Boating chit chat thread.

neris

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

True. But people have died off monohulls as well.

It's just that the slavish bowing to media interests and technology over the integrity of the sport makes me a bit sad. I may be turning into a dinosaur, though, and would appear to be in a minority (possibly of one!) on that.

theyre trying to make a more spectator friendly/tv viewer friendly sport. Its all about money and tv pays.

HeidiHeidi

neris wrote: »

theyre trying to make a more spectator friendly/tv viewer friendly sport. Its all about money and tv pays.

Yeah, that was my point - I just think it's a shame that it's all about the money and not so much about the sailing any more. It's like the Premiership in football - it's like a high-stakes auction these days, more than a football competition.

I fully realise that you can't turn back time, though, so I suspect I'll just have to get used to it!

pedroeibar1

neris wrote: »

main trimmer/co-owner: some one get the cutters,
jib trimmer: but thats a brand new main
main trimmer/co-owner: cut the f***ing thing away

That was very good advice for several reasons.
(i) a mast in the water can easily hole and or badly damage a hull.
(ii) stays / shrouds/running rigging can easily wrap on the prop, at a time when your engine is seriously important (like trying to pick up somebody who went overboard.)
(iii) insurers will cheapskate you and make you use any rigging that has been saved. That is a nightmare, I know, I had to go through it once!

HeidiHeidi

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

That was very good advice for several reasons.
(i) a mast in the water can easily hole and or badly damage a hull.
(ii) stays / shrouds/running rigging can easily wrap on the prop, at a time when your engine is seriously important (like trying to pick up somebody who went overboard.)
(iii) insurers will cheapskate you and make you use any rigging that has been saved. That is a nightmare, I know, I had to go through it once!

If you cut it away and lose it altogether, how are you fixed with the insurers though? We had to store our (broken) mast for ages, much to the annoyance of the club, and they insisted on examining it. Our main (thankfully ) got badly damaged in the incident, so they replaced that as well.

Your second point is very valid for inboards - sadly our hairdryer of an outboard (when it deigns to start at all) barely manages the boat on its own in lumpy seas, never mind a boat dragging a mast and sail after it. No engine danger in our case!

Would they really make you re-use rigging??? I find that very hard to believe. Our mast was the only thing that broke, but we got brand new standing rigging afterwards (minus the 20% or 25% because we were racing). I had assumed this would be the norm?

pedroeibar1

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

If you cut it away and lose it altogether, how are you fixed with the insurers though? We had to store our (broken) mast for ages, much to the annoyance of the club, and they insisted on examining it. Our main (thankfully ) got badly damaged in the incident, so they replaced that as well.

Your second point is very valid for inboards - sadly our hairdryer of an outboard (when it deigns to start at all) barely manages the boat on its own in lumpy seas, never mind a boat dragging a mast and sail after it. No engine danger in our case!

Would they really make you re-use rigging??? I find that very hard to believe. Our mast was the only thing that broke, but we got brand new standing rigging afterwards (minus the 20% or 25% because we were racing). I had assumed this would be the norm?

You tell the insurers that they are lucky to be paying only for the mast and not a gelcoat job and personal injuries also! Our mast was keel-stepped, it went just at deck level and was not cut loose. We ended up having the mainsail repaired (slight damage only) and having to re-use most of the standing rigging (it was rod rigging), boom and most of the running rigging. Apart from that the insurers were ok to deal with and quite fast.
There is a danger for outboards when gear is over the side; if its prop hits a solid chunk of mast/bottlescrew, chances are that the cotter pin (correct name?) will break (as it is designed to do) so the engine will sound if it is functioning but the prop cannot turn. Racing cover made us take a 40% hit on the cost. I still remember the pain.

HeidiHeidi

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

You tell the insurers that they are lucky to be paying only for the mast and not a gelcoat job and personal injuries also! Our mast was keel-stepped, it went just at deck level and was not cut loose. We ended up having the mainsail repaired (slight damage only) and having to re-use most of the standing rigging (it was rod rigging), boom and most of the running rigging. Apart from that the insurers were ok to deal with and quite fast.
There is a danger for outboards when gear is over the side; if its prop hits a solid chunk of mast/bottlescrew, chances are that the cotter pin (correct name?) will break (as it is designed to do) so the engine will sound if it is functioning but the prop cannot turn. Racing cover made us take a 40% hit on the cost. I still remember the pain.

40% :eek: Holy God!!!

My point about the outboard was that we didn't even (try to) turn it on! There was no way it was going to push us, our mast and sail dragging, in lumpy seas, back into the harbour. It barely pushes the boat on its own in lumpy sea - spends half of its time popping out of the water. We got a tow

cricalix

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

There is a danger for outboards when gear is over the side; if its prop hits a solid chunk of mast/bottlescrew, chances are that the cotter pin (correct name?) will break (as it is designed to do) so the engine will sound if it is functioning but the prop cannot turn.

Shear pin. It's inside the prop assembly. Always carry spare shear and split pins for an outboard Mine (20 years old) has a spot at the back of the flywheel where there's a toolkit and 2 shear pins and 2 split/cotter pins. Kill engine, lift it out, remove cotter pin, remove prop, replace shear, put back prop, put back cotter (or new), put engine back in, away you go. Takes a few minutes though.

Stheno

My dinghy sailing season starts on Wednesday

Am already shuddering at the thought of how cold the water will be off the slip!

bpmdj

Its not too bad compared to other years. But then again, I'm usually in a wet suit

PhoenixParker

I was back for the first time since December on Sunday morning.
In a wetsuit, but with the usual leakage issues especially when launching the boats and with one thorough dunking.

Twas grand, actually it was more than grand, it was glorious.
Perfect dinghy sailing weather.

cricalix

For those sailing off the hut today, may it be fun Lovely to see that we've done away with the laundry-on-a-line approach. Pity you'll miss out on the fresh-baked goods - the cannons don't allow me to launch food at boats, alas.

- your resident Tuesday make-things-go-bang person

HeidiHeidi

cricalix wrote: »

For those sailing off the hut today, may it be fun Lovely to see that we've done away with the laundry-on-a-line approach. Pity you'll miss out on the fresh-baked goods - the cannons don't allow me to launch food at boats, alas.

- your resident Tuesday make-things-go-bang person

Our boat won't make it out tonight (I don't generally do Tuesdays anyway) - what's changed

I'm there on Saturday week, don't fancy any (too-big) surprises!

The fresh-baked goods are generally top-notch - should be heavily advertised as an enticement to get more people down to do the hut

neris

Do any of the Dun Laoghaire sailors here know if the 1/4 tonner Cartoon had any work done on her over the winter?

HeidiHeidi

neris wrote: »

Do any of the Dun Laoghaire sailors here know if the 1/4 tonner Cartoon had any work done on her over the winter?

Saw her the other day - she's a very different colour anyway! Whether that's the only work they've done on her (knowing Ken, I doubt it) and whether a vinyl wrap will make her go (even) faster - well, who knows!

neris

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Saw her the other day - she's a very different colour anyway! Whether that's the only work they've done on her (knowing Ken, I doubt it) and whether a vinyl wrap will make her go (even) faster - well, who knows!

just curious as her rating for this year seems low for a boat that had runners and checkstays.

oystercatcher

Not certain what was done to her - the areas where she rested on the cradle are still a grey colour, in contrast to the sleek dark colour of the rest of the hull. Could start a trend.

Vexorg

looked very smart in the dark blue colour, looked unfinished when heeling and you could see where it sat on the cradle.

Is it wrapped or painted?

HeidiHeidi

Wrapped as far as I know. There was quite a crowd around oohing and aahing when I met Ken in the Irish, didn't have a chance to talk to him properly.

And it's black (unless my colour sight is gone wonky!)

Vexorg

Its my wonky eyesight... :-)

Stheno

I was wondering if it was the black boat we were commenting on last week!

pedroeibar1

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

And it's black (unless my colour sight is gone wonky!)

Blue is the new black.. Or is it the other way around?
There was a spoof article about black paint as a go-faster years ago, in I think Yachting Monthly, very funny. Will dig it out and post it; it was a classic and made its way into an anthology.

Steve

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Blue is the new black.. Or is it the other way around?

Just like socks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8VFecEzkgk

neris

Royal Irish have cancelled that training regatta for this year, they had hoped to rerun but sent an email last night saying it was off.

HeidiHeidi

neris wrote: »

Royal Irish have cancelled that training regatta for this year, they had hoped to rerun but sent an email last night saying it was off.

What a shame, although understandable really - finding a weekend that doesn't clash with some event (especially since this is a year with four separate club regattas) would be nigh on impossible. The very start of the season is the only time for it really - as well as being of maximum benefit to the participants!

We'll just have to pray for better weather next year

neris

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

What a shame, although understandable really - finding a weekend that doesn't clash with some event (especially since this is a year with four separate club regattas) would be nigh on impossible. The very start of the season is the only time for it really - as well as being of maximum benefit to the participants!

We'll just have to pray for better weather next year

i was talking to one of the guys last week and he was saying they had hoped for this weekend but even if it went ahead i dont think weathers great. 6 regattas in dublin this year including howth & icra. thankfully their spread out over a few weeks rather then week after week

Steve

Interesting announcement from the ICRA committee:

An issue arose regarding Professionals participation at last years championship in Fenit and ICRA has responded by maintaining its position on 1 professional being permitted in Divisions 0 and 1 only and introducing a facility where a sailor who may be involved in the marine trade or charter industry and as a result end up classified as a Professional may present his case to the organising committee before the event for clearance if he feels he is not in the intended category of making a significant professional contribution to the boats performance and is not really a professional sailor in a performance sense.

This is a common sense approach to try and be inclusive for obvious cases who should not be caught in the professional trap.

cricalix

So, who came back with a new hairdo today? 'twas distinctly breezy, and I saw at least two big yokes get laid over near-flat by their spinnakers.

Stheno

cricalix wrote: »

So, who came back with a new hairdo today? 'twas distinctly breezy, and I saw at least two big yokes get laid over near-flat by their spinnakers.

We weren't out today and I did wonder if racing took place

As I was heading to a leisurely lunch, I decided I'd the better option

cricalix

We ran starts for everything up to Dragons, but in the middle of a multi-minute 35 knot "gust", we abandoned for C3, Ruffians etc. It promptly died down a bit after that, and then went nuts again a bit later on.

Stheno

cricalix wrote: »

We ran starts for everything up to Dragons, but in the middle of a multi-minute 35 knot "gust", we abandoned for C3, Ruffians etc. It promptly died down a bit after that, and then went nuts again a bit later on.

were white sails also cancelled?