It's a fact. Boats are havens for bugs. You know, the awful ones. The ones we whisper "roach" when we see them, right before we run around screaming.
I've had reason to do a little research on them, unfortunately. It turns out that they can live inside or outside. They're opportunistic. Now, anyone with any sense can look at a boat and see that with its
dark, damp corners, it would be a haven for bugs. If you don't keep your
food in bug-proof containers it's really just a matter of time. But I
had done that. I grew up with that as a child and continued the practice
all my life. I never even thought about it.
Several of my neighbors had also mentioned seeing them as well, and the timing was suspicious. The marina had just had to re-plumb the entire dock, and I think it disturbed some outdoor-living beasties. At least one male and female (or a female with eggs) decided my boat was a great place to move to.
Well, I'm nearly 68. I know it's Florida, but I grew up in Florida, and I've lived here since 2005, and I've never, ever had bugs ... until a couple of months ago. Here's the problem with bugs and boats -- there are many, many places for them to hide. You may not realize they're there as quickly as you might in a house.
Complicating things, I have a pet. We moved out and bombed the place. That has gotten rid of the occasional palmetto bug (who really don't want to be in your home or on your boat, and who do not eat things like the little crumbs you didn't see and didn't sweep up), but it did not faze these critters.
Plus, then I had to wash down the entire interior of the boat. Even if I hadn't felt that was necessary for me, cats rub up against everything and then lick their fur.
Naturally, when the first bomb didn't work, I did it again. Apparently I like difficult, repetitive chores.
I talked to an exterminator who said that spraying might keep them from coming aboard, but especially in a boat, with all its hiding places, it would not solve the problem. He suggested a paste that he places, exposed, in places the little critters are likely to go. I wasn't really comfortable with that. My cat rubs against every new thing to put her scent on it. I didn't want exposed poison on the boat.
So before doing that, I went to the store and I found RAID "large roach baits." this is a paste poison but in a container that would protect the cat. I put lots down in every conceivable place.
That solved the problem quite rapidly and effectively, I'm happy to report.
So here's the
LESSON LEARNED:
Be proactive. Get something like RAID's "Large baits," and put them out *before* you have a problem. I wish I had, but this boat will be protected from now on. There are a couple of brands of this type of bait, and switching them occasionally might be a good idea. Just assume the beasties are out there, looking to make your boat their home ... because they are!
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Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Your Chart is Probably Out of Date--Updated
PS: I just spent the weekend with club friends in a little cove off the Manatee River. There's a very high spot shown on both paper and electronic charts that's supposed to only be 3.3' deep at mean low tide.
I had difficulty getting the anchor up, and in the process, according to my chart plotter my boat drifted all over that spot, but the chart plotter, which I checked frequently because I knew about that supposed bump, showed I never had less than 9..4' water to work in. There's another example of how wrong charts can be. Someone had told me with great confidence that this "bump" wouldn't change because there was no current in there, but of course, since it's on the south side of the river, a lot of storms will stir that water up. In any event, the bump seems to be gone. This is actually the most dramatic case of change I've come across so far.
I've shown pictures of floating buoys in a major channel in the Tampa Bay area before:
I had difficulty getting the anchor up, and in the process, according to my chart plotter my boat drifted all over that spot, but the chart plotter, which I checked frequently because I knew about that supposed bump, showed I never had less than 9..4' water to work in. There's another example of how wrong charts can be. Someone had told me with great confidence that this "bump" wouldn't change because there was no current in there, but of course, since it's on the south side of the river, a lot of storms will stir that water up. In any event, the bump seems to be gone. This is actually the most dramatic case of change I've come across so far.
I've shown pictures of floating buoys in a major channel in the Tampa Bay area before:
This photo faces east. This is Channel Marker #10 in the Sunshine Skyway Channel. You can see exposed sand beyond. Channel Markers #8 and #12 are significantly farther east than this one is. The Channel is shoaling, or filling in with loose sand, at this spot. I took this picture some months ago. Since then I've seen a sailboat aground, in the channel, north of this spot. In addition, to the south, another piling has been taken down and another floating buoy moved significantly west. The eastern edge of this channel is starting to get a bit zig-zaggy!
I ran lightly aground between markers 2 and 4 a couple of weeks ago. We had a lower than average low tide, partly influenced by the 25 mph north wind that apparently blew a fair amount of Tampa Bay's water to Venezuela. I got off fairly easily; sand that has just moved hasn't had a chance to compact yet and gives way fairly easily. I've also "skipped bottom" at other spots in the channel.
I don't know when the powers that be will get around to redredging this channel, but probably it takes a while. Meanwhile, what do I have to go by? One thing is for sure: my chart still shows both channel markers in their old places. So does my chart plotter.
Meanwhile, we've had a run of unusually low tides here. The lowest point doesn't typically go below mean low tide (except for that one very windy day), but we're not having full high tides. Since the typical distance from low to high tide around here is only two feet, when the tide only rises one foot "high tide" isn't a lot of help in very shallow places.
But the problem with charts and chart plotters lagging behind real life is more complicated than just where the channel markers are. At the southern end of the Skyway Bridge Channel, it appears that there is deeper water -- 8' - 10' -- just to the west of Channel Marker 2. So it would *appear* that one could just bypass the southern entrance by going west of it, and then enter the channel past that shoaling spot.
However, if the channel is filling in to that degree, perhaps the area to the west of it is filling in as well.
When faced with such situations, local knowledge can be a great help. Local fishermen may know, or local dockmasters, charter captains, etc. You can get on the radio and see if you can raise someone. or put someone, preferably someone with experience in shallow water, on the bow. Proceed very slowly, so if you do run aground, your boat's speed doesn't make it worse.
For now, I'm just avoiding that patch of water at low tide. I'm not going to go through there at night by myself unless I have a full-out high tide, and even then it wouldn't be my first choice, because being aground in a narrow channel at night is not exactly an ideal situation.
So don't trust your chart plotter 100%. Don't completely trust the routes you've plotted on it unless it's all through known deep water. Keep your eyes open, and reduce your speed at night. Keep a log of such instances so you're not left scratching your head next time, thinking, "Now where was that high spot?" You don't want it under your keel!
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Thursday, November 21, 2013
Really Bad Joke and a Small Amount of Information
So, a rope goes into a bar and sits down.
The bartender comes over and says, "You're a rope."
"Yes, I am," says the rope.
The bartender says, "We don't serve ropes in here. I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave."
So the rope gets up and goes outside. He ties himself up and fluffs out his ends. He goes back into the bar and sits down again on the same stool he was on before.
The bartender comes over to him and says suspiciously, "Say ... aren't you the rope I just threw out of here?"
Comes the answer: "I'm a frayed knot!"
Corny!!
A friend who has been sailing for over sixty years passed this tip on to us. He's amazed that he didn't learn it until he'd been sailing for more than 20 years.
When you coil a rope, do it clockwise, not counter-clockwise. The rope is twisted when it's made in a way that will cause it to want to knot all up if you coil it counter-clockwise.
He also had a tip about the "geezer halyard" I wrote about yesterday, in fact any halyard. He recommends against hanking the halyard and hanging it from its winch. You may need to use it very quickly. He recommends coiling it in a circle (clockwise, of course). He suggests stowing it in a bag. It will be much easier to use in a hurry if stowed that way.
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The bartender comes over and says, "You're a rope."
"Yes, I am," says the rope.
The bartender says, "We don't serve ropes in here. I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave."
So the rope gets up and goes outside. He ties himself up and fluffs out his ends. He goes back into the bar and sits down again on the same stool he was on before.
The bartender comes over to him and says suspiciously, "Say ... aren't you the rope I just threw out of here?"
Comes the answer: "I'm a frayed knot!"
Corny!!
A friend who has been sailing for over sixty years passed this tip on to us. He's amazed that he didn't learn it until he'd been sailing for more than 20 years.
When you coil a rope, do it clockwise, not counter-clockwise. The rope is twisted when it's made in a way that will cause it to want to knot all up if you coil it counter-clockwise.
He also had a tip about the "geezer halyard" I wrote about yesterday, in fact any halyard. He recommends against hanking the halyard and hanging it from its winch. You may need to use it very quickly. He recommends coiling it in a circle (clockwise, of course). He suggests stowing it in a bag. It will be much easier to use in a hurry if stowed that way.
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The Coolest Halyard on the Planet
The other day a club member proudly showed me a very clever modification he has made to his boat, and it's worth passing on. He calls it his "geezer halyard." This sailor is in his early 70's, not ready to give up sailing, but ready for some of the harder physical tasks to be a little easier.
Meanwhile I had heard from an old friend -- my long-lost first husband, actually, the man who introduced me to sailing and got me so hooked on it that I spent nearly 40 years daydreaming about returning to the sport some day. While he is generally in good health, he had to have rotater cuff surgery not that long ago, and was looking for easier ways to handle his boat. However, this adaptation isn't just for "senior citizens." I have a thirty-year-old daughter who has also had rotater cuff surgery. The truth is that any of us can have some sort of injury at any time that could make sailing harder for us.
If you look at the picture below, you'll actually see a couple of things this clever inventor has done to make his boat easier to manage. If you see the triangular thing sticking off the mast, that's one of a series of mast steps. With those mast steps, he can still climb his own mast.
Which he did. At the top, he used a pop rivet gun to attach a piece of hardware at the *very top* of the side of the mast. He attached an extra long halyard to that hardware. before leading that halyard through its sheave at the top of the mast, he first dropped it to near the bottom, and fed it through a block attached to a snapshackle. Then he took the halyard back to the top of the mast, through the sheave, back down the mast and through turn blocks to run it back to the cabin top and cockpit. (You don't have to run your halyards back to the cockpit, but it will make the boat much easier and safer to sail single-handed.)
In the picture below, the snapshackle for his halyard is run back to a loop on the top of his StackPack. If you're going to attach your halyard to a lifeline, that will require a little more length as well, so measure appropriately.
When he's ready to sail, he moves the snapshackle from his StackPack to the head of his sail. Because of the block attached to the snapshackle, he now has 2:1 purchase on his halyard. I tried it. His halyard is remarkably easy to raise. It certainly would make the task easier not only for those with shoulder injuries, but those with bad backs or arthritis in their hands.
This sailor put his block and snapshackle together from hardware he already had, but he's going to make a few changes.
First of all, the snapshackle he used is the type that swivels. This allows the two lengths of halyard going up to the sheave to twist, so it has introduced one more thing that can go wrong while raising the sail. Below are pictures of hardware I found at West Marine, a single block, and a non-swiveling snapshackle to attach to the becket.
It's still possible to get the two lengths of halyard twisted, but it's a good practice to eyeball the entire length of your halyard to look for things it might be hung up on anyway. The block costs about $36 at West Marine, and the snapshackle about $22. It's crucial that you use stainless steel hardware. You do not want your hardware to break at the top of the mast.
Besides the extra (but avoidable) chance of a fouled halyard, there are two other downsides to this adaptation. First, you'll have a lot of extra line in the cockpit after the sail is raised. Once your halyard is raised, you're going to have extra halyard in the cockpit. One option is to take a moment and hank the dangling halyard. If your halyard has a dedicated winch, you can put a loop over the winch, and the halyard will be stowed neatly. You can also find "line bags" on line you can hang near the bottom of your mast or in your cockpit to catch that line.
Second, you will have increased the number of turns your halyard has to make as you drop it. You may find that you have to go to the mast and help encourage the sail to drop when you're ready to take the sails down.
There's one more thing you might want to note about the hardware shown above: the sheave in the block I photographed is black. It seems counter-intuitive, but black plastic is more resistant to damage from UV rays than white. A block with a black sheave in it will last longer than one with a white sheave.
Finally, make sure your halyard size runs freely through the block, and that the snapshackle is large enough to attach easily to the head of your sail. If you choose a piece of hardware with a pin in it, make sure it's of a type where the pin can't be completely removed. The halyard hardware on my first boat used a pin that could fall out, and it did within five days. Then, of course, it bounced on the cabin top and into the marina. If a crucial piece of hardware can free itself it will, laughing all the way to the bottom.
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Meanwhile I had heard from an old friend -- my long-lost first husband, actually, the man who introduced me to sailing and got me so hooked on it that I spent nearly 40 years daydreaming about returning to the sport some day. While he is generally in good health, he had to have rotater cuff surgery not that long ago, and was looking for easier ways to handle his boat. However, this adaptation isn't just for "senior citizens." I have a thirty-year-old daughter who has also had rotater cuff surgery. The truth is that any of us can have some sort of injury at any time that could make sailing harder for us.
If you look at the picture below, you'll actually see a couple of things this clever inventor has done to make his boat easier to manage. If you see the triangular thing sticking off the mast, that's one of a series of mast steps. With those mast steps, he can still climb his own mast.
Which he did. At the top, he used a pop rivet gun to attach a piece of hardware at the *very top* of the side of the mast. He attached an extra long halyard to that hardware. before leading that halyard through its sheave at the top of the mast, he first dropped it to near the bottom, and fed it through a block attached to a snapshackle. Then he took the halyard back to the top of the mast, through the sheave, back down the mast and through turn blocks to run it back to the cabin top and cockpit. (You don't have to run your halyards back to the cockpit, but it will make the boat much easier and safer to sail single-handed.)
In the picture below, the snapshackle for his halyard is run back to a loop on the top of his StackPack. If you're going to attach your halyard to a lifeline, that will require a little more length as well, so measure appropriately.
 |
The "Geezer Halyard." You can see the extended halyard dropping
from the top of the mast, through a block, and back up again.
|
When he's ready to sail, he moves the snapshackle from his StackPack to the head of his sail. Because of the block attached to the snapshackle, he now has 2:1 purchase on his halyard. I tried it. His halyard is remarkably easy to raise. It certainly would make the task easier not only for those with shoulder injuries, but those with bad backs or arthritis in their hands.
This sailor put his block and snapshackle together from hardware he already had, but he's going to make a few changes.
First of all, the snapshackle he used is the type that swivels. This allows the two lengths of halyard going up to the sheave to twist, so it has introduced one more thing that can go wrong while raising the sail. Below are pictures of hardware I found at West Marine, a single block, and a non-swiveling snapshackle to attach to the becket.
 |
| Hardware used to connect your 2:1 halyard to the head of your sail |
It's still possible to get the two lengths of halyard twisted, but it's a good practice to eyeball the entire length of your halyard to look for things it might be hung up on anyway. The block costs about $36 at West Marine, and the snapshackle about $22. It's crucial that you use stainless steel hardware. You do not want your hardware to break at the top of the mast.
Besides the extra (but avoidable) chance of a fouled halyard, there are two other downsides to this adaptation. First, you'll have a lot of extra line in the cockpit after the sail is raised. Once your halyard is raised, you're going to have extra halyard in the cockpit. One option is to take a moment and hank the dangling halyard. If your halyard has a dedicated winch, you can put a loop over the winch, and the halyard will be stowed neatly. You can also find "line bags" on line you can hang near the bottom of your mast or in your cockpit to catch that line.
Second, you will have increased the number of turns your halyard has to make as you drop it. You may find that you have to go to the mast and help encourage the sail to drop when you're ready to take the sails down.
There's one more thing you might want to note about the hardware shown above: the sheave in the block I photographed is black. It seems counter-intuitive, but black plastic is more resistant to damage from UV rays than white. A block with a black sheave in it will last longer than one with a white sheave.
Finally, make sure your halyard size runs freely through the block, and that the snapshackle is large enough to attach easily to the head of your sail. If you choose a piece of hardware with a pin in it, make sure it's of a type where the pin can't be completely removed. The halyard hardware on my first boat used a pin that could fall out, and it did within five days. Then, of course, it bounced on the cabin top and into the marina. If a crucial piece of hardware can free itself it will, laughing all the way to the bottom.
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Docking by Yourself at a T-Dock -- with new and improved photos
At many marinas they have what is called a "transient" dock, or T-dock. Often it is literally shaped like a T, in that your boat comes along side the top of the T. The boat is only secured on one side.
You might be by yourself, or we can use the example we used before that your sailing companion has injured himself and is sitting with ice on his ankle. You're going to have to secure the boat yourself.
As you glide up to the dock in neutral, make note of the wind direction. If you're coming up on the starboard side of your boat but the wind is coming across the starboard side, you have to get the bow and stern secured rapidly. It doesn't have to be beautiful on first pass.
An easy way to do this is to attach a long line (at least twice as long as your boat) to your stern cleat. Have the boat in neutral but still gliding slowly forward. As you glide up to the dock, just throw the line over and behind what will be, temporarily at least, your stern piling. Keep hold of the bitter end as you do this. Don't tie any kind of knot -- just let it lie behind the piling.
Walk to the bow and throw the line over and behind another piling near the bow, again hanging on to the bitter end, and lash it off at the bow cleat.
Clearly your boat is not permanently tied up now, but the wind can no longer blow it away from the dock. With the boat temporarily somewhat secure, it's now easy to tie the boat up properly, taking your time.
Since I often bring my boat up to a one-sided dock, I have a long line (120') permanently fastened with a baggage tie knot (sometimes called a cow hitch) to my toe rail, about amidships. A stanchion will work well if you don't have a stout perforated toe rail.
You might be by yourself, or we can use the example we used before that your sailing companion has injured himself and is sitting with ice on his ankle. You're going to have to secure the boat yourself.
As you glide up to the dock in neutral, make note of the wind direction. If you're coming up on the starboard side of your boat but the wind is coming across the starboard side, you have to get the bow and stern secured rapidly. It doesn't have to be beautiful on first pass.
An easy way to do this is to attach a long line (at least twice as long as your boat) to your stern cleat. Have the boat in neutral but still gliding slowly forward. As you glide up to the dock, just throw the line over and behind what will be, temporarily at least, your stern piling. Keep hold of the bitter end as you do this. Don't tie any kind of knot -- just let it lie behind the piling.
Walk to the bow and throw the line over and behind another piling near the bow, again hanging on to the bitter end, and lash it off at the bow cleat.
Clearly your boat is not permanently tied up now, but the wind can no longer blow it away from the dock. With the boat temporarily somewhat secure, it's now easy to tie the boat up properly, taking your time.
Since I often bring my boat up to a one-sided dock, I have a long line (120') permanently fastened with a baggage tie knot (sometimes called a cow hitch) to my toe rail, about amidships. A stanchion will work well if you don't have a stout perforated toe rail.
 |
| Baggage tie, also sometimes called a "cow hitch" |
I keep the line divided in half with each half separately hanked, hanging from the life lines.
 |
| Total length of this line is 120', attached to toe rail with a baggage tie at the middle of the line, with each loose end separately hanked. |
Take one end of your very long line (the one attached to your boat with a baggage tie), and attach it to a piling between midships and bow with a clove hitch.
 |
| Clove hitch used around a piling allows one line to be used both as spring line and as bow or stern line. |
The bitter end of that line goes up to your bow cleat. Undo your temporary line from that cleat, throw it on the dock, and cleat off the new line. You have now used half of that baggage tie line as both spring and bow line.
You'll repeat this process with the other half of your very long line: first use it as a spring line with a clove hitch at a piling between amidships and the stern, and then take the bitter end to the stern and attach it with a cleat hitch. Gather up your temporary dock line, re-hank it and stow it. You'll need it again when you leave this dock if you don't have someone helping on the dock.
Now you can see exactly where to put your fenders and fender boards to keep your boat off the dock. I do recommend that you set the boat so you don't have any stanchions pressing up against pilings.
So what if you have to get away from the dock by yourself? Once again, study the wind direction. If, for instance, your bow is pointing to the west, if the wind is from the north it is possible that if you just put a temporary line around the rear piling and your rear cleat, the wind will blow your bow in the direction it needs to go while you keep the boat near the dock with that stern line. Or it may be best to just pull forward, turn into a fairway and turn the boat around. It will vary according to wind, current, and your boat's characteristics. You want this line to just be a single loop around the piling so you can remove it easily as you leave the dock.
One thing is for sure, though, you won't want to be wrestling with 120' of line, tied to pilings with clove hitches, as you try to exit. Keeping line out of the water has to be of paramount importance. Let that line get wrapped around your rudder or propeller and you'll be at the dock longer than you expected!
So just reverse the process. One cleat at a time, replace your very long line with a line just laid behind the pilings and latched on to your cleats (just as you did when you first came alongside the dock). This time, you can use a "half cleat hitch" on your stern and bow cleats. (If this knot has another name I would love to hear of it).
It's easily made. You lead your line to the cleat, but the only part of the cleat hitch you use is the very last turn of the line, when you make a loop and twist it before hooking it over the horn of the cleat.
 |
| Step 1, with the red and white line laid around the cleat. |
 |
Step 2. You'll make a loop with the right end,
pull it around the cleat, twist it, and slip it over the left horn
of the cleat. Your half-hitch on a cleat is complete.
|
This makes a working knot that will hold well but that can be undone rapidly and easily.
 |
| Standard cleat hitch |
Just for reference, compare that quick, temporary half-cleat to the full cleat hitch below. You should use the full cleat hitch when the boat is fully secured at the dock.
Hank your very long line and re-hang both ends from the lifelines. You don't need to be tripping over it as you move along the side of the boat -- or worse, have a long line trailing in the water when you know the propeller wants to get to know it better!
When you're ready to release that temporary line, use the wind to judge which end to undo first. We'll say it's the bow, and that the wind is going to catch the bow, and spin the boat slowly around until the bow is pointing toward the east instead of the west.
Put the engine in neutral, release the half-cleat hitch on the bow, and throw it on the dock near the stern. Get back to the cockpit, and start pulling the line in around the stern piling, holding on to and working both ends so the extra line goes onto your boat and not into the water. When the boat is turned, pull the remaining line in (keeping it out of the water, very important since it's near the stern), put the boat in forward and drive away from the dock with the wind at your stern.
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Monday, November 18, 2013
Change Your Impeller!
I was sailing on a friend's boat one weekend for one of BCYC's monthly cruises. I use the word "sailing" loosely. My friend had sails up on principle, but since the winds were only about 2 mph, the engine was running.
He had put me at the helm and was giving me a variety of useful tips, so I wasn't surprised when he periodically walked by the helm on his center cockpit boat.
I didn't notice that his engine temperature gauge was installed on the side of the binnacle (the pedestal that holds the wheel), but one of the things he was doing was checking the engine temperature.
On one pass, he said, "The engine's overheating. Shut her down, and you'll have to sail her while my friend and I go below to see what's going on. Can you do that?"
His boat was 37' while mine was 25', but I assured him that I could sail the boat and that I would come get him if there was a problem. He and his friend went below.
Forty-five minutes later, he and his friend came back up. His friend looked as if he didn't feel at all well -- in the US we have s saying, "a bit green around the gills," for feeling nauseous. Well, he'd had his head in an engine for 45 minutes, smelling all those engine smells, while the boat gently rolled, so I wasn't surprised.
My friend held out his hand. There was his old impeller, broken into eight pieces.
My friend had been smart. He put down a paper towel on the cabin floor, and put the broken pieces of impeller on the paper. Then the two of them put it back together like a puzzle. That's how they knew there was still one piece of impeller somewhere in the cooling system, and they hunted until they found it.
Well, that was a bit of bother, wasn't it? What if he had been the only person on the boat? He still could have done it, but he would have had to put the anchor down, get to work on the engine, come up periodically to make sure the anchor wasn't dragging, etc.
Your engine manufacturer probably tells you right in the manual to replace the impeller once a year. Most sailors will tell you to "carry a spare in case it breaks."
That's two different pieces of advice, and it's the manufacturer's recommendation you should follow. It was hard to be that diligent on my old engine. You had to do a bit of engine dismantling to change the impeller, including taking the water pump off.
That makes it all the more important to replace that impeller *before* it breaks.
This happened to my friend's boat on a calm day. He didn't need the engine to get him away from a lee shore, or to fight a strong current, or to get through a bridge safely. There was no one injured we needed to get to shore. We were in open water. I had to tack the boat once to get it away from the shore, but that wasn't a crisis.
But it could have been.
Follow your engine manufacturer's recommendations on this kind of thing, because a simple thing like an impeller can contribute to a "cascade event" of things going wrong. Even if you have another person with you, he or she may not have the skills to maneuver your boat safely through a storm while you change the impeller you should have changed three months before.
Here's a good article from BOAT US on how to do it:
http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/replacing-impeller.asp
If it breaks unexpectedly, do what my friend did. Lay down a paper towel, put every piece on that towel, and make sure you got every bit of it.
Go through your manual, and make a time table for all these basic maintenance issues. We tend to think of our engines as something to get you out of the marina and on to the water -- but do you really want your boat adrift in a crowded marina?
No, I didn't think so.
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He had put me at the helm and was giving me a variety of useful tips, so I wasn't surprised when he periodically walked by the helm on his center cockpit boat.
I didn't notice that his engine temperature gauge was installed on the side of the binnacle (the pedestal that holds the wheel), but one of the things he was doing was checking the engine temperature.
On one pass, he said, "The engine's overheating. Shut her down, and you'll have to sail her while my friend and I go below to see what's going on. Can you do that?"
His boat was 37' while mine was 25', but I assured him that I could sail the boat and that I would come get him if there was a problem. He and his friend went below.
Forty-five minutes later, he and his friend came back up. His friend looked as if he didn't feel at all well -- in the US we have s saying, "a bit green around the gills," for feeling nauseous. Well, he'd had his head in an engine for 45 minutes, smelling all those engine smells, while the boat gently rolled, so I wasn't surprised.
My friend held out his hand. There was his old impeller, broken into eight pieces.
My friend had been smart. He put down a paper towel on the cabin floor, and put the broken pieces of impeller on the paper. Then the two of them put it back together like a puzzle. That's how they knew there was still one piece of impeller somewhere in the cooling system, and they hunted until they found it.
Well, that was a bit of bother, wasn't it? What if he had been the only person on the boat? He still could have done it, but he would have had to put the anchor down, get to work on the engine, come up periodically to make sure the anchor wasn't dragging, etc.
Your engine manufacturer probably tells you right in the manual to replace the impeller once a year. Most sailors will tell you to "carry a spare in case it breaks."
That's two different pieces of advice, and it's the manufacturer's recommendation you should follow. It was hard to be that diligent on my old engine. You had to do a bit of engine dismantling to change the impeller, including taking the water pump off.
That makes it all the more important to replace that impeller *before* it breaks.
This happened to my friend's boat on a calm day. He didn't need the engine to get him away from a lee shore, or to fight a strong current, or to get through a bridge safely. There was no one injured we needed to get to shore. We were in open water. I had to tack the boat once to get it away from the shore, but that wasn't a crisis.
But it could have been.
Follow your engine manufacturer's recommendations on this kind of thing, because a simple thing like an impeller can contribute to a "cascade event" of things going wrong. Even if you have another person with you, he or she may not have the skills to maneuver your boat safely through a storm while you change the impeller you should have changed three months before.
Here's a good article from BOAT US on how to do it:
http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/replacing-impeller.asp
If it breaks unexpectedly, do what my friend did. Lay down a paper towel, put every piece on that towel, and make sure you got every bit of it.
Go through your manual, and make a time table for all these basic maintenance issues. We tend to think of our engines as something to get you out of the marina and on to the water -- but do you really want your boat adrift in a crowded marina?
No, I didn't think so.
Go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boldlygosailing?skip_nax_wizard=true
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Why Sailing is not Like Driving a Car, No. 2
In yesterday's entry I wrote about how important it is to train your crew well, teaching even total newcomers some useful skill that you can count on in a pinch.
For how to teach, I used the example of how one club instructor put her hands over her mouth to force her to not give too many prompts when her students should have been performing independently.
While teaching sail school, she had realized that her students couldn't dock a sailboat unless they could do it without her giving them a single prompt, and she had her hands over her mouth as they approached the safety boat to dock next to it.
Last night I happened to speak with the father of this instructor. Her father said that she had been steering their tiller sailboat for 10 years when she signed up for driver's ed at school. Neither she nor her parents expected any problems. She was a straight-A student, and many students took "Driver's Ed" for the easy A of it.
Not this young lady. She was flunking driver's ed. HUH? NOBODY flunks driver's ed!
So her dad took her to a large, empty parking lot one Sunday, one without parking bumpers or other barriers, to see what was going on.
She started out driving straight, just fine. He didn't see a problem. Then he told her to turn left -- and she turned the car right!
She was handling the steering wheel like a tiller!
So if you have a crew member struggling with some basic skill, isolate that skill and watch carefully what is going on. Several months ago, I did this with a sailor I knew. He had been sailing the Catalinas for five years but his movement across the water was often erratic and unpredictable. He obviously struggled with tacking to the point that he would know he was going to run aground on a known high point, but seemed unable to turn the boat in time to get out of the way.
So I went out with him, and discovered that he really didn't have any solid idea of how to tack the boat. He just tried something new each time, hoping he would figure it out and get it right (it turned out that someone had told him to do this -- see my many references about people who give one bad advice!)
I wrote a very detailed, 15-step method for tacking and gave it to him. He said he would read it and study it, and agreed to go out with me on one of the little 16.5' Catalinas to sort it out.
After reading the list, he politely canceled the sailing date.
He canceled s similar date with someone else.
Finally he said to me one day, "I just want to be the best sailor I can." I said, "Then go out with me and let's sort this out."
So we did, and I and my list of things to do were driving him crazy. Finally he said, "Just let me do it my way," and I said "OK."
Turned out he was doing everything right -- except for one thing: he didn't know where to start the tack. Somewhere in sail school he had not learned that (probably because instructors always prompted him -- too much "help"). So he would, say, have the wind nearly astern when he started the tack. Of course the boat would make a broad, slow turn, and it might end anywhere, including moving in a complete circle, ending where he had been before. If you don't tack with a plan, how will you know when to end it? Or he might not have had enough speed by the time he got to the "no-go" zone, and the boat would swing back over to starboard.
All I had to do was remind him of the "no go" zone, and explain that he should sail along, say, the starboard side, build up speed, spot where he wanted to end, move through the "no go" zone -- and stop the tack.
He did it perfectly the first time -- with no prompts. Then he did it perfectly three more times.
So then we expanded the concept to a controlled jybe, keeping the boom close to center so there wouldn't be a huge snap when the sail picked up the wind on the other side. Then he did THAT perfectly with no prompts.
So then we just sailed around, and he started calling all the moves very well: "prepare to tack," and I had to hustle to keep up with him, because he now knew exactly what he was doing. Acting as skipper and calling all the shots, sometimes he tacked and sometimes he jybed, getting it all right every single time.
Meanwhile, the wind shifted to northerly. Uh-oh! When the wind is from the north, to get into the marina you have to sail up a narrow north-south canal to get to the entrance. It certainly isn't impossible, but unless you have a motor, you have to make a series of short, quick tacks -- or run aground at a place where this man had been notorious for running aground.
No problem this time!. He took charge as skipper, executed the tacks crisply and accurately, turned into the club's basin, and expertly sailed the little boat into its slip. He told me what to do, when to do it, and used one sail, expertly managed, to get the boat home -- just as he had been doing most of the afternoon.
Give too many prompts, and you keep your crew member from learning. This person's problem with tacking is the most concrete and perfect example I can think of to demonstrate just how important it is to let anyone you're teaching to perform completely independently, even if you see them making a mistake.
If they make a mistake, discuss it *afterwards.* Give them a chance to practice it, and when they get to that point on the next attempt, put your hands over your mouth if you have to, but DO NOT PROMPT THEM OR GIVE THE CLUES. Just don't. Discuss it afterwards.
Even then, don't tell them what they did wrong. ASK them if they know what mistake they made. Give them time to think. Give them a chance to learn.
Go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boldlygosailing?skip_nax_wizard=true
For how to teach, I used the example of how one club instructor put her hands over her mouth to force her to not give too many prompts when her students should have been performing independently.
While teaching sail school, she had realized that her students couldn't dock a sailboat unless they could do it without her giving them a single prompt, and she had her hands over her mouth as they approached the safety boat to dock next to it.
Last night I happened to speak with the father of this instructor. Her father said that she had been steering their tiller sailboat for 10 years when she signed up for driver's ed at school. Neither she nor her parents expected any problems. She was a straight-A student, and many students took "Driver's Ed" for the easy A of it.
Not this young lady. She was flunking driver's ed. HUH? NOBODY flunks driver's ed!
So her dad took her to a large, empty parking lot one Sunday, one without parking bumpers or other barriers, to see what was going on.
She started out driving straight, just fine. He didn't see a problem. Then he told her to turn left -- and she turned the car right!
She was handling the steering wheel like a tiller!
So if you have a crew member struggling with some basic skill, isolate that skill and watch carefully what is going on. Several months ago, I did this with a sailor I knew. He had been sailing the Catalinas for five years but his movement across the water was often erratic and unpredictable. He obviously struggled with tacking to the point that he would know he was going to run aground on a known high point, but seemed unable to turn the boat in time to get out of the way.
So I went out with him, and discovered that he really didn't have any solid idea of how to tack the boat. He just tried something new each time, hoping he would figure it out and get it right (it turned out that someone had told him to do this -- see my many references about people who give one bad advice!)
I wrote a very detailed, 15-step method for tacking and gave it to him. He said he would read it and study it, and agreed to go out with me on one of the little 16.5' Catalinas to sort it out.
After reading the list, he politely canceled the sailing date.
He canceled s similar date with someone else.
Finally he said to me one day, "I just want to be the best sailor I can." I said, "Then go out with me and let's sort this out."
So we did, and I and my list of things to do were driving him crazy. Finally he said, "Just let me do it my way," and I said "OK."
Turned out he was doing everything right -- except for one thing: he didn't know where to start the tack. Somewhere in sail school he had not learned that (probably because instructors always prompted him -- too much "help"). So he would, say, have the wind nearly astern when he started the tack. Of course the boat would make a broad, slow turn, and it might end anywhere, including moving in a complete circle, ending where he had been before. If you don't tack with a plan, how will you know when to end it? Or he might not have had enough speed by the time he got to the "no-go" zone, and the boat would swing back over to starboard.
All I had to do was remind him of the "no go" zone, and explain that he should sail along, say, the starboard side, build up speed, spot where he wanted to end, move through the "no go" zone -- and stop the tack.
He did it perfectly the first time -- with no prompts. Then he did it perfectly three more times.
So then we expanded the concept to a controlled jybe, keeping the boom close to center so there wouldn't be a huge snap when the sail picked up the wind on the other side. Then he did THAT perfectly with no prompts.
So then we just sailed around, and he started calling all the moves very well: "prepare to tack," and I had to hustle to keep up with him, because he now knew exactly what he was doing. Acting as skipper and calling all the shots, sometimes he tacked and sometimes he jybed, getting it all right every single time.
Meanwhile, the wind shifted to northerly. Uh-oh! When the wind is from the north, to get into the marina you have to sail up a narrow north-south canal to get to the entrance. It certainly isn't impossible, but unless you have a motor, you have to make a series of short, quick tacks -- or run aground at a place where this man had been notorious for running aground.
No problem this time!. He took charge as skipper, executed the tacks crisply and accurately, turned into the club's basin, and expertly sailed the little boat into its slip. He told me what to do, when to do it, and used one sail, expertly managed, to get the boat home -- just as he had been doing most of the afternoon.
Give too many prompts, and you keep your crew member from learning. This person's problem with tacking is the most concrete and perfect example I can think of to demonstrate just how important it is to let anyone you're teaching to perform completely independently, even if you see them making a mistake.
If they make a mistake, discuss it *afterwards.* Give them a chance to practice it, and when they get to that point on the next attempt, put your hands over your mouth if you have to, but DO NOT PROMPT THEM OR GIVE THE CLUES. Just don't. Discuss it afterwards.
Even then, don't tell them what they did wrong. ASK them if they know what mistake they made. Give them time to think. Give them a chance to learn.
Go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boldlygosailing?skip_nax_wizard=true
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Why Sailing is not Like Driving a Car, No. 1
Two days ago I wrote about how a sailor and his two friends ended up in a lot of trouble, going way too fast to be able to control the boat in winds and waves much too big for the sails they had up (which included a giant asymmetrical spinnaker). The title of it is "Too Much Sail Up!"
Nothing like that ever happens in a car. Cars aren't moved around by wind, waves, and current. This is why we get speeding tickets -- because we have such effective ways to slow our cars down. In the article named above, Dick ended up in a very dangerous situation because sailboats don't have brakes -- and because no one else on the boat knew how to steer her well.
The problem is that most of the people who read this blog are going to end up in a situation somewhat like Dick's some day -- unless it's happened already. Even then, something just as dangerous could happen to us again. And, like Dick, as our enthusiasm and confidence grows, we'll start inviting other people to sail with us, including some people who perhaps have never sailed before or who have very litttle experience. We'll think "I know everything I need to know to get my boat and friends in safely," but it doesn't always work out that way. All the adults on your boat should learn some skill that can help in a pinch, even if it's just "tailing" the sheets as you change a tack, or steering for short distances.
I'm going to list some reasons sailing a boat is different than driving a car, and explain a few things I feel are important about those differences. This is important because people new to sailing will tend to think about sailing as they think about driving. It's important that they know the differences. I invite *anyone* who has a similar example comparing driving to sailing to send me an email at
Rakuflames@gmail.com
I know it can be hard to participate on this board and I want to fix that.
For now, please send only things you've noticed have to be done very differently on a sailboat than in a car. If it works well, we will open the blog up to other topics later. I have always wanted this board to be more interactive, and this may be one way to do it.
So here's some big difference between driving and sailing that occurred to me this morning. I hadn't really thought about this first one one before:
WHEN WE DRIVE, we drive in two dimensions. We're driving on what geometry calls a two-dimensional plane. No matter where we go, unless the car becomes airborne in an accident, we only have to deal with flat surfaces. We don't have to worry about whether the keel is going to catch on something. We don't have to worry about whether a mast is going to hit something. Length ("Are we there yet, Daddy? Are we there?") is an issue. Width (is that oncoming truck crossing the center line?) is an issue. But we don't have to worry about what is under or over us.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, we sail in three dimensions. We have to pay attention to what is above and below us as well as what is all around us. Driving is like moving over a long piece of paper. Sailing is like moving through a very large tube.
WHEN WE DRIVE, it's very clear where our car is supposed to be. This makes both our car and other people's cars much more predictable than boats.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, except in rare circumstances, there are no "lanes" on the water when sailing. Even when in a channel, often there's no hard and fast rule about which side of the channel to be on. I try to stay to the starboard side of the channel when I can, but if a section of channel is "shoaling," or starting to fill up with sand, I may have to move more to center or even port side of the channel so my keel won't play tag with the bottom.
WHEN WE DRIVE, we have brakes.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, the closest thing we have to brakes is to put the boat in reverse. This takes several seconds. First you have to slow down in forward to a dead crawl. Then you have to shift into neutral, and then into reverse. The time we're most likely to do this is while docking, and timing can be critical. Tricky judgments have to be made at that point, so we don't give the boat too much throttle in reverse, but enough to keep from hitting that big cement pier that's coming closer and closer to our bow. (Of course if you are bringing your boat in stern first, that's all changed. You're in reverse, and now you have to move your gear shift from reverse, to neutral, to forward.)
WHEN WE DRIVE, steering is simpler. Unless we're driving on a very slippery surface such as ice, steering is easy. There's a direct relationship between how much you turn the steering wheel on a car and exactly how far that car turns. That's why we can change lanes safely as well as parallel park without causing a traffic jam. It's very clear when to stop a turn, and the car straightens out immediately. That's because the car has traction.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, we don't want traction. We want the boat to glide as effortlessly through the water as possible. The things that can give us traction in the water, such as barnacles and other crud on the hull, are bad, and we work hard to get rid of them.
In addition, because of lack of traction on a sailboat, deciding when to end a turn is trickier. We may spot a point on the land that we want to be the end of our turn, but we have to stop turning the wheel or pushing the tiller before we get to that point because the boat glides with no traction. It will continue to turn after we have "centered up" the wheel or tiller.
That's a very short and incomplete list of some of the important differences. Why waste blog space on it? If you're going to sail with beginners, you have to lead them past that stage where they're clueless to a point where they can seamlessly step up to their assignment and know how to do the job. If you have to go up to the bow to do something difficult like changing a sail, the boat has to be under control by a helmsman who understands the differences between driving a car and piloting a boat.
And unless you train them well, beginners will look to their driving skills to help them out. While there's some overlap, the differences are important and have to be acknowledged.
Go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boldlygosailing?skip_nax_wizard=true
Nothing like that ever happens in a car. Cars aren't moved around by wind, waves, and current. This is why we get speeding tickets -- because we have such effective ways to slow our cars down. In the article named above, Dick ended up in a very dangerous situation because sailboats don't have brakes -- and because no one else on the boat knew how to steer her well.
The problem is that most of the people who read this blog are going to end up in a situation somewhat like Dick's some day -- unless it's happened already. Even then, something just as dangerous could happen to us again. And, like Dick, as our enthusiasm and confidence grows, we'll start inviting other people to sail with us, including some people who perhaps have never sailed before or who have very litttle experience. We'll think "I know everything I need to know to get my boat and friends in safely," but it doesn't always work out that way. All the adults on your boat should learn some skill that can help in a pinch, even if it's just "tailing" the sheets as you change a tack, or steering for short distances.
I'm going to list some reasons sailing a boat is different than driving a car, and explain a few things I feel are important about those differences. This is important because people new to sailing will tend to think about sailing as they think about driving. It's important that they know the differences. I invite *anyone* who has a similar example comparing driving to sailing to send me an email at
Rakuflames@gmail.com
I know it can be hard to participate on this board and I want to fix that.
For now, please send only things you've noticed have to be done very differently on a sailboat than in a car. If it works well, we will open the blog up to other topics later. I have always wanted this board to be more interactive, and this may be one way to do it.
So here's some big difference between driving and sailing that occurred to me this morning. I hadn't really thought about this first one one before:
WHEN WE DRIVE, we drive in two dimensions. We're driving on what geometry calls a two-dimensional plane. No matter where we go, unless the car becomes airborne in an accident, we only have to deal with flat surfaces. We don't have to worry about whether the keel is going to catch on something. We don't have to worry about whether a mast is going to hit something. Length ("Are we there yet, Daddy? Are we there?") is an issue. Width (is that oncoming truck crossing the center line?) is an issue. But we don't have to worry about what is under or over us.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, we sail in three dimensions. We have to pay attention to what is above and below us as well as what is all around us. Driving is like moving over a long piece of paper. Sailing is like moving through a very large tube.
WHEN WE DRIVE, it's very clear where our car is supposed to be. This makes both our car and other people's cars much more predictable than boats.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, except in rare circumstances, there are no "lanes" on the water when sailing. Even when in a channel, often there's no hard and fast rule about which side of the channel to be on. I try to stay to the starboard side of the channel when I can, but if a section of channel is "shoaling," or starting to fill up with sand, I may have to move more to center or even port side of the channel so my keel won't play tag with the bottom.
WHEN WE DRIVE, we have brakes.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, the closest thing we have to brakes is to put the boat in reverse. This takes several seconds. First you have to slow down in forward to a dead crawl. Then you have to shift into neutral, and then into reverse. The time we're most likely to do this is while docking, and timing can be critical. Tricky judgments have to be made at that point, so we don't give the boat too much throttle in reverse, but enough to keep from hitting that big cement pier that's coming closer and closer to our bow. (Of course if you are bringing your boat in stern first, that's all changed. You're in reverse, and now you have to move your gear shift from reverse, to neutral, to forward.)
WHEN WE DRIVE, steering is simpler. Unless we're driving on a very slippery surface such as ice, steering is easy. There's a direct relationship between how much you turn the steering wheel on a car and exactly how far that car turns. That's why we can change lanes safely as well as parallel park without causing a traffic jam. It's very clear when to stop a turn, and the car straightens out immediately. That's because the car has traction.
BUT WHEN WE SAIL, we don't want traction. We want the boat to glide as effortlessly through the water as possible. The things that can give us traction in the water, such as barnacles and other crud on the hull, are bad, and we work hard to get rid of them.
In addition, because of lack of traction on a sailboat, deciding when to end a turn is trickier. We may spot a point on the land that we want to be the end of our turn, but we have to stop turning the wheel or pushing the tiller before we get to that point because the boat glides with no traction. It will continue to turn after we have "centered up" the wheel or tiller.
That's a very short and incomplete list of some of the important differences. Why waste blog space on it? If you're going to sail with beginners, you have to lead them past that stage where they're clueless to a point where they can seamlessly step up to their assignment and know how to do the job. If you have to go up to the bow to do something difficult like changing a sail, the boat has to be under control by a helmsman who understands the differences between driving a car and piloting a boat.
And unless you train them well, beginners will look to their driving skills to help them out. While there's some overlap, the differences are important and have to be acknowledged.
Go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boldlygosailing?skip_nax_wizard=true
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Too Much Sail Up!
I heard about a sailor the other day who, as they say, ended "up to his neck in alligators." I'll call him "Dick."
Dick had taken a several-day sailing trip with a couple of friends who had sailed some with him before but who didn't have a lot of experience yet.
Dick was the person at the helm. they were sailing with an asymmetrical spinnaker out. An asymmetrical spinnaker flies to either the port or starboard side of the boat, not out in front while running downwind, as a symmetrical spinnaker is used.
Well, Dick didn't pay full attention to what we call "rising conditions." Both the winds and the waves were picking up. All of a sudden his boat took off, racing on the overpowered spinnaker. The boat was out of control.
So now he had some decisions to make -- who does what? (Remember my article "Ten Minutes to Prepare?") Part of deciding who will do what is making sure that the person will know how to execute his or her designated task. Unfortunately, Dick is an optimist and did not anticipate this change in conditions. He also didn't assign tasks ahead of time, and he didn't train those people for their assignments.
But I know what the BIG thing is that went wrong for Dick -- he's a helm hog. He doesn't want to share the helm. Because of that, he did not have a skilled backup helmsman.
When he found himself overpowered, he had to go up to the bow in rough seas and douse that great big sail, keeping it under control and out of the water (having that sail go into the water would have been extremely dangerous. It could have pulled the boat over and then under like a submarine.) He had two relatively inexperienced people back in the cockpit, one of them on the helm. The person on the helm couldn't hold a steady course with the increased wind and waves, and who could blame him? You need to have someone else who can take the helm, but you have to teach that person and give him or her time to practice. Otherwise your backup helmsman is going to have a hard time. You have to share the helm if you're going to have an adequate backup helmsman in a pinch.
Dick called out instructions, but the new helmsman either didn't understand the instructions or couldn't execute them. It could have been a combination of both. In any case, they ended up with a line in the water AND wrapped around the rudder. When the people in the cockpit realized they couldn't steer, they started the engine. That is only a good choice if the helmsman and crew are certain that there are ... no lines in the water. The line then very efficiently wrapped itself around the propeller as well.
Again, this is a problem resulting from poor crew training and lack of time doing important things on the boat, what a friend of mine calls "time over water" (and not just as a passenger). There are extremely directive skippers out there, who give so many detailed instructions that the crewmember is just an extension of the skipper, doing no thinking for himself (picking a sex). The more prompts you give as a skipper, the less your crew member will actually learn.
Your crew has to practice these things under calm conditions, and "checking for lines in the water" needs to be drilled into everyone's head before they go *anywhere* near that engine -- in fact, all the time. That line wrapped itself around the rudder without any help from the engine. If you're going to take beginners out on your boat, you have a responsibility to teach them those basic things. If something happens, starting the engine is a very reasonable thing to do. They need to know how to do it safely.
He had to cut the spinnaker lines and let it drift away, but all's well that ends well. The skipper also had to go over the side to untangle that line from the rudder and propeller. That's not so good; he had to leave his boat for the water with crew on board who were already struggling. Again, all's well that ends well.
BUT:
You can avoid a lot of this by discouraging a casual attitude toward sailing on your boat. Make sure that your crew knows that it can be a little dangerous. Make sure they truly know how to perform the tasks you're going to assign them. Teach them patiently and give them a chance to practice.
I was on the sail school's safety boat one day when the students were learning to dock (those of us on the safety boat call that "target practice.") Each student boat made pass after pass, and we could hear the instructors giving tips and encouragement to their students. If the students were doing the docking, they should have been giving the directions to the teacher and other student, but each time, it was the teacher speaking.
Then one of the boats approached. I looked at the instructor, and she had her hands over her mouth! One student was in charge of the docking with the other student crewing. The student did a great job. Then they made another pass, and the other student executed the "mock dock." He did a great job too, and the teacher still had her hands over her mouth.
Hats off to her. She knows that unless those students can dock the boat without any prompting from her, they can't dock the boat. That's what you should do, too. If you want your crew to be able to tack the boat without your help, put one of them on the helm and one of them on the sheets -- and then zip your lips.
And for heaven's sake, don't be a helm hog. One day it could be your life on the line.
Go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boldlygosailing?skip_nax_wizard=true
Dick had taken a several-day sailing trip with a couple of friends who had sailed some with him before but who didn't have a lot of experience yet.
Dick was the person at the helm. they were sailing with an asymmetrical spinnaker out. An asymmetrical spinnaker flies to either the port or starboard side of the boat, not out in front while running downwind, as a symmetrical spinnaker is used.
 |
Asymmetrical spinnaker deployed on port side
Source for photo: http://www.yagersails.com/spinnaker.html |
As you can see, that's a lot of sail. Now, there are some basic rules about sails.
- The heavier the weather for which the sail is designed, the heavier and stiffer the fabric will be. My ATN Gale Sail is only tricky to attach to the roller furler because the fabric is so stiff. But because it is stiff, I can make that sail completely flat, something you want in higher winds.
- The higher the wind, the smaller you want your sails to be. This is why mainsails can be reefed.
- The higher the wind, the stronger you want that sail fabric to be, so it can take the extra wind pressure without ripping.
- The higher the wind, the flatter you want the sail to be. A big belly in a sail catches a lot more wind than a hard, flat sail. Look at the belly in that picture above -- wowsa!
Well, Dick didn't pay full attention to what we call "rising conditions." Both the winds and the waves were picking up. All of a sudden his boat took off, racing on the overpowered spinnaker. The boat was out of control.
So now he had some decisions to make -- who does what? (Remember my article "Ten Minutes to Prepare?") Part of deciding who will do what is making sure that the person will know how to execute his or her designated task. Unfortunately, Dick is an optimist and did not anticipate this change in conditions. He also didn't assign tasks ahead of time, and he didn't train those people for their assignments.
But I know what the BIG thing is that went wrong for Dick -- he's a helm hog. He doesn't want to share the helm. Because of that, he did not have a skilled backup helmsman.
When he found himself overpowered, he had to go up to the bow in rough seas and douse that great big sail, keeping it under control and out of the water (having that sail go into the water would have been extremely dangerous. It could have pulled the boat over and then under like a submarine.) He had two relatively inexperienced people back in the cockpit, one of them on the helm. The person on the helm couldn't hold a steady course with the increased wind and waves, and who could blame him? You need to have someone else who can take the helm, but you have to teach that person and give him or her time to practice. Otherwise your backup helmsman is going to have a hard time. You have to share the helm if you're going to have an adequate backup helmsman in a pinch.
Dick called out instructions, but the new helmsman either didn't understand the instructions or couldn't execute them. It could have been a combination of both. In any case, they ended up with a line in the water AND wrapped around the rudder. When the people in the cockpit realized they couldn't steer, they started the engine. That is only a good choice if the helmsman and crew are certain that there are ... no lines in the water. The line then very efficiently wrapped itself around the propeller as well.
Again, this is a problem resulting from poor crew training and lack of time doing important things on the boat, what a friend of mine calls "time over water" (and not just as a passenger). There are extremely directive skippers out there, who give so many detailed instructions that the crewmember is just an extension of the skipper, doing no thinking for himself (picking a sex). The more prompts you give as a skipper, the less your crew member will actually learn.
Your crew has to practice these things under calm conditions, and "checking for lines in the water" needs to be drilled into everyone's head before they go *anywhere* near that engine -- in fact, all the time. That line wrapped itself around the rudder without any help from the engine. If you're going to take beginners out on your boat, you have a responsibility to teach them those basic things. If something happens, starting the engine is a very reasonable thing to do. They need to know how to do it safely.
He had to cut the spinnaker lines and let it drift away, but all's well that ends well. The skipper also had to go over the side to untangle that line from the rudder and propeller. That's not so good; he had to leave his boat for the water with crew on board who were already struggling. Again, all's well that ends well.
BUT:
You can avoid a lot of this by discouraging a casual attitude toward sailing on your boat. Make sure that your crew knows that it can be a little dangerous. Make sure they truly know how to perform the tasks you're going to assign them. Teach them patiently and give them a chance to practice.
I was on the sail school's safety boat one day when the students were learning to dock (those of us on the safety boat call that "target practice.") Each student boat made pass after pass, and we could hear the instructors giving tips and encouragement to their students. If the students were doing the docking, they should have been giving the directions to the teacher and other student, but each time, it was the teacher speaking.
Then one of the boats approached. I looked at the instructor, and she had her hands over her mouth! One student was in charge of the docking with the other student crewing. The student did a great job. Then they made another pass, and the other student executed the "mock dock." He did a great job too, and the teacher still had her hands over her mouth.
Hats off to her. She knows that unless those students can dock the boat without any prompting from her, they can't dock the boat. That's what you should do, too. If you want your crew to be able to tack the boat without your help, put one of them on the helm and one of them on the sheets -- and then zip your lips.
And for heaven's sake, don't be a helm hog. One day it could be your life on the line.
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Freighters are the Big Boys and They Can Smash You Up
Correction: I said below that the sailboat was not found to be at fault. That has not been decided yet. The decision reported here was made by the Washington State Department of Transportation. They looked only at what their ferry captain and crew did. The Coast Guard will look at both boats' actions, and probably assign fault to both, since the sailor acknowledged paying too much attention to his radar at the time.
Some time ago I put up a
short-term entry about how I was booted off of Cruisers and Sailing Forum
because I said things others didn’t agree with. Those other posters got rude and snarky,
Over and over since then it’s
turned out that the things I said that were sneered at – turned out to be true.
When the incident linked a little below (second link), that of a Washington State Ferry sinking a sailboat, was first reported, I
suggested that the ferry captain might be at fault. Well, there are
several professional ship’s captains on that forum, all of whom took my comment personally. I was told what excellent watches all commercial ships always keep.
Well, maybe not, because then
there’s the example below. I could be wrong, but I don’t believe this
particular freighter kept an adequate watch:
(I hope there were no live-aboards in that marina, and no pets aboard ...)
Then I had the temerity to
say that no matter what the COLREGS say, sailboats would be smart to steer
clear of big freighters and cruise ships. Then EVERYONE got in an uproar. It
was yet another deliberately provoking poke at commercial captains (in their view), and it gave
horrible advice to sailors (in their view). Nothing
but chaos would follow (in their view).
Well, now the Washington
ferry/sailboat collision has been investigated, and the ferry captain and crew
have been found to be at fault. They must all go through retraining on keeping
a good watch. I didn't see any mention of attributing any blame to the sailboat, which almost always happens -- almost always, both boats are found to be at fault to one degree or another.
The powers that be on The Forum seemed to
think I said the things I said in order to be confrontational, but the truth is
that we are all responsible for our responses to what we perceive as
provocations. We’re also responsible for our perceptions.
Your common sense, and that still small
voice in the pit of your stomach hollering “Don’t do that!!!” are your FRIENDS. Meanwhile, strangers can give you really bad advice for all sorts of reasons. The more invested they are in being "the one who is right," the further they may go and the harder they may work to convince you that their misinformation is the best sailing advice you'll ever be given.
As for the sailor in the Washington collision,
thankfully, he survived. He also apparently had the right of way, but his boat is at the bottom
of the channel, and he didn’t have to survive that collision. He was very
lucky.
Here’s a video of a collision
I’ve put up before, one where the sailboat was at fault. I’m going to point out
something I didn’t mention the last time I put this video up: pay close attention to
the sails on the sailboat (it has a shocking pink spinnaker). You’ll see that they lose their shape. In all
likelihood, that sailboat slowed down as it crossed the freighter’s path. Maybe
the freighter blocked the wind, but an experienced racer would have spotted
that coming. More likely, the freighter distorted wind flow in some way the
helmsman on the sailboat didn’t anticipate. (This can happen under bridges, also.) Either way, the result was
devastating for the sailboat. You can hear three of the five warning horn
blasts the freighter gave:
Give way to freighters. Just
stay out of their way. Do it early, and make it as obvious as possible (in
other words, make a big turn, not a small course correction). They move fast,
and you’ll soon be on your intended course again.
Whether the stone hits the
pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, it’s going to be bad for the pitcher.
Don’t play “chicken” with freighters.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
A Tale of Two Sailors
The other day, I spoke with two different sailors about two different issues. Neither of them are close friends of mine.
Person A greeted me cordially and then went about his business. Later on I ran into him, and we chatted about several things. This ended with a discussion about the very clever way he has rigged his mainsail halyard to make it easier to pull, using blocks. He calls it his "geezer halyard." He showed me exactly how he made it. He made sure I got safely on and off his boat, showed me how it was all set up, and let me try the halyard myself (easy with one hand -- I hope to have an article about it shortly, because it's not only "geezers" who have bad shoulders or backs).
Then there was Person B. I had sought out this person's advice because I respected his expertise. I did not know him well.
To my surprise, every single sentence I started got cut off in mid-stream without being finished. The conversation was immediately derailed to some thought that what I had said had triggered in his mind. The observations were always negative, and the comments always condescending. I was there to gather information, while he was there to prove that he knew more (uh -- no contest -- could we please move on?). This person still has no idea of what I know and do not know, what I have and have not done, and, I am quite certain, thinks he knows a great deal more about me as a sailor than he actually does. In fact the interchange ended with some really bad advice, that "with the kind of sailing I do" (something we didn't discuss) I "don't even need a chart plotter. Just use your cell phone."
Really? I should cross Florida Bay using a cell phone to navigate? I don't think so! There really isn't any cell phone reception out there. But we didn't discuss my intention to sail to the Tortugas one day.
So what was going on?
Well, both people wanted validation for their knowledge and expertise. Don't we all? One person has my renewed respect. He talked to me in a friendly and encouraging way. He has in fact done this since I first started sailing. We have never socialized outside the club, but he has been unfailingly supportive. He's never blown smoke up my skirt, and I came out of this exchange feeling validated as well. This very experienced man thought I was worth his finite time. He was patient and waited to see whether I understood. We both participated in that discussion and demonstration. Hopefully all of you will soon benefit from his generosity of spirit and have great pictures of his "geezer halyard," too. He got his validation from helping out someone with less experience than him.
In my opinion, the second person was so interested in getting validation that he lost track of the conversation. I would say something and he would actually say virtually the same thing not five minutes later, presenting it as something he was sure I didn't know. For instance, I pointed out that celestial navigation will not be a lot of use if caught in a hurricane. Not two minutes later he explained to me that one can't use celestial navigation in a hurricane. He simply was not hearing anything I had to say. He has walked away from our "conversation" remembering only what he thought up, because the only reason he listened to me was to find a new tangent to redirect the conversation to. Those new conversations always included assumptions (big assumptions) that I didn't know very basic things, followed by condescension. He got his validation by looking down his nose at someone else.
I'm not passing that cell phone "advice" on to you. Do NOT rely on a cell phone for navigation. It can be a backup, but you can't count on getting a signal. For instance, I know as a fact that I will get no cell phone signal off the coast of Venice, but the entrance into Venice Inlet is tricky and you need accurate information, and you may need it rapidly.
And there's the "smoke up your skirt" test: I don't know another sailor who would recommend a cell phone over a chart plotter. But it was a great put-down. The more important the advice you're being given is, the more necessary it is to double-check it.
Standard disclaimer applies: I'm not disparaging charts here, and I encourage people to use both charts and chart plotters. I encourage people to do things like put Navionics on their cell phones. Just don't *count* on it to be there when you have to make a five-second decision about where the sand bar is, because that might be exactly when you "drop carrier."
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Tuesday, November 12, 2013
My Current Storm Strategy
"Climbing (sailing) is like fun, only different."
Tom Pattey, Scottish ice climber
Tom Pattey, Scottish ice climber
When I
first started sailing, I had a storm strategy. That’s good; everyone who sails
should have a storm strategy.
My first plan
(just avoid storms) was completely unrealistic (in two ways). That’s bad. See
my three-part entry, “Out of the Bathtub!” That wasn’t even a storm – just more
wind and waves than typical. We were in 5’ waves, and I was completely
unprepared. I noticed on the news tonight that 8’ waves are predicted on the Gulf
tonight. There’s nothing in the visible observation of local weather to suggest
this. Locally, it’s cloudy with occasional light drizzle. However, to the north
of us a cold front is moving south. I’m guessing now, but wondering if maybe
north of here, weather is just pushing waves southward. The weather report
didn’t give wave direction, and I haven’t checked yet.
It doesn’t
really matter, because both weather and weather-related events, such as waves,
can’t always be predicted (see my entry “Storm!”, where a significant storm
seemingly came out of nowhere.)
In my first
wind-and-wave event, I was woefully unprepared, particularly because of my
reefing system that was so inadequate and dangerous that it couldn’t be safely
used. That led to a cascade of ever-worsening events.
My second storm strategy
was “just drop all the sails and motor.” That is also a significantly flawed
strategy in my opinion.
First, my
first sailboat had an outboard engine. In the waves we had it would have been
impossible to run the engine because the engine would have kept coming out of
the water, denying it cooling. On my next boat, the engine proved to be
completely undependable. Now, with a dependable engine, I need to protect it. I
don’t want to operate it if the boat heels more than 10º, because after 10º the
oil pump cannot adequately pump oil through the engine.
The reality
is that a sail plan in a really significant storm can’t and won’t be that
simple, and it partly depends on your individual boat as well as your
experience, and your experience with that boat.
For
instance, my boat is particularly sensitive to being in balance -- that is,
having the size of the headsail and the size of the mainsail matched so they
work well together without allowing the boat to become overpowered (too much
sail up for the conditions). I discussed this today with someone who has the
same boat I do but vastly more experience, and he agrees.
For my boat, the hull shape is important. Its
fat stern tapering to skinny bow makes the boat “bow tender.” In other words, the
bow is particularly sensitive to wind and waves compared to some other boats.
Now, my
friend already knows what I’m going to mention next. I’m still sorting it out
because I haven’t been in a storm in this boat in some time and have learned a
lot about how she handles since then. The first step for me would be to see
where the coast is. If it’s close (I’m largely a coastal cruiser), getting away
from or staying away from the coast has to be a top priority. You have to look
at the chart closely and account for all possible obstacles, not just the shore
itself.
The next
concern will be how the hull goes through the biggest and most common waves.
Unfortunately, waves don’t march like well-disciplined little sailors. While
most may come from one direction, there will be contrary ones, and size will also vary. They are the
concern of the helmsman. Right now, the current trend should be studied. In
shallower water, the waves will be more confused and harder or impossible to
predict. But you’re going to get out of shallow water as fast as you can. :)
Once a tentative point of
sail has been chosen (based on conditions, not destination – destination
sailing is over for now) – it’s time to set the sails to help the boat through
those waves as smoothly as possible. Wind direction has to be considered. You
should have a good idea of where to put your sails, but try tweaking them for
best result. “Harden them up” – that is, do things to take as much belly out as
possible, such as tightening your outhaul (pulls the sail back toward the end
of the boom) and the leech line (tightens the leech of the sail and helps take
curve out of it). Why do that? Because a curved sail catches more wind than a
flat one.
If you have a traveler, check
its position. You probably won’t want to be on a close reach (often called
“beating” with good reason), but you probably don’t want to be broadside to the
winds either. Someplace in between will probably be best for the winds, but it
may have to be a compromise between the wind and the hull, as the waves may not
be from the same direction as the wind. You may want your traveler halfway between
center and the end of the lee side. That gives you the option of using the
traveler to quickly spill wind out of the mainsail in a gust. Simply release
the upwind traveler line and let the traveler move all the way to the end. The
sail will instantly become less efficient, and that’s exactly what you want.
Tweak your headsail as well.
If this sail has height to it (my ATN Gale Sail is fairly short), you might
want to use the position of the sheet leads to “twist” the top of the headsail.
While sometimes undesirable, it is one strategy for depowering the headsail,
because wind will spill ineffectively out of that twisted top.
The headsail can also be
hardened up, by pulling the working sheet as tightly as possible. Many
headsails have leech lines. Try to get forward to tighten that before any
significant wind hits your boat.
All of this is a matter of
judgment and balance. You will have your hardest time with it in your first
storm, because you will have to test everything as you go, and make a number of
adjustments. In subsequent storms you’ll know much more about what works on
your boat.
Is this my final storm strategy? Of course not.
Should you copy it? Don't be silly -- I haven't tried it yet. I'm absolutely certain it won't all work equally well. I have done all these things, but not all at the same time in a storm.
I'll post when I've done that. It's Florida. Inevitably, it will be tested.
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Sunday, November 10, 2013
Make Your Own Nautical Lamp
"If a man [or a woman] is to be obsessed by
something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything,
perhaps a bit better than most."
E. B. White
something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything,
perhaps a bit better than most."
E. B. White
One of the more complicated lifestyle
things to manage on a sailboat is interior lighting. My boat has old
incandescent dome lights. The bulbs themselves give off a yellow-toned light,
and the plastic domes over them have yellowed as well. They’re not very bright, and they
turn on and off by twisting the dome. Since they’re old, they can be hard to
turn on and off. Two just don’t work any more.
I’m exploring what to replace
them with, but meanwhile I was faced with the reality that I needed better
lighting now. So I tried dome-style work lights. I put an LED bulb in one and a
fluorescent bulb in the other. I clipped them to the overhead handholds.
They both worked well, except
that the clips holding them up kept slipping. Every time they fell, the domes
dented more until they both looked like they’d been run over by trucks. They
dented if they fell on to a settee cushion. I think they dented if someone
sneezed. They had been ugly to start with and now they were truly awful.
So then I remembered old
charts I had for another project. I had much more chart paper than I would need
for that project.
Here’s the final result:
By using a slightly larger
dome with protective bales, as well as the extra strength given by the paper
wrapped around the aluminum, so far they have not dented at all. The bales
improve the rigidity of the dome remarkably.
To make these yourself,
here’s what you’ll need:
* Aluminum work light:
I recommend a larger one with two bales that help protect
the aluminum from denting.
* Old charts, enough to cover
both sides of the work light (one large chart was more than enough to cover two
work lights)
* Sand paper (I used 150 grit)
* Elmer’s glue
* Water
* Cup or glass
* Plate or wide bowl
* Scissors
* X-acto knife with sharp blade
* Damp paper towels
* Brush
Time needed: about two hours
First, set the bales aside
and sand the aluminum cover very lightly, inside and out. Wipe the aluminum
down with a damp paper towel.
Look at your collection of
old charts, or ask friends. I had no trouble finding some.
First, pick a circular section
about 5” in diameter that looks interesting. Cut a small area in the center,
and TEAR the outsize edge of your circle. The circle doesn’t have to be perfect
and will look better if it is not. Torn edges will absorb the glue better, and
layer under other pieces of chart more seamlessly.
Lay that circle in the center
of the inside of the work light. It will not lie flat yet. Cut or tear from the
outside edge toward the center in several places until this piece of chart does
lie nearly flat. (You may find that tearing all the way from the outside edge
to the center in several places may work best.) This is the tightest curve,
except for the lip, that you will have to cover.
First piece, after it’s been torn and fitted, glued on
Mix the glue in a plate or
wide, shallow bowl, about 50/50 with water. Soak your piece of chart in the
glue/water mixture for at least 30 seconds, until the chart becomes softer and
more pliable. This takes a little while because most charts are lightly coated
to make them slightly water-resistant, but they will soak up the glue and
water.
Lay your first piece of chart
so that the center hole lines up with the bulb socket. You may need to trim
that more. Try to trim it to the edge as well as possible. It does not have to
be absolutely perfect as the bulb will block that edge. If you go too far,
don’t worry – you can always patch it.
Chart paper, soaking in glue and water before
application
As you look at your maps,
study them and consider what sections you want to use. I found that my chart
had notes written in on them and I wanted to make sure those pencil notes went
on the lamp and that they were not later covered up by other pieces of chart.
Likewise, I felt that large expanses of water were boring, and used the most
detailed parts of the chart (one large chart covered two large floodlights with
pieces left over). The chart I used is of the northern coast of the Gulf of
Mexico.
One several areas on this chart with notes made by the old
owner. I made sure these sections
went on to the lamp. Also note the quality of the torn edge. It helps with glue absorption
and results in a smoother surface on the finished lamp.
went on to the lamp. Also note the quality of the torn edge. It helps with glue absorption
and results in a smoother surface on the finished lamp.
Continue to tear, not cut, your chart pieces, roughly, to fit but also overlap. Consider what is already on the lamp that you want to leave exposed, such as the penciled notes on the piece of chart above.
Don’t try to line the chart pieces
up so the chart can be read. You can’t force a flat surface to cover a curved
one without considerable distortion. When I look at my finished lamps, they
give the impression of a continuous chart, not what it really is -- bits and
pieces that have been crazy-quilted together.
As you tear your chart
pieces, you will have to continue to break up larger pieces so you can overlap
them slightly, so they can follow the curves of the lamp. Test your pieces by
laying them where you want them to be placed so you can make any needed
adjustments. See the next two pictures:
Example of a piece I tore to cover an
oddly-shaped bare space
If you find pieces that
aren’t laying flat, work those spots gently with your fingertips. You’ll find
the chart paper softens more and that you can mold it to the curves. You may
have to tear a slit in a piece to get it
to lie flat as well. You can also apply more glue/water with a brush after you've placed the piece on the aluminum.
The piece previously shown, torn again to cover
the inside
curve of the lamp without bubbling or buckling.
Have a cup of water handy deep enough to hold your brush in case you have to leave the project, so your brush does not dry out and get hard.
As you approach the edge of the work light,
experiment with several shapes and sizes before covering the rim. This is the
place where the chart paper is most likely to become “lumpy.” Soak those pieces
well, and go back and check the edge periodically as you continue to work on the
lamp, as creases and bumps can appear several minutes after the chart paper
appears to have been laid flat. Add more water or glue and water to those
pieces with the brush as necessary. Pieces that wrap around the edge will be
more likely to buckle and will require periodic checking for lifted edges.
The inside of the lamp is now nearly covered
Continue around the outside
of the work light as you did the inside.
When the work light is
completely covered, dip the brush in the glue/water mixture and coat the entire
lamp with the glue/water. Check the lamp carefully for small places where
aluminum is still exposed.
After you’re sure you have
covered every bit of aluminum, put the bales on. They will poke through the
paper easily. If you can’t see where the holes are, hold the work light up to a
light and you’ll be able to spot them. Put the bales on before the pieces of
chart paper dry.
After the lamp has dried for
24 hours, check it once more for small exposed spots of aluminum. Some of the
paper may have shrunk as it dried and fooled you. When completely covered with
all pieces completely dry, take the bales off and spray several coats of
sealant on the lamp, inside and out. You don’t want it damaged by a splash of
water.
Don’t use incandescent bulbs
in this lamp. Of the two bulbs I have tried, I prefer the LED bulb over the fluorescent one for this
purpose. The LED has a larger diameter (the bulb shown cost $39 about a year ago,
but it was worth it, and they last a very long time), and it gives off an even,
bright but soft light.
If you want, you can spray
paint the remaining exposed aluminum – the large spring clip used to position
the lamp, as well as the bales. For my lamps, I think off-white would look
best.
Another view of finished lamp, with LED bulb
I have had a few problems with these lights. First, the clip mechanism often works its way loose. Put Lock-Tite on the screw.
Second, although the smaller
work light dented if you sneezed without the protective bales, it also had an
on-off switch. The ones I covered do not have that, something I did not notice
until I had covered them both. I plan on putting rolling switches in the cords.
Third, the clips themselves
tend to slip off the best place for me to hang them from, the overhead
hand-holds. I solved this problem by putting a zip-tie through the two sides of
the clip above the handhold. I don’t pull it completely tight so I can move the
lamp if I need to. It’s not ideal, but right now I have these lights in
temporary placements. Once I have replaced the dome lights I’ll be able to
judge better where I want these lights placed. I may install dedicated hardware
for them, and once they have a permanent place, they can be unobtrusively
attached. I may aim them at the ceiling at either end of the cabin for diffused light.
I have more old charts left,
and I have another project in mind, but that probably won’t be posted for a
little while. Meanwhile, look around you. If you have a table lamp on your
boat, chart paper can update its look and make that table lamp look more as if
it belongs on a boat. If the surface of your table is in rough shape, you can
sand it, apply charts with varnish, and create an interesting table top. Use
multiple coats of varnish for things like table tops.
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