We just had a gear failure that should not have happened. Here is the story of how being lazy, not once, but three times, added up to a lot of work:
Laziness #1
Our present mainsail, bought in 2006, is just a tad longer on the foot than the old one. The result is that the sail cover is just a tiny bit too short and so leaves just an inch or so of the clew ring peeking out. We knew we should get the cover extended, but somehow we never got around to it.
Laziness #2
As an ex-sailmaker I know that the single biggest thing that you can do to make your sails last is to reduce the amount of sunlight they are exposed to. Consequently, we are absolutely diligent about putting the sail cover on as soon as we get into port. And normally, if we are not going to be sailing for a while, we remove all the sails and stow them, since at least some ultra-violet light (the agent of destruction) gets through even the best sail cover.
But last fall when we got to Charleston after our marathon summer, although we did remove the headsails, we somehow never got around to taking the main off. We were both dog tired and, after all, we were only going to be laid up for four months. And stowing and then re-bending the main, with its full battens, reef pennants and over 150-pounds of dry weight, is not a trivial task.
Laziness #3
We left Cape Lookout Harbor on a lovely morning motor sailing into a light wind out to the buoy off Cape Lookout Shoals where we squared off on a broad reach on a course for Cape Hatteras. At first we reached along having a lovely sail, but then, as so often happens when near shore, we hit a light patch. The breeze was supposed to fill in, so I started the engine but left the main up, which worked well and damped the roll.
Sure there were one or two resounding whacks as the sail inverted and then refilled as the boat rolled on a particularly awkward wave. But I reasoned that in just a few minutes we would be clear of the wave reflection area from the shoals and things would settle down. And dropping and hoisting Morgan’s Cloud’s mainsail is a good workout…a really good workout. So I left it up.
I know better. Normally I’m a holy terror for getting the sails down and furled the moment they flap. But it was such a lovely morning and the sea was going to get smoother in just a few minutes.
Full Batten Downside
Now a quick aside: I have had fully battened mainsails for the last 30 years and would not have a mainsail built any other way. The advantages are many including:
- Better sail shape.
- A longer life of better sail shape.
- Near automated flaking in lazy jacks.
- Easier reefing.
However, like almost every good thing on boats, there is a down side: The substantial weight of the battens added to that of the the sail, translates into more momentum, a lot more, when the sail slats. Add radial cut sails made from modern fabrics to low stretch sheets and halyards, and the impact loads can be really scary—much more than the same sail with three reefs in it will sustain in a gale—since there is almost no give in the system.
Punishment
On the third flap of the main, the stitching attaching the webbing through the clew ring let go. The same stitching that had got a bit more sun because we had not lengthened the sail cover. The same stitching that had got four more months of sun because we did not take the main off in Charleston. As so often happens on a boat, the failure was not because of one mistake, but rather the combined effect of several.
The failure was not a big problem. We just dropped the main and sailed with one reef when the wind did come up. But suppose we had been halfway across the Atlantic and the sail had torn right across when the foot slides came under load—quite possible and a very nasty repair at sea.
Penance
It seems somehow fitting that I had to spend at least 12 hours of very hard work hand stitching the clew ring back onto the sail through umpteen layers of very hard sail cloth—a lot more work than doing the above three things right in the first place. Yes, laziness does not pay, at least not at sea.
Comments
Do you have a story of neglecting a few seemingly small things that added up to a larger failure? Please leave a comment.
Jerry Levy May 8, 2012 at 11:23 am
Increased boat size and complexity encourages laziness – as your story makes clear. 150 lbs. is a lot for a crew of 2!
John May 8, 2012 at 11:49 am
Hi Jerry,
I would agree on size, but not complexity. “Morgan’s Cloud” is pretty simple, at least by modern standards.
The interesting thing is that in many ways I have actually find her easier to sail single and double handed than my old 45-foot boat. For example there is nothing like having a really stable platform under you. Further, if you don’t cram a bigger boat with too much stuff, it is much easier to work on because you have more space to get at things.
Of course the flip side is, as you point out, that all the gear is heavier and the loads higher.
Dave Benjamin May 8, 2012 at 1:19 pm
For situations where you have some sail constantly exposed, there are some self adhesive products that can be used for protection. Some will actually last quite a while. In any case it’s easy to renew. We like to use leather for additional protection on the clew and tack of cruising mains but’s it’s not absolutely necessary.
John May 8, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Hi Dave,
Good point. We have self-adhesive sun shields on our headsails and they have worked well. Of course the main is supposed to be covered by the sail cover when not in use. That is if the sail cover is long enough!
Dick Stevenson May 8, 2012 at 5:09 pm
John, I think it is a well kept secret how UV porous most main sail covers become after just a few years, particularly in the tropics. Many people are giving away years of use thinking their sail is protected when it is not. When we built our cover, we chose vinylized Sunbrella (it has some proprietorial name) which is completely opaque and, as an unforeseen bonus, completely waterproof. Definitely a bit bulkier and heavier, but not terribly so. Best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
John May 8, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Hi Dick,
Sounds good. Do you have any problems with mildew on the sail because of using a fabric that does not breath?
Dick Stevenson May 9, 2012 at 4:33 am
John, No mildew problems and it is a laminate sail. I suspect the reason is we (usually) put the sail away dry and that the cover itself does not leak, so no moisture gets in between times. The cover is also open on the boom end and has air that can circulate from the bottom, especially if we leave the 1/4 turns open. Putting away dry is harder here in England. We pulled into Whitby last night with damp sails/lines and, despairing of drying, put the cover on more like a fly than a wrap. Dick
Dan Kalinowski May 9, 2012 at 8:20 am
Having a sloop in Georgia and a ketch in Hawai’i, I prefer the ketch rig. Sails are smaller and easier to handle. Lazy? Maybe.
John May 11, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Hi Dan,
A good point about ketchs, although I have to say that having sailed both ketchs and cutters extensively, I prefer cutters, but these things are very subjective and both are good rigs for offshore work.
Paul Mills May 9, 2012 at 8:45 am
Hi John,
This is a timely article. When we commissioned Sakari the mast track was late arriving, and so we ended up with a better Harken one, however the cars stack higher than anticipated and about 10cm of our main has stuck out from the top of the lazy bag – for more than 2 seasons….. luckily we have not been in sunny places, but I think the time has now come for me to make an additional cover for the head of the sail. I will also ask for careful consideration when it goes in for a service at the end of this season….
Paul
Richard May 9, 2012 at 12:19 pm
This past fall, a fishing buddy and I planned a quick evening hitting the trout and redfish on the grass flats.. Being a slow, incoming tide, we took my Avon inflatable with 2hp Mariner.. Yeah, yeah, there was a slow leak we knew about but, as long as we grab the foot pump, what tha heck..
In our hurry to get off the trailer and out fishing, we forgot the pump in the trunk of the car.. Still, no big deal.. The reds were keeping our hands full and to pull off the flats just cause we were sitting lower and lower in the water—well, you can forget that..
An hour before dark we declared “Abondon Ship”.. Pulled the beer out of the cooler, yanked the engine off the transom, turned it upside down and put it in the cooler with the 4 reds that were keepers.. Grabbed the boat cushions and walked to the edge of the flats pulling the cooler with engine and reds and swam 50 yards across the channel, climbed up a dock and swam back for the boat, fishing poles, tackle and beer..
Lazy and neglectful..?? No way.. We were providing entertainment and comedy relief for the dozens of retirees that were watching while sitting on their condo porches.. After pulling the boat up on the dock 1 retiree shouted out, “If you guys were a Block Buster movie, I’d rent you twice..!!”.. We bowed and waved to everyone while they applauded..
P.S. The reds tasted like 50 to 1 gas..
John May 11, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Hi Richard L.
What a great story, thank you. I nearly fell off my seat laughing. The PS just makes it !
richard May 11, 2012 at 2:50 pm
there are two “elephants in the room” with this post john and they both relate to the same situation…i recognize all these because i have seen them before in my direct experiences…first one: “we were both dog tired” second: the self-admitted out-of-character laziness…advancing years spare none of us and forced me to switch from my beloved jeanneau sloop sidra to my current pocket cruiser sans sails and with the gasoline-fueled engine that runs me at 30 knots cruising speed with comparatively little effort except for the fuel bills…not suggesting you make the same type of switch, but some adjustments in your expectations of yourself under sail may be in the offing…my cue was i did not like the feelings of being dog tired, which were beginning to occur progressively more frequently…richard in tampa bay (m/v cavu’s skipper, formerly s/v sidra’s skipper)
John May 11, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Hi Richard,
A very good point. We still feel that we are strong enough to handle “Morgan’s Cloud” at 50 and 60 respectively, but there is no question that it gets harder every year. When the day comes that we no longer feel that this is the boat for us a motorboat may easily be the next step. We already motor more than we used to and I have never been one of those sailors that regard motorboats as the dark side.
RDE (Richard Elder) May 12, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Hi John,
Buy a nice beamy trawler style “long range cruiser” and motor it out to Bermuda and back and you will change your mind about what the dark side consists of!
John May 14, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Hi Richard,
I could not agree more since trawler yachts have never made any sense at all to me, at least for offshore work.
Having said that, good offshore power boats do exist. Although I would never be able to afford one of these, they represent a very smart way to go to sea in my view.
RDE May 14, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Hi John,
Didn’t think you were a Nordhaven type! For sure Steve Dashew has brilliantly re-invented the entire concept of voyaging under power. Is it applicable to an attainable budget? Not at the quality/strength/integrated design level that makes his boats exceptional.
And boaters in general (with the excepti0n of megabucks racers) are a conservative lot. My friend Kurt Hughes came up with a design concept for a 50′ lightweight catamaran motor yacht with long skinny displacement hulls and all accommodations on a single level that I massaged into a form that would be inexpensive to production build and extremely fuel efficient. Perfect boat for living aboard and coastal cruising the ICW or Pacific Northwest– even island hopping down island in the Caribbean. Ran it up the flagpole and not a single person saluted. “Not enough room compared to a 50′ motoryacht” and it “doesn’t look seaworthy like a trawler”.
(if anybody wants the brochure I’ll send it to you)
Hans May 12, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Hi John,
this goes a bit off topic, but with regard to a motorboat project we were briefly talking about when we met in Nuuk, i’d like to remind you of looking up Dieter’s website http://www.kaniva.de . His “Kaniva” is a really cool project and is scheduled to show up your side of the Atlantic next year. Yes, there are very suitable boats for aging sailors around, but we don’t let the old man in yet, do we ?
John May 14, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Hi Hans,
I followed up on your link after our chat last summer and was very impressed! If we ever did a motor boat she would look a lot like “Kaniva”.
Westbrook May 17, 2012 at 10:25 am
John–
When you first raised main this spring: Any birds’ nest? How about muddobbers?
John May 17, 2012 at 11:17 am
No. OK, I will bite. What the heck is a muddobber?
Westbrook May 17, 2012 at 2:52 pm
A muddobber (alternate spellings: mud dobber or mud dauber) is similar to a wasp (that’s the insect, not me and my Scotch ancestors). It builds a nest similar to that of a wasp, but made out of mud, which dries to hard dirt.
As you know–having been kind enough to help me remove the main last fall–I do take it off for the winter. A necessary step before mounting the winter cover.
But, after the main is bent on in the spring, Sea Devil sometimes sits at the pier without being taken out for a few weeks. Every few years a muddobber’s nest falls to the deck when I raise the main. Only found a bird’s nest in the main once: the birds prefer to nest inside the boom.
Here is the Ohio State University fact sheet on mud daubers:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2078.html