JonE forum posts in last 60 days

Yara my understanding of my Pantanaeius policy is that you don't need to renew the rig but if you don't then the mast and rigging are not insured.

this is all well and good, but I'm not sure what would happen if the rig came down offshore causing a total loss. I intend to replace the rig at 10 years.

Wouldn't happen to an Olin Stephens boat. Bloody long pointy keels. Shouldn't be allowed.

Sorry, i meant to address that to ECS.

Aldi had some 12v televisions recently...

Ramona you can get a "12v industrial pc" from Ali Express that will have ssd and run windows. I bought one that has built in serial and rs485 ports meaning NMEA0183.

Still a good idea to run some kind of 12v regulator upstream of it.

Raspberry Pi lost the plot somewhat with the later versions. They need 5.1 volts and north of 2 amps.

OK so this thread gets better and better. Chris your points 2 and 3 are borne out by the below:

i put the photos i took of my jib before and after pulling the backstay on through a program that calculates the curve.

Without backstay (more headsail luff tension more forestay sag) the deepest curve was at 38% - probably where I want it.

with the backstay on the deepest curve was at 44% - a huge difference, and contrary to my belief, backstay doesn't automatically make us point better.

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Jolene said..
Bringing the draft or camber in the sail forward usually helps the helm along with adding more twist especially in rough conditions when the boat is being tossed around,,, it ensures that some part of the sail has the correct angle of attack at any given time.
Draft aft gives a finer angle of attack to apparent wind , points higher but harder to steer .

This is it I think! I've started taking pictures upward from the deck. I reckon we've been oversheeted with the draft too far back. I'm going to try to bring the sheeting angle in to let us ease the sheet a little And get more camber, further forward.

I've been coaching novice helms and trying to get the settings right on my boat. Also noting Shaggy's comments on the Pogo in other thread.

It seems like the groove on my boat is super narrow. I think we're pinching too often.

There's only a touch of weather helm but it's my firm belief that the mast has too much rake in the neutral position.

What ways are there to get a more positive "groove" when the boat is on the wind? Slot wider or tighter? I can bring the sheeting angle in also.

all other things equal, does a more upright mast mean a narrower slot?

Also, I have the B&G analogue wind which is super-responsive and the apparent measurement (not derived) is pretty accurate. Should I be using that in addition to tell-tales and in preference to the windex?

I want to get my boat set up "by the numbers" i.e. halyards, sheets, cars, backstay etc marked up or referenced to marks on the boat/mast.

It seems to me that if we could consistently set the jib to a mark (as recommended in at least the Quantum Sails video) for wind strength we'd go faster, but I can't get away from the idea of wanting bowlines on the clew for safety/convenience. The idea being to use liquid tape to mark the sheet and have some numbers just in front of the primaries.

I know about marking the spreaders etc and will do that.

On race boats how is the jib sheet attached to the clew? I could just get some double braid made up with loops but then in the event of a bad wrap, for example, we'd be cutting.

Could be plug and play Boxing Day Cruise.

Would come with ECD cert I would think.

Cam, buy it and stick my name down for Hammo.

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Ramona said..

cammd said..
Does this seem cheap

yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/pogo-40-gte/340128

No. Very limited market.

About as much fun as you can have with your clothes on though.

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BGR said..
Hi again, and thanks for all the responses.
To add a little more information to my post: all of my anchoring is on sand in and around Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, and Pittwater. Nothing too extreme, and during the day the Danforth anchor has worked quite well.
However, I've never experienced a full 180-degree wind direction change while using it.

From the replies, it sounds like I'd be better off moving to a plough-style anchor and possibly running around 20 m of either 8 mm or 10 mm chain.
A quick Google suggests that 10 mm chain would add roughly 30-40 kg more weight than 8 mm over 20 m, which would be additional weight on the bow of my cat, along with a heavier anchor.
I already have a bow roller installed.
Thanks again for all the replies - they've been a great help.

Where are you? There's a number 5 Sarca Excel on facebook "Aussie Yachties Buy Sell Swap" for 200 bucks. It's queensland.

I had the same quandry, only got danforth with the boat.

asked a friend who is v. experienced, as i didnt like the idea of danforth overnight. He lent me a plough with a heavy bit of chain.

Problem is, overnight wind will likely drop to nothing while boat is moved in whatever direction the water moves, so even if you dig in, very likely the boat will creep slowly to another position then when it comes tight, just release the anchor from the bottom.

Stick all your chain together with the 8mm at the anchor end.

Have a look on gumtree for a decent plough or better (i realise there are much better options but ploughs are common)

queensland this is cheap!!!

www.gumtree.com.au/web/listing/boat-accessories-parts/1339537239

victoria: looks like it might be quite big

www.gumtree.com.au/web/listing/boat-accessories-parts/1339511200

I have hurt my back raising the anchor without a roller. As Gary says.

I plan to stick a bow roller onto a plank with some padding (maybe a bit of rubber) and then temporarily mount the plank (maybe just lash) on the foredeck when raising the pick - so i can "row" the anchor up rather than leaning out over the pulpit to raise it.

OK we shook a reef out again racing on Friday night.

I tell the helmswoman to be ready to "stab the boat up towards the wind" at the point we need the tension off and then bear off again quickly as soon as the luff has moved far enough.

As to the general discussion of downwind sailing, we put the bloody kite up!
With the small kite we were happy with 15 knots of breeze on the weekend but I wouldn't have wanted more. I'd like to fly it in 20 to get the hull to pop out of the water but 15 seems like our limit.
The tricky bit seems to be teaching wind awareness to people who haven't sailed dinghies.

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Quixotic said..

JonE said..
Was it the fridge, hardware, firmware or software?

In the end it was only the proximity of the compass to a conduit carrying 7 amps intermittently to the fridge compressor. Everything else was a red herring.

A current affair?

Was it the fridge, hardware, firmware or software?

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Ramona said..
Much more comfortable to keep the genoa and furl the mainsail sailing downwind in freshening conditions. As the wind continues to freshen, drop the main completely and then reduce the genoa.

Depends if your boat will surf. I tend to treat mine like a windsurfer - I want as much power as I can handle safely. If I can take off on a wave and beat 10 knots, I'm taking it.

I gotta say, we shook a reef out with the carbon main on the weekend. It has a bolt rope and it took more effort than the dacron main that's on slugs.

Have you sailed in the Med? It's great. If the answer's no, and you're still on the clock, maybe go and do a flotilla charter in Greece and or Croatia for a week or two each.

I've done a couple of flot charters and it's a great way to sample a few ports/anchorages in a short space of for relatively low outlay, the security of someone else to come on board and fix issues if required. The "lead boat" crew, who are paid employees of the company, i.e. Sunsail often have a ton of local knowledge.

There's usually a few hours downtime in the mornings that you could spend checking out brokerages, talking to other boat owners etc.

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garymalmgren said..
RE: Reefing Downwind
I don't like reefing downwind.
With the sails pressed against the shrouds or spreaders there is too much resistance to dropping the sail to the reef points.
You would have to go to the mast and physically pull the main down.

I usually point up or heave to as a matter of safety and ease on the rigging.
Some boats can't be reefed downwind.
gary

I found that there's a nice amount of resistance. If it gets too much, you just head up momentarily.
20 knots breeze minus the 7-8 knots we were doing through the water was a comfortable 12-15 apparent. If we'd headed up to windward and put a couple of knots headway in with the motor that would have been almost double the windspeed, four times the pressure.

Anyway, i just wanted to report back that having tried it in 20 knots, it works well.

The caveat is that we were 2-up with a good guy (former aviator) at the wheel. I'm not sure I'd trust my auto-pilot not to gybe in 20 knots with wind at 150 true.

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Quixotic said..
So, while one race is not definitive evidence, the 2025 Sydney Hobart started beating into decent size seas, putting boats (and crew) under some stress.

129 boats entered, 128 of which started, of which 35 retired from the race - 27.3 per cent of starters. Four of these listed hull or keel damage - a GP42, two TP52s and a Reichel Pugh Maxi 72.

There were 13 Beneteau in the race, six First 40s, two First 45s, two First 50s, a First 44.7, an Oceanis 47.3, and a 47.7. Of the 13 Beneteau, 3 retired (23.1 per cent - a bit lower than the average), two First 40s and one First 50. One for rigging issues, one for steering damage and one for medical issues. None listed hull or keel damage.

In IRC overall, 7 Beneteau finished 28th, 40th, 50th, 51st, 60th, 61st, 74th and in PHS overall 3 Beneteau finished 1st, 8th, 14th.

Good post. Facts and data.

Shaggy to answer your question, if I'm single-handed I always go out super-conservative pre-reefed at 2nd of three, and if it gets above 20 knots I'm ready to pull it down and motor home. Or downwind jib only.

this is in port phillip, and i have only one reef line rigged. The tack end is webbing with a stainless loop either side to the rams horns so a trip to the mast always.

I have a spare sheave in the boom and a length of ideal rope, and a spare clutch, so I think prior to sailing out of the heads I will fish a second reefing line and prior to heading out, always have 2 ready to go.

My boom has integral 22mm track along the top. What I would really like is 2 heavy duty cars on the boom to run the reefs through, but thats going to be a thousand bucks so....

No topper, race boat.

Every time I reef I think of the poor bastards doing it 100 feet up, out on the yards.

Ok we went out in a nice 8 knots today, all of a sudden lots of white horses behind us and a 20 knot seabreeze was in.

I went to the mast, kicked up the clutch on the way and pulled 2 reefs in, sheeted the main in to bring the boom inboard while I got sail ties in and reefing line in.

Only had to get the helmsman to head up a couple of times to take the pressure off.

No noise, no stress, no boom swinging all over the place.

Really pleased I heard about this, and had your feedback before trying it.

And they only fessed up when they got busted by a camera.... Should have been lobbed.

Ok folks, I went looking for some videos talking about reefing.
What I wanted to see was footage of people taking a reef in when it's howling, because on my boat which has a high boom and a very wide, open cockpit tidying up the reefed sail is difficult and bluntly hazardous. I'm not the world's tidiest sailor but it occurs to me that if it's howling windy you want your slabs tidied up nice and tight to avoid having a big bubble of sail just blow out and start flogging everywhere.

What I did find was a group of people advocating reefing off the wind, which is the opposite of what I was taught (RYA syllabus). This makes sense from a risk reduction perspective - no boom, sail, sheets flogging around but I cannot imagine trying to lash sail to my boom off wind in waves and a blow, it'd be bloody dangerous.

Thoughts and experiences please!