Project List

2016
Switch shaft seal to stuffing box 350

Replace Cutlass bearing 1805

Repack rudderstock stuffing box 300

Clean engine mounts 180

Steering service 250

Seacock service 475

Exterior varnish 3290

Add salt water foot pump at galley sink

Head rebuilt

Trinka conversion to sailing dinghy 2000

Traveler redesign- self

New Sea Frost electric fridge w/ freezer box 5290

New Firefly batteries (2 Group 31) 1382

Victron 702 battery monitor 236

Replaced all lights with LED - self

added Solar panels

replaced VHF radio 260

added AIS transceiver 2120

Safety equipment added

  Zoidak liferaft

  jacklines

  flares (SOLAS), smoke signals, rocket flares)

  throw line

  SOS Dan Bouy

  EPIRB battery replaced

Irridum 9555 sat phone 1705

Storm jib (used) 145

Added running backs 1600

Added boom padeyes for preventers 725

Added Lexan drop boards for offshore 425

oil change

Added secondary winches (Lewmar Ocean Series 30CST) 1350 - self
Repaired keel damage from running aground 1300

Replaced Autopilot controller 50

Repair boom gooseneck 580

2017
Replaced cabin top winches and added bases to raise them and prevent wraps 1500 - self
Sailrite LSZ-1 sewing machine 

Canvas:

  built boom-hung sun awning - self

  built sun cover for dry storage - self

  built covers for teak cap rail - self

Replaced shower sump pump

Fuel polishing and fuel tank cleaning

Removed engine:

  replaced engine mounts

  replaced wiring harness which was undersized

  replaced starter

  removed rust and painted engine

  replaced impeller

oil change

2018
Irma repairs done in Caribbean:
  Replaced standing rigging after Irma 9174

    LC 32 ProFurl furler

    added Wichard wheel backstay tensioner
  Replaced lifelines 1234

  Bow pulpit repaired 1685

  Replaced VHF antenna, masthead tricolor LED, windex, Raymarine wind tranducer 2233

  Replaced wires (wind, VHF and power) in the mast
  New lines - boom vang, main sheet, flag halyard

  Installed radar pole 1800

  Replaced Xintex s-2 Propane monitor (due to water damage) 486 - self

  Replace Victron (due to water damage) - self

Bottom heavily sanded and painted
Repacked propeller shaft stuffing box - self (partly)

Winches cleaned (7) - self

reduced friction in reefing system with low-friction rings - self

added Jordan Series Drogue 1400
Irma repairs done in Maine:

  Replaced starboard rubrail 6300

  Replaced starboard caprail 10600

  Rebedded starboard stanchions

  Rebedded starboard genoa fairlead track

  Replaced starboard chainplates and repaired bulkhead below them that was crushed in Irma

  Replaced taftrail 4300

  Repaired hull-deck joint on stern

  Reinforced aft chucks (so they can anchor running backs)
  Steaming/deck light

Rebuilt all portlights (12)

Replaced both overhead hatches

Awlgrip touch up

Repaired blown out Genaker 1000

Installed Monitor wind vane steering 7500

Rig inspection 1000

Added 6:1 purchase on the main outhaul 400

Added reef line fairleads at the boom gooseneck

Installed a rope clutch for the jib furling line
added VHF speaker at helm 300

Filled the fastener holes in the cabin end

Patched the nonskid

Trimmed the cabin sole lift outs

added Forespar carbon fiber spinnaker pole  2900and mast track

2019

Irridium Go! with external antenna and Predict Wind subscription

sails 22k

  Quantum 6000 main 6800 and jib 6300

  Solent w/reef 3500

  Hood MPG drifter

Convert to 2-line, 3-reef system 7300

Dyneema stay added for Solent 4600

halyards and headsail sheets -- built by me

soft shackles for Solent -- built by me

Clean bilge and under floorboards after flooded

Strip varnish 1650

Repair stbd rubrail joint

Rebuild wheel brake 750

Manual bilge pump inside cabin 1700

Recalibrate Raymarine wind instrument

Replace autopilot control head with one found on eBay

Install light on wind vane

Service windlass 1500

Install USB outlets 450

Energy system install -- 140A alternator, regulator, new pully to accommodate wide, flat belt 3000

Clean up poor electrical wiring 3300

Battery charge/discharge test - to evaluate existing batteries

Service seacocks which were underwater when the cabin flooded in hurricane 200

Repair floor timbers 2150

Achilles inflatable floor dinghy 4000

Yamaha 10HP outboard 3000

Rocna 20kg anchor

Shaw and Tenney oars for tender

new Espar heater 4400

new water heater 1800

exhaust 1250

engine inlet hose1000

in Noank:

Gerry and Sandy reset spreader height

New electronics 12,000

    Raymarine chart plotter, type 2 Autopilot, Quantus digital radar, 4 repeaters to helm and nav station

Replace Xantek propane sniffer again

build storage for Sailrite sewing machine in locker

installed rope hanger, copied Bluebird

fixed v-berth shelf, first of several times

splice anchor snubber

adjust stuffing box (becomes regular chore

oil in outboard motor's carburetor because stored wrong side up

Trinka centerboard insert to keep water from coming in centerboard while towing, w/Sandy VanZandt

rebuilt windlass with parts from a bike store at picnic table in Marthas Vineyard

John Williams:

seal antifreeze leak forward side engine hose

oil change

New hoses to and from head, holding tank, thru hull after I tried to unclog for a full day 1460

new Force 10 stove 2250

rebuild gooseneck and reefing blocks after failure 1500

lag bolts in stern mooring chock after block ripped out, Leif unable to get nut on end 440

in Maine:

added rope clutches for 3rd reef, Leif pointed out they were backwards, repeated

replaced water pressure pump

replaced shower sump pump but it failed again shortly thereafter

hung internal clothes line and food hammocks

laced leathers onto oars

Life raft recertified

sewing:

canvas case for electronic keyboard

laundry hamper

bags under aft quarter berth shelf

bag for v-berth forward panel

remove runners from bottom of hard dinghy and fill holes

unclog engine seacocks many times

remove lobster pot from prop in 52F water

Built shelf for third battery 

3 new Firefly batteries for expanded house bank

Steiner binoculars replaced (warranty)

in Chesapeake:

new refrigerator thermostat due to corrosion of old one

replace Dyneema Solent stay with Coligo

increased purchase in Solent stay tensioner

replaced steering cables after finding serious fray

loud siren for Raymarine radar and AIS alarms

in Caribbean:

reattach Autopilot base which ripped off because Monitor wind vane was engaged at same time

replaced spinnaker with used one from Bacon Sails

thru bolted chart plotter bracket to swing arm after wood screws ripped out underway

remove water and repair force 10 stove due to salt water

Developed new fairlead for Solent halyard -- 4 month process, completed in Pointe a Pitre

reroute solar wires to bimini

Marionics repairman found corrosion of cord going to AP control head

Tracked down freshwater leak and found two

Replaced engine pulley because a bolt fell out then other holes elongated creating wobble

replaced propeller zinc underwater

repair Genoa sheet after wrapped around propeller, invented way to lengthen non-tensioned tail

replace bilge pump float switch

Rebuilt head foot pump

Teak oil exterior wood several times

T9 protection of hinges and latches

several patches to Bimini

reset porthole clearances with Leif and reduced windows which leaked

replaced bilge alarm siren with one from auto parts store on Guadeloupe

LFR for spin downhaul

reattach wood trim piece that had gradually accrued

oil change (1st one by self with IYM pump)

rig inspection by Wickhams Cay II riggers found set screw missing from fuller

new Wichard back stay tensioner (warranty)

lube masthead shivs

replaced lifeline gate

IYM replaced shifter cable in Nanny Cay

new Raymarine EV-1 compass (warranty)

weld nav station chair base back together

new washer that fits into slot on helm axis

built curtain so Ruby could have her own place

spliced traveler

respliced Genoa halyard after chafe found

sewed leather spreader tip covers which Gerry had left taped after

cleaned winches

rebuilt fender board

sail repairs at Quantum after passage home (torn main luff, torn Genoa cover, luff flutter warranty)

after year of cruising:

Fishing Bay marina in Deltaville repairs (never again)

    oil change

    lube thru-hulls and replace galley sink thru-hull

    replace frozen exit block base of mast

    repair fuller foils first time

Annapolis electronics

    separate auto-pilot wiring from chart plotter circuit

    sent Raymarine chart plotter in for warranty repair

M Yacht repairs

    forward bulkhead repair where it was buckling

    sand and paint bottom

    inspect and lubricate rudder bearings

    replaced impeller

    repack stuffing box

    new window gasket (incredibly effective solid tubing)

    buff topsides

    new bilge float switch

    replace balls in Harken Battcar system for main luff track

Quantum sail repair 1100

Mystic

    new Victron charger/inverter (Lucas)

    troubleshoot poor Vhf/AIS signal

        new splitter

        rerun antenna cable from splitter to mast

        new antenna

    WiFi antenna and router

reinforce V-berth shelf with wooden block (self)

replace pulpit-mounted fairlead block for furler line (self)

replace fridge gasket (self)

replaced o-ring gaskets for Dorade vents (self)

replaced exit blocks for Monitor with Protexit Blocks (self)

in Bermuda (self)

   reconnect compass light via solder

   replace Monitor lines after chafe  

Fort Rachel

    fixed fulrer foils properly by dropping headstay (Jeff Morgan)

    haul and wash before Maine rocks Race

replaced forward most pulpit-mounted block for fuller

Maine Yacht Center 2021

    starter cable cleaned

    oil change

Maine Yacht Center 2022

    Base of mast corrosion cleaned up 1000

    Mast step repaired 225

    Zincs 250

    Espar repair 1000

    New Propane Cylinders (too embarrassed to list cost)

    Bow light repair  450

    reconnect autopilot to Raymarine control to enable auto wind vane 650

    Wire conduit in mast replaced along with wires including better Vhf cable 1700

    new Vhf antenna

    New starter motor 900

    New fuel gauge

    Tachometer repair and clean rat's nest of wires behind control panel

    Move batteries forward to move weight out of stern 1500+

    New starter motor and relay, moved forward

    Keel bolts tested with torque wrench 360

    Outboard motor serviced

Built new set of hanks that are longer for Solent and a set for staysail with pull ties

Discussed changing rake with Chuck Paine and Brian Harris but did not change it

Sent GO! to OCENS who confirmed its death

Leather steering wheel cover, boat gift from crew

Huge down wind spinnaker, Quantum 6500

Correction of data loops in Raymarine by Lyman Morse 900

Hired install of impeller in Rockland 150 (I had part)

Installed Harken 150 cam cleats for cockpit winches (gift from crew)

Off season projects winter '22-'23

    new Windsor life raft

    replace spin head swivel block

    clips to hold traveler line at helm

    gaskets for all opening ports

    respliced wire staysail stay with Dyneema (using stretched Solent stay)

    repaired spinnaker tack line which had chafed by resplicing it (shortened)

    new larger diameter preventer lines

    sewed another patch on Bimini

    built fender covers with Sailrite kit given to me as a gift

    obtained over-the-top blocks from Schaefer in an attempt to reduce Monitor chafe

    replaced solent halyard

MYC winter '22-'23

    standing rigging 10k

        retained Merriman turnbuckles

        new Harken Mark IV furler

    new diverter for solent

    rebedded deck hardware to address leaks in vicinity of stbd dorade vent 1750

    replace spin halyard block, shackle (nearly worn through) and bale 450

    keel fairing 5k

    bottom paint 1350

    Beta 30 engine, Balmar 170A alternator 15k plus install

    new bow running light placement on either side rather than centerline 2k

    new salt water foot pump in galley 265

    new trash can runners 500

Transmission oil change 25h

Oil change at 50h

Keel gap evaluated by Adrian Johnson, AMS and Chuck Paine (designer)

Extra Keel bolt place forward on centerline

Cabin cushions professionally cleaned 1500

Moved starter fuse to above engine, port side

Replaced light on Ritchie Compass

Boom repair, forward stb side

2024

New bag for Lifesling, homemade

2025

stripped bottom down to fiberglass

reinforced keel-hull joint, belt and suspenders

New 145 Genoa

new tri-color

replaced windex vane at top of mast

repaired kite that had ripped sheet across in 25+ in Trans Superior

2026

cleaned fuel tank

replaced floor supports that had cracked

repaired broken tabbing

new (rebuilt) Raymarine Axiom chartplotter

    

Reducing friction in single-line reefing

New system at luff

New system at leech

Rings atttach to leech via Dyneema loops.  The crossover
is at the far side of the ring, as shown with the black mark,
so that the loop is reinforced with the seizing

The friction in my reefing system was making feel not confident that I could reduce sail in a blow.  With the reefing line on a winch, in moderate winds, the resistance led me to bust the block at the base of the mast which turns the line back toward the cockpit.  I believe I have solved the situation by attaching low friction rings at each of the mainsail's six reefing cringles.   A test of my new system in 15kt winds on a narrow reach showed significantly less resistance with an ability to pull it in by hand.

Rings attach to luff with webbing. Sewn and seized

The friction in the system occurred where the reefing line passed through the rings pressed into the sail, one in the luff and one in the leech for each reef.  At each pressed ring, the line is forced to make a low-radius, 180 degree turn around a non-smooth surface.  Low-friction rings allow the line to be turned over a smooth surface with a larger radius.

The webbing attachment uses a ring while the Dyneema
loops are built going through the leech cringle

Before going with low-friction rings, I had actually bought blocks that I was going to attach at the sail cringles. In my perseverations about the weight I would be hanging from the sail, I learned about the option of using low-friction rings from the Justine Owners Facebook group. My local sailmaker, Tim at Sailcrafters, helped me figure out how it was probably done.


I attached the low-friction rings to the leech with Dyneema loops.  These are easy to do, clean looking and strong.  I got the advice to make the loops 6" long (when collapsed) from Jaimie at Sailing Totem.  Six inches is about as short as you can make it using 6mm Dyneema line.

Dyneema loop before the ends are trimmed and drawn into
itself.  This has been floating around our house for months.

There are good videos on how to make Dyneema loops.  Bury 6" on each side for a loop made with 6mm line (whatever the diameter of the line in mm, you bury that much in inches).

Surviving Irma

Gryphon, by a stroke of luck, was left standing after Irma's 200mph winds hammered Tortola.  News of this good fortune did not come quickly.  In the days after, social media was buzzing with widely varying reports, completely unreliable.  The hurricane had hit Sept 6 and in the early morning on Sept 9 an email chain among the customers of Island Yacht Management turned me on to a 10-minute YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ereQ7AHeLVQ&t=546s taken by a drone.  I spotted Gryphon at the 9-minute mark.  I instantly recognized my own boat but needed confirmation so first I took a magnifying glass to my laptop screen then I went to a neighbor's and used his large monitor for a better view.  There had been so much misinformation.  I needed to be sure.  I gradually became certain that I was seeing the dinghy on the fordeck, the teak toe rail, the right number of windows and the radar on the backstay.  I could also see, by playing the video, that there was daylight between her and everyone else.  

Gryphon found standing with the rig intact

I am insured, but a boat is not one of those things that is simple to replace.  To go to sea in a boat you need to trust her.  I have 95 days invested in learning about this boat, coming to know what to expect, knowing what works and what needs a little TLC.  We'd been through an ocean passage, with all the handwringing before departure.  But not only did I dread starting over, there was not another boat I could imagine replacing her with.  I even looked at the brokerage listings, but I couldn't convince myself otherwise.  Even the other Justines out there, or which there are few, did not have the characteristics that I value in mine.  For those first few days I feared that the ticket to my adventures was gone.

While I was certainly reassured by the overhead shot, it wasn't until a full month later, and a second hurricane, that I saw pictures from ground level and received reports that the water inside was 6" below the floor boards and that she appeared to have minimal damage.  Next the insurance report came in.  They say the radar, which is mounted on the backstay, is damaged and probably the backstay, too.  One foil section on the headstay needs replacement; some damage to the teak and the rubrail.  Hardly anyone probably came out of this storm with a list so short.  

The view standing on the deck of Gryphon

Owners are not allowed to work on our boats until they clear the yard.  They will accompany me to inspect her, but I cannot do work and I would have to get a hotel room, so I am waiting for news that they are getting closer to me.  They are moving the boats one by one.  With the crane and the time to disentangle each rig it's costing $8000 per boat.  The latest picture sent by my boat guy shows her on the front row.  Seeing it I was humbled by the narrowness by which my boat seems to have averted being crushed by her neighbors.  

Getting close

So now that I know I still have a boat my my ambitious sailing agenda is back on.  I am planning for a 9-day sail-training expedition, a spring break trip with the family and an offshore passage back to the US.   I need to completely evaluate her soundness including scheduling some expert evaluations and sea trials.   The insurance surveyor estimated $30K damage. I wonder how it could be so much and fear that I might be underestimating things.  And then there is the list of projects from before the storm hit. I am back working, and she is one of the smaller boats, so I should be able to afford it.  But given that I am working again it is hard to find the time.

I am also sensitive about pursuing my own hedonistic pursuits when so many others have suffered the complete loss of their boat.  The woman who started the email chain among Richard's customers --  her boat was not even found.  It presumably sunk in the marina.  It is probably still down there, but no one is looking any longer.  Divers were looking for boats, with only one foot visibility, and they were craning them out, but the crane has left.  I was a lucky one.  Richard himself lost the roof of his house.  The guy who does sail training with me can't even live in his house.  He and his young family hid behind the baby changing table while the storm tore it apart.

My appreciation for the forces of nature has been enhanced.  I have in my own small way experienced the devastation of a hurricane.  I have been drawn into the community in Tortola that was devastated.  In all these ways, this adventure with the boat continues to add to my life. 

Addendum:  The Oyster leaning against me apparently weighs 60 tons.  We are waiting for a bigger crane to arrive to move it.  The backstay of the bigger boat is crossing my forestay.  My rig (the wires holding up my mast) must be under enormous tension and is probably damaged.  

Best angle to see bend in my forestay

Near miss

Sun tarp picture

Sun cover

I built this to keep sun off the boat while it is in storage.  I built it without measurements from the actual boat.  I used drawings from the sail plan and my own photos to determine the design.  I made a mock-up of paper to make sure my geometry was correct.  It turned out beyond what I expected.

Sail dynamics

Well-trimmed sails

I am very interested in the science of how our boats interact with natural forces, both wind and water.  I sail partially for the connection with nature and feel more connected when I understand it.  I have found a person, Paul Exner out of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, who can explain these concepts at a high level while putting them into practice on a boat. These are my thoughts on an afternoon we spent together.

The properly set sails of a boat cut through the wind like a blade.  The rounded shape of this blade bends the wind just like a river bends around a rock, we just don’t see the wind bend. And the forces created are different when a gas is bent.  Bending the wind creates relatively lower air pressure on the convex side of the sail which pulls the sail forward.  To harness this force we are able to shape and position the sail.  This triangular piece of fabric has curve built into it which we can shape by varying the tension on each of its three edges.   Likewise,  we can change the angle at which we present the sail to the wind.  The shape we create and where we position the sail vary based on the force and direction of the wind.  Ideally we position the leading edge of the sail so that it evenly splits flow of wind to each side and as the force of the wind gets stronger, we decrease the curve in the sail. As the boat moves, the speed and direction of the wind relative to the sail changes.  Getting it all right is as much art as science. 

The elements of sail shape on which we focused were draft and twist.  Draft is the depth of the curve in the sail and we can change both the amount of depth and its location. Deeper draft bends the wind more, maximizing the lower air pressure that pulls the sail forward. But there are limits to the benefits we can get with draft because the wind needs to flow smoothly across the back of the sail, bending with the sail, to create the low pressure which causes the suction. In light air the wind cannot follow the sharp curve associated with deep draft and it will spin off, forming eddies like on the side of a river, effectively unwinding its energy into the eddy rather than drawing the sail forward. In higher winds, the sideways forces associated with a deep draft can be too much and will cause the boat to lean over to the point that the hull does not move well through the water.

Apparent wind is the sum of the wind due to
boat speed plus the actual wind.  Higher
winds make the apparent wind
come more from the side

The twist of a sail is often unrecognized. To appreciate twist, see it in the picture which accompanies this post.  At the base of the sail the trailing edge points nearly straight back while at the top it is released off to the side.  The sail is twisted from bottom to top along a vertical axis. The angle of the sail relative to the boat is wider at the top than it is at the bottom. This feature is useful in light air because the wind will blow harder at the top of the mast than at the surface.  This occurs because the wind near the water’s surface is slowed due to friction.  The apparent wind (see diagram) at the top of the sail is more to the side so that section of the sail can be set wider to match the wind at that elevation. We can allow more or less twist so as to match this deviation of the apparent wind and keep the sail working through its entire height.  Of course while all this theory is good, sometimes sailing with less twist so that the sail is trimmed theoretically too tight at the top results in faster boat speed, possibly due to hydrodynamic considerations. 

In higher winds there is less change in wind speed caused by friction with the water.  Twist can still be used instrumentally because we might not want the entire sail to be working and we can twist off the top of the sail where it would have the most leverage to create heel. We can sometimes get the top of the sail to luff while it is working lower down.

Twist can do funny things when a boat is going downwind with the sail all the way  out. If we allow twist with the sail in this position, the trailing edge of the upper part of the sail can actually be pointed forward. A strong puff in this setting will heel the boat to windward — the boat rolls away from the side that the boom is on, opposite what one normally expects.  This can induce uncomfortable and potentially dangerous rolling.

Wind bends before it
meets the sail

The two sails of a boat like mine, a sloop, work together rather than as individual units.  Each sail changes the airflow over the other.  A cool thing to understand is that the wind begins to bend even before it reaches the sail in the same way that a river begins bending upstream of a rock.  The wrinkle in the wind created by a sail begins upwind of the sail! They figured this out observing the flow of smoke over a sail. Now consider the wind that is about to go over the mainsail. It is changing its course before it meets the mast, coming now slightly more from the side. This local wind shift is occurring right where the jib is operating and helps he jib work better. It creates a local apparent wind which is at a wider angle to the boat than the true wind so the jib experiences a lift -- the wind is slightly less opposed to our direction of travel. Unfortunately the jib does not return the favor to the mainsail. The jib causes the wind that flows over the mainsail to be more forward of the sail, so the main experiences the opposite of a lift, a header.  The advantage to the jib outweighs the disadvantage to he main.

The space between the sails is referred to as the slot. I do not find consensus about what is going on within the slot. There does seem to be agreement that he slot should be even, so that the sail shape and position of he two sails should be similar.  The slot would not be pinched or become wider further aft.

The shape of a sail is modified via the tension on each of its three edges — the leech (trailing edge), the luff (forward edge) and the foot — and, for the mainsail, our sail trim devices allow us to tension each edge individually. Tension of the leech by pulling the back corner of the sail down removes twist.  Leech tension, with the boom in close, is created by the mainsheet because with the boom over the deck the mainsheet pulls more down than in.  People tend to think of the mainsheet as moving the boom in and out, but it pulls down, too. Once the boom is far enough out that the mainsheet pulls more in than down, then leech tension is achieved with the boom vang. 

Tension on the foot reduces draft in the bottom of the sail while tension is the luff also reduces draft at the same time that it pulls the draft forward.  Luff tension is typically created by a downhaul, or Cunningham, however my boat is not set up with one.   We found that I could create good luff tension with the halyard, probably because the Harken Battcar system eliminates friction between the mast and the sail so the tension from the halyard goes evenly to the luff.  We also found halyard tension would change the twist.  This makes sense because pulling the head of the sail pulls only slightly less on the leech than the luff. 

When the sail is trimmed close the the boat and the mainsail is pulling more down than in, the traveler is the best tool to position the sail.  Some guy walking the docks told me I was wasting my time redesigning my traveler, but I find it an essential tool when close-hauled. Trying to use the mainsheet to bring the main in tighter at this point does more to change its shape than its position. The traveler, which controls where the mainsheet pulls from, will change the angle of the sail to the wind without changing its shape. As the sail moves further outboard the mainsheet takes on its commonly perceived role of positioning the sail in and out.

In contrast to the main, the jib only has one point, the clew, from which it is typically controlled.  We can control luff tension, and therefore draft, with the halyard but with furling gear and headstay foils, not many people are going to do that. We can, however, pull the clew in different directions to affect jib shape. Most boats have a track by which the jib fairlead (the pulley that the jib sheet goes through before it is led back to a winch) can be moved foreword or aft. Moving the fairlead foreword causes the jib sheet to pull the clew more down than back so the leech is is tensioned relatively more than the foot. Move the fairlead back and the foot gets tensioned more than the leech.  The center position for the fairlead is found empirically and is that point at which the entire length of the jib’s luff breaks at once (or all the tell tales lift together) as you head into the wind. Partially rolling up the jib changes that center. 

The jib sheet can also be redirected so that it pulls more from a position further outboard through the use of a barber hauler. This device can simply be a block attached to the rail through which the jib sheet passes before it is led to the fairlead. Paul figured out that on my Morris Justine, when sailing on beam and broad reaches, the sail had a more powerful shape with the clew further outboard.  We began with the straight forward system of a block (pulley) attached at the widest part of the boat. Over the course of the afternoon we invented a system in which we could vary the height of that block. We did this by putting the block on a line that could be controlled by a winch.  If you enlarge the picture attached to this post you can see this setup.  The jib sheet is led via the aft corner to its winch and the barber hauler is going through the midship hawse pipe, through the genoa fairlead, then to a winch

An important aspect of any headsail trim is holding the clew steady. If the clew is allowed to move around, the flow of wind across the sail can detach and the suction is broken.  The more stable the clew the better and thus the benefit of fixing it with a pole or building rigid sails like the America's Cup boats.

I have deliberately not discussed the hydrodynamic issues which include the forces generated as the keel moves through water.  The keel acts like a foil, creating forces which help the boat go upwind, similar to the sail.  There is interplay between the aerodynamic and the hydrodynamic forces.  I will write about that as I understand it better.

We had the picture of our handiwork taken by a guy standing in an inflatable, one hand on a throttle extension and the other holding a camera.  He is the boating equivalent of the guys who position themselves on popular ski runs and try to sell you a picture. He came along just as we were getting things dialed in. Good timing to sell me a picture. An excellent souvenir for a sailing dork’s vacation.

References:

Sail Power by Wallace Ross
Seaworthiness, The Forgotten Factor by C.J. Marchaj

Bulwark Cap Rail Covers

The Caribbean sun is doing a number on the teak.  Before I start varnishing I want to at least know that it will be protected when I am not there.  Here are photos of the covers I constructed.

At home, where I had the sewing machine, I created the basic foundation for my covers.  For each side I made 7-inch wide strips, double-hemmed on each side, 42 feet long.  For the stern, the strip was 9 inches wide and only 10 feet long.  I used Sunbrella fabric and V-92 thread.  For sewing the double hems I spooled the fabric off a broom (as shown in picture).  The spool kept the double hem folded and allowed it to easily feed into the machine.  I used Sailrite advice and videos from their website and was inspired to buy a Sailrite machine after struggling through this project with a less suitable machine.

The cap rail is interrupted by three stanchions on each side and two in the stern.  I cut openings for each stanchion, but had to do that at the boat. I had pre-made the velcro pads at home on the machine but at the boat I had to hand-sew them in place.  Each one took me about an hour to hand sew.  I did them at anchor with a cocktail after the kids had gone to bed.  (My new Sailrite will come with the Monster Wheel for hand cranking).  This picture also shows some of the creative ways I found to attach the covers to the boat so that I could limit the number of snaps.  There is a loop of webbing around the mooring post and a tie through the hawse pipe.

I was able to limit the use of snaps to four on each side and two on the stern.  The reason to limit snaps is that the sockets are screwed into the fiberglass, are not as pretty and will corrode.  This picture shows my how I hung the water bottles directly opposite the snaps to avoid pulling the cover off.  The snaps are positioned to put slight tension on the fabric.

I cut slits for the ladder attachment points.  I tried to do most cuts with the hot knife. but found that cutting with scissors and singeing with a lighter also worked.  Here again I can attach the cover with a tie through the hawse pipe.

I avoided snaps in the back by tying the corners together (Kate's idea).

When I made mistakes I kept going.  Here I cut the opening for the back stay in the wrong spot and just patched it

I hung bottles filled with seawater on outside so that I did not need hardware on the outside hull (thanks to Tom from Nomad for that idea).  I used a constrictor knot around the neck of the bottles and tied them to the grommet with two strands.  The line through the grommet should prevent the grommets from hitting the paint in the wind.

More bottles hanging.  I used one bottle for the corner.

I thought it was clever to use one bottle in the corner.   

Meditative sailing videos from the passage

These two videos were contributed by my crew member Adam from his watch during the 

Caribbean 1500