Lollygag
Senior Member
We picked up our new-to-us 42' 1979 CHB Europa in San Rafael on Tuesday. This is my third boat and second trawler. But this is the first with two engines and a full bimini cover over the bridge deck. She is huge and pretty and a lot of boat to handle. We started late due to the tide and then crawled out of San Rafael while we got the feel of her. The tide was due to ebb in about two hours when we got to the main ship channel and we almost made it to the Carquinez straight by slack tide. Once the tide shifted we could see the speed drop as the ebb pushed back. We expected that but the currents in the river, the confluence of the different flows going around islands, through channels and stuff really moved us around. The autopilot is dead (we knew that) and hand steering all the time was interesting. Just like a new driver, I oversteered a lot for the first 30 miles. The bimini over the bridge deck is an amazing sail! And since I haven't sailed San Pablo bay or the delta for 15 years, I forgot about the constant wind. Let's just say we looked like amatuers as we zig zagged up the San Joaquin. We stopped in Antioch for the night. In the morning, before the wind started, we were able to swing her around and start up the river again. Suddenly I had an epiphany! Since I was always drifting right and had to correct, I adjusted the starbord engine up a hundred RPM and she held her course with the wheel centered. Duh. Two engines... this will take getting used to. Like wheeling her around. That looks so easy but the devil is in how much power goes to each engine. This second day went much better and we had a nice cruise up the river to Riverpoint Marina, just outside Port Stockton. I really slowed down and steered with the engines and got her pointed into the slip. Lots of people came to help with lines (and see the new boat coming in) when one guy shouts "you're not going to make it." Son of a gun, my radar was taller than the covered slip. The marina guy was there and he is sharp. He also knows every empty slip and right away says go to another slip, a 50' slip with a real tall cover. I made it in with about 6 inches to spare. We got tied up and thanked everyone and hugged and kissed and finally have our boat home where we can start to work on her.