Login

Attainable Adventure Cruising

The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

Topics > Tips

Tips, Tricks & Thoughts:

Tips

  • Getting Ready for a Hurricane

    6 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    The North Atlantic heating up in the last week got me working on preparing our new-to-us J/109 for a strike.

    We have always added a backup pendant before expected winds of storm force or over, but in the past it was chain. Now, with a smaller boat and the availability of high-modulus rope, we are going with 1/2″ Dyneema 12-strand single braid. Spliced it up yesterday.

    Given that the break load is three times more than the boat weighs, it should be strong enough, but of course chafe is always the issue, more than strength.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Justifying Expensive Tools

    3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    The enjoyment of one’s tools is an essential ingredient of successful work

    Donald Knuth

    This quote makes me feel a lot better about blowing the price of a nice second hand car on new tools after we sold the McCurdy and Rhodes 56 with all my old tools. Thanks to Stan Honey for the heads up on the quote.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • A Fractional Rig is Like a Gearbox

    1 CommentReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Above is with the backstay set for light air (about 7 knots true) and mast on our J/109 pretty much straight. Big time power in the mainsail and lots of sag in the headstay powering up the jib.

    This is the same two sails in 14 knots true at which point we de-powered by pumping the backstay down 3.5″.

    Main is now quite flat with a nice open leach and plenty of twist and headstay much tighter, doing the same to the jib.

    In a mast head boat with a rig this big, and without gorillas on the rail, we would have had to reef, but then would have been a bit under powered.

    Loving sailing a fraction boat again after all these years.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • 49er, 49er FX and NACRA 17 Worlds

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    A friend invited me along to watch some of the races.

    Amazing how performance sailing has changed since my days in the 505, and yet, in some ways, is still very much the same.

    Also interesting that of the few races we watched, the women’s teams in the FX seemed by far the most aggressive, and maybe skilled, too, at the mark roundings. Perhaps the smaller rigs in the FX, and therefore slower straight-line speed, puts more emphasis on boat-to-boat tactics.

    The women mixing it up at the top mark; two boats had to do turns in the space of 30 seconds.

    Anyway, a fun day and huge congratulations to Sail Canada and all the other partner organizations and volunteers for putting on what looked like a great regatta on St Margaret’s Bay, as perfect a body of water for closed-course racing as one could imagine.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Review of Furuno DRS2DNXT Radar

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Eric Klem, a deeply experienced commercial and recreational mariner, and professional engineer with huge radar experience, just reviewed the latest Solid-State Radar from Furuno.

    Don’t miss this comment (membership required to read), you will learn a huge amount, just like I did.

    Read Eric’s Comment

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Don’t Ever Lie Ahull

    3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    I can’t believe that experienced ocean sailors are still making the mistake of lying ahull in heavy weather and then blaming a freak or rogue wave when they get rolled.

    We have known for over 40 years how dangerous lying ahull is.

    Extra big waves are a reality in anything over gale force offshore, not freaks, so we need to properly equip and handle our boats to avoid being rolled when, not if, one comes along.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Slippery Deck Shoe Fix

    3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    My Gill deck shoes were completely losing their grip. We are talking scary-slippery, to the point I nearly went on my ass, and overboard was a real possibility.

    We have seen this before. Seems like whatever material deck shoe soles are being made of these days, it develops a hard yellowy layer way before the shoe is worn out—shoe on right.

    We have tried sanding before, but with not a lot of success, so this time, in desperation, I took a grinder with an 80-grade disk to them—shoe on left.

    That fixed it, as grippy as new.

    Keep at it until the yellow is gone and wear a respirator, I can’t imagine the dust is good for us.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Why We Need a Traveler

    9 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    We increasingly see boats without travellers, but that’s a big performance hit, particularly in light air going to windward where we want the boom on the centreline but the sheet not too tight. To make that happen the traveler car needs to be well to windward of centre.

    Check out the nice twist and leach shape that results from this setup.

    Much more about deck layout tradeoffs.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Demo of In-Boom Furling

    8 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    My friend Hans, who advised me while I was writing the article on the tragedy aboard Escape, took me out on his Farr 56 for a demo of hoisting, reefing, and furling, using his in-boom automated mainsail-handling system.

    Hans is an incredible resource, since he has owned boats with slab, in-mast, and in-boom furling, as well as being a deeply experienced ocean sailor, including countless trips to and from the Caribbean over decades, and five trans-Atlantics in the last few years—two with slab reefing, two with in-mast, one with in-boom.

    I will be sharing his wisdom on all three systems and how to choose which is best for each of us, in an in-depth article.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Safer Transom Ladder

    3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Our new-to-us J/109 has a robust transom swim ladder that could definitely enable someone who fell overboard get back into the boat, at least in smooth water.

    But check out the photo above: There’s no way for someone in the water, particularly wearing a lifejacket, to deploy the ladder unassisted. The angle is just wrong for that.

    So I made the modification in the photo below. Works a treat.

    I will be writing more over the next year about changes we are making to the boat to reduce crew overboard risk, in our Online Book on the subject.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Nylon Line In Europe 2

    10 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    The plot thickens. I came across this product page at RobLine an Austrian rope maker and they have a bunch of lines for mooring, docking, that will be good for anchor snubbers.

    Interesting quote from that page:

    Robline caters to the trend toward using different fibers for mooring and anchor lines, depending on the specific use, and introduces cordage made of polyamide (known as nylon) in order to utilize the high elasticity of this fiber to cope with critical shock loads.

    These lines are available from upffront.com, in Germany, who ship everywhere, among others.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Starlink Maritime

    13 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Starlink are going to provide a solution for moving vessels, but before we get too excited check out the price! Think US$10,000 for the unit and US$7000/month for service!

    Looks like I will be right that Iridium will the solution for most of us for some time to come. In 2019 I predicted 10 years more of standard old Iridium for most of us.

    Might still be right, but then again five years from now might be closer for always-on internet at sea at a reasonable price—only 30 years after the billionaires started promising it for “next year”.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Nylon Rope in Europe

    5 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    A member was having a heck of a time finding Nylon rope for a snubber, as we recommend, in Europe. After some research I think I have found out why:

    What we call Nylon in North America, and the UK, is known as H.T. Polyester in Europe and staff in stores sometimes refer to it as “polyester with stretch”.

    Check out this page at Gottifredi Maffioli. One of their mooring line products has a heading of “Nylon Braid” but the detail says H.T. Polyester on the English language page.

    Also claims “Elasticity, ease of handling” for this rope, so I think that is a Nylon equivalent.

    Anyone have specialized knowledge on this? If so, please leave a comment.

    Also see this tip for a source of Nylon in Europe.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Backstay Adjusters & Fractional Rigs

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    With fractional rigs we are way more interested in how much pumping the adjuster down has shortened the backstay and bent the mast than we are the reading on the pressure gauge (within reason). That’s why the marked batten.

    Click on images to enlarge

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Reaving Halyards

    2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    You see people taping messenger lines to halyards, but that can lead to tears when the messenger comes off inside the mast.

    So way better to put a flemish eye, sometimes known as a reaving eye, in the bitter end of all halyards and internal reefing lines.

    The key to success is that the eye should have no bigger diameter than the rope, so a normal splice does not work.

    Or, if you suck at rope work as much as I do, get a good rigger to do it for you.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Spinlock Deckvest 6D On Test

    2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Phyllis’s cousin Ken modelling a brand new Deckvest 6D that just arrived for evaluation. Thanks Spinlock! We have long been Spinlock users and fans and will report on how we like this new model once we have had a chance to use it for a while.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Whip Before Cut

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    When shortening a line, it’s way easier if we put on two sailmakers whippings and then cut the line between them. Whipping how-to. (Scroll down to #6)

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Folding Props Not For Cruising

    3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    I made a bollocks of sailing off the mooring today and got stuck stern upwind on the chain. Not a big deal to sort out on a light J/109, but I did get a graphic reminder of how little reverse thrust folding props have.

    Definitely not appropriate for a cruising boat where the bigtime reverse thrust of a good feathering prop gets us out of the inevitable mistakes we make. I like the MaxProp, but there are other good ones.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Balmar Battery Monitor On-Test

    13 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    After two months and four defects:

    1. Bad cable.
    2. Despite paying full price we were shipped a beta test shunt that could not be updated to latest software.
    3. Ditto the display which did not have enough memory for the latest software.
    4. The final problem was a bug in the iPhone up-date software that it seems that Balmar’s support techs don’t know about, since they didn’t tell me when I called, even though it’s on their site.

    I finally got the SG200 we bought for our J/109 working. I will write a review once I have more experience with it.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Whipping not Dipping

    1 CommentReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    This dock line came with our new-to us J/109. Not only does it have a loop spliced in one end, which I recommend against (#2), someone first whipped it and then dipped it in some goop for reasons I can’t fathom. There is no better way to prevent a line end unraveling than a sailmaker’s whipping (#6)—lose the goop.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Dean Barker is Back

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Nice to see that one of the best, and arguably most unlucky, sailors in America’s Cup modern history is back with a team. I’m a huge fan of the quiet Kiwi. The man is a class act. He will be a great coach, I’m sure. Might end up back on the wheel, too, I’m guessing.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Most “Drop In” Lithium Batteries Not ABYC Compliant

    5 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteMembers

    The way I read this, batteries with BMSs that do not communicate are now obsolete:

    If a shutdown condition is approaching a battery system should notify the operator with a visual and/or audible alarm before disconnecting the battery from the DC system.

    ABYC E13-7


    Login to continue reading (scroll down)

    Learn About Membership
    Get to know us for FREE

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • ABYC Publishes Lithium Battery Standard

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    The TE-13 technical note is now a standard: E-13. To me, a woefully inadequate one that relies far too much on the vendors to do the right thing, but it’s a start. Panbo has a good analysis, most of which I agree with.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Great Borescope

    4 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    How we knew what the problem is in our mast way out of sight:

    Black and white messenger is for the main halyard. Deflection is clear. Sheave to left.

    Make sure you get this one with the longer focal length.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts

  • Our Season Saved

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    or at least extended by installing spectra chafe sleeve. Love the stuff. More here.

    Not a permanent fix. That will take unstepping and some very tricky work.

    Click on tip title to share your thoughts