JeffM

Andrew, i love it! (and I NEVER use "emoticons!")

Ya know, I've been sailing the Bea Ann without a motor from the start. Not so much a purist, as cheap. I can think of several times I REALLY WISHED I had one: 1. when I'm dragging anchor, which I seem to do with some regularity. (Anchoring instructions usually seem to include backing down on the rode under power to set it. Doh!) 2. sailing Vineyard Sound against the current and suddenly having the wind die on me. (On a recent trip we spent hours going backwards and spent most of the rest of the day getting back to where we'd started.) 3. when I need to get through Woods Hole against the current. (I missed my tide once this summer, beached in the middle of the Hole until the current turned, and ended up crossing Buzzards Bay at night, finally arriving at the ramp after dawn. Pretty miserable.) I really enjoy planning a trip so all the ducks line up in my favor, but it can be really bad when one of the ducks wanders off. ps: except for the rare day sail, I never leave the ramp without a nice red wine aboard. Makes the wandering ducks more tolerable!

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewprotechtmantis.html

TARP??!! You're going to raise TARP sails over this gorgeous hull??!!

Yup, saw that one. Maybe you're right. It's certain that a home-made version would go through much experimenting to get it right.

I've played around with umbrellas at various times, in the interest of having the shade where I want it and in the smallest possible package. Never figured out how to make it stay where I wanted it, and in any kind of wind it blowes inside-out pretty easily. Something like that Mantis thingy is an idea worth having, though.

I've been meditating a bimini for the Beatrice Ann. I'd like to be able to get out of sun, as well as rain. i've considered half-a-dozen cockamamie schemes to accomplish this, but have reluctantly decided I'd be unlikely to come up with an improved wheel. Don't know how to manage it, nor how much it would clutter the aft deck when folded, nor how badly it would affect sailing characteristics. I know Duckworks carries the parts. As far as i've searched, only Terri Dunn has one. Does anyone know anything specific?

My habit of the last couple of years is to plan a trip (usually 2-3 days) in a word processor document, pasting in the relevant tide, current and weather predictions; this document becomes the float plan, a copy to take and one to leave home. NOAA comes out with a new marine weather forecast twice a day for my waters, and I update frequently in the days before the trip: after you watch the predictions change--sometimes radically--in the few days before departure, you learn to take them with a grain of salt. (Then you get out there, and even that day's prediction is sometimes wrong!) You can never let the prediction blind you to reality. I once drove to the ramp, all equipped and provisioned for several days away, rigged on the trailer to go, sat at the ramp for awhile indecisive, and then took the whole thing down and went home because I just wasn't comfortable with the conditions. Felt really foolish at the time, but when it blew stink all the next day I realized I'd been right. As you get more experience, you'll be comfortable in a wider range of conditions, but never never go out in conditions that make you nervous--trust your gut.

I'm going to try leaving a bit of slack in the mizzensheet, Ray. I'd like to reduce the drift rate some.

I'm out at night pretty often, both intentionally and not. I started with the little LED nav lights, graduated last year to proper 12v LEDs, and also carry a powerful rechargeable spot light and a little runs-forever LED headlamp. The nav lights should work most of the time, the PRICELESS headlamp (which can be switched to red only) helps read the gps hands-free without the battery-draining backlight, and the spot light is for when the (other) idiot doesn't see the nav lights. Nearly got run over by a cat ferry near Woods Hole a week ago--becalmed so I couldn't get out of the way, and the careless captain (me) didn't make sure the spotlight was on board and fully charged.

You've put it on my list, Wes. Thanks!

I started getting interested in the physics of this hull speed business recently (I teach physics to 9th graders). As best I understand it, the underlying principles are: 1. the boat makes waves as it moves through the water--the more water it has to push out of the way, the bigger the wave. 2. as the boat moves faster, the wave does too; the faster a wave moves in water, the longer the distance between its crests. 3. As long as the boat is long enough to span two or more wave crests, it rides about level, but once the boat (and so the waves) are moving fast enough so the crests are about as far apart as the waterline is long, the stern drops into the trough between, and the boat is left sailing "uphill" on its own bow wave. 4. Boats can "beat the math" to the degree that they are skinny (eg cats and tris) so their "hills" (bow waves) aren't very tall, or if they can plane because they have hull shapes that generate lift (e.g. Core Sounds and such).

Hi, Jim! That's a lot of boat to build in such a short time. Where do you plan to sail her? Good luck!

I've had autorelease clamcleats on cb and rudder since early days. I keep both at lowest release setting. Where I am, shoal waters, rather than rocks, are the more usual issue, so having a board dragging along with a bungee keeping it down would simply be a brake. Because I have the settings so low, resetting the cleat is a matter of leaning a little weight on it--no time at all. Though I will admit that losing the board entirely when sailing to weather can be a little annoying!

Very nice! Thanks!

Light saber? Dilithium crystals? I think you're conflating your science fiction movies, Ray!

I've thought about such a cb mod, partly to free up space in the cabin, partly because my cb case spits a fair amount at speed. the strength issue hadn't occurred to me, though. I'm intrigued by the tackle; I'd assumed I'd need to put a an uphaul to the lower end of the board, leaving it dragging in the water. Paul, have you ever had your tackle foul, slipping between cb and case?

Special-issue boarding axe, right? I like that it glows in the dark for night actions. This is a wonderful thread, Ray!

I originally had mine on cl on the back edge of the thwart, but found it too vulnerable--especially when stepping the mizzen. (Now I have one on the back of my cabin--really mainly for emergencies, since I like lazing about with my gps in hand.) I believe Graham has a top-reading compass on his forward coaming, to reduce parallax error. I'd need a monster compass to be able to read it at that distance.

D***! I live a couple hours away, but will be at a wedding in Wisconsin!

I followed her older brother's trip last year, and now I'm following hers and Jessica Watson's (who is now past the half-way point). I find myself looking in on them almost daily. I grew up on the story of Dove, and its amazing to think that Jess Watson is in daily voice contact with her family. The world she is a changin!

Congratulations, Wes! Soon it will be time to look for a really itty bitty pfd!

Bruce, I have a Core Sound 20, and I can speak a little about centerboards. The cb trunk is a bit of a complication and does take up space, but I've never had mine leak, except some splashing up through the slot at speed. On the other hand, some designs (Bellhaven is an example) off set the cb trunk and build it into other furniture (the Bellhaven makes it one side of the galley counter). I've accomodated mine by extending one bench seat to the trunk to make a semi-permanent berth. And some centerboard trunks are capped (with tackle kept out of the cabin entirely) so they can't spit. Most of all, my cb enables me to float in 10" of water and use most any ramp. I can't imagine I'd ever go sailing if it meant putting up with launching a keelboat. Of course, another option that gives shallow draft AND an open cabin is leeboards.

Gorgeous! I want to play with it!

I've dog-eared my copy of Boats With An Open Mind. The Birdwatcher is a bit big for me, and I've always had the impression (perhaps from Bolger's narratives) that it's a boat for protected waters. I've been wondering about something like Michalak's Caroline. It looks like a wonderfully comfortable boat that could be enclosed a bit better for cool weather touring. But it seems to me (like all of his Birdwatcher-style designs) to have too much windage to sail well to weather; I want to hear more sailing reports from her owners.