesin, and with it, she can hold the wind better. We use jibs, too,you know.
Tacking
To tack her, you just pull the windwardyoke line, but not too hard, because if you pull the rudder toohard you will stop the boat. You've got to do it gently and shewill come right on around. You leave your sail in the same place,on the same set.
The Rocker:
The rocker is an addition to thekeel's depth. Them old people must have done a lot of researchbecause they had that down to a science. If you mess up with that,boy, it won't work. Usually the rocker was down about six inches.Some people used to put a little more - six to eight inches. Withoutthe rocker, she drifts. The rocker has to be placed just right,too. It's one-third from the turn of the bow, down on the keel,and then six inches to its start. Then, the rocker is one-thirdof the keel again.
Tender Sailing:
When you see the boat starting totake water you better ease your sheet off. That's what we go by.Now, Brac Cat, she goes a certain ways over, and it's hard toget her to go any further. If you're not sailing right, I am notsaying she wouldn't go over but she is a good boat. She gets herside down to the water and she just stays like that.
Usually, on a beam reach, the people should be sitting in thesame places. You sit where the boat sails best. You look for that.If she's not leaning, you sit on the thwart. When you can't keepher up while on the gunwale anymore, it is time to get on theweather board. We believe that if she leans a little bit, it isbetter. I would think the beam reach is the fastest tack.
The biggest danger when running is jibbing. All boats are top-heavybecause the big part of them is under them, and they want to turnup. The keel and everything wants to float up. What we do is getthe stern right into the wind, then we pull the sheet in and easeit off again on the other side. If you let that thing just plopover, boy, she is gone. We see her just before she is going, justas you see her about to go herself, and we pull the sheet in andease her out as fast as you can get the weather board over. Runningbefore the wind we are just sitting on the weather board, notout on it.
In A Seaway:
Those Catboats are light, and theyare good sea boats so we don't have to change positions. We don'thave much trouble with them in a sea. What you look for in a goodCatboat are the lines aft. We look for cleaner lines aft thanat the bow. That Kirkconnell boat is a beautiful thing. She isclean. A beautiful boat.
Fiddlesticks and Brac Cat are supposed to be the same but theyare not. They are all different, like chalk and cheese. The onethat Captain Eldon's got is all together different. Now there;you know all there is to start out on a Cayman Catboat. The onlything left to do is to go down and get on one at one of the racesor take the lessons and be like the rest of us on this lifelongjob of learning how to improve your sailing.