Conference unifix::sailing

    Graham,
    
    Sounds like a great (but cold) trip.
    
    If there is anything I can do to help while you are in Halifax, please
    let me know. If I had a little more notice I could have filled in for
    your lost crew member.
    
    Good luck
    Jeff

    I am afraid that I dont have time to detail the trip here, when I get
    the log done up I might be able to put some of in this conference,
    however I'll hit the highlights.
    
    We made it back.
    
    We rode out two gales in open sea.  First was about 40 miles offshore,
    25 gusting to 40 KTS the second was definately much much worse, had
    windspeeds in excess of 48 kts measured (not by us).  I believe that
    the wind exceeded 50 KTs for us and that we were in Storm conditions. 
    In the first we sailed through it althoug we were down to triple reefed
    main, in the second, we got to the point where our only alternative
    was to lie a-hull.  An interesting manoever for sure, I had never done
    it before, I hope I never will have to again, but if I do have to do
    it, I will do it with confidence.  During the second gale, we drifted
    towards a lee shore, my take on it was that during the period from 1030
    to 1600 our drift when lying a-hull was 24 Nmiles.  I have verified
    this by Loran and re-enginerring the numbers and it seems to fit,
    however it is amazing that our rate of drift was so high.  I would be
    interested in finding opinions on the rate of drift under storm
    conditions.  Seas were in the 20-25 foot range, breaking and streaked. 
    Chapmans (beaufort) seems to indicate that we were in a Force 8 or 9.
    
    The Sigma 33 is a great boat.  She sails like a dream and she took
    eveything that was thrown at her with apparent ease.  
    
    
    The crew dropped from the planned 4 down to 3 who left, down to 2 who
    did the crossing from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and then I left as
    well although at that point there were 2 replacements to be had.
    
    Electronics were good on the boat although we overstressed the Autohelm
    (tiller) and it packed it in after the first gale.
    
    
    I have never never never been so cold in my life.  I knew it would be
    cold, I had a clever dressing strategy that couldn't be beat.  At some
    points, if you drilled a core sample through my clothes you would find
    10 layers but it was nto good enough.
    
    So in summary, it was Hypothermia, sleep deprivation, water torture,
    fear and sailing.

    
    	Water torture? Must have been only a _small_leak!
    
    	When you laid ahull, how was she set up? e.g., Main on or off the
    boom? Jib rolled or off? Drogue? Tiller tied in middle? 
    
    	That must have been a pretty scary time! The Sigma seems to have
    served well.
    
    	Scott.

    re .2:
    
    Sounds like you had a GREAT time!!!
    
    
    	:-)

    You related my impression of off shore sailing precisely.  When you go
    off shore the issue isn't IF you will hit bad weather, but WHEN will
    you hit bad weather.
    
    Jeff

    Watched the movie "captain Ron" last night. 
    Funny view of sailing when when doesn't have a clue.
    
    One line sticks in my mind
    
    "Yeah, I'm lost again. Happens all the time. We'll just sail around
    until we find some land, and then go ask where we are. The locals always
    know where they are".

    That was my birthday present from my spouse, ie. to see the movie
    "captain Ron".
    
    	Regards,
    
    	Ron
    

    re. .3
    
    We had the main on but well lashed onto the boom.  It probably would
    have been a good idea to remove it but that would have been a big
    hassle in that sea (and dangerous) and also in retrospet, if we had
    taken it off I dont know where we would have put it.
    
    I got soaked when lashing the main, it seemed that every time that we
    heeled the rain and spray that was in the fold of the sail went right
    down my neck.
    
    The Jib was on for the same reason.  It was well wrapped on the
    forestay and did not sustain any damage other than the UV strip blew
    off about the middle of the sail and flogged.
    
    We lashed the tiller to the Starbord side, so we were turning to port
    into the waves.  I am not sure of the proper way to lash the helm but
    it seems to me that it would have to be one side or other in order that
    the boat is "proactive" as soon as there is any headway.  As soon as we
    got any headway at all, we just rounded up to the waves that were
    coming.  We would then lose the headway at the top of the wave, the bow
    would yaw off so that we went over the top abeam to the wave.
    
    Here are some thoughts that I think should be on a checklist for doing
    this in the future:
    
    1. Lash everything down well.
    
    2. Uncomfortable as it may be, do a tidy around the boat.  We just
    dumped everything on the cabin sole when we went below and the boat was
    a mess.
    
    3. Close all Seacocks (well not the cockpit drains !).  There was so
    much stuff flying around the boat that a hose could have easily been
    hit/cut/knocked off.
    
    4.Get below as soon as possible.  We made the mistake of sitting in the
    cockpit in a sort of trance with waves breaking over the boat and wind
    whistling around our ears.  When we went below, we were more aware of
    seasickness but it certainly seemed more secure and it was a LOT
    warmer.
    
    5. Get comfortable ASAP.  We took Gravol as soon as the storm hit and
    again when we laid ahull.  THis helped a lot.  It took me over an hour
    down below to realize that I should take off my wet clothes and put on
    some dry stuff.  Once I did that I felt so much better that I started a
    raid on the snack bag that was above my berth.  By the way, at all
    times we had pockets full of candies to ensure we had some energy
    available.
    
    6. Take a position immediately and use it !  It was 30 mins after we
    actually dropped the sails that I took a fix and plotted it.  I then
    waited an hour and a half for the next one .... by then I was too slow
    to really understand the significance of our rate of drift.
    
    7. Tell someone whats happening.  When we told the Coast Guard where we
    were and what was on the go, while we made it absolutely clear that
    there was no immediate danger to us (i.e. this was not a Mayday), it
    was re-assuring to know that someone had our position and situation. 
    Further, speaking to Coast Guard caused us to assess our situation
    based on his questions .... that was a plus.
    
    (these are not in chronological sequence or in order of priority)
    
    8. Ensure all hatches are closed !  It dawned on me 2 days later that 
    we had had both of the hatches open and that neither of us had done a
    check around to ensure that they were closed.  They were, however I
    have often forgotten in the past to close all hatches etc.  Similarly
    there is a large cockpit locker that caused some concern when the
    cockpit filled up.  THe locker had good catches on it but the catches
    were not closed prior to the storm.
    
    9. Turn off all electronics (if possible) .... although the electronics
    are well inside the companionway, when the hatch was open there was
    spray flying everywhere and we could have easily had a short.
    
    These are just some thoughts, one other thing to do is to "Storm-Proof"
    your boat anyway.  THings such as very secure handholds, a strap for
    the galley etc.  Two things that we found out about the Sigma were:
    
    1. There is no way of securing the hatch from the inside so that a
    trailing wave could poop the boat the boat and open the hatch (although
    the washboards are very sturdy. 
    
    2. The bilge is so shallow that as she whipped from side to side, the
    small amount of water in the bilge ran out from the hull/cabin-sole
    join and then found itself all over the place.  Consequently anything
    in a low locked (mostly tins) got wet.  We lost all of our paper towels
    etc. through this.
    
    If you really want to turn a bad experience into a good one, toss some
    bilge cleaner into the bilge when you go ahull .... Rubicon's bilges
    were beautifull after the storm,  there had been no oil anyway but the
    water washed off flaky paint and gunk that was there.  If we had only
    thought to use some bilge cleaner it would have passed even the most
    rigorous inspection.

    Interesting narration.  Thank you.  Your the kind of person I would 
    sail with.  You thought out your situation carefully and accessed what
    you did right and what you could have done better.  It IS interesting
    that when 'we' are stressed out we sort of veg. out and go into slow
    motion.  I think its a form of mental shock.
    
    The reality of being on a small boat in a storm at sea is 'something
    else' isn't it?
    
    Jeff

re .8:

Interesting. We've never tried lying ahull, though we have hove to in 
15' seas and maybe 30 knot winds with a double reefed main and 
backwinded staysail. It was amazing how much less violent the motion 
became.

Were waves breaking over the boat? From what I've read, lying ahull is 
potentially rather dangerous in breaking seas as there is some danger of 
being rolled over. The opinions in written literature is divided, but 
there is some consensus that it is safer to run before wind and waves in 
really extreme conditions (no doubt vastly easier said than done). There 
is also the argument that the best strategy is running early on and 
lying ahull only after the wavelengths get long and waves more regular 
and less steep. 

Did you consider using a drogue to slow your drift? I suppose deploying 
one would have been difficult. 

All in all, I rather read about your experience than have it.

Alan

    
    
    	Thanks- good stuff! REAL data always beats the pants off that
    magazine fluff.
    
    	When we raced the Marblehead to Halifax, a couple of internal
    things were added that I'd have probably never thought of: an
    INTERNALLY operated manual bilge pump, and a hold-down system for the
    hatchboards. Thankfully, none of the emergency stuff was needed. But
    Category IV rules are not a bad starting guide for the uninitiated like
    me!

    Rubicon now has a reputation for taking bad weather with her ... there
    were 2 races last week that she was in (unfortunately I could not make
    it as I was putting my boat in the water) but the race was in 25-30 Kts
    and 8-10 ft seas.
    
    There is a big hassle about the rating of her ... her skipper is
    usually a cruiser and got this local guy to help him out ...the helper
    is a med student and sail maker and has sailed on Matador and other
    go-fast boats.  Anyway, looks like Rubicon beat all of the usual boats
    on corrected time and lots of people are annoyed!
    
    Ian (the sailmaker guy) had Rubicon popping off the front of waves and
    surfing down them at 11 kts !  Apparently Ian was showing the peolpe on
    board how to steer down the face of the wave and, when the tiller
    loaded up (stalled) and the boat came close to a broach, he would
    simply "jiggle" the rudder in order to re-attach the flow ..... this
    rather than the big swing of the tiller in order to fight the broach. 
    Sounds like an interesting thing to know ..... I must practice the
    jiggle .... the guys on the boat said it worked like a treat.
    
    I must say I am disappointed that I was not on board as Ian apparently
    knows his stuff and was teaching all the time.  

re  .12

    board how to steer down the face of the wave and, when the tiller
>>>>loaded up (stalled) and the boat came close to a broach, he would
>>>>simply "jiggle" the rudder in order to re-attach the flow ..... this
    rather than the big swing of the tiller in order to fight the broach. 
    Sounds like an interesting thing to know ..... I must practice the
    jiggle .... the guys on the boat said it worked like a treat.
   

Any more clues about what this means? It sounds like the tiller is still held 
(more or less) central.
Steve

    yes.  The tiller moved very little indeed, both of the guys who were on
    board with Ian have demonstrarted this to me ..... a short, sharp push
    and pull maybe moving the rudder through +- 10% with a one second
    duration.
    
    One of the guys is on the internet and I will fire off a copy of my
    description to him and then post any response from him here.

I have certainly used this technique for dealing with a stalled-out rudder.

Rather than just pulling it towards you with all your strength, hoping that 
it will 'grip', at the first sign of a stall ( noise, vibration, lack of 
response ), drop the tiller back to the centre, and pull it sharply back towards
you. You should get some response. If you have failed to get the boat back under
control, do it again until you do !

Getting somebody else to ease the Kite/Main/Vang at the same time might
make your life easier.

Better still, don't get into the situation to start with :-)

Chris

( I don't think I will need this this weekend. We have a 180 miler, starting
at 2000 from Cowes. Forecast for the next 24hours - Variable 2-3 .  Yawn! )

    
    	Actually, the jiggle the tiller bit is something they teach at
    J-Worlds and other racing schools.  The idea is to get the flow to
    reattach, of course the best thing is to not get to that point.  Also
    you can use the jiggle to keep the flow attached while surfing if done
    right they tell me you can prolong the ride doing it.
    
    	The July issue of sailing world has an article about how to prevent
    a broach while on a screaming reach.  They discuss the jiggle the
    rudder trick and a whole set of other things to keep control.
    
    
    Forrest

    
    From Andy ........
    
    
    

Yes, that's about right.  In reality, the boat still acts like it wants to 
round up, and the tiller feels like tons of weather helm.  I wouldn't call 
the final reaction of the boat a 'broach', Ian called it a 'spinout'.  We 
were going downwind/broad reach under full main and #1 genoa (with *lots* of 
wind - I think Bill was getting a little worried about his rig).  With the 
centre of effort so far off to the side, all it takes is a wap by one of 
those waves and the boat rotates around the keel.  The feeling of the tiller 
is first one of intense weather helm, then it almost goes completely limp 
(and useless), then the boat rounds up *hard*.  You are ahead of a beam reach 
and flogging before you can regain control.

Your natural reaction is to attempt to counteract the 'weather helm' by 
pulling the tiller to weather, trying to force the boat back downwind.  If 
you resist the temptation, just pulling the tiller a little to windward with 
the occasional 'twitch' away from you, the boat miraculously stays on course 
(and *screams* down the waves).

By the way, all it took was a couple of those 'spinouts' and both Ian (on the 
main) and I (on the tiller) knew what it felt like when you were loosing it.  
He would usually have the main dumped a few seconds before I would shout 
"Lost it!" and the boat would round up.  Obviously, dumping the main doesn't 
do much good going down wind, but it does prevent the boat from getting too 
much speed during that period of the spinout when you are on beam reach, and 
make it quicker to regain control.

    

    Lift out tomorrow ?  Just doesn't seem right.  Oh well.  I was a good
    season .... I might have got my 1000 miles in I'll check it out over
    the winter.