Second sailing solo this time

 No pictures today folks.  I was too busy swimming or trying to stay dry.  What follows below I also posted at the Woodwork forum for Storer boat designs.  It sums up my second sail rather well.  A very interesting conversation is ensuing for those that are interested in handling the Goat Island Skiff.

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I have extensive racing experience in Blue Jays, Lasers, 420s, FJs, and recreational experience in Beverly dinghies and Beetle Cats. All marconi rigs except for the gaff Beetle Cat. I am an athletic 30yr old and weigh 150lbs.

The first time I went sailing in my GIS it was in a force 2- light breeze with my wife. The boat handled superbly.

I went sailing today for the second time in my boat, and I was by myself, and it was force 3- gentle breeze with some higher gusts. I got spanked by my GIS in ways I didnt even see coming, and Im surprised and a little humbled. I went sailing planning on a picnic as I cruised up and down the lake tweaking the rig. Instead, I went swimming.

So, as I headed out things were looking good. Its 65F (18C) and overcast, with a good breeze and slightly chopped water. I was un-reefed full sail, sitting on the rail and humming along, with a little bit of heal. A gust came up that I saw coming and I let out the sail a bit. This did not stop the boat from going over. I completely let go of the main and dumped it, but she still went over. Water poured over the gunwale, and that was it, I was in the drink and my flip-flops were floating away. That was fast. I swam around and clambered up on the daggerboard, no problems there, she came right up but obviously swamped. Balancing the boat was precarious. The nose was down, and I feared a breach in the forward compartment. I bailed her out with my 5 gallon bucket, and checked the forward compartment, it was dry.

I decided to reef. My sails are the stock Duckworks sails, with no reef points except the grommets along the luff and leach, its the full-batten idea.

In my personal opinion, the full batten idea is not conducive to reefing underway, especially with a sail this large. I was skeptical when I ordered it but decided to go with it anyways since it came with Miks recommendation and he looks so comfortable on his beautiful Beth. I found that that when situated in the bow of the boat the GIS is highly unstable due to its narrow beam in this area, and this was in only lightly chopped water. I tied off the "new" tack of the sail and then tied off the clew and re-hoisted the sail.

The full-batten sail with two reefing points cannot exert enough pressure along the boom to keep the sail folded up. Despite repeated attempts at re-tensioning the clew and tack and "new" outhauls I was not able to get enough tension along the "new" foot of the sail to keep it under the batten. As the chop increased, it became a more precarious situation to sit up in the bow fiddling with the tack. I attempted to keep the boat pointing in the wind, but with the large windage in the bow, it kept falling off the wind. A mizzen in this case would have helped immensely. Kudos to Clint and John.

Sailing a half-way reefed sail with a large pregnant foot billowing out I sailed close to shore and dropped anchor.

Dropping the rig I sat up in the bow to re-tension the new tack and clew, and found myself back in the water, as I capsized again, quite unexpectedly. As said before, the boat is unstable with no one else on board and the sole occupant up on the forward seat. This happened really quick.

I bailed the boat back out and made the tension along the reefed foot as tight as possible. As I headed back out to sail some more, the boat really moved along with the first reef. Exhilarating! However, the sail pulled back out of the batten, and I got the "pregnant" foot again. This is not conducive to pointing into the wind. At one point, I could not even tack, the boat kept falling off. I was almost forced onto some rocks, so I jibed around to remedy the situation. This was immensely frustrating, as you can imagine. Was it due to the rather flat head on the Duckworks sail?

Needless to say, I found that the GIS exhibits the following attributes:

*Difficult to de-power the sail in gusts. (is this an attribute of the balanced lug? I have zero experience with this)

*Unsteady when sole occupant is in the bow.

*The full-batten two-grommet reefing idea is either frustratingly difficult to accomplish successfully or only viable when launching reefed-- reefing underway with this fashion system is precarious at best.

*Boat has difficulty tacking through the wind when reefed.

Obviously I would like these remedied. My multi-day Maine coast trip is at risk unless I can figure these out. Im happy I didnt finish in March, or it would have been a very cold day indeed. My sail is going to get extra reef grommets immediately prior to any more sailing.

These are my first impressions of the GIS, but I would like to hear yours, or from anyone who can shed some light on this issue. The lug rig, as I understand, is a "reef early, reef often" rig, and I can attest to that. I would also like to know why I wasnt able to depower the sail to stop the capsize.



One thing I would like to emphasize:   This boat has 105 square feet of sail area.  Most boats this size have anywhere between 65-80 square feet.  This boat is overpowered, there is no doubt.  This makes it awesome in light airs, and its a necessity to reef when it gets heavy, especially when alone.  Just something to keep in mind.

Laser:          76 square feet of sail (crew of 1)
Beverly:       66 square feet of sail (crew of 1)
Walkabout:  80 square feet of sail
Mayfly16     91 square feet of sail
Beetle Cat:  100 square feet of sail (and 450lbs hull weight!)
FJ:               100 square feet of sail (crew of 2)
420:            140 square feet of sail (crew of 2)





Oh, she looks really pretty at anchor as viewed from the shore, and I continue to get "thumbs up " when driving on the highway.  

The sail has arrived!

105 square feet of dacron goodness!

The hardest rowing challenge he could think of

When it comes to challenges of any kind, the enormity of the challenge is depends on the individual as well as what it actually involves. If youre rowing an ocean, the challenge is pretty much built in: theres no such thing as "taster" ocean. That said, the Pacific Ocean is a heck of a lot bigger than the others: I mean, you can position a globe so that its all you can see. But when my friend John Beeden, who already had an extremely fast (53 days) solo crossing of the Atlantic under his belt, was planning his Pacific crossing, he deliberately sought a route that was proper hard.


How to make a hard thing harder
First of all, he decided to row mainland to mainland, rather than make use of any offshore islands that still technically constitute an ocean crossing (my own Atlantic row, for instance, was from the Canary Islands to Barbados – not a mainland in sight). This may sound like just a couple of hundred miles more, but the extra distance isnt just any couple of hundred miles. Continents sit on shelves (please bear in mind I dont even have an O-level in geography), or something like that. This makes the edge of the ocean thats on top of the shelf relatively shallow. The wavelength of waves coming in from deep water gets shorter when it gets shallower (I DO have an O-level in physics). And short waves are a pain to row in. Its bad enough near islands and their small shelves, Proper mainlands are way worse. And then there are the onshore currents and winds, which can be either permanently unhelpful or swirly and unpredictable. Not sure which is better. Or worse.

Then, he decided to do it across the Equator. Again, this might sound a bit arbitrary, but it meant that he would have to get through the "Inter Tropical Convergence Zone" (ITCZ – remember that, it will come up later), commonly known as the doldrums, that spans the Equator, and features crazy currents and wild winds as well as really extreme heat.

And thats why John set off from San Francisco on the West Coast of the United States on 2 June 2015, around my bedtime, bound for Cairns, on the West Coast of Australia, 7,020 statute miles away as the crow flies, with not a chance of taking that direct route.

"Go."

What happened?
In the fine tradition of The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy which reduced all of the detailed reports, graphs, and data that Ford Prefect submitted about the planet Earth to "mostly harmless", Ill summarise: he made it. 208 days later, after travelling 8,829 statute miles, landing on 27 December, exactly where he intended, albeit somewhat later.

Seven months. In a 6m-long, 159cm-wide (at the widest point) boat. Thats a metre longer than my Volvo V70. And slightly narrower. And whilst I can pack a good deal of grocery shopping into the car, I dont think I could get 28 weekly shops into it. And thats just the toilet roll...

You can read about each of Johns incredibly arduous journey, including the 22 soul-destroying (well, it would be for most of us) days when he was blown backwards away from cairns including one ghastly stretch of eight solid days during which he lost 217 nautical miles (396 km), in his blog.

So when I caught up with John once hed started the process of "re-entry" to normal life (actually, he was on a business trip already), I made sure I didnt ask him to repeat any of the things hed taken so much care to write about, or ask the obvious ocean rowing questions like "What did you eat?", "Did you anchor when it was stormy?" and, of course, "How did you go to the toilet?", the answers to which will be familiar to the well-informed readers of this blog.

Instead, here are some insights into the mindset of a man who not only thought up this incredible challenge, but also achieved it.

Q. What were the standout memories?
A. Crossing the equator was a big day, being only the second person to reach the equator from north America was a big deal. It also made me think I could get all the way. The other big memory is making it through the ITCZ  which was such a difficult process, rowing 28 hour stints to break free of swirling currents, dealing with the heat and equatorial convections.

Q. How did you get through the sheer difficulty of it all?
A. I think it was a day by day process, writing the blog actually was a good release, it cleared away the days negativity. There is a point in the blog at which I stopped looking at the trip as a whole and it became a daily challenge to get the best out of the individual day. I was a true example of living in the moment, the day, the hour, the mile, the stroke.

[I didnt ask John whether he had studied the recently-popular concept of mindfulness or whether he just worked this out for himself. I suspect the latter.]

Q. You’re a lean runner at the best of times, but by the end of the trip you had very serious muscle wastage, pretty much all over and especially on your bum. Do you think you will suffer any long-term physical side-effects from the trip?
A. I lost 17lb, ending up about 10/11lb under my normal weight. I actually gained upper body weight but my legs (surprisingly) and behind changed substantially. Running has been difficult since I returned [Note: he went for his first run on 30 December. Im not sure if this is actually more incredible than his 209 days at sea] he and until I rebuild the muscle will remain so. I also managed to damage my Achilles tendon after 10 days or so, this is now healing well but holding me back. Long term I don’t expect any real issues.

"Plump" is not a word that the judges of the "Rear of the Year" award would use about Johns backside when he landed.

Q. How many pairs of shorts did you get through? [a question prompted by the saggy look of his shorts in the above picture]
A. I only wore clothing for about three weeks, I then packed all my clothing away and just pulled out a shirt and shorts for the big finish. [Serves me right for asking.] I did wear through five sheep skin seat covers though. [Stop press: Mans bare bottom proved tougher than small flock of sheep.]

Q. Ginger Nuts were mentioned frequently in your blogs with enthusiasm and later wistfulness (when they were running out). How many packets did you eat?
A. 82.
[Respect.]

A true fan.

Q. I know your family and friends kept you informed about important stuff from the outside world by satellite phone message during the row [including F1 race reports from one of his daughters]. Have you had any instances of things being referred to since you’re back where you’ve gone “hey, WHAT?”?
A. Not so much news but a lot has changed. Nearly everything I do on my laptop now has updated software layouts, and my online banking sites are totally different. It’s been a nightmare trying to do anything, updating and finding my way around new layouts and navigation.

And finally.. Wit amidst weariness
The video below was shot as John was approaching Cairns harbour: a local journalist is interviewing him as he rowed. The bit I particularly love is where the journalist asks "How are your emotions?", a fairly reasonable question as someone approaches the completion of such an utterly epic and unprecedented challenge. In similar situation, interviewees might, with justification, use words like "overwhelming", "incredible", "fantastic". And what does John, a native of Sheffield, say? "Im from Yorkshire so Im not very emotional." Not only is it quite clearly true, but dont you just love his quick thinking to come up with that when hed only had seven hours sleep in the previous 90. Cracking, lad.

Photos © John Beedens Blog on solopacificrow.com, with permission.

Side bar scales Fun Factor and Money Spent are totalled and explained

So on the left of the blog I have the "Fun Factor" and the "Money Spent" list.

I have totaled them up today in a completely unscientific fashion that will mystify some if they attempt to replicate my results, annoy others, or make others feel really really good about themselves.

First up, the Fun Factor.

Out of a possible of 240 points, building the Goat Island Skiff got 175 points, leaving it in the exclamation point (!) zone, but not as high as I would have liked to see it.  Overall the entire process was immensely satisfying, as it was emotional and frustrating.  On the whole since it averaged out in the 7! zone, it was fun.  But not FUN!  Thats OK.  Stuff doesnt have to be fun all the time to be rewarding, and the fun Im going to get out of this boat over the next few years will far overshadow any kind of frustration from the past year.  The learning curve aspect is also not included in the Fun Factor, and this is a shame, because I went into this project knowing absolutely nothing at all about boat building, and came out actually a lot more knowledgeable than I thought I would have.  This is a good thing.  Learning is good.  Look at some of my previous posts like this one to see how far Ive really come.  I mean, wow.  So in summary, the boat was fun to build, but it was fun like going to college was fun, the sex and the beer but also the exams and the papers and the thesis, but then feeling good afterwards!  So fun.

Second up, Money Spent.

Ok, this list is fraught with conservatism that does not reflect my situation in the least.  It was my honest attempt to track every penny I spent on this boat, but that went out the window fairly quickly.  I have compiled, therefor, a list of the materials as I mostly originally spent on them.  For instance, I got three deckplates for relatively cheap.  Well, they were cheap.  So they got upgraded to more expensive deckplates.  This upgrade is not reflected in the list.  There are other products like this also in place.

Im sorry about that, but the list in "Money Spent" is probably, by far, the LOWEST you could possibly spend, buying crappy deckplates and such.  Ive already upgraded much of the line in the boat, bought useless line, bought tons of hardware that mysteriously didnt get used, amongst other issues.  Therefor, a more realistic target for me, is the $3500+ number.

I will say:  The glue is accurate, the lumber is accurate, the paint, primer, varnish are accurate, as well as the sail (minus modifications).

So there you have it for comparison purposes on your own Goat Island Skiff project. 

Sailing time 3

Ok, back to some sailing today with my Goat Island Skiff!  I had to take a hiatus the past few days to take care of some issues, but this afternoon I picked up my sail from Withum Sailmakers, who added some grommets along the original reef points, and a third reef, which will be the new first reef, half-way from the foot to the original first reef.  See picture.

This set up came highly recommended by the sailmaker, and my buddies over at the Storer Forum thread where we are discussing the Goats handling characteristics.  This will give me more options for reefing whether I am solo, or with a crewmember.

In addition, Ive adjusted my downhaul.  Previously, I had a downhaul that also went to the forward section of the boom and this was affecting my ability to dump power when a gust hit, and this contributed to me dumping the boat in Force 3 when I was solo.  It was a frustrating day, and in so small way my downhaul had a part to play.  This is what the downhaul looks like now.  Its still not what I want, because I lack the hardware, but its better than what it was, and it the difference was noticeable. 

Now there are some problems in this picture.  I need some more tension at the tack, and you can see the first grommet of the foot is pulled tight against the plastic zip-tie.  Either I need to tie down the entire foot, or re-enforce this area.  This force was created by the extra down force on the downhaul.  This extra force on the downhaul keeps the rig from swinging forward.  Though, as you can see in this pic of my going downwind, the downhaul is not parallel with the mast, because there is still not enough force, and by the end of the sail, the boom had inched forward.  More purchasing power on the downhaul will fix this.

OH! And here she is at anchor.  Pretty!

Rigging woes and possible solutions

Again, if youre a regular reader or are interested in the handling and rigging characteristics of the Goat Island Skiff, and some problems I have been encountering, I strongly urge you to read this thread.

Also, in order to solve some of my problems I have decided to go loose footed with my sail instead of laced.  I have an album set up with before and after pics for those that would like to peruse them.  They highlight some of the problems Ive been having with the rigging, and how I hope loose footed will help.

There are other great threads too, such as this one.

Tomorrow will be the loose footed experiment day, stay tuned!

Hazey Summer Daze continues

Theres a double meaning in the title for the intrepid reader...