Yeah it's me in this forum...again...

[Benny]

Well Wheels - you get to be voted entertaining sailor of the month and maybe last month too. Rivals the likes of Moby Dick and Three Years before The Mast - even if it was really only three days .

Glad to hear you could hone your heavy weather sailing skills without too much damage although too bad about the genny and glad too that everyone faired OK.

Hope the new mast is an easy install for you.

In the meantime your reading fans are eagerly awaiting your next adventure.

Regards, Randy

[maxingout]

I suspect that one of the reasons you had such a rough passage was because you didn't have the mast in place sticking up in the air.

It's all about roll moment of inertia. Many people feel that keel ballast is what keeps the boat from rolling and heeling in a seaway. The fact is that the ballast is responible for ultimate stability, and it's what brings the boat upright after the boat heels over.

On the other hand, the mast is one of the greatest factors that keeps the boat from rolling and heeling over in the first place. The mast is what provides the majority of the initial stability for the yacht when in rough seas.

Many sailors don't understand the concept of roll moment of inertia, so I will give an example. Hold a long heavy stick in your hard and hold it up in the air. Then try to swing the stick back and forth to the right and left like an inverted pendulum. You will discover that there is a lot of resistance to swinging the stick back and forth in the air. That's called the roll moment of inertia of the stick.

The same thing happens to a yacht. A big heavy mast stabilizes yacht motion in rough seas. The initial stability provided by a large mast makes the rolling of the yacht much less in heavy seas.

I had a Westsail 32 with rounded bilges. I have read accounts of boat motion in a Westsail after dismasting in rough seas. The boat motion became like being in a washing machine. Without the mast sticking up in the air, the boat rolls from gunnel to gunnel - even worse.

If you had both of your masts sticking up in the air on your ketch, you probably would have had a much better ride. On the positive side, it helps people understand how important the mast is in preventing knockdowns, severe rolling, and atrocious yacht motion in rough seas.

You mast is your best friend for many reasons. Long live roll motion of inertia and its stabilizing effect on boat motion.

Cheers,

[Benny]

Maxingout - I believe that his masts were up as he mentioned setting the furling genny which ripped apart due to an existing tear. Sounds like they were large steep waves which were unusual due to current and mass volume of water flow. He was also heading straight into them which would increase the pitching movment and actually had an easier motion when he turned broadside to them.

Your description of moment of roll is interesting and I can see where it would make the pivot point higher up thereby causing a longer and therefor less quick motion. Sort of like a clock pendulum set short will swing more quickly than when set at the bottom of the rod.

[maxingout]

Perhaps I misunderstood about the mast. Since he was going to Wellington to pick up a mast, I thought the yacht was missing at least one of its masts.

Cheers,

[Alan Wheeler]

Benny is correct, I do have the old original mast up still. We have been sailing all year.
Maxingout is correct in the "dampning" provided by mast. It's about mass/inertia/momentum/time lag. The wave trys to roll the boat, the masts mass resists the movement which helps keep the boat upright and as effort and time overcome the resistance,the hull starts to roll. During that time, the wave is passing under the boat and allowing the boat to roll back. But now the momentum of the mast is wanting to keep the boat going the other way. So the overall rolling of the hull is greatly reduced.
At the mo my mast is much lighter than it should be. I am guessing the new mast is three times heavier. The new mast will weigh in at 250KG plus the weight of fittings and halyards etc etc. I should notice a huge improvement to restricting rolling.

[DeepFrz]

Wheels, you mentioned that your microwave left it's proper place and became a missile. Would you comment on how you had it mounted and what you are going to do differently.

Also, being from the opposite side of the world I have been trying to follow your voyage. I assume you started on the south island, is that correct? And what is the major town/city you are close to?

Thanks

[Thermal]

Another gripping, can't put it down story from Alan! This one needs one of those warning labels "Take dramamine 30 min. before reading" - I was getting queasy just reading about it.

[Alan Wheeler]

Hi Deepfrz, firstly, yes I am at the top East corner of the South Island. We live amongst some beautiful Sounds. The Sound my boat is in is the Pelorus Sound and my boat is birthed in Havelock, which is at the very end of the Sound. I have a 35Nm trip to open sea.
The City of Wellington is NZ's capital city. It is situated at the bottom of the North Isl. Why on earth anyone wanted to place a settlement, let alone a city, let alone make it our capital in this area of the country, I can't even guess. It is open to the big southerly blasts from the great Southern Ocean and it is often cold and wet. If it doesn't blow from the south, it is blowing from the North west and is always gale force. So it has the nickman as "the windy city". Auckland city is our largest city by the way.
Just north of Wellington, on the west coast is a small area called Mana. this is where Seafox and Marauder are found. They have a very simple trip directly across to the South Isl. There trip misses all that nasty tidal rip area of the North Isl. southern coast. They do have one tidal rip area in the middle of the straight and in the middle of their path across that they have to avoid, but in general, the weather and sea state is chalk and cheese from what is around the corner a few miles away.
Do I really have to talk about the microwave?? OK, it was on a bench and held in by a non-slip matt and a large lip around the shelf it sat on. I was intending on building it into something to totaly hold it, but haven't got that far yet. Just yet another thing on the list and I can only do one thing at a time. Once again as I said above, I wasn't expecting this sea state, but Ishoudl still have prepared for it. However, I had cups that sit down in a shelf that I couldn't believe they could ever come out of, but they did. Among many other things that flew around that I thought were very well captivated. So I am planning over winter and new set of cupboards that will take all crockery and hold it all captive even in a compleate roll over. Even the refrigerator door flew open and it has a latch on it. The plastic latch simply could not hold the weight. So I am going to have to fit some kind of metal captive latch on it. The CD player stayed in place. but the discs inside went for a wander around inside it. it took me ages to get them all out. It's one of those 5 disc courasell thingies.
Oh and I have also lost my boat hook overboard. I just made a new SST one and it looked real flash if I do say so myself.

[bigwhyte]

WOW . that was a crazy storie .wheels u kick ass bro !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Alan Wheeler]

Now I just need to borrow someones Grand kids sometime, to tell em all a story one day :-)

[Thermal]

On my microwave, I was able to remove the bottom panel, drill a couple of holes, and use JB-weld to epoxy in a couple of SS T-nuts with the barbs flattened. Then you can run screws through the bench into the t-nuts. Has worked great so far. Might be easier than building some enclosure that will be the wrong size when the microwave dies and you need to get another.

[Alan Wheeler]

Hmmmm, good idea.

[DeepFrz]

Thanks Wheels, now I can see where you were on the map.

[Alan Wheeler]

What map are you using. Google Earth? or a chart?
If you look at the chart around the Wellington area and look for an area called Karori (car roar ree) rock, that it the really dangerouse area. From basicaly the start of land, that is called Terawhiti(tear ra feet tee) and is the start of the rip. The area of trip continues from there to sinclair head which is the turn into Wellington Harbour. That rip heads many miles out to sea.

[senormechanico]

Wheels,
I did the same thing before going offshore in my Lord Nelson 35. Bolted the AC stereo system components together, and thrubolted the microwave as well.

Why an AC stereo you ask? At the time, (mid '90's) a 5 cd changer modular house stereo system was a lot cheaper than a similar 12 volt system. So much so, that we could buy another big solar panel with the difference!
Overall, we got more power each day as a result.

Steve B.