Sunday, February 1, 2015

Fair Winds

Wow... so many things to catch up on, so little battery power!

When I announced that I was ready to sail off on Cabin Boys Big Adventure, a bunch of people -- presumably experienced cruisers -- wished me Fair Winds.

Now, I must admit that, as a long-time day sailor in Long Island Sound, I didnt really get this expression. Frankly, in the Sound in summer, any wind is a fair wind. Most of the time no wind is the problem.

But after trying to sail from the Steinhatchee River to Cedar Key -- a distance of nearly 50 nm -- against a southerly wind on Wednesday, I now get it fully!


For day sailors, the direction of the wind isnt very important. Particularly if youve got a 30 racing boat designed to go up wind. Going up wind is the fun part. Going down wind is the boring bit when you break out the beer.

But if you need to make 50 nm, preferably arriving before dark so you dont have to navigate a new channel by flashlight, you need to have the wind at your back. Just do the math... if you can make straight, downwind legs at 5 knots (i.e., no tacking back and forth into the wind to make your leg), its going to take 10 hours to get there.

Against the wind, even a racing boat is going to take double that. A small cruising boat like the Blue Moon would take an unbearably long and uncomfortable time.

So, I called my Wednesday sail a sea trial, which I needed anyway. I found a number of things I wanted to change, including some worn lines, and the main sail gaff bridle, which was too long to allow the sail to be peaked properly.

Cabin Boy enjoyed the little outing:


On Thursday, the winds were still from the south, so I decided to use the day to get organized. The biggest problem was the state of my cargo hold. The Blue Moon is basically a bare hull, down below. Theres one bunk, and a small cabinet. Thats it.

Because Helena had to rush back to NY and her piano students, we had just dumped all my supplies into the boat. This made it almost impossible to find anything. It also made it impossible to move! My plan was to use hammocks to get most stuff off the floor, and to organize stuff as much as possible. After a good bit of work, heres how my cargo hold looked:


Helena, who saw the original state of the boat, will be amazed.

Finally, after a front rolled through on Thursday night, the winds shifted round to the North, and I was off to Cedar Key with a Fair Wind.

The storm had kicked the Gulf into 2-4 foot seas, and the wind was still 15-20 knots, but the Blue moon handled those with no problem. I sailed the entire 50 nm distance under the main sail alone. The gaff sail really excels down wind, where it is like a big square sail.

Unfortunately, I didnt do enough advance planning (more on that, tomorrow), so I arrived at the mouth of the Cedar Key northwest channel just at dark. This channel is probably 3 nm long, and fairly twisty-turny, but with a good flash light and a chart, I managed to navigate it with only a few uncertain moments. Dropped anchor at 10 pm just off the Cedar Key ramp.


Today (Saturday) the winds are still fair, so Im going to take advantage of them to sail down to Crystal River.

Fair winds!

Next Episode: The Word Crew


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At last fool proof method for spiling planks

Having suffered too many instances of "edge setting" (Im still not sure what that is, but Im blaming it anyway, as most observers seem to suggest its the main culprit for incorrect planking spiling with a compass), I opted to use a slower method, which I call the two batten and trellis method.  Im sure there is a more accurate term, but when you see the photo, youll know what I mean:-


Yes it is a little tedious and adds more steps, but when you end up with a perfectly fitting plank, its worth every minute of tedium.

As luck would have it my 14 year old son joined me today, as he is off school on mid term break this week. Together we turned out the perfect plank and hes probably wondering what all the fuss is about!

Simply pinned the battens to the desired upper and lower edges of the planks and hot glued the trellis between the battens to hold them in shape.  I then nailed the batten to the planking stock, removed the trellis and then continued as before with the circular saw jig and router method which John Brooks describes in his book - GLWB.







I also sanded back some the the planks at the transom to see how the dory gains were had turned out:-

You can see where the cuts on the underside of the plank allowed it to bend onto the curve of the transom, but at the same time the third plank has not completely settled down onto the transom, the lighter shade shows the epoxy glue filling the void - not that it will be any less strong I imagine, but its still a fiddle to get both boards mated and sitting snug into the curve of the transom.





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