JC 2010 & Baltic cruise

[tdsail]

Hi i own a 24' bilge keel tornado 720 (most ppl including myself never heard of this design but that's what she apparently is) and i'd like to prepare her for the Jester Challenge 2010...at the moment shes completely unprepared for single hand sailing so i need to start the mods and so i'd appreciate any suggestions in modding her up to withstand an extended passage...i know all lines need to lead aft etc but would also like to find out about making here more buoyant etc
anyhow, i thank in advance for any tips/suggestions....i'm parked in the swale by the way so also keen to catchup/sail in company with anyone in that area....

[Black Sheep]

Hi tdsail - welcome!

I'm based at Gravesend, so not too far away - hope to see you about sometime.
I'm also at the start of the long road of prepping boat and self - but at the moment, my horizon is a 500-mile passage next year. Only then will I know whether I am up for the full Jester.

But can I question the theory that all lines should lead aft? I think there are two schools of thought.

* All lines hould lead aft, so you can entirely tend the boat from the cockpit, or even from the hatchway (see Roger Taylor's Mingming). Particularly appropriate for a simple junk rig. Means you never have to leave the cockpit, therefore much safer.

* Lines should stop at the foot of the mast. The extra blocks and fairleads to lead the lines to the cockpit are adding stretch and friction, and are an extra thing to go wrong. But more to the point, if all lines lead aft, you never go forward. If you never go forward, then the fron of the boat is a no-go zone - alien territory. This means that you aren't routinely checking for rigging problems. But also, you & I both know that sooner or later something will need attention at the mast or bows anyway (especially if you use roller reefing - but that's in another forum!). Inevitably, the time you must go forward will be in rough conditions. If it's familiar ground, with familiar handholds and clipping points, then that's one less thing to worry about. But if this is the first time you've been forward, it adds to the problems.

I don't know what the right answer is - I think it depends on your rig, your experience and the boat. But I think it's important that we know there is a choice! For the moment, my lines stop at the mast, because that's where they stopped when I bought the boat. So far, I haven't felt the need to bring them aft, but then my long keel gives good directional stability. If you find me in Newport RI frantically fitting blocks, fairleads and cabin-top winches, you'll know I've changed my mind!

James

[Glayva]

[ QUOTE ]
* All lines hould lead aft, so you can entirely tend the boat from the cockpit, or even from the hatchway (see Roger Taylor's Mingming). Particularly appropriate for a simple junk rig. Means you never have to leave the cockpit, therefore much safer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Glayva has a conventional Bermudan rig and all but one of her sail control lines lead aft. She has slab reefing and for the tack reef, I have to go to the foot of the mast to pull it on or let it off. However it seems as often as I reef in the Atlantic I am dousing my main altogether. To douse Glayva's main I know no other possible way to do it but go forward to the foot of the mast and putting on the sail ties usually involves swinging on the boom so as not to lie on my spray hood. In fact unless winds are very light I am either fully reefed or with no main at all. Having had significant rigging breakages in 2006 and 2007 but not yet lost a mast, my major preventative measure is a 1750 hrs UTC crawl around the deck checking all my rigging [ready for my 1800 hrs log entry]. In 2006 when 400 miles short of Newfoundland during an F7 I identified that I had lost 12 of the 19 wires in my stbd inner shroud. I tacked immediately and saved my mast but was basically forced back to the UK by my inability to do stbd tack.

For control and comfort reasons I think Blondie got it right when he advocated the junk rig for ocean sailing, for those of us who persevere with a Bermudan rig, it makes a lot of sense to lead as many of the control lines as possible back to the cockpit. After all every time you go forward you are risking a drenching. I have found my jack stays to be worn at the point at which they go through the forward eye bolt - I wouldn't like them to go next time I am hanging off the boom fitting my sail ties when hit by a wave that knocks me overboard.

Glayva is the first boat that I have had that did not have hanked on foresails. I am now a firm believer in furlers, even with the controversy surrounding them. In 2007 during an F9 my 6mm dyneema furling line broke. The foresail deployed completely from being no larger than a tea towel. Fortunately it made sufficient noise to wake me up. Luckily I have enough sheets on my genoa that it was deployed horizontally to the wind and had probably only increased my angle of heel by about 20 deg. I took me about half an hour to furl it back in by turning the drum by hand as I rode the bow with legs wrapped around the pulpit and my head going under water every second wave. But I would prefer to do that once in a voyage than to be changing sails every couple of days in those conditions.

Probably in summary, what I am trying to say is make it as easy as possible for yourself and your comfort. If you feel going forward regularly is essential for the good maintenance of your boat build it into your routine when you can do it properly prepared not under conditions of stress.

[tdsail]

Hey all...thanks for all the great info...its strange but i cant find any evidence of winches on the mast so thinking that maybe the previous owner had all lines leading aft...i also plan the 500 mile trip and as said hopefully this will be to the baltic and back...ideally would like to do it in company with another boat but we'll see closer to the time
for now its back to the shed to do some more mods..still a long list of things to do....
cheers, tom

[srm]

Mast winches were not all that common on smaller boats. Halyards were hauled by hand, with the last bit tensioned or 'sweated' by pulling outwards against a half turn on the cleat to get the slack. A slightly more sophisticated method (used on my Prout main) was to tension luffs with a small tackle at the tack. On the main the boom gooseneck is on a slide that allows it to be hauled down by the tackle to tension the luff.

Have fun