Rob Blackburn

Tell me if you think this will work... I have a zipper in the bottom of the luff pocket from the foot of the sail ie the bottom up to the first hole cut in the luff pocket for the sprit to go across ie the gap that shows the mast. All I need to do is put another zipper in the next bit of the luff pocket up until the top reefed luff pocket hole.. Have a reefing line tied into the top outhaul position and down to sprit boom ie new saddle or something simple on the sprit. To reef whilst out on the water... 1. undo current zipper at bottom of sail ie up to the normal luff cut out 2. undo new zipper in the next bit of the luff pocket. 3. slacken halyard and let sail run down mast. (thus avoiding having to undo and redo the sprit snotter, you can leave it attached) 4. connect downhaul to new position and redo the new zipper that is now between the foot of the sail and the sprits new position. 5. haul on the reefing rope that is in the leach of the sail so that it ties off nice and tight on the sprit. 6. retension the halyard and adjust the sprit/snotter 7. rollup the excess sail at the bottom and tie off in the traditional way. Sounds like it should work and it leaves you with a luff pocket with no sail track... so you can still store your sails rolled up on the mast as you drive along and when you are at anchor.. Pick holes in it please gentlemen.. Otherwise I will have to put the track on and get the sails redone. Went for a shortish outing on Sunday with Alex the 14 yr old daughter, I stopped on a friends trailer sailer and had lunch and a couple of wines whilst daughter and other 2 kids headed off out of sight in boat.. Was nice. R

One other thing is to control the maximum down position simply use a stopper ie figure 8 knot on the rope that is used to hold the board UP... ie work out how far you want it to go then put a knot.. As you pull it idown you can only go that far.. This only works if your up rope like the down one goes through 180 degrees at the front forward of the centreboard. R

Ha... I just put a post on the new rig one to suggest canvas bags of sand.. Should have read this first. I think I will get Gordon the sailmaker to make me up some when I get the sail track added. For the CS 20 I reckon 4 at 15 kg should make a big difference. R

I think I will do it... I will ring Gordon the friendly sailmaker and have a chat.. I think I will just go with the main and no battens and see how that goes. I reckon it should be fine and I can still roll the sails. Speaking of ballast, my thoughts initially went all funny and complex with bilge pumps and using the lockers port and starboard for those BIG days, but then thought maybe about 3 canvas Kit bags full of sand which you could move to windward .. R

So, essentially I put a track on the main, have the luff pocket removed, bolt a fitting on the mast for the snotter, get some sort of slugs/fittings put on the luff of the sail.. and voila.. ? Do I need to put battens on as well or will I still be able to roll up the sail around the mast? ie can you have a tracked sail without battens? And as for the sandflies at Wathumba... I reckon you can see them from google earth!!! We had one day and the next morning up there in Nov or Dec when the wind dropped and to be honest we stayed in the tent for a few hours until we had some breeze. I even have them buzzing around the video lens visible in the home movie. Garys anchorage can be special too as it is shielded well from the breeze I guess. The other thing I have been thinking of is water ballast but that is another story. R

Graham, nice to hear from you.. First up Fraser is on the cards for December.. sandfly season but too bad. We are going to the Whitsundays in OCtober in a rent a yacht ie no camping so we will get back to our roots in Dec. How do you attach the snotter to the mast to get it to reef down from the cockpit...? I am all for some close up photos. Rob

hmmmmm so you are going to put non battened sails on a track with a sprit boom... How will you reef it from the cockpit? Rob

What your saying is true but the issue I have is if it is eg 15knots gusting and you can see more coming.... how do you actually get up and do all that mucking around without starting the motor and driving off head to wind ? ie if you sheet the mizzen on, tie off the tiller and then pull the mainsail boom towards you to get close enough to undo and redo the outhaul it makes the boat sail and round up.. That is the problem I have with it... at some point some one has to get up on the bow with one arm around the mast and hang on and not sheet the sail in..? I reckon that other lug sail rig would allow you to get at it much easier ie via the halyard.? Rob

Graham and everyone... I have been sort of never quite happy with the reefing of the luff pocket sail design. First I tried the rolled only half way, sail set like a bag. Second, I had reefing points put in half way down and then the luff pocket was so tight I had to get it recut as it would not come down far enough. The problem with this rig is that to get up on the fore deck when it is windy to fiddle about with the ropes etc is that you tend to pull on the boom which wrecks your heaved too position ie the boat starts to head off the wind and disaster looms... also it is very slow to do...You really have to go ashore in my opinion if it is rough. Moving the mast is fine but it won't go well to weather if you are heavily loaded and it is scary trying this if it is rough. So, here is my question... Do I go and spend about as much again on getting a track put on and having the sails recut and battens put on.. or perhaps redo the rig, in particular the main and put on a sail like on Nigel Irens Romilly design... ie still has high or higher aspect ration, much simpler reefing, looks good.. You could use the bottom two bits of the mast, and then have a carbon fibre gaff or what ever you call it.. This would make it easier to man handle too. What do you guys reckon? I was thinking if you got the size of the sail right you would not have to worry about moving the mast either obviously, ... Here are a couple of shots.

is it this video? If so it is a bit of a biggie ... 80 meg? I will look on the home computer and see if there is a smaller version. Rob http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/filechute/BOAT%20LAUNCH.zip

I found this video again which I downloaded off the openboat.co.nz website and you will all enjoy it I am sure... bit of boat p@#n... if you know what I mean. http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/filechute/rangimo.zip Rob

Had Graham around for dinner the other night and really enjoyed his company. He is alive and well and showed us some secret drawings on his laptop for next year... We got the North Carolina chart out and checked it out and spotted his house etc on Google Earth. As he had to drive we drank his share for him!!! Rob

Well, you had better not forget us.. we have the official banquet lined up for you... My mobile is 0434 004 895... Rob

Despite rumours... I am still here occasionally. Have been into the rowing boat project. Why don't you buy a ticket to Ballina on Virgin and come and go for a sail on Allecat? More than happy to do that. Call me on ... 0434 004 895 Rob

Well, if you want my opinion.. and here it comes... a big motor would require a fair bit of a rethink on some of the design/strength around the transom to start with. I have a 20 footer and have managed to crack the transom / hull join with it at a max speed of 6.5 knots at Wide Open Throttle. It would also be a wet ride. Rob

we cracked our transom with 5hp.

Look you blokes... 2 cartons of beer, a large fibreglass ice box chock a block, a wife, her clothes, a couple of kids, a tent... some food... Forget lead in the board... all that is missing is the venue.... Rob

5hp is more than enough. If you want to run 35 hp ... buy a speed boat. R

The word with Cessna 182's is that if you can shut the doors they will fly. Much the same with a CS 20. It seems to me that the MORE weight on board, the less likely you are to suffer some sort of misfortune. Note the amount of stuff in photo four of this series. http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/Expeditions/PhotoAlbum93.html It is a funny thing, but having owned a Laser (super tippy and you can never relax on one) and a Norwalk Island Sharpie, tippy in a floaty unstable sort of way... then the CS 20 is nigh perfect for something that lives under the house. What Graham needs to do is design a wider deeper version at the 23 foot mark with a nice sheer, not too boxy profile and a nice tapered rounded top sort of small cabin... ie Norwalk Island Sharpie 23 topside with CS hull underneath... R ps it is late here and the bottle is empty so shall say no more

Excellent... we will be on stand by.. Are you coming back to Bangalow? Rob

Back to the cleats... Mine are essentially the same and each time you tack.... you guessed it. And if you have an outboard.... you will probably snag both. Sigh Rob

http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/Expeditions/PhotoAlbum162.html Just a quick off topic posting to show we are still alive and here we are demolishing a couple of bottles whilst some hideous reality tv is on upstairs.... The CS 20 is happily watching over us as usual...ensuring our safety and happiness. Perhaps this group needs a patron saint...? St CS of the bottle?? Cheers Rob and Col... ps launching photos of row boat to come....

We have usually just put the mizzen in the middle hole but that is not practical out in big water as the wind comes up. Down or off the wind is simple, just roll up the main and leave the mizzen in the back hole. If I had my time over I would go to the effort of making the masts out of carbon fibre to drastically reduce their weight and make it easier to man handle. This is assuming you are sailing in places you can't go ashore and reconfigure or you don't have a couple of gorrillas on board to help you... Rob

It can't be done in my opinion. I have tried. Too embarrassing. Looks like a Bolger.... http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/Expeditions/PhotoAlbum159.html This is our solution. Back to the sailmaker and zipper inserted. Rob

It is amazing how quickly they as a company have dominated the market here... both physically by looking at the number of boxes at our local hardware store and psychologically by lowering the implied value of power tools. I read somewhere I think that it was a group of engineers from "Black and Decker" who set the company up and they have powered. Tools are cheap with a replacement warranty. Even the batteries on the cordless drill are part of the swap if it breaks deal. You would have to question the quality but if it breaks in 2 yrs, they give you another. What you don't get though in my opinion is that feeling of "wow... this thing is brilliant" but one of "$89 and it is still going.." R