Wilbur, Wilbur...

Jessica must have made you go soft. The below is nothing as compared to
some of your earlier works. Wilbur, I thought I knew ye...

It's so insipid I can't even give you the usual satire points, let alone
riposte your egregious mistakes in your encyclopedic knowledge of us and
our fine home.. Who are you, and what have you done with Wilbur???

L8R

Skip, disappointed in your failure to deliver on your earlier promise :{))

PS I apologize, but as of tomorrow morning I'll be in work mode, so I may
not visit very often, computer time being reserved for after-hours only...

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...
Now, you're gonna get it since I have some typing time . . .



"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Hi, again :{))

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...

Wrong, Dumbo! You show what type of sailor YOU are with the above
dunderheadedness. (Can you say 'fair weather sailor') It just so happens
some us sail in gale or near gale conditions. Under those conditions
external halyards are slapping all over the freaking place when sails
are raised. It becomes even more of a whipfest when lowering the sails
and you know, Bruce, what goes up must come down. Duh! Everybody with
those pile of junk triangular mast loops will end up with a halyard
tangled in them when dousing sail. And, they will be stuck at the worst
time with flogging, flailing, out of control sails when they least want
or need it. This will require a trip up the mast CAUSED BY THE VERY
STEPS that are supposed to make it less likely that one will need to
ascend the mast under emergency conditions. Dumb, stupid, lame and
bordering on the pathetic, I say.

Speaking of pathetic...

I have well over 100# of mainsail. It's heavy enough that even jumping I
can't pull up the last foot or so; I winch it before cleating off, rather
than just tensioning the halyard. I CONTROL the line as I flake the
sail. That means I let it slip through my (bare) hand while I have my
hand on the sail to control how it falls. There is NO slack in the
halyard, let alone enough to go around a step.

It sounds to me like you need to lubricate the sail slugs or the sail
track. It shouldn't be that difficult to raise the mainsail. And, here's a
trick for you since you apparently have not learned it yourself. Raise the
mainsail as far as you can by strength alone - do not jump up and down.
Then take a wrap or two around the cleat and PULL OUT on the halyard. This
will leverage it up to the top (provided the boom goose neck isn't fixed).
Then cleat off the halyard, and push down on the boom at the gooseneck and
tie and cleat the downhaul line. Your method of lowering the mainsail and
letting the halyard slide through your fingers will result in a
significant belly in the halyard that in any kind of a stiff wind will be
flopping all over the place due to wind and seas and this belly is what
gets tangled in the crappy mast steps you have installed.


And, you've not been paying attention, either. I only want _1_ more, so
I can stand at the top of the mast. If the conditions were so severe as
to cause my otherwise-taut (I keep it taut when I've lowered the sail,
and the weight of the sail keeps it reasonably taut as I'm lowering it)
halyard to managed to navigate a 5" (not counting the half-depth mast)
step to foul on it, at (you work out the math; the step will be about
2.5' down from the pulley exit, which is about 1" off center, and the
mast has an 8" cross section) a reasonably broad angle. Carry that angle
down even half (considering the possibility of "catenary" due to the
wind, which would have to be abeam [thus providing a gravity equivalent
so that the theory is similar when turned 90*], unlikely when stowing
sails), and it is probably close to the shroud. Ain't gonna happen :{))


It will foul eventually - don't be so naive. And, when it fouls there's
gonna be hell to pay. BELIEVE IT. If something bad can happen, it will
happen. That's Murphy's law.

So much discussion about the proposed TOP mast step when you have a series
of lower ones that will give you nothing but trouble. Boy, Skippy, you
need to look at the whole picture.


So, I conclude that the massive sail on that yacht of yours is more than
you can handle by controlling the halyard, and so you use folding steps
that only a child's shod foot can fit within (never mind the lack of a
means of not sliding off the side if you got the least bit of lift
causing that pitiful little edge on the plate they give you for safety to
be meangless).

My mast steps are 6" wide. Measure your foot, not length-wise but
sideways. If your foot is over six inches wide then you're a freak. As for
my foot slipping off the outer end, it's never happened and it's never
come close to happening. And, even if it should happen, a wise climber
NEVER allows himself to be supported by one appendage only.

Maybe Jessica would come sail with you and handle that chore for you, and
you'd have this lovely, flaked, sail without burgeoning your tender
little hands....

Duh! Another sign that you are clueless. When anchoring under sail one
doesn't waste time flaking the mainsail when dousing it. One lets it fall
down on and around the boom any way it wishes to fall. Only after other
necessary anchoring chores are completed does the captain or crew return
to the mast and flake the sail adding gaskets as he flakes the sail from
the outer end of the boom to the inner end. You, obviously don't quite
have sail handling down to an art yet. Practice some more and come back
when you have it down, please.



L8R

Skip, down from the top of the mast today, stopping in the middle just
for fun (to measure how far that halyard would have to fly to get around
my step, of course!)


As he ignores in his arrogance the pile of junk steps he's used to get up
to the top. LOL!

Skippy, you're a real hoot.


Wilbur Hubbard