Sailing New England to Australia in February

[SimonV]

NZ is a beautiful place and has some of the best sailing and scenery. BUT I have only sailed there once from OZ and got hammered half way. I have only met one person who sails regularly New Cal to NZ to New Cal who has not been smashed every time. Every other Kiwi will tell of the trepidations. In 2013 the NZ fleet came into New Cal with stories of sustained 70 knots for three days and how they where relieved when the rest of the trip was a gentle 40 knots.

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[Coastal]

Update: Jason is back home & was unable to salvage Sedona. Here is his latest interview.

"So what, exactly, were they thinking?"


An Aussie misadventure, writ large >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

[Steadman Uhlich]

Earlier in this thread, Hoppy posted the following quote (excerpt follows):

This is the post by JMSAILING (Jason McGlashan??) on Sailing Anarchy

Quote:
"There was a substantial amount of time and money invested into the boat to make it search worthy, a lot of people say what they want and believe what they think. There is over 25 years of sailing and racing experience for Jason….SNIP"

________

Was the boat: Sea Worthy or "Search" Worthy?

Freudian slip?

WIKIPEDIA: A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of an unconscious ("dynamically repressed") subdued wish, conflict, or train of thought guided by the ego and the rules of correct behaviour.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Coastal

Update: Jason is back home & was unable to salvage Sedona. Here is his latest interview.

"So what, exactly, were they thinking?"


An Aussie misadventure, writ large >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

In the interview there is this statement:

PE: What happened to the sails and engine?

McGlashan: What happened was, the charging unit for the Yanmar started to fail, so we connected the wind generator, only to find this didn’t last long and was most likely faulty – we had just purchased this from a local shop. Once both charging units failed, I pulled the sails down to do some repairs, as part of the main had come out from under its lashing and caught on one of the winches, I suspect, and both sheets had come off the headsail – I still don’t know how this happened, as the clips were a double safety clip. I’m not sure how this sail tore."

__________

Tying on sheets with a bowline is one of the first skills I learned as a sailor. Perhaps I am "old school."

So, the mention of using a "double safety clip" made me think of how sometimes people use carabiners instead of knots (for some purposes), and how carabiners can be opened when twisted or stressed.

Anyone have an idea on what kind "double safety clip" he was using?

Do you think he was using something like this to attach his jib sheet to the sail?

The safety clip illustrated below is intended for attaching jacklines etc.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Coastal

Update: Jason is back home & was unable to salvage Sedona. Here is his latest interview.

"So what, exactly, were they thinking?"


An Aussie misadventure, writ large >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

The answer to that question, from reading the interview, is "Not much, apparently."

The guy dodged a bullet and didn't learn a thing.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

In the interview there is this statement:

PE: What happened to the sails and engine?

McGlashan: What happened was, the charging unit for the Yanmar started to fail, so we connected the wind generator, only to find this didn’t last long and was most likely faulty – we had just purchased this from a local shop. Once both charging units failed, I pulled the sails down to do some repairs, as part of the main had come out from under its lashing and caught on one of the winches, I suspect, and both sheets had come off the headsail – I still don’t know how this happened, as the clips were a double safety clip. I’m not sure how this sail tore."

__________

Tying on sheets with a bowline is one of the first skills I learned as a sailor. Perhaps I am "old school."

So, the mention of using a "double safety clip" made me think of how sometimes people use carabiners instead of knots (for some purposes), and how carabiners can be opened when twisted or stressed.

Anyone have an idea on what kind "double safety clip" he was using?

Do you think he was using something like this to attach his jib sheet to the sail?

The safety clip illustrated below is intended for attaching jacklines etc.

As a former race boat Sedona most likely had shackles on her sheets - tying bowlines is far too slow when quick changing head sails in a race, and the bowlines are bad for the high modulus lines anyway, a splice ro a shackle is stronger.

Given that I sailed out of the same club as Sedona, we likely used the same rigger (who rented property on our club grounds). For racing shackles they favored a Tylaska J-Lock or similar style shackle, so there is a good chance Sedona had these too.



If they had J-locks I know EXACTLY how they came undone - user error.

The rough knob there is the pin, spring loaded, that you pull to release the shackle.

It also rotates, and has a notch cut in it. To open it you have to rotate the pin so the notch lines up with the little spike that sticks out at the top by the knob. When you put the sheet on the clew of the sail you let go of the knob and it snaps in place. It is easy to stop at this point as all seems secure.

However, you there are supposed to turn the knob, which then moves the notch out from under the metal spike, effectively locking the pull pin under the metal spike to prevent it from opening.

If you do not take the second step to lock the shackle it pops open on its own accord quite easily.

[gah964]

Oh wow what noobs using quick release and not knots hahaha
bet ya anything they didn't clean the tanks.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

As a former race boat Sedona most likely had shackles on her sheets - tying bowlines is far too slow when quick changing head sails in a race, and the bowlines are bad for the high modulus lines anyway, a splice ro a shackle is stronger.

Given that I sailed out of the same club as Sedona, we likely used the same rigger (who rented property on our club grounds). For racing shackles they favored a Tylaska J-Lock or similar style shackle, so there is a good chance Sedona had these too.



If they had J-locks I know EXACTLY how they came undone - user error.

The rough knob there is the pin, spring loaded, that you pull to release the shackle.

It also rotates, and has a notch cut in it. To open it you have to rotate the pin so the notch lines up with the little spike that sticks out at the top by the knob. When you put the sheet on the clew of the sail you let go of the knob and it snaps in place. It is easy to stop at this point as all seems secure.

However, you there are supposed to turn the knob, which then moves the notch out from under the metal spike, effectively locking the pull pin under the metal spike to prevent it from opening.

If you do not take the second step to lock the shackle it pops open on its own accord quite easily.

These are similar to mine on my innerstay, except mine are plastic.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

The answer to that question, from reading the interview, is "Not much, apparently."

The guy dodged a bullet and didn't learn a thing.

I don't think you can deduce that this from that written interview. All he was doing in that interview was responding with what happened.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

As a former race boat Sedona most likely had shackles on her sheets - tying bowlines is far too slow when quick changing head sails in a race, and the bowlines are bad for the high modulus lines anyway, a splice ro a shackle is stronger.

Given that I sailed out of the same club as Sedona, we likely used the same rigger (who rented property on our club grounds). For racing shackles they favored a Tylaska J-Lock or similar style shackle, so there is a good chance Sedona had these too.



If they had J-locks I know EXACTLY how they came undone - user error.

The rough knob there is the pin, spring loaded, that you pull to release the shackle.

It also rotates, and has a notch cut in it. To open it you have to rotate the pin so the notch lines up with the little spike that sticks out at the top by the knob. When you put the sheet on the clew of the sail you let go of the knob and it snaps in place. It is easy to stop at this point as all seems secure.

However, you there are supposed to turn the knob, which then moves the notch out from under the metal spike, effectively locking the pull pin under the metal spike to prevent it from opening.

If you do not take the second step to lock the shackle it pops open on its own accord quite easily.

I would not like to be hit by one of these if the sail was flogging for some reason. Ouch!


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[gah964]

Originally Posted by GILow

I would not like to be hit by one of these if the sail was flogging for some reason. Ouch!


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after they tear your sails and smack you square in the four head you learn to hate those things.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

The answer to that question, from reading the interview, is "Not much, apparently."

The guy dodged a bullet and didn't learn a thing.

From the interview with Jason:
"McGlashan: You can never have enough spares. Given what happened I would do it again. My only regrets are getting the Coast Guard to come and get us, and leaving my yacht. - See more at: An Aussie misadventure, writ large >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News"

He would do it again.....

[GILow]

Originally Posted by gah964

after they tear your sails and smack you square in the four head you learn to hate those things.

Sounds like the voice of experience. I am pretty sure I had the outline of a bowline visible on my forehead once.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

I don't think you can deduce that this from that written interview. All he was doing in that interview was responding with what happened.

From what he has said to the media and over on SA one can conclude the following:

1) They saw nothing wrong with their boat prep and level of preparation in general.

2) They saw nothing wrong with the weather choices they made.

3) Without the bad luck of the breakage early on he honestly believes nothing else would have gone wrong and he would have made it to Australia.

4) His only regret is inconveniencing the USCG

5) The only thing he would do differently is bring more spares (spare what? Sails? Engines? Autopilots?)

6) He'd do it again in a heartbeat without changing the way he approached the project one bit.

Ergo I would conclude that he hasn't learned anything from the experience.

[savoir]

You do have to wonder why they didn't clip on another jib. Race boats usually come with a pile of used sails. The jib blew long before the storm hit.