proper use of vang

[CaptainK]

Makes me wonder if it's that way around Alaska, or Norway and Sweden?

They have lots of snow and ice up that way. I suppose with the denser cooler air reaching downwards. I suppose you'll get a reaction like that, around valleys and such?

Regards,

CaptainK

[Alan Wheeler]

Catabatic or can also be spelt Katabatic is a term given to air "in a downward motion due to being cold air". It can hit with incredible force and flatten anything around including your boat. One rule in anchoring is to never anchor in the mouth of a valley. It looks beautiful and you think you are sheltered, but the wind that can drop down these valleys can be horrendouse.

[NoTies]

A few years ago I was hurtling down Tawhitinui Reach (near where Wheels lives. Where the heck are you anyway?) in a 20' work/speed boat getting badly beat up by the dreaded southeaster. I was hugging the shore and running between mussel lines when a williwaw picked me up and dropped me clean over the other side of one of the lines, resulting in no damage to the boat but breaking one of my ankles. Try keeping your knees bent and relaxed when your boat turns into a Cessna!!
The boat weighs about a ton when full of fuel!!

[gosstyla]

Down in the canales of Chile williwaws are called rachas.

[Alan Wheeler]

Hi pwederell, I live in Blenheim and the boat is birthed in Havelock. She is a Hartley Tahitian 46ft Ketch with blue hull called Leisure Lady. If you see me out there, knock on the door and invite yourself for a cuppa or better.

[NoTies]

If your wife is in the airforce and you made 9 knots under genoa sailing from Lyttelton then I have met you. Sue & I called into Havelock around the end of August just after I got off the ice and had a long talk with a guy that had a Tahitian. Interesting to see if it's you. I work nights so won't be online again until early tomorrow morning. Sue works as chef at St Clair in Rapaura Rd. Say hi if you ever call in there.

Pete

[ssullivan]

Vasco once whispered in the wind:
Sean,

Going downwind with winds above 20 kts. with lumpy seas or a moderate swell, a preventer gives great peace of mind. Nothing grates as much as the boom nearly hitting the shrouds on the opposite side. Or just that little wait to see if the traveller is still holding. Just thinking about it give me the willies. If you really want an experience in gybing try it in a Nonsuch.

Ha ha ha.... I think I'll pass on the Nonsuch experience.

I've been out in conditions as you describe. I suppose I just end up really using the helm to prevent any issues. It may not be the most efficient course to steer, but in 20kts of wind, you don't exactly have to make up a lot of lost time to get to your destination.

While preventers are great, I think what I'm trying to say is that if you don't have the means to get one, life is still ok as long as you have a good feeling for apparent wind direction. I've been out in a gale or two and some fierce seas (sometimes following). If you are not using the Autohelm and you pay attention, the chances are quite small for an accidental gybe.

I would even venture to say that the stronger the winds (at least in the north east), the less chance of the changing directions on you at all. (Excluding a thunderstorm)

Maybe it's time for a poll? (how many have had an accidental gybe?)

[Alan Wheeler]

Arr Pete, yes that was me and yes I remember. Great to hear from you again. Keep in touch and send me a Private Email if you ever want to catch up. Perhaps we can take you two out on the boat sometime.

[BC Mike]

How many would you like to here about?
Ethel the autohelm was steering the 28 foot boat and did a banana split with the large chute up. The pole was in the water, the boom aiming at the sky, Ethel was upset so I shut her off.
After I got the mess unscrambled I used two headsails and a reef in the main. Ethel was much happier with this and we went straight down wind. There have been other events. Race evry week and there will be stories to tell.
Michael

[capt lar]

i was on the martinus van breems web site checking specs for replacement mono for my dutchman flaking system. they also show pictures of a dutchman "break" they are now selling if anyone decides they have a use.

as to jibes - oh yeah - wing and wing - racing - many times. never broke boom or lost rig. have fouled other boats in the circus that followed. easier to avoid when cruising since you aren't trying to squeeze around a mark, reach is usually faster anyway.

capt. lar

[Starbuck]

Number of sailors who have experienced an accidental gybe equals the number of sailors on planet Earth, minus the number of sailors who are known liars.

And Alan, we're still impressed with the constantly fluxing conditions you sail in as a matter of course.

[Alan Wheeler]

As the saying goes, "there are those that have, and those that will"

[Euro Cruiser]

The challenge while sailing, especially short-handed, is not in rigging a method that provides suitable off-wind sail trim and also a means to prevent the gybe but having a system that does it all repeatedly, while tacking and gybing, without having to go on deck and without losing the protection of a preventer for a period after gybing. IOW these needs are dynamic and can change between one tack and another quickly (avoiding traffic while crossing a TSS is a good example) and a system that requires one to go on deck (e.g. to unclip a line from a toe rail or stanchion base, or a conventional preventer from its anchor point on the bow, or shifting the preventer line to the other side of the mast) is not desirable. And of course there's the issue of all the spaghetti that ends up laying on deck if running everything back to the cockpit.

I'm on my 4th iteration of arranging for suitable vang control and also setting up a workable preventer. I ended up stealing the method Amel provides stock on their boats plus thru-bolting two bails to the boom end so that, when the traditional 'preventer from boom end to bow) set-up really is needed, I have an attachment point ready. But a double 'preventer vang', port & starboard, using thru-bolted genoa track bails as the attachment points for the lower vang blocks and the control lines rigged back to the cockpit seems the best compromise between ease of use, accmmodating multiple gybes in minimum time without ever losing protection, a minimum of spaghetti and no need to go on deck.

Jack

[ssullivan]

CaptainJeff once whispered in the wind:
Number of sailors who have experienced an accidental gybe equals the number of sailors on planet Earth, minus the number of sailors who are known liars.

Wow! I'm surprised at this statement. Not that you might be calling me a lair, but at the lax attitude toward the accidental gybe everyone seems to have. I was always taught that it's a no-no (especially on smaller boats where you might injure someone), so I just never let it happen. On larger boats, I was just plain too frightened of the power of the boom flying and tearing rigging.

I could see it happening in racing, but in cruising... why run things at such a margin? Like Capt Lar says... you are free to do what you want in cruising. No need to live on the edge.

[capt lar]

of course having said that, when returning from block island, i went wing and wing, and was constantly watching for jibe because i needed to favor the jib to keep it full and the boom was always on the edge. i did this to improve our angle to large seas so we would have a more comfortable ride and easier steering. that is when i considered tieing the boom down, but opted against it.
capt. lar