Some very nice, generous and trusting people named Tom and Bondy Hodgkins from Lake Forest, Illinois, lent us their CL for the races at Hilton Beach. We were very pleased to have the loan of this CL, arranged by Jim Hill, but we suspected it was going to be necessary to spend some time to make some changes to the setup in order to get it to perform.  Arriving at 5 pm on Friday and skipping dinner, we set to work on the boat, and by dark at 9 pm, we had managed to make a number of temporary "improvements" needed for the racing. 

Fortunately, the Hodgkins had given us a decent hull and spars to start with, although the hull did have some dings and bruises typical of a sailboat used seasonally and kept at a cottage. Andrew and I were not the first, nor the last, people borrowing a boat in such a situation, so I thought it worthwhile to put down a short list of the type of things to be prepared for if others were to find themselves in the same situation. Tom Hodgkins was very keen to see what we did to the boat and took several pictures, so I included him on this email distribution so that he, too, would have the rundown on what we did.

Here is what we deemed necessary:

 1.   this CL had wire halyards but no rig /genoa halyard  tensioning device, so we installed a simple 3:1 block system on the side of the mast that worked well.    
 2.   the standard genoa fairleads and cleats are on the rail, so we installed another set on the front seats (which, in anticipation of need, I had pre-mounted at home on 1/2" thick plywood 18" x 7".  These we were able to screw down to smaller plywood blocks on the underside of the seats without actually putting screws into the seats). We also removed the cleats and fairleads from the rail mounted sliders to make it easier on the butt of the person crewing.
 3.  new sheets for genoa and main from my Wayfarer supply 
 4.  sails from  my Wayfarer  
 5.  bridle from  my  Wayfarer (which we fixed to each end of the traveller track)
 6.  the deep rudder blade from my Wayfarer which fit perfectly into the rudder stock of the CL.  (The CL's stock rudder had seen a tough life and was also one of the original ones with a 30 degree rake back instead of having a vertical front edge). 
 7.   tiller extension from Andrew's Wayfarer (which we taped to the existing extension as it was too 6" too short and we couldn't remove it without drilling out, and later replacing, rivets) 
 8.  repair to stem plate (which was half way to pulling through the deck at the bow, discovered after we were unable to tension the rig.   I crawled/wriggled into the front compartment to put on large, oversize stainless washers which I, fortunately, had with me). 
 9.  forestay adjuster (we found the forestay attached to the same D ring used for trailering , and we realized why this was done after finding the stem plate was pulling loose)   
10.  new line to hold the hiking straps (which were attached with yellow poly that was in suspect condition).  
11.  compass  (with Andrew's judicious use of duct tape),

and last but not least,

12. a 16:1 vang borrowed from my Laser (to replace the 4:1 vang that was on the CL). 

There was no name on the boat, so Andrew came up with the  name "Silk Purse" in recognition of the fact that the changes we made enabled a "Sow's Ear" to be turned into somewhat of a "Silk Purse"  (Apologies to the Hodgkins for the name but it seemed right at the time).  Tom Hodgkins  told us that they always thought there was something wrong with the boat (he described it as "bent") but we didn't feel that at all.  It sailed quite well, and with a few more permanent changes to the equipment and rigging, it would have been an even better performer.  A chance to roll the boat on its side to clean and wax the bottom and clean/repair the centreboard would also have helped performance, but we didn't have the time and this seemed to be of the least consequence .

We were  quite happy with the performance  of "Silk Purse" (our highbred CL16 - Wayfarer- Laser).  It took a couple races to get a feel for the CL and tweak things a bit as we did not have the chance to sail it before the races (which, in hindsight, would have been a real advantage if the time had been available).  Nevertheless, an 8th, two 7ths, 2nd and 3rd place finishes out of a fleet of 20 boats, for 6th place overall, in a borrowed CL with numerous temporary improvements was, we think, a very decent result for the first kick at it!  This was my first time in a CL16.  I really enjoyed teaming up with Andrew and learning some things that will help the next time on the water. I am also glad we were prepared for the boat tune-up work we had to do. 

It was a fun weekend and we met a lot a of enthusiastic and friendly people. That CL16 crowd at Hilton Beach are a great bunch!

Best regards,

Dave  Hansman 
W282 Banshee  
North Bay, Ontario