I’m guessing the tether along with the leash to your safety vest as set up, won’t keep you from falling overboard but will instead drag your body through the water.
The basic design involves a hollow "cassette" that is attached to the transom like a conventional transom hung rudder using custom made pintles and gudgeons. This "cassette" will stay mounted to the transom while offshore. The rudder blade can be inserted into the top of the "casstette", pushed down and locked in place. The tiller and rudder cap are placed over the top of both the rudder blade and cassette and bolted in place. The rudder has proved to be very effective. Even with the main rudder locked amidship, the boat can make a 180 degree turn in less than 30 seconds. Hope to have more on this in future episodes. Fred
The danger of being dragged on the low side is if you get held under water. I sailed the PAC Cup in 2002 with a guy who had is partner drown during the double handled farallons race while he tried to get the boat stopped so he could get his buddy back on board.
Hey Fred, great series. One suggestion regarding cutting away rod rigging. I learned the hard way that the turn buckle screws are the weak link and are an excellent point to separate the rigging. Breaking or cutting the screws also allows the possibility of salvaging the rod. Assuming of course there is something to attach it too when the smoke clears. After my incident I began carrying a spare for every size on the boat.
You should also have a mechanical solution for getting rid of the rig. Better than cable/rod cutters is a big ass sledge and a punch that you can use to quickly separate the rigging from the chain plate attachment.
Fred - respectfully two cents worth - the storm trysail - we are here in Aus - our regs - require the trysail to have two sheets attached to the clew - obviously one for each side - in practice this works significantly better than one sheet ( it keeps control of sail without having to leave the cockpit). And having the pleasure of getting bashed on the east coast of Aus - it comforting to find these things work in practice. As an aside it never fails to amaze me where the kit ends up being hidden - bloody mountains of expensive safety gear.
Ian: I totally agree with you. Our inspection basically involved showing that the storm sails could be rigged and that we had proper sheeting positions for both sails, both port and starboard. I think we used a couple of dock lines to prove the point and have since made up dedicated sheets. Fred
Hi Fred. Thanks for the great content. Lovely to see the boat coming together in a professional and quick manner. Can I visit the boat? Would be great to see it this weekend. Thanks...Tom...
I learned most of my sailing in Spain and I'm always surprised / shocked about how much safety rules are being applied in other countries and how loosely this is being handled in Spain. I remember sailing in BF 12 close to Majorca when actually the beam of our boat broke due to the storm. Not even once did we ever wear any safety gear. Now I know that that was more than reckless but nobody seemed to care like ever. So my mind says that you should definitely go for the gear shown in the video but in real life I've never even worn a life vest. That goes for what I feel 80% of all of the sailors in the Med region. Just sloppy business or is safety gear overhyped? What are your experiences?
Fred, I'm curious as to why you chose dual side-deck jacklines? Many ocean sailors I seriously respect regard them as useless, as unless one has incredibly short tethers they're not long enough to keep you from going overboard. Worse, if that happens, you're stuck getting dragged alongside the boat, which is an easy way to drown. How have you dealt with this scenario, out of curiosity?
Basically, this is what is required in the Transpac safety inspection check list. In addition to the jacklines , the rules specify additional fixed clipping points next to the companionway, in the cockpit, and around the mast. In the event someone is being dragged alongside, most of the new inflatable PFDs have a quick release shackle, or have a sheathed knife or cutting tool to allow emergency release. Fred
Jacklines are useless, eh? All they do is keep you with the boat, dragging alongside? Hmmm. You'd rather fall overboard in 50 knots at night with the boat going 10 knots and hope they can douse and come back and find you? Hmmm. Ah, "serious ocean sailors" who've never seen a serious storm.
Christian as a single-handed sailor yourself there's nobody to come douse your sails. Whether you're in the water watching the boat sail off or getting dragged alongside it and slowly drowned you're dead either way. I'd be interested if you did an experiment where you tried to get back aboard while getting dragged at 5 knots, though that would perhaps be of a different tone than the rest of your videos. A proper jackline setup will keep you from going overboard in the first place, which is why central jacklines are so important especially for single-handers. Morgan's Cloud has an interesting series of articles about "banishing sidedeck jacklines."
Fantastic video!!
I’m guessing the tether along with the leash to your safety vest as set up, won’t keep you from falling overboard but will instead drag your body through the water.
REALLY interested in details about the emergency rudder system!
The basic design involves a hollow "cassette" that is attached to the transom like a conventional transom hung rudder using custom made pintles and gudgeons. This "cassette" will stay mounted to the transom while offshore. The rudder blade can be inserted into the top of the "casstette", pushed down and locked in place. The tiller and rudder cap are placed over the top of both the rudder blade and cassette and bolted in place. The rudder has proved to be very effective. Even with the main rudder locked amidship, the boat can make a 180 degree turn in less than 30 seconds. Hope to have more on this in future episodes. Fred
wow, looks like a lot of gear to store , and six guys ! all the best ! old guys rule !
The danger of being dragged on the low side is if you get held under water. I sailed the PAC Cup in 2002 with a guy who had is partner drown during the double handled farallons race while he tried to get the boat stopped so he could get his buddy back on board.
Hey Fred, great series. One suggestion regarding cutting away rod rigging. I learned the hard way that the turn buckle screws are the weak link and are an excellent point to separate the rigging. Breaking or cutting the screws also allows the possibility of salvaging the rod. Assuming of course there is something to attach it too when the smoke clears. After my incident I began carrying a spare for every size on the boat.
You should also have a mechanical solution for getting rid of the rig. Better than cable/rod cutters is a big ass sledge and a punch that you can use to quickly separate the rigging from the chain plate attachment.
Fred - respectfully two cents worth - the storm trysail - we are here in Aus - our regs - require the trysail to have two sheets attached to the clew - obviously one for each side - in practice this works significantly better than one sheet ( it keeps control of sail without having to leave the cockpit). And having the pleasure of getting bashed on the east coast of Aus - it comforting to find these things work in practice.
As an aside it never fails to amaze me where the kit ends up being hidden - bloody mountains of expensive safety gear.
Ian: I totally agree with you. Our inspection basically involved showing that the storm sails could be rigged and that we had proper sheeting positions for both sails, both port and starboard. I think we used a couple of dock lines to prove the point and have since made up dedicated sheets. Fred
Should really have dual tethers, short and long.
Hi Fred. Thanks for the great content. Lovely to see the boat coming together in a professional and quick manner. Can I visit the boat? Would be great to see it this weekend. Thanks...Tom...
Hope u guys do well ! Been watching and wish u the best ! Love the older boats too.
Outstanding.... I love this series, curious to see how the interior came up.
I learned most of my sailing in Spain and I'm always surprised / shocked about how much safety rules are being applied in other countries and how loosely this is being handled in Spain. I remember sailing in BF 12 close to Majorca when actually the beam of our boat broke due to the storm. Not even once did we ever wear any safety gear. Now I know that that was more than reckless but nobody seemed to care like ever. So my mind says that you should definitely go for the gear shown in the video but in real life I've never even worn a life vest. That goes for what I feel 80% of all of the sailors in the Med region. Just sloppy business or is safety gear overhyped? What are your experiences?
Fred, I'm curious as to why you chose dual side-deck jacklines? Many ocean sailors I seriously respect regard them as useless, as unless one has incredibly short tethers they're not long enough to keep you from going overboard. Worse, if that happens, you're stuck getting dragged alongside the boat, which is an easy way to drown. How have you dealt with this scenario, out of curiosity?
Basically, this is what is required in the Transpac safety inspection check list. In addition to the jacklines , the rules specify additional fixed clipping points next to the companionway, in the cockpit, and around the mast. In the event someone is being dragged alongside, most of the new inflatable PFDs have a quick release shackle, or have a sheathed knife or cutting tool to allow emergency release. Fred
Glad to hear you'll be safe out there! Fair winds & godspeed
Jacklines are useless, eh? All they do is keep you with the boat, dragging alongside? Hmmm. You'd rather fall overboard in 50 knots at night with the boat going 10 knots and hope they can douse and come back and find you? Hmmm. Ah, "serious ocean sailors" who've never seen a serious storm.
Christian as a single-handed sailor yourself there's nobody to come douse your sails. Whether you're in the water watching the boat sail off or getting dragged alongside it and slowly drowned you're dead either way. I'd be interested if you did an experiment where you tried to get back aboard while getting dragged at 5 knots, though that would perhaps be of a different tone than the rest of your videos.
A proper jackline setup will keep you from going overboard in the first place, which is why central jacklines are so important especially for single-handers. Morgan's Cloud has an interesting series of articles about "banishing sidedeck jacklines."
Here's the tone: don't offhandedly discourage people from using jacklines, whatever your personal choice might be. It's simply irresponsible.
Fred
Great work getting the safety requirements up to spec
What a big commitment you have undertaken
Thanks for sharing with us...
Ed