"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
snipped some
Maybe. But planning is everything :{)) There's no significant event
(sail change, reef, anchoring etc.) which doesn't have a run-through with
the Admiral beforehand.

The Admiral isn't a very flattering name for Lydia, is it?





snippage here too

Just what, exactly, broke your boom, by the way? Certainly, a prudent
sailor would not have put themselves in the situation where force was the
cause, and any competant yachtsman would have noticed any incipient
failure due to degradation of hardware and remedied it before failure.

I was anchored in St. Augustine with a fellow single-hander who sails a
32-foot Allied SeaWind ketch. The wind was blowing half a gale out of the
northeast and we decided it would be a good day to sail to Miami just inside
the Stream current.

I was beating my way out the relatively narrow inlet, was about halfway out
the channel under working sail in very steep seas breaking on the bar and
the tack prior to the breakage the boom swung over to the other side just as
the bow slammed into a very steep sea almost stopping the boat dead in her
tracks. When the boom fetched up on the close-hauled mainsheet which is
attached to a traveler atop the coach roof the boom broke in two
goosewinging the mainsail where the aft boom bale (mid-boom sheeting) was
attached to it by four screws - two on either side. The holes for the screws
apparently weakened the boom enough in that area that it allowed it to break
there.

Now, with the GIP inside as a sleeve and with the boom bales machine screwed
into the GIP (drilled and tapped into the GIP through the aluminum) the
system is much stronger than it originally was. Replacing the boom with the
same extrusion would have been just another accident waiting to happen. This
way the boom is stronger than ever and no hardware hassles such as locating
another gooseneck and end fitting for a larger extrusion, etc. were
experienced.

Of course, I accept that another incompetant may have driven his much
larger
bow into your secured boom, forcing the break under pressure, or some
similar event not in your control. Oh, I forgot - you'd have noticed him
long before, and made sure, under admiralty law and regulation, to have
avoided such a collision, even if you were the stand-on vessel. So, it
must have been while you were away from the boat.

LOL

Unlike non-sailors, I stress my boat to the max under sail. The
single-hander on the Allied and I used to sail out of West Palm Beach
regulary for a rowdy daysail in the Gulf Stream when small craft advisories
where in effect. And we didn't motor. We sailed out and we sailed back.

Now, since you use your motor all the freaking time you might not understand
the beauty of sailing the anchor out, sailing out the inlet, sailing in a
small craft advisory most of the day in the Gulf Stream, sailing back,
sailing into the inlet and anchoring under sail. But, that is my idea of
sailing. Even the Allied captain had his motor running as a 'backup' in and
out the inlets and when anchoring but my motor was in the up position
because I know my boat handles better under balanced working sail than under
engine so what's the use of an engine when the winds are reliable small
craft advisory strength?


Wilbur Hubbard