I have four different types of peeling strops for different reasons/boats – some are for asym some for sym boats or both.

1) Double tack line – if it is not class legal we install the extra clutch for offshores and take off for inshores. Just make sure if your deck is balsa core that you have put epoxy plugs in so that when you remove and fill with a screw and silicone for inshore racing you don’t get a mushy core due to water infiltration. Two single blocks for sure. Great for retractable pole boats and large sprit boats that have halyard locks. On large sprit boats you rig a martin breaker and are well clear when the tack is remotely spiked for you.

2) A long strop off the jib tack ring with tylaska on each end – also discussed above. Good for retractable sprit boats as that way you hoist on the strop then put the tack line on the new sail when the old one has been spiked away. Really only use this technique if you aren’t set up to do the other methods or you rarely do peels and don’t want the expense of a different system.

3) A peeling ring – Two captive tylaska go in the top segments for tack of spinnaker. Then you attach your guys and tack line to the bottom segment. You can either splice the tack line to this ring direct or you can tylaska (advantage of tylaska is you can remove when the wind is light and you don’t want all the hardware dragging the sail down) splice = cheaper. Also tylaska if you have a mixed asym, sym inventory. Pole doesn’t get moved at all during the peel you just clip the new tack on the other tylaska and spike away the old (kind of like what you do with the tack on a jib peel!). Also how many times as a bowman have you been up there trying to fit the guys and tackline on the tack ring of the sail as it has been set up incorrectly. Harder to use the martin breaker set up on this system so it is better to do on smaller boats (i.e. up to 70 foot) as the recoil on the larger boats means you don’t want your head in the way.

4) My old favourite that is great for short handed sailing and works really well on sym peels. A strop with a tylaska on one end and a clip on the other it is about 12 inches long. You go out on the end of the pole (if fully crewed) or drop the pole forward (if single/doublehanded) and clip drectly onto the guy on the aft side of the pole. You take the strop under the pole and connect to the clew ring on the old sail. You spike the clew of the old sail and it is now on the strop. You attach the clew of the new spinnaker to the guy and hoist the kite. When you are ready to get rid of the old sail you spike the strop and then drop the kite. The strop will run down the guy to the guy block so when you have finished the drop etc. you just pick up your strop from the weather side of the boat.

 

There are a lot of systems on the super yachts. One which has caused a bit of a headache is the captive winch for the main halyard. The winch is located under the galley floor in the bilge so working on it requires doubling yourself over and fitting in between pipes etc. Basically the main halyard wraps around the drum as the mainsail is hoisted. There is a load cell (see picture below) in one of the sheaves feeding the drum which ‘feels’ the pressure on the halyard telling the drum when to work and when not to. There is a ‘shuttle’ which runs from left to right as the halyard is hoisted loading the halyard around the drum in a tight coil. The halyard has to be the right length and diameter otherwise it fills the drum before the main is all the way up.

 

At the refit in New York they put on a new halyard which was a 1/8 inch larger diameter then what was specified – doesn’t sound like much however, this combined with the riggers making it a bit longer than the old one led to the halyard jamming on the captive winch. These things never happen when it is dead calm we were actually trying to reef the main as it had ‘jumped’ the captive winch after overfilling the drum and then shredded the cover. The main mandrel (in boom furling drum) stopped turning as it wasn’t getting feedback from the captive winch so the main had a pocket in it allowing the 25 knots of wind to catch it and slam the rig back and forth. I went up in the climbing harness on the spinnaker halyard taking with me the topping lift from the end of the boom (not easy to get to as the boom was swing around so much). I attached the topping lift to the head of the main (again not easy to hold on to the rig which I was being slammed against it) and removed the main halyard attaching a down haul to it so it could be cleared out of the way. We then had control of the mainsail however, the captive winch needed to be cleared so I spent a few hours in the bilge with a razor blade cutting away the damaged cover and unwinding the halyard from the winch.

 

On the trip from Auckland to Sydney again I spent some time in the bilge as the halyard is doubling over on itself as it is a little too long. However, we are now aware of the situation so can solve the problem before it becomes stuck and we shred a halyard. In Sydney I will be shortening the halyard and this should fix the issue.

Carrying Inflatable PFD’s with you on Commercial Aircraft can be a distressing event, unless you plan on it in advance. The issue is, that the charged cartridge on the inflatable is a Hazardous Material as defined by the FAA Regulation (49CFR175). There is an Exception 25 in the Regulation that allows the carriage of charged inflatable PFD’s (one PFD per passenger and one spare cartridge), but leaves the option to the Individual Air Carriers whether or not to accept them on their flights.

These same rules apply whether you take your inflatable as a carry-on or check it through. Life becomes more involved for us sailors since the U.S. Air Carriers do not follow the U.S. FAA Regulations in this area, since most deal with international flights where the Federal Laws have no jurisdiction. Therefore, the U.S. Air Carriers subscribe to a higher level of regulations called the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). The IATA is more restrictive than the FAA, but in this case, they mirror the FAA. The IATA does not call the cartridges “hazardous materials” as the FAA does, the IATA calls it a “Dangerous Goods.” For more ideas on boating items you may be carrying that may be considered a Dangerous Good look at this IATA list.

See http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm#9 look at the section entitled Disabling Chemicals & Other Dangerous Items or go to http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/compressed_gas.shtm

When ordering your tickets with the airline, speak directly to the airline, not your ticket agent and ask them, if it is acceptable to carry your Inflatable PFD that contains a charged CO2 cylinder that meets FAA Regulation 49CFR175.10, Exception 25 and the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulation Table 2.3.A. If the ticket agent calls their Hazardous Materials department (some air carriers call this their Dangerous Goods Inspectors), get the approving authorities name and phone number as well as the name and phone number of the approving agent and have that information ready with you when you check in. Believe it or not, the final decision will be made at the gate, with the final decision made by the gate attendant. In the safe environment of air carriers, everyone appreciates it when they error on the side of caution.

If you have a crewsaver or spinlock lifejacket you can get a letter from the manufactuerers that can be of assistance to you. See
Spinlockand see very bottom

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently decommissioned two WAAS GPS satellites and activated two replacement satellites. This means the WAAS firmware in certain older and some current model GPS receivers are no longer able to receive WAAS correction signals. There are a number of ways to determine if your GPS receiver is receiving signals from the new satellites. If your GPS unit has a satellite status page, which most do, check to see if it is receiving data from satellite #51 on the east coast and/or satellite #48 on the west coast. If you are not receiving the data, you will need to either upgrade the firmware in your present GPS, change some settings or replace it entirely to obtain the improved accuracy provided by WAAS corrections.

I forget where I ran across the link to this protest diagram kit it was made by Angelo Buscemi. He explains how to use it on the first pages. Not only boats are provided but also pages with different places on the race course, i.e. starting line or leeward mark.

It is an excellent tools when you have to unfortunately go into the room. This summer it was necessary to protest a larger boat at Cowes Week while sailing on my fathers boat after a collision ending in a large hole in our boat. We prevailed in the room which we were happy about but also unhappy about as it adversely effected the other boats 1st place in class that day. Also I would highly recommend having a digital camera as it was helpful to show the protest committee the extent of the damage in the room on my laptop.

The below article is a shortened version of an article written by Stan Honey which I found to be very interesting

Anti quick-stop

This method cannot be used on any large high-performance boats running in heavy winds.When sailing downwind in 30 knots of wind with lots of sail, it is using its maximum stability to sail at a very fast speed. To attempt a “quick-stop” and immediately round up in that much wind with a spinnaker up would result in a knockdown. Getting the spinnaker down once the boat was knocked down would be very difficult because of the high apparent wind and the fact that the spinnaker would be blown through the rig. The fastest and most reliable way to slow down when running in heavy winds is to douse the kite the way the crew has trained to do it. Reduction of sail area is necessary to go upwind and complete dousing of all sails with the engine going may be faster. This also removes the danger of getting caught in irons with the main up. Litter the ocean with lights etc. so you can calculate drift etc. Start at the GPS MOB location and investigate each location of litter. Pursue a sensible search pattern incorporating that information with the location data supplied when the MOB button was pressed.

GPS MOB button on deck.

A MOB button at the helm location is the single tool that provides the most help in finding a guy in the water. This is because in windy running conditions there is no way to stop a boat quickly. The boat will have to return to the MOB from over a mile away after dousing the kite, it is an enormous advantage to provide the crew with a reliable position where the person was lost. On the Volvo boats (as on Pyewacket and Cheyenne), there is a button at each helm location that, when pressed, enters the boat’s current GPS position into the instrument system and then displays the range and bearing to that location on a deck display. Many GPS’s have a MOB button, but only a few (e.g. Leica and some Ray-Marine units) have the critically important ability to wire in an external button that can be installed at the helm locations.

Personal EPIRBS

The VOR boats were all required to carry personal EPIRBs for everyone on the crew and an ADF system to display the bearing to an EPIRB in the water. Each boat was required to test that system with a guy in the water. In the tests the system only worked at such a short range that few crew on our VOR boats bothered to actually carry their personal EPIRBs. The range of the EPIRBs (300 meters) would have been sufficient, however, for boats that were capable of performing a quick-stop.

Harnesses/PFD’s.

Several of the crew on ABN AMRO ONE, on other VOR boats, and on Pyewacket have built theirown lightweight Spectra harnesses that have no metal parts. The guys who have these harnesses find that they are so comfortable that they wear them more often than the heavier integrated harnesses/PFD’s. Integrated harnesses, coupled with the second shackle on the person end of the tether, have made the gear so heavy and cumbersome that many crew delay wearing them until they feel it is necessary for safety. The guys who wear the light Spectra harnesses sometimes wear “fanny-pack” style PFD’s. Some folks criticize this approach stating that the fanny pack PFD’s will not save an unconscious person in the water. All VOR crew have gone through the VOR in-the-water training for PFD’s/survival-suits/liferafts. After that training many concluded that no PFD will keep them alive in the water if they are unconscious unless the sea is absolutely calm. As many have experienced, when you’re in the water in any reasonable wind and sea state, it is hard to keep water out of your nose and mouth. The spray hoods on PFD’s are a huge help, but you need to be conscious to deploy them. So some crew figure that they are better off with the light Spectra harness and a fanny pack PFD because they willwear it more often than they would an integrated harness/PFD. This approach is permitted by the ISAF Special Regs, but the trend of most boats to use the bulkier integrated PFD/harnesses might be counterproductive since the crew is likely to delay wearing this integrated harness.

Some of the Harken Winches have screw on tops. The problem with this design is that it is hard to tighten them and over time when ever anyone puts their hand on the top of the winch to steady themselves they invaribly end up loosening the top. At the most in opportune time the screw top flies off and you are in the middle of a race without a winch. Bad….. What I learnt is to use an awl to punch a little hole in the top of the screw on top. When you finish servicing the winch just give it the extra tap with an awl and hammer and it is less likely to undo.

Introduction
* Our discussion will deal with what you can do to optimize your boat’s rigging whether you race or cruise.
* This is a large subject so I am going to stick to layout, installation and your choice of hardware not standing or running rigging.

Rigging Issues
*ith any boat there are 3 things to consider:
* Hardware Layout – The best are usually the simplest with the least holes and friction.
* Hardware Selection – The right components are essential
* Installation – Doing it the right way!

Layout
* Take photos of your current layout
* Identify what worked and what didn’t
* Identify your use of the boat – shorthanded (lead things back), fully crewed (jobs), inshore, offshore (no holes), cruising (cheaper), racing (hi tech), one design (rules)
* Identify parts that you can build into boat instead of adding on later i.e. toe rail
* Do your research – take pictures of similar boats, talk to people who have sailed the same type of boat
* Draw plans of new deck layout and ‘live’ with this for a while

Components
* Carbo vs. bullet blocks, forged vs. stamped
* http://www.harkencompuspec.com/
Provides initial suggestions (not necessarily the ideal) based on standard sail area formulas, boat length and displacement. Gives you an idea of working loads.
* Keep to one manufacturer if possible so everything looks similar.
* Harken – blocks, Spinlock – jammers, Lewmar – winches, Equiplite – shackles

Installation principles
* Use stainless fastenings – right length, right head, right type and phillips throughout
* Use backing plates where necessary
* Create compression plugs in cored areas
* Tap where possible
* Use bedding compound (but not as a sealant)
* Below the waterline use G10 or wood blocks epoxied to the hull
* Use Tef gel when putting stainless fasteners into aluminum or carbon
* Installing tracks? measure from center line not from edges of boat i.e. Moore 24
* Pop rivets – aluminum if filling holes stainless if installing hardware
* Compression tubes when installing parts on a boom

Installation
* Remove old hardware and throw away parts that can’t be reused I.e. screws and nuts, keep old line for ‘dummy’ rigging, washers, backing plates.
* Identify rotten core, remove and rebuild
* Grind, sand, clean, fill, fair, sand
* Dry fit all hardware including drilling holes (tap if solid glass), create ‘kits’, tape off ½ inch
* Sit in the boat to figure out the best location for cleats in terms of ergonomics.
* Over drill holes, remove core (see chapter 7 of west systems book) – fill with neat epoxy using syringes, than go back for a second go with epoxy mixed to catsup consistency with 406 colloidal filler and 205 hardener
* Remark holes by drilling small ‘dimples’
* Roll on deck

Summary

Review your deck plan & layout
Utilize available resources, especially West Marine, Harken catalog, etc.
http://www.westmarine.com (west advisor)
www.westsystems.com
http://www.harken.com/rigtips/rigtips.php

Home

A bottle of rubbing alchol or acetone and some paper towel is a must to get the sail dry before attempting a repair.  

• One pair stainless steel scissors
• One pair regular scissors as a backup
• One knife dedicated to sail repair
• Staple gun and staples
• Three awls to secure the sail while patching
• Two dozen pushpins
• One adjustable palm for hand-sewing sails
• Three seam rippers
• Selection of needles, size No. 14 and No. 15
• One roll prewaxed hand-sewing thread 
• One roll of five-inch sticky back Dacron tape
• 10 feet of sticky back Dacron 54 inches wide
• Two rolls of double-stick tape
• One cans of spray adhesive
• Three-quarter-inch tubular Nylon webbing
• Two-inch Nylon webbing
• Two stainless steel rings with bar
• 10 feet of Velcro
• Leech-line cord twice the length of your mast 
• Assorted pieces of Dacron and Nylon
• 4200

  Below are the items I pack in my repair kit when doing long distance races. I also have a metal clew/tack/head board made up that can be bolted to a sail instead of trying to sew on new webbing and rings. You just sandwich the sail material and use a drill and drill bit to go through the thick corner of the sail and then bolt the thing on. Crude but effective. A bottle of rubbing alchol or acetone and some paper towel is a must to get the sail dry before attempting a repair.

• One pair stainless steel scissors
• One pair regular scissors as a backup
• One knife dedicated to sail repair
• Staple gun and staples
• Six awls to secure the sail while patching
• Two dozen pushpins
• One adjustable palm for hand-sewing sails
• Three seam rippers
• Selection of needles, size No. 14 and No. 15
• One roll prewaxed hand-sewing thread
• One roll of five-inch sticky back Dacron tape
• 10 feet of sticky back Dacron 54 inches wide
• Five rolls of double-stick tape
• Two cans of spray adhesive
• Three-quarter-inch tubular Nylon webbing
• Two-inch Nylon webbing
• Two stainless steel rings with bar
• 10 feet of Velcro
• Assorted pieces of Dacron and Nylon
• Spare set of battens – or at least 2 of the longest length you have store them if you have room in the boom
• Spare hanks
• Spare luff tape the length of your longest headsail
• Leech-line cord twice the length of your mast 
• Entire corner patch of one of your spinnakers
• Hot knife
• Nicopress tool and sleeves
• Hole cutter and assorted rings
• 20 feet of seizing wire
• 4200 large tubes with caulking gun – it will go off in water and creates a quick strong repair
• Sewing machine
• Spinnaker material the weight of your heaviest kite and a piece roll width and the length of our largest spinnaker foot.
• Sticky back aramid patch
• Spectra lashing