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#11
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halyard fixing system for 14' catamaran with jib?
"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message ... d parker wrote: Snip He will already be wearing a wet suit so he shouldnt need time to change Been caught out in a hail storm in a wetsuit? I frequently wear a wetsuit when dinghy cruising. (Not the most comfortable sailing gear if you aren't planning on going in, but without one, spring water temps and a little wind chill afterwards wont give you much chance if you do go in and have 10 more miles to do till you reach shelter). I *WANT* that set of offshore yachting foulies rolled up under the foredeck on before the 1/2" to 1" hailstones start hitting me. Of course, we've got weather and you've got a climate VBG My only thought here would be to drop sails and tie them off . Climb into the water and under the tramp for shelter. There is not much you can do at that point except hang on. Much of this is merely rhetoric any way. With the good forecasting services available there is no way our intrepid sailor would be caught out as he is only gunkholing after all. (at least I hope so) DP |
#12
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halyard fixing system for 14' catamaran with jib?
hi Don,
interesting what you say about having your main converted to slides... i assume this means sliding cars right? Most of the bigger boats i've been on had this system as well, and it was sure a lot easier to hoist, plus the advantage of being able to leave the sail and boom attached to the mast when dropped and just tie the sail off with some ties. Im guessing you probably had the sails re-cut at the same time, but do you think it cost much to have the slides added? As an aside, did you notice any difference in sailing performance with the slides compared to the bolt rope system, positive or otherwise? As far as hail storms go - ouch! We have about one of these a year in sydney and it seems every 2 or 3 years we get a pretty big one that makes insurance companies unhappy... Im hoping to not be more than about 10 miles offshore at any time, though if i go really far north i'll probably take the common route of sticking to islands to avoid crocodiles. My wetsuit wont help me much if i bump into one of these hungry lizards ;-) Shaun |
#13
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halyard fixing system for 14' catamaran with jib?
imagineero wrote:
As far as hail storms go - ouch! We have about one of these a year in sydney and it seems every 2 or 3 years we get a pretty big one that makes insurance companies unhappy... Im hoping to not be more than about 10 miles offshore at any time, though if i go really far north i'll probably take the common route of sticking to islands to avoid crocodiles. My wetsuit wont help me much if i bump into one of these hungry lizards ;-) Shaun My usual winter sailing attire is a wetsuit over the usual sort of base layer and on top of that a thick jersey (guernsey actually) and depending on the weather either a spray top or full offshore foulies over the top. As to the hailstorm, it was late march on the south coast. I was out on a small cat. Saw the clouds gathering behind a fairly high point a couple of miles away and thought it looked a bit dodgy. Then it became apparent it was heading our way. Didn't look too bad, no thunder, then. As it came accross the point the thunder & lightning started. At that point I wanted off the water *fast* I started heading for the nearest shore but the wind had dropped to nearly nothing (inflow into the circulation cell?) and I could see a line of white accross the water sweeping down from the point. I figured it would be best to meet it on one bow rather than abeam or astern so I put the boat on a close reach and overhauled the mainsheet so it was fully slack and freed the traveller. Then it hit. Whiteout. Freezing horizontal rain and wild windshifts. We were coping reasonably well but were fairly disoriented (no compass). Then the hail started. In about a minute the trampoline collected at least an inch of ice. We were hunkered down trying to protect our faces. The wind had eased slightly but was still sliceing the hail at us. I decided to run off before it as we couldn't stand the speed the hail was hitting us at nor see anything to windward. I steered off onto a run and my crew hastily joined me on the aft windward corner of the tramp to keep the lee bow up. The rudders were singing and the vibration through the tiller was pretty fierce. I have no idea how fast we were going. I could see a lighter patch ahead and the hail was easing so I steered for it. When I finally got out from under the storm we still had a couple of inches of ice on the tramp inspite of the spray washing over it at high speed and we were over a mile from where it had hit us. We beached as soon as we could as we could still hear thunder and feared another cell was developing. Size estimates of the hail stones were from looking at the half melted remmnants on the tramp. There cant have been a lot of 1" ones or we'd not have made it, and even through wetsuits, heavy jerseys and foulies we had a fair number of bruises. Haven't done much cat sailing since :-) -- Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED) ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk [at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL: 'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed, All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy. |
#14
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halyard fixing system for 14' catamaran with jib?
imagineero wrote:
hi Don, interesting what you say about having your main converted to slides... i assume this means sliding cars right? Most of the bigger boats i've been on had this system as well, and it was sure a lot easier to hoist, plus the advantage of being able to leave the sail and boom attached to the mast when dropped and just tie the sail off with some ties. Im guessing you probably had the sails re-cut at the same time, but do you think it cost much to have the slides added? As an aside, did you notice any difference in sailing performance with the slides compared to the bolt rope system, positive or otherwise? As far as hail storms go - ouch! We have about one of these a year in sydney and it seems every 2 or 3 years we get a pretty big one that makes insurance companies unhappy... Im hoping to not be more than about 10 miles offshore at any time, though if i go really far north i'll probably take the common route of sticking to islands to avoid crocodiles. My wetsuit wont help me much if i bump into one of these hungry lizards ;-) Shaun Hi Shaun My local sailmaker charged me 50 Canadian dollars to install the slides/slugs/sliding cars on my mainsail. I haven't sailed my boat since due to ...first, a cracked rib, and now ingrown toenail. A number of other Sandpiper 565 owners have done this and swear by it. The other issue was whether to install the slugs on the main foot. My sailmaker didn't think it worthwhile. Note: No sail re-cutting needed. the plastic slides have an elastic type material sewn tightly between them and just past the bolt rope. I did have my genoa re-sewn in a couple of places since I was there anyway. |
#15
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halyard fixing system for 14' catamaran with jib?
im guessing the CD$50 was for installation, not including the slides
themselves right? i really cant picture what they look like.... do you possibly have any links to pictures of them, or more information on who makes them? Im very interested in this idea.... they need to be sewn onto the sail right? but the bolt rope is retained? Thanks again, Shaun |