[This message forwarded from their sailmail status report.]

Day 5 - Maine Passage

Hello from the North Atlantic, at 38*22'N, 69*39' W, as we sail
along on a broad reach, having turned the corner (on which,
more, below).

Today's "crisis of the day" developed just after the last report
was sent. We had our rig professionally (sic) tuned by Atlantic
Spar when we were in Annapolis. Aside from, I presume, making
sure it was straight in column, the best I can tell is that all
they did is severely loosen the stainless steel wires supporting
the mast. On a tack, the lee side wires can literally flop
around by hand. Ever since, the mast has moved tremendously in
its collar, forcing the foam rubber shock absorber, located
between an aluminum collar on the deck, and the mast, up. It's
what occasioned the failure (which wasn't really - we
accidentally cut it in the previous resolution of the collar
walking up the mast) of the last mast boot, requiring this new
one.

I'd been meaning to adjust the rigging to tighten it back up,
but something always got in the way of it, as the collar had
been put back down when we redid the mast boot. Out of sight,
out of mind... Anyway, with the collar above the ring on the
deck, our very light winds meant some rig flogging, and now the
mast was grinding away on the aluminum ring on the deck. Oops.
Time to get busy on that, right now!!

I'll spare you the shoulder-wrenching, arthritis-inducing
wrestling, details, but it suffices to say that the collar made
it back down, and the shrouds got tightened. So much so that it
changed the shape of the hull, pulling the sides together
slightly, trapping one of the sole pulls, needed to get at where
Lydia stows her spare beer, such that it was a real challenge to
get it up! I'll attend to that, along with redoing some of the
mast boot which came loose in all the pushing and shoving of the
collar under it, later today.

I went down for my usual short nap at 10, and Lydia woke me at
1:30, with the same complaint - unable to stay awake and
focused. She also told me of the new crisis of the day, which
is that our radar apparently doesn't like anything other than
fully packed batteries. Our batteries, as those who were with
us on the first leg of our journey last year at this time will
recall, had had some abuse as a product of a failed/failing
charger and some alternator problems, early in their lives. So,
being about 3 years old, which is normally pretty young, they
probably aren't in the best of shape, and I consider their
capacity suspect, as we can go through a normal day's maximum
usage overnight (the solar and wind normally more than keep up
during the day, but can't fully replace what's been used
overnight). However, as yet another confirmation of the general
state of the industry, when I paid for the full installation of
the new radar to go with our chartplotter given to us by another
of our saints as he upgraded, they didn't install new power
wiring or a new circuit breaker. Thus, it's being powered by
20-year old gear, the same as was present in the much less
powerful predecessor. This isn't a new problem, really, as it
was identified long ago, but it's reared its head again, now.
Unfortunately, there's no workaround that I've found, and I'll
have to bite the bullet and do the installation of new wire and
breaker myself, later.

That said, this has been the most wonderful cruise. Yesterday
we were briefly visited - 200 miles offshore of the nearest
point! - by two barn swallows who checked us out,
circumnavigating the boat a few times, and then headed out,
without landing, to wherever they were bound. Even though we're
in the barest of zephyrs, and as a result we're rocking and
rolling a lot in the nearly-calm seas, we're still making 4
knots toward our destination. I figure this answers the
question of yesterday, as, if we got out of the Gulf Stream,
we'd be going nowhere. At least with this, we'll be something
on the order of 80 or more miles closer to our destination by
this time tomorrow!

Fortunately, Chris Parker, our weather guru, wrote back to the
couple of short questions I posed over sailmail, and we were
able to stay in the Gulf Stream until our turning point at
38*00'N 68*40'W. Up until that time, we'd had the best of the
forecasted possibilities of the benefits to the Gulf Stream,
achieving lift the entire way, and, for the last several hours
we were in it, back up into the 9 knot range (from the several
hours we were drifting along at 4-5 knots). So, at 3:30 this
afternoon, we headed north, leaving the lovely prize of the
added speed of the Gulf Stream, our very good friend for nearly
120 hours.

Shortly before this was sent, I went out and twiddled the rig
again before we changed onto a port tack to go north, so that
the pressures would be equal on both sides. It will take more
work, not only occasioned by the changes I've made under way,
but from the realities of having the front and back of the rig
entirely slackened to deal with the travel lift at the yard.
I'd gotten spoiled in our earlier life, with lifts which were
much larger, and thus not requiring any alterations to the
standing rigging in the course of lifting and moving.

As I write, it looks as though yesterday's musings on routing
held true; we're pushing 7 knots and the forecast is favorable
to maintain that speed through the balance of our passage. With
last night's doldrums, and in particular because the currents in
this particular part of the ocean were much more northerly than
on a historic basis, having stayed in the current was definitely
the better thing to do, because there's also a counter-current
which, had we turned NE at the expected point of the Gulf
Stream's change in direction, would have been right on our nose!

So, once again, we're on a broad reach in 10-15 knots of wind,
comfortably making consistent way toward our next turning point,
the Great South Channel off Cape Cod. With any luck, we'll be
making that turn shortly after tomorrow's posting. As I write
this, we've covered 800 miles in slightly less than 5 days, for
a 160 mile average. No doubt our last few days will see that
drop precipitously, but I'd be pretty surprised to see it be
under 100 miles. Once again, at the risk of sounding like a
broken record, we're thrilled with Flying Pig, and very pleased
with the return on investment of our new sails.

We're now in the phase of the passage where we continually get
closer to land. For several days, we've not been closer than
250 miles to any land, but we're only about 200 miles from Long
Island's South shore, and Cape Cod. We're looking forward to
seeing land again :{))

For today, then, this is Flying Pig, with crew Skip, Lydia and
Portia.


L8R

Skip, Lydia, and Portia, the sea cat

Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at
www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog and/or
http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power
to make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."

I'm hardly a professional rigger, but I've observed lee shrouds loose on
many boats w/o adverse consequences. I think if you have the rig so taut
as the lee shrouds are tight AND you have deformed the hull to point
that you can't open a sole hatch, you have things a bit too tense.

Do you have a rigging text aboard? Maybe others with more experience on
your specific rig can chime in here.

"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
. ..
I'm hardly a professional rigger, but I've observed lee shrouds loose on
many boats w/o adverse consequences. I think if you have the rig so taut
as the lee shrouds are tight AND you have deformed the hull to point that
you can't open a sole hatch, you have things a bit too tense.

Do you have a rigging text aboard? Maybe others with more experience on
your specific rig can chime in here.


Sounds like it to me also... no professional rigger here also, but my
experience is that the lee shrouds on my boat are not flopping around, but
they aren't humming tight either. I typically sail in 20 kts, and the quick
and dirty approach to tuning was explained to me as taking up the slack on
the lee shrouds and that's about it. Then tacking and doing the same thing,
and then doing both tacks all over again.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
...
That said, this has been the most wonderful cruise. Yesterday
we were briefly visited - 200 miles offshore of the nearest
point! - by two barn swallows who checked us out,
circumnavigating the boat a few times, and then headed out,
without landing, to wherever they were bound.

While offshore about 200 miles off the coast of Cal., a small bird landed on
the boat and took a couple of days R&R, wouldn't take water or food, then
headed off north. This was in late October. We took it as a very good omen.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
easolutions...
"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
. ..
I'm hardly a professional rigger, but I've observed lee shrouds loose on
many boats w/o adverse consequences. I think if you have the rig so taut
as the lee shrouds are tight AND you have deformed the hull to point that
you can't open a sole hatch, you have things a bit too tense.

Do you have a rigging text aboard? Maybe others with more experience on
your specific rig can chime in here.


Sounds like it to me also... no professional rigger here also, but my
experience is that the lee shrouds on my boat are not flopping around, but
they aren't humming tight either. I typically sail in 20 kts, and the
quick and dirty approach to tuning was explained to me as taking up the
slack on the lee shrouds and that's about it. Then tacking and doing the
same thing, and then doing both tacks all over again.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Not _all- the slack first time around if you want your mast to remain
upright.

"Capt. JG" wrote

the quick and dirty approach to tuning was explained to me as taking up
the slack on the lee shrouds and that's about it. Then tacking and doing
the same thing, and then doing both tacks all over again.


I know of one boat that was wrecked that way so it needs to be done with
care. Better to look critically at the mast and understand what subtle
curvature means in terms of its column stability.

Deck stepped masts are different. My lee rigging (deck stepped) is quite
slack when the boat is heeled well over but it's all rotating around the
deck step so tension is not too significant unless the flopping is excessive
and risks something like pulling the uppers out of the spreader sockets. My
aft lowers are loosest because I keep more tension on the forward ones to
induce some mast bend and draft reduction. Also, if the boom should get
away and come up hard against the shrouds, there will be less strain. I
look for the mast to just be in a straight line when rail down and no
noticable movement at other times.

Tension on keel stepped masts is a bit more complex and critical. The whole
point of a keel stepped mast is to have some support at the partners so I
question Skip's report of a foam collar. There are some very hard foams
used for this purpose but something other than wedges he put in by himself
sounds too soft.

There are some excellent riggers at Portland Yacht Services where he will
land here. They have set up some round the world racers. I'll be
interested to see what they have to say.

--
Roger Long

"Edgar" wrote in message
...

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
easolutions...
"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
. ..
I'm hardly a professional rigger, but I've observed lee shrouds loose on
many boats w/o adverse consequences. I think if you have the rig so taut
as the lee shrouds are tight AND you have deformed the hull to point
that you can't open a sole hatch, you have things a bit too tense.

Do you have a rigging text aboard? Maybe others with more experience on
your specific rig can chime in here.


Sounds like it to me also... no professional rigger here also, but my
experience is that the lee shrouds on my boat are not flopping around,
but they aren't humming tight either. I typically sail in 20 kts, and the
quick and dirty approach to tuning was explained to me as taking up the
slack on the lee shrouds and that's about it. Then tacking and doing the
same thing, and then doing both tacks all over again.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Not _all- the slack first time around if you want your mast to remain
upright.



Good point.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Rigging. I hesitate to post, expecting flak from the usual. But...

As a general rule when you press with a few pounds of force (a
comfortable firm push, say with your thumb) the fore, aft and uppers
should deflect 3/4" to 1-1/2". The lowers should deflect 1/2" to 1".
Use the higher side for a taller mast, say over 50'.

Measure with a halyard side to side and adjust the uppers to get the
mast straight. If you have to adjust, be sure to loosen all the lowers
first. Adjust the lowers last and be sure to sight along the mast to
check for any bend.

There is a tuning tool available, but it's just a sort of spring
loaded thing with a ruler. A human thumb and ruler is a lot cheaper
and works just as well.

Rick
Watching Tropical Storm Edouard.....
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:42:59 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

I'm hardly a professional rigger, but I've observed lee shrouds loose on
many boats w/o adverse consequences. I think if you have the rig so taut
as the lee shrouds are tight AND you have deformed the hull to point
that you can't open a sole hatch, you have things a bit too tense.

Do you have a rigging text aboard? Maybe others with more experience on
your specific rig can chime in here.


Lee shrouds being less taunt the windward stays is normal. the
question is how much looser. Apparently the Pig's are loose enough
that the mast boot works loose.

Another problem he seems to have is that when he tightens up the
shrouds it deforms the boat. the usual cure for that is a tie rod
between the mast step and the underside of the deck.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:44:26 -0500, Rick Morel
wrote:

There is a tuning tool available, but it's just a sort of spring
loaded thing with a ruler. A human thumb and ruler is a lot cheaper
and works just as well.

Read once you should measure and memorize your body parts and you can
become a walking ruler, no need to carry one.
Stick to stuff like fingers, finger joints, wrist bone to elbow bone,
etc. You don't want to get arrested while taking measures.

--Vic