"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
The REAL solution is to get rid of the wind-up sails. Sad tale of woe
after sad tail of woe is due to malfunctions of wind-ups. One NEVER hears
of such a thing with real, hanked-on headsails.

Going downwind in a sloop requires the use of a spinnaker or cruising
chute. Messing with poled out genoas is stupid and lubberly.

Get a clue Skippy! Stop worshipping that motor and learn how to sail.

Wilbur Hubbard


Nice to see you back :{))

I've been lurking but, for the most part, there is little of worth to
respond to lately. That phony at the Bangkok dock, most notably.


Of course, I'd not have been on the foredeck otherwise, whereas those
fabulous hankers would have required it every time I wanted to do some
adjustment to the headsail. Corralling a large sail in fair seas,
required in such circumstances, isn't high on my list.


Sailors who whine and complain about going forward and install one
expensive, complicated and trouble-prone system after another to keep from
going forward are a bunch of wimps and pussies in my opinion. If you don't
wish to go forward then don't sail. Going forward and changing out headsails
to suit the conditions of wind and sea as the need arises is one of the more
enjoyable aspects of sailing. Fear of or being too lazy to go forward is
just plain clownish and lubberly.

Incompetence when working forward is a sign of a lubberly, sailor wannabe.
You should be as comfortable working on the foredeck as in the cockpit. You
can be just as safe as well. Just clip in your harness to the jackline in
heavy weather if you have a weak constitution.

Unless you're a fanatic you need only 4 headsails for most cruises. 150%
genny, working jib, 50% (storm) jib plus a cruising chute or spinnaker if
you wish to make a little better time downwind. This inventory generally
involves not too many trips forward depending upon the time of the year you
sail.

If you insist upon sailing in the summertime you will have to make more
trips forward as there are many wind shifts and many wind speed changes
mostly due to the proximity of thunderstorms, land masses etc. In the trades
and wintertime fewer sail changes are called for. But, the key is to never
dread changing a headsail. Do it soon and do it often. Never wait until
conditions have deterioated so much that it becomes a chore. And, remember,
even a large headsail or spinnaker becomes mostly docile when blanketed by
the mainsail when running. Never forsake working in the lee of the mainsail
when the winds pipe up unexpectedly. But, for this you need a competent
helmsman (probably not Lydia) or a good autopilot that can accomplish the
task while running.


And, until we were beating unreasonably, Perky stayed listless (well,
moribund, even).

I admit I'm still learning how to sail. I hope I never get to the point
where I think I know it all, as in complacency lies danger...

The only real way to learn to sail it to do it without an engine. Oh, you
can have your engine but don't run the damned thing. One of the stupidest
and most disgusting things I see is lubberly sailors who use their motors
like a binky. When the weather gets rowdy, even if they're still sailing and
have the proper sails for the conditions, on comes the motor - just in case.
Freaking stupid! Like Lionel and his security blanket. This is no way to
sail!

The ONLY time to run your engine is when the wind dies and dies completely.
That's how you learn to sail. Many's the time I've sailed back and forth
from the Bahamas with my engine removed from the transom and placed in the
cockpit locker. But, the summertime is not the time to do it unless you
enjoy an exercise in frustration as you'll be lucky to enjoy enough wind to
get you in and out of inlets against the current or even with the current if
you wait until it changes. You still need some little wind to have steerage.
Drifting with the current without steerage way is not seamanlike.


L8R

Skip, still trying to get Tropica Marine to stand up and take the heat for
their misinstallation of our radar (wrong cable for the application)

Lose the radar! Sailboats don't need radar. Real sailors won't abide radar.


Wilbur Hubbard

On Tue, 2 Jun 2009 20:25:27 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

Going forward and changing out headsails
to suit the conditions of wind and sea as the need arises is one of the more
enjoyable aspects of sailing.

Maybe on a 26 ft boat, on a 46 with the wind and seas kicking up, not
so much.

Skip, what kind of fishing lure are you using? I'm impressed by your
"catch". Any chance of a lure photo?

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 2 Jun 2009 20:25:27 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

Going forward and changing out headsails
to suit the conditions of wind and sea as the need arises is one of the
more
enjoyable aspects of sailing.

Maybe on a 26 ft boat, on a 46 with the wind and seas kicking up, not
so much.


Then he should get a boat more suitably sized to sailing shorthanded! Only
a fool bites off more than he can chew.


Wilbur Hubbard

Skip, what kind of fishing lure are you using? I'm impressed by your
"catch". Any chance of a lure photo?


Hi, Wayne, and list,

The mahi was pretty small as they go, but still ample food. Lures have
ranged from raw cedar tuna plugs to painted tuna plugs, to gummi-bear
material skirted hooks, to a spoon with the hook screwed in the middle
(there's prolly a name for that but if there is I don't remember it).

Doesn't seem to matter. If they ain't there, they won't bite. If they are,
it doesn't seem to matter to them.

The only constant is no cut or live bait. Just hooks on the end of the line
with something which interests them. Once caught three in a row, in very
short order, on different lures (I never have two of the same time behind
the boat, cuz, like you, I'm baffled as to any certainty of lure).

HTH...


--
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."

On Wed, 3 Jun 2009 00:47:41 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

The only constant is no cut or live bait. Just hooks on the end of the line
with something which interests them. Once caught three in a row, in very
short order, on different lures (I never have two of the same time behind
the boat, cuz, like you, I'm baffled as to any certainty of lure).

Have you tried a nightcrawler wrapped stick of dynamite?

Casady

"Richard Casady" wrote:

Have you tried a nightcrawler wrapped stick of dynamite?

From my childhood, most effective way to catch fish.

A quart Mason jar with a rock inside for weight, add some carbide and
water, then screw on cap and throw in water where it will sink to
bottom.

Wait a few minutes until enough acetylene gas is generated to explode
the Mason jar, shocking fish which float to surface and can be
retrieved at your leisure.

Only problem, process is not selective, it kills ALL the fish in the
area.

Lew

On Tue, 2 Jun 2009 20:25:27 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

Real sailors won't abide radar.

Bull

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 2 Jun 2009 20:25:27 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

Real sailors won't abide radar.

Bull




Not bull! Fact!

If you run radar you are motoring because the damned things draw so much
power. Since you're motoring you are no sailor. When you pay attention to a
radar screen and when you plot courses and heed all the information the
screen has to offer you are ignoring all other aspects of sailing. Radar
doesn't show depth of water, for instance. In other words those sailors
attempting to use radar properly do so at the peril of disregarding all the
other important aspects of sailing. Radar needs a dedicated radar operator.
Skippy nor anybody else can competently handle radar and sailing at the same
time. Those are the facts.

Radar, for a lone hander or shorthander like Skippy, is a dangerous
distraction and nothing more than that. It invites trouble as it's used as
an excuse to go where you shouldn't be going in the first place. Lose the
radar!

Wilbur Hubbard

On Tue, 2 Jun 2009 21:22:28 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

Radar
doesn't show depth of water, for instance. In other words those sailors
attempting to use radar properly do so at the peril of disregarding all the
other important aspects of sailing. Radar needs a dedicated radar operator.

Radar does use a fair amout of power. That's a fact but not
necessarily an issue on a larger boat with decent battery banks.
Modern radars do have power saving modes where they wake up every
minute or so, make a few sweeps, activate an alarm if targets are
detected, and then go back to sleep. I've sailed thousands of miles
at night without radar but I count myself lucky and will never do it
again if I have a choice.

On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:42:44 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

Radar does use a fair amout of power. That's a fact but not
necessarily an issue on a larger boat with decent battery banks.
Modern radars do have power saving modes where they wake up every
minute or so, make a few sweeps, activate an alarm if targets are
detected, and then go back to sleep. I've sailed thousands of miles
at night without radar but I count myself lucky and will never do it
again if I have a choice.

You can get radar under a grand, and with a power consumption of less
than 2 amps. A hundred amp alternator can put out a days worth of
juice in fifteen minutes. You would need a hefty battery to absorb it
that quick, however.

Casady