On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 09:05:45 -0500, DSK wrote:


Size isn't really an issue for singlehanding (or shorthanding), people
have singlehanded surprisingly large boats... over a hundred feet LOA.
Equipment is a big issue though; and so is skill & forethought. In
former times, big sailing cargo were sailed by as few men as could be
done with, to keep crew expense down. You can read accounts of three
masted schooners being sailed by two men & a dog

For an extreme case, Alain Colas sailed a 240-foot four-masted
schooner in the 1976 Transatlantic race. It had eight self-tacking
sails, like a separate masthead sloop rig on each mast. All had a
semicircular traveler track that went right to the gunwale.

All the controls led back to a battery of self-tailing winches at
waist height behind a bulwark surrounding the pilot house. The middle
winch of each set of three was the sheet; the other two located the
traveler.

The Bicentennial celebration that year included a tall ships parade up
the North River (Hudson). All participants motored from the start
except Colas. He tacked into a northerly, slicing back and forth
through the massive fleet of spectators past the bleachers at Barttery
Park City.

A black squall line became just visible at the G Washington Bridge.
Colas managed to get all the sails down before it reached him. THere
were bikini-clad lovelies decorating the deck, but they didn't assist.
Colas did it all as far as I could see.

I went aboard the next day to see the hardware.


Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a

The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the
simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.
- Richard Dawkins, "Viruses of the Mind"