This will be an awesome addition to this board... I will be launching soon and will really need some insight as I am a novice sailor.
thanks for thinking of this addition suspect it will help retain members after building completed.
Rob, you're just what we're aiming at. Many of the builders are beginners, like yourself and it's nice to have a place to "vent" or explore options (after you've calmed down), maybe just for some advise on launching the boat solo for the first time. It can be sort of scary with the newness of it all, but rest assured, you're not alone. We all have gotten the shakes, or had mother nature place some respect in our hearts, because we over sheeted in a gust. You'll live through it and if anything like me, will get beat on the head a few times as you learn (hopfully not) and increase your skills.
You'll be hearin' from me, I'm sure. Should be launching in about two months, will be down to the rigging in about three weeks, I hope. Then the novice-esque questions will flow....seemingly without end
ok - maybe Bill told you about our scary moment! :lol: it wasn't that bad except it was darn windy and the steering on Morgaine is just too loose and unresponsive - We got hit with a gust this last weekend that resulted in a bit of a 'moment' - but, I let the sheet out and steered the best I could out of it...and then gave up - went up and dropped the main until the nasty little desert squall passed. Desert Lakes get some nasty wind in the spring - I am curious how people handle this - generally it comes out of nowhere. In fact at one point when Bill and I were trying to go wing and wing - or at the very least downhill - we found it nearly impossible because of the shifting wind....
i am all ears.
a.
The one bit of advice with these gaff rig boats is not to pull the main sheet in too tight. This results in a slow-down of speed and more side slip as you sail. It also makes wind gust a lot scarier to handle as you have more sheet to let out to accomodate. Folks who are used to Marconi rigged boats are especially suceptible to sheeting in too tight.
Here is what I do to set the main according to the wind: I let the mainsheet out until the main starts to luff (flap) then I pull it in just until the sail fills and the mainsheet starts pulling on my hand. This is will give you the fastest sailing and an ability to handle gusts by simply letting the mainsheet out an inch or two until the sail luffs.
Another way to tell if the sail is set right is to look at telltales on your shrouds (thread or plastic from casset tapes) or a flag at the top of your mast (assuming it can rotate freely). The part of your sail just behind the mast should be parallel with these telltails. Best upgrade you can do on your boat is to put telltales on your sail. These are little ribbons that are attached to the sail towards the front with green on one side and red on the other. These ribbons show the flow of the wind over the sail and when the ribbons on both sides of the sail are parallel and streaming towards the back of the sail you know you have it trimmed perfectly.
The scariest point of sail on my Pocket Cruiser with its oversized mainsail was a broad reach. When a gust hits letting out the sail does nothing so you have to round up quickly. This operation takes longer than letting the mainsheet out so you are in for a white-knuckle ride. Also, you are vulnerable to accidental jibes when the wind or your steering shifts the boat enough to catch the leeward side of the sail whipping it and your boom at high speeds over your cockpit. The ropes flick really hard and when the sail fills on the other side you might find yourself on the leeward side of the boat (bad). Accidental jibes can lead to head injury and/or your boat getting knocked down. Regular jibes (turning accross the wind with the wind behind you) are scary in high winds as well. I tend to sheet in a quite a bit to control the speed of the boom coming accross the cockipt and the lines getting snagged on anything (particularily the motor). When the wind catches the other side of the sail I switch my seating to the other side of the boat and let the mainsheet run freely through my hand cushioning the swing of the boom. DO NOT TRY TO SLOW DOWN THE BOOM WITH YOUR HAND!!
Anyway, just a few things to think about when you are out there sailing.
It's particularly important to keep an eye on wind strength in gaff boats, especially cat rigged. A "hard mouthed" cat can be a real bear in gusty conditions, with broaches and capsizing possible, not to mention broken gear if things get out of hand.
Unlike the Bermudian rig (jib head, leg-o-mutton, etc.) which have a small percentage of sail area at the top of the mast, the gaffer has a much larger percentage. This means more leverage when the wind pipes up, shifts or other wise catches you off guard (like down wind).
The rule is reef early, so you don't get any unwanted surprises. You can always shake out the reef, if it turns out to be less then you thought it would be, but the option is at least a scary moment or several, if not worse.
Alda, I suspect you now have Morgaine's steering adjusted better, so you can "feel" what's happening. Much can be learned from a responsive helm. Most of the sailors I know rely on instincts and the feed back the helm provides. Wheel steering is less sensitive then tiller, but much about what's going on is still transmitted to your fingers. Each boat will have it's own personality (no kidding) and the sounds, helm and rigging will provide you with much information about how she's liking the way you're sailing her.
I use to be dead a sleep, down below, while the boat was self steering and the sounds of the boat would wake me, if things had changed much from how I left them. Most long distance solo sailors trust this "being in tune" with their boat, literally with their lives at sea. The daysailor can take advantage of the same skills, once they get to know their boat and skill level.
It's more common to get "lulled" into a false sense of security when the wind is aft of amidship. This is because the wind feels less powerful on your face, hair and in the rig. The speed of the boat is in the general direction of the wind, so a building gust doesn't seem so bad until it's draped all over you like a Wal-Mart double breasted suit. It usually comes to a head when you're changing direction (jibing) and all of a sudden the wind seems like it's doubled in strength. It probably hasn't, but the boat speed fell off during the maneuver and you felt the full force of the wind on you rig when you set up on the new heading. As so as you get back up to speed on this new course the same effects of boat speed being subtracted from wind speed will lessen the press on the rig, from your vantage point.
As Scott pointed out, you can get into trouble over sheeting the sails. This is a common issue with beginners, though the gaff rig is less tolerant of this then the Bermudian rig. When I was a kid we used old cassette tape or knitting yarn as tell tails on the sails and rigging pieces. I will not go into what type of cassette tape, but lets just say old 8 tracks were used to great advantage when I was a young adult.
For just a few bucks you can stop by the local boat stuff store and pick up a package of tell tails. The yarn or tape works just as well, but the little cheat sheet inside the kit will tell you more about how to set sails then anything else you can buy.
To sum up,:
- Practice reefing. Pick a nice day and do it when the wind doesn't require it. It will pay big dividends when you do need to reef in a blow.
- Insure your boat has good response at the helm. This means tighten up the lines at the wheel or turnbuckles if you've installed them. The more you can get from the helm, the sooner you'll know what's about to happen. Sloppy pintails and gudgeons can be made tighter with well placed bushings of PVC pipe or other similar product (HDPE for example) so your rudder isn't flopping around too much.
- Keep an eye on the wind. Darker patches of water and waves heading in your direction, usually means more wind there. Heading down wind will make the wind feel less strong then it really is, be ready when you change course.
- Accidental jibes suck and can break stuff (including heads) follow the sheet in by "tailing" up the slack as the boom comes across the boat. This will slow the jibe down a little but will mean much less strain on the rig and a lot more control, when the boom and sail swing outboard on the new course.
- In gusty conditions, use the sheets first to ease the amount of heel. Steering can get you into trouble if you make a sudden move in the wrong direction. Steering "up" (into the wind) can ease heeling, but can also leave you in irons maybe at a bad time to be without much control. As you gain skill driving the boat, you'll learn how to steer the boat up, to kill some sail pressure, but don't make it a habit, dump sail pressure by easing the sheets first.
- Again Scott's right, don't grab the boom during a jibe, unless you hate body parts they way God gave them to you. I've broken fingers doing this, many have had much worse. I still have a scar in the middle of my forehead from a boom in a big wind jibe (40 years ago). Ditto on lines (ropes) that are running quickly through a block, fairlead or whatever. They will bite you. You can grab it when it runs out or there is a better opportunity to do so without getting hurt.
- Pick up some tell tails. They cost very little and the information is valuable stuff. Learn it and begin to watch those little bits of yarn (or 8 track tape if you're an old fart like me) You don't need a bunch of them all over the sails and rig, just a few will provide more then enough information to teach you where the wind is hitting your boat.
Good Luck . . .
Paul and Scott whats your thought about droping your peek to spill air? This seems to be quicker and eazyer to reset your sail. Is this a bad way to kill a gust? Bud.
I never resorted to scandalizing the main. The negatives that kept me from using that included:
1) when the gaff was at sharp angles it would pinch up against the mast preventing me from lowering the sail the rest of the way.
2) the wooden gaff would be a threat to your head hanging down vertically.
3) I was worried about the effect this would have on the rigging (standing and running).
Much better to learn how to heave-to and then quickly reef your sail as Paul wisely points out. I had reefs at 3' and then 6' up from the boom on my sail. Reefing the bottom 6' of sail gave me the ability to sail in 25 mph winds with whitecaps on the water with a nice balanced helm. So much better than reefing a Marconi! A jiffy reefing system might be a nice investment to make. This reefs your sail simply by lowering your sail a bit and then pulling on a line. I never installed it on my boat because I didn't want all of that extra line when raising the mast and I never felt I needed it. It was fairly simple to heave to and then reef the sail by hand.
Most important for safety is to be able to drop your sails quickly from the cockpit and have an anchor ready to throw over the side (especially if you are close to shore). I used cam cleats on the cabin roof for my peak and throat halyard. For forsails (which I didn't have) I would recommend leading your jib halyard to the cockpit and rigging a downhaul. Or, invest in a jib roller-furler like Keith has on his Vacationer. That device worked beautifully!
Scandalizing the main is a great tactic to learn, but is best used in reasonable wind strengths. I've found it quite handy when picking up or tossing off a mooring line or during anchoring operations, coming into and getting away from the dock and on those occasions I want to kill the drive of the boat (for a short amount of time) so I can do something. I lower the gaff well past horizontal, but not vertical (each boat has a sweet spot it likes) and it makes the sail a useless bag of fabric. In higher winds it will flog and chaff the rig, causing much harm to the sail. In any wind strength the sail is vulnerable to damage in this position, so limit the time it spends against the shrouds and other rigging.
Thanks guys for the input. I have two reef points and my lines run back to the cockpit and I am a lot more careful since I took my October swim and turtled poor old Pearl. I have also invested in a inflatable PFD that is confortable and I wear it. I have found that one wet cold a$$ will make you a lot more careful,and a lot more respectful of 25 knot winds Bud.