Hi, Wilbur!

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


Sorry, but I don't have a magnaflux machine on board to regularly inspect
my extrusions and standing rigging.

Of course not - nothing fancy on your bluewater cruiser!

However, I've found that a regular inspection of all attachments and
connected parts usually gives pretty fair warning of failure. It was just
such inspection that caused us to go to new standing rigging last summer. A
tink or two with a small striking instrument tells a great deal about sheets
(think of the boom surface as a sheet of aluminum) of metal, not to mention
decks and other supposedly solid surfaces. I rather expect that such effort
might have given you fair warning of your failure.

OTOH, you have a self-proclaimed greatly stoutened rig, now. What did all
that extra weight do to your heeling moment, not to mention the momentum of
the boom as it swings? How long are those GIPs?

You got it. I simply came about and ran downwind under headsail and folded
mainsail till the first barrier island where I turned to port and anchored
under sail in the lee. No fuss no muss. I got underway the next day after
going into town to secure the necessary materials.

Did you swim, or do you have a dink aboard?

I never said anything about a tour of the Keys. I believe I might have
mentioned showing you a real blue water cruiser and buying you a beer. I
can give you some local knowledge so maybe you can better stay off the
reefs and bars. lol

The only bars I make it a point to stay off are the ones which are noisy and
generate mostly alcohol sales :{))

That said, Navionics promises that they have much updated charts soon to
arrive for our plotter, so perhaps their multiple uncharted reefs and shoals
in the Bahamas might now be shown, and the FL area better (though I've heard
from other cruisers that the Navionics US charts are spot-on).

That said, another cruising buddy just posted in a mailing list about his
unintentional careening off Sandy Hook in NJ, on a sand bar which wasn't
there in the most recent update to that area's charts, so I understand that
shifting sand is always a crap shoot, and CURRENT (like within the last
couple of days) local knowledge always beats a chart of unknown
provenance...

L8R

Skip

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