Anytime you have opposing forces that are not equal but alternate in strength (wind gust, lull, etc) the makings are there for a swing which brings the potential for a wrap. The Merrimack river where I keep my boat has a strong current and ten foot tides and keel wraps happen at the moorings too. When I worked at the yacht club in college I would see it occur a half dozen times a season in our mooring field. I can't see this being a uniquely New England thing though. Anywhere there is current and wind it should occur if the current and wind battle for superiority. In Essex it happens during a tide change when there is an oppposing wind and due to the bay's location, size, and topography it isn't uncommon. It isn't usually a major event, just an annoyance as I have experienced in the past. If you were a powerboat which is the majority of vessels frequenting this place due to the shallow nature of the entrance you would just go in circles. A fin keel of a sailboat can get in trouble as the rode can make it between the skeg or spade and the keel itself. I have seen people really gt themselves into a bind (literally) this way. A full keeled sailboat allows the rode to slip right off with some help in getting it moving the opposite direction it wrapped, but if the forces are strong enough, the tension is significant and the rode is against the rudder causing it to go hard to one side and the rudder itself is bearing the brunt of the force. Not ideal, especially for a piece of mahogany shrouded in FRP for 35 years. What made my event interesting and different from other experiences I have had there was the strength of the wind and how gusty it was. When a blalance was met, the rules changed as the wind strength changed. This is what put a lot of strain on the rudder which caused the failure. I have anchored there many times without incident, but like I mentioned before, if there is a tide shift or a wind shift that causes the opposing forces, it can happen. Some certainly do anchor bow and stern and I had my spare anchor in the dinghy and planned to set it before we headed into the beach where I wouldn't be able to stop this from occuring, but it happened less than 5 minutes after we anchored. In hindsite, I should have set the stern anchor earlier, or kept tention on the rudder for a little bit with the mototr in revrese as I assesed the anchoring conditions better, maybe I should have gone up river a little farther to find a possible lee closer to shore. It's always 20/20 isn't it? On a lighter day it would have been a slow event that would have been fixed as it was happening or worst case I would have gotten in the dinghy afterwards to fix it then set the stern anchor. The speed of the current and wind that day was what did it. Live and learn. May others watch my experiences and learn from them. These are the stories that live on and we drink beer over and laugh at in the future.Originally Posted by ebb
I checked the tube and did not see any problems, but I will certainly check things again once I head out Monday night.
That is a good idea. Instead of having the rudder go all the way to the hull, have a gap of some sort that rode or some other entanglement could go to. This would put the force on the shaft which would be a llowed to bend just a small amount, but would avoid that same force on the rudder.
No, but we do have Old Sow which is the largest whirlpool in the western hemisphere up there in Maine.
Reply With Quote