wrote in message
...
On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:39:25 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

He bragged about the fact that he installed an outside-the-mast,
wind-up
mainsail.

Actually I didn't think I was bragging about my system. If I had have
been I'd probably have mentioned that I designed it myself, calculated
all the loads and stresses, Sized the material to allow a 50% safety
factor, cut and welded it myself, and if I do say so there isn't a
warp or wrinkle in it. Installed it myself and designed and
manufactured the reefing and furling systems myself.


And that made it impossible for you to cruise for maybe half a year.
Exactly what you wanted, wasn't it?



Everybody knows this is the worst of all systems. Any real sailor
would
have a conventional mainsail that was hauled aloft on track or groove
sliding slugs.

Willy, Know what a staysail schooner is? Know what a fisherman
staysail is? Know what a jib is, or a genoa or a yankee staysail?.
With the exception of the mainsail on the schooner all of these sails
are set on stays - stretched cables - and they all sag to windward ...
just like my roller main.

If you don't have a Marconi rig then you're less a cruiser than I
thought.



A roll-up loses efficiency because of the distance between the mast
and
the luff of the sail. More efficiency is lost because the sail has
added
sag-off. Battens can't be used because they don't roll up therefore
the
sail has little or no roach and is less efficient than it could be.

How much efficiency does it lose? And how much is that loss in
efficiency compensated for by always having the correct amount of sail
out.

Perhaps a 30% loss. A correctly sized for the conditionions rolled up
mainsail will always loose out to a correctly sized for the conditions
(slab reefed) mainsail. Not only that but it will be more dangerous and
more likely to break or unwind.


f you use slab reefing, on a normal size cruising boat, you reef, say
six feet of sail at a time. Is it too much? If you could have reefed 4
feet would you be going faster?

Real cruisers have three reef points and a dedicated storm trysail on
its own track. That covers all contingencies.


With a roller you can reef that four feet.

And it can jam, break, unwind when least expected, jam and flog.


There are two batten systems used with roll up sails and either will
give as good sail form as conventional battens and batten cars.

Vertical battens are not as efficient as horizontal battens.


The more Bruce reveals about himself and his boat the more I come to
realize he has fallen prey to and is a victim of too many, so-called,
modern developments which do nothing but hinder simple, safe and
enjoyable cruising. Further proof is the fact he's stuck at a dock
constantly fixing up his complicated and inefficient systems and goes
nowhere any more.

Yes, complicated systems; lets see? Is it the nearly 30 year old
Perkins 4-107 engine - ah yes, a really complicated piece of machinery
that. I overhauled it in Singapore ten years ago. What else? Oh yes,
the VHF set, now ten years old and looking like another ten before it
dies. Of course we got the 60 amp battery charger that I bought down
at the auto shop five years ago, but that isn't broke yet.

Come on Willy, tell me. What it this complicated system that keeps me
so busy. Is it the roller furling that operates from the cockpit along
with all the other lines?

I don't know enough about your boat to talk specifics. What I DO know is
you seem to sit overlong in one place while claiming to be a world
cruiser. You need to become a little more realistic about your method of
operation. Face it. You are settled in and comfortable. Nothing wrong
with that. You found a good place to live. Just admit it and get along
with your life there. Stop trying to act like a latter day Joshua
Slocum.


I know! It is that damned electric anchor winch. Five years ago I had
it apart to paint the housing and while it was apart I had the
bearings changed. That is it! Two bearings and a coat of paint, that
is the excess maintenance that is keeping me tied to the dock.


With a proper sized cruising boat one never has a need for a windlass or
electric winch. A proper sized cruising boat has systems one man can
handle using the power God gave him. If you can't hand your ground
tackle yourself then your boat's too big for you.


My out board is almost ten years old and still going strong drinking
its 50::1 mix. Wonder if your 9.9 will last as long?


You mean Capt. Neal's? I'd guess twenty years or so because it's rarely
used. It's already six years old and he says it has less than 200 hours
on it.



But, in a way, I guess this is good. I'm sure Bruce considers himself
and others like him to be the typical modern-day cruising sailor.
Because of this, there are way fewer such people actually cruising.
Instead they provide a good living for marinas. That means I'm not
bothered by them, their problems and their lowering of the cruising
bar
whilst I'm out cruising the proper, tried and true way myself.

What is the "typical modern-day cruising sailor", Willy? Somebody with
a Swan 68 and a 9.9 HP outboard bolted to the stern, or is it somebody
with a trailer-sailter who can't afford marinas so has to anchor out
and haul water and gas and cooking fuel. Or, is it some one who just
gets up and goes whenever he wants to? Let us in on the secret Willy.


The Swan is my coorporate tas write-off yacht. I have a captain and crew
running it. I just go along for the ride from time to time. My Allied
Seawind 32 is my coastal cruiser. I sail that all by my little lonesome.
It's Capt. Neal who's got the Honda 9.9 not me. Heck that's not even big
enough for the Swan's dinghy.


Peter is getting ready to leave Central America as soon as the
cyclone season is over and hasn't made up his mind whether to head
straight to N.Z. or stop in Vietnam first. And this is a guy that you
bad mouthed and said wasn't a sailor, talking about essentially a
nonstop crossing of the Pacific Ocean. And he is doing it in a 40 ft.
boat he built himself right down to the cast bronze rigging fittings.

No, Willy you got to let us know what the difference is between people
who go out and do a thousand mile sail when they want to and The REAL
sailors that you so regularly refer to. How are you ever going to get
us to change if you don't let us in on the secrets?


Real cruisers do it themselves. They don't sail by committee. Real
sailors don't try to sail a floating home. They sail a seaworthy yacht
that becomes their home. Their home is attuned to the sea and has
limited systems that only lubbers think they need. Real sailors leave
port unnoticed and arrive in another port almost unnoticed. They don't
have to yell for help or ask for assistance. They don't think one
disaster after another is what sailing is all about. They hate the sight
of and the smell of civilization except for a day or two after a long
passage. They consider a dock the nemesis of their lifestyle. They like
their privacy. The land is only a place to stop long enough to provision
before carrying on. They are happy to be solitary men. They know only a
handful of women in this world are cut out to be real sailors. They are
satisfied that even though they likely will never find such a woman they
just might if they keep doing what they are doing and are honest about
their way of life. But, it does not become a priority or an obsession.
They don't prostitute themselves by trying to attract the wrong kind of
woman who is only satisfied with a luxury condo that floats.

I hope this helps.

Wilbur Hubbard