Near Gale, Straits of Juan De Fuca, December 17

[alctel]

That bit where the Rosario meets the Juan de Fuca can get pretty hairy! I had to turn around back to Lopez island one morning when trying to make the crossing.

Nice video - and yeah, lots of east winds recently.

[MarkSF]

Someone needs to explain to mom the relationship between righting moment, and heel angle.

[Foolish]

Korrigan, great video. I've been out a lot this month (from Victoria) too, and it has been great fun. And you don't have to worry about other boats.

Are those running backstays on your toerails? Why are they so far forward? It looks like they would be very hazardous when gybing.

[korrigan]

Originally Posted by Foolish

Korrigan, great video. I've been out a lot this month (from Victoria) too, and it has been great fun. And you don't have to worry about other boats.

Are those running backstays on your toerails? Why are they so far forward? It looks like they would be very hazardous when gybing.

Hi all,

Great comments.

Yeah those are running backstays and yes they are hazardous and need careful tending.

My boat is a semi custom 3/4 tonner sort of thing from 1979 designed by Holman Pye. I've customized it to what I believe constitutes an ideal boat for single handing.

Some of the first projects I did were to remove a hundred pounds of blocks and winches and set the boat up with winches on the mast and boom for halyards and reefing, and block and tackle for the main sheet. I also removed the wheel and replaced it with a tiller.

I removed the turning blocks and put the primary winches in their place.

The sum total of friction, complexity, and cost removed from the system is staggering and I'm continually amazed that similar systems are still installed today on boats under 37ft and sold as ideal for shorthanded sailing.

In any case every task and manoeuvre is vastly easier and faster to perform than with the original layout of halyards and reefing lines lead to the cockpit. It's essentially effortless to sail in all conditions.

But of course you have to go up on deck to do it, so there is that. I figure if you aren't willing to go up on deck then probably you shouldn't be out there. But then as you can see there're times I don't really want to be up there handling the main or trysail either. That's what crew are for.

It's got a stout mast but it doesn't have fore and aft lowers, and only a single set of spreaders. Early on, after a maiden adventure, I had the running backs and the inner stay added.

That cut down considerably on the alarming shaking that would start when the wind went over 40.

To be honest I'd still like to have another runner below the spreaders. Winds over 50 seem to shake whatever can be shaken and I'd like to minimize that. It's unnerving...

As has been mentioned here using a mainsail or in my case the trysail would really improve things and I was determined to do that on this trip but chickened/lazied out and went with the jib only until late in the day. As I'm sure you're all aware there's a certain lethargy that can set in when it's rough and cold. Being alone compounds it. All just a poor excuse for not getting a sail up and kicking it up a gear but it's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Putting the storm jib or #4 on the inner stay would also help and I think with the trysail make me fast upwind in rough weather, and rock solid reaching and running. Having the jib on the headstay seems to put it too far away from the main and too high off the deck. That's a future project among the many. Mostly it's about not breaking things and going backwards on a thing I can't really afford to play with in the first place.

[TrentePieds]

"Some of the first projects I did were to remove a hundred pounds of blocks...In any case every task and manoeuvre is vastly easier and faster to perform than with the original layout of halyards and reefing lines lead to the cockpit. It's essentially effortless to sail in all conditions."

Ah, Korrigan — you are singing my song :-0)!! TrentePieds is in for the treatment. Down with Facnor and all their spawn :-)!

And your video is luvverly.

TrentePieds