Heavy Weather

Just a couple loose ends here.
Heavy Weather Sailing by Adlard Coles is still available in an updated version that includes drogues and sea anchors.
Lin and Larry Pardey have a Storm Tactics Hanbook for about $20 that I will get a hold of one day soon.

Drogues are deployed off the stern for slowing the boat. A drogue won't keep you from being tumbled by a comber.
Sea anchors are set from the bow and are aimed at at stopping the boat. It needs to be set so that it is in phase with crests and troughs coming at you. It can probably keep the boat from being pitchpoled.

The books mentioned would explain better than I the options one has to save your ship. My guess is that chain could be used over the chaff points if this was planned for in the design of the chock. A 15' foot parachute is going to exert huge loads on the attachment points on the boat.

I think we'ld need 300 to 400 feet of 3/4" nylon. That line would have to be expensive single braid which evidently doesn't generate the heat buildup you get in double braid or 3 strand from the yanking and working of the line.

Ebb:

The two books are good ones, and they are captivating.

As for 400 feet of 3/4" line, I don't know where you would carry it. Perhaps the best place would to wrap it around the hull. You certainly would need a block an tackle to lift it. On solsken, I carry two hanks of 7/16" line, which is more than enough. But either hank is all that my wife can carry without my having to put my beer down, get up out of the cockpit and give her a hand. And that 7/16" line is about half the weight of the 3/4" line. 7/16", in my opinion, for an Ariel, is overkill - to provide the extra je ne sais quoi.

Probably the other alternative to fixed chocks, such as we have, are the ones that include a pulley, so that the line runs over a turning pulley, rather than rubbing on smooth metal. Better but not perfect. A chain also has the weight problem, as well as having two breaks - one at each end of the segment of the chain that passes through the chock.

As for setting the sea anchor, it can also be set astern, but the danger there is in getting pooped. From the bow, the angle that it is set at is, as I recall, about 30 degrees to the waves (not the wind). And setting at the proper angle is done with the tether that I mentioned above.

Incidentally, the nine foot parachute is adequate for an Ariel.

As to the single strand, I don't know if that is necessary, and I don't ever recall seeing it used for anchor lines. The "twist" in a multiple strand line absorbs a great deal of the jerks and tugs.

Looking forward to hearing that story, Theis.

Take a look at the bow chocks on my boat.

I'll bet that just a few minutes before you took that picture there was a pleasantly shaped figure posted on the bow looking for whatever might lie ahead, and you forced her aft just so you could show all of us two chocks. I think this organization deserves to give you many kudos for what you have given up just so we could be better informed. Such hardship. Hazaa! To your health!

Oh-I dunno Theis, Pete's beauty has a nice 'set' there just peeking out the sides a little. Looks owner enhanced, yet natural.

What I would like to see are the before and after pictures.

Cmdr Pete,
I like the wood trim on your boat. Can you post additional photos.

Thanks, -Sean

If he posts the before and after pictures, you'll see a lot more of the trim.

Here's a pic of what it was like sailing south this summer. the first half hour was fun. Eight hours plus when I pulled in, it had gotten pretty old

Cool pic Theis.

Sean, I'll get some photos soon, been a bit lax lately.

I always thought those bow chocks were super-sized. Nice bow chocks are good.

Bow chicks are good too.

Indeed, the Commander...'the little boat that could'!

The cutest dinghy in the navy!

A boat with a good firm foredeck upon which to work....

You know, we in Texas have a saying: "If you don't like the weather here, just wait fifteen minutes." On the nautical scene that translates to a need for quick and correct solutions to what we call pop-up thunderstorms during the summer. That, in turn, might mean dropping sail and heaving-to. As easily as the nose of these Ariels tends to blow-off, I had the idea that a 6 or 7 foot chute might be enough to hold the bow 40-50 degrees into the waves without all the exponential load increases that might attend a 9 or 10 foot chute. What say you, oh luminaries of the vintage albergian fleet?

My experience is that when in doubt, get off all the foresails - bag them - an absolute - and bring down the main to a double reef. The foresails if you leave them up, will bring you down wind and the boat will be uncontrollable, unless you are still flying the 170 % genoa - in which case you have other problems. I have the ability to 50% reef my storm jib but have never had the need to use it.

The issue in those severe blows is that I don't want to go forward, and dropping all foresail is the best way to avoid that.

Here is a good discussion of heavy weather boat handling skills.

http://www.48north.com/sep_2004/weather.htm

I've often wondered how to deal with the tsunami produced by an asteroid strike.

http://www.drgeorgepc.com/AsteroidImpact.jpeg

Like you, I have already mastered those idiosyncrasies of the water surface and fluctuations in wind conditions. As the author comments , they can be fun if handled properly. Regardless, his instructions fail to mention that a quick drink or two BEFOREHAND can help prevent panic. Afterwards some form of liquid would be necessary for hydrating. Tipping takes on a different connotation under those circumstances. As for the tsunamis, I prefer to put out an anchor with 10,000:1 scope in deep water, and let the line out gradually so that the line and anchor don't absorb the full impact of the wave.

But he doesn't cover what is of greatest concern to the Great Lakes sailor. The unpredictably emerging volcano is the terror of the Lakes. We need comments on how to keep the craft and its contents from being turned into dust by the heat (the lady can keep her two piecer on, I would imagine), and most important, how to get the liquid to our lips before the medicinally active component in the liquid evaporates.