Anybody here sail?

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SAR-EMT40 said:
Fighting with the mainsail rope I was able to tear my hands up pretty good so I didn't stay out there very long. The next attempt I expect to be much better armed with more knowledge though and the little tidbits of experience I gained last time.

Thanks again Doug,
Keith
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Ahem, there are no "ropes" on a sailboat. ;) (Although, we do put sheets, lines, painters, etc. in a "Rope Locker.") But, I think you need to breakdown and buy a good quality dacron mainsheet of the maximum diameter your blocks will allow. It makes a big difference on your hands. You shouldn't need gloves in the breeze you depict in the photograph. Old line gets sand and other sharp and nasty stuff in it that can do a number on your hands.
 
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Paradox said:
Ahem, there are no "ropes" on a sailboat. ;) (Although, we do put sheets, lines, painters, etc. in a "Rope Locker.") But, I think you need to breakdown and buy a good quality dacron mainsheet of the maximum diameter your blocks will allow. It makes a big difference on your hands. You shouldn't need gloves in the breeze you depict in the photograph. Old line gets sand and other sharp and nasty stuff in it that can do a number on your hands.
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It was the line pulling up the mainsheet coming to those sudden stops when it hit the top and then the line slipping through my hands that did the damage. Several times. :D

Keith
 
SAR-EMT40 said:
It was the line pulling up the mainsheet coming to those sudden stops when it hit the top and then the line slipping through my hands that did the damage. Several times. :D
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Careful--you had the terminology correct in your earlier posts:

I think you mean the main halyard (a line which raises the main sail--connects to the head (top) of the sail.)

The main sheet (a line) pulls the aft corner (clew) of the main sail down and perhaps to the side--it is connected to the end of the boom. On a loose-footed sail (no boom), it connects to the clew of the sail.

Every line, sail, sail part, and connection point has a proper name. No, it isn't just to confuse beginners... :)

Doug
 
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DougPaul said:
Careful--you had the terminology correct in your earlier posts:

I think you mean the main halyard (a line which raises the main sail--connects to the head (top) of the sail.)

The main sheet (a line) pulls the aft corner (clew) of the main sail down and perhaps to the side--it is connected to the end of the boom. On a loose-footed sail (no boom), it connects to the clew of the sail.

Every line, sail, sail part, and connection point has a proper name. No, it isn't just to confuse beginners... :)

Doug
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Yep, it was the main halyard that I was talking about. So much new terminology to learn. :confused:

They have all that terminology for the same reason doctors do. Not just the parts but parts on the parts have to be specified sometimes. So its got to have a name. :eek:

Keith
 
On terminology:

My dad, mom, and uncle are on Lake Superior on a bareboat charter. It's a bit breezy, with El Sol disappearing rapidly behind an impressive thunderhead bearing down on them. (Mom is about to learn the true function of a keel.) Dad leaves Uncle at helm while Dad starts to make his way forward to reduce sail urgently. Uncle is a powerboat kind of guy. Dad is about to get knocked you-know-what-over-teakettle by the boom and shouts into the breeze, "HEAD HER UP!!!"

Uncle shouts back, "What the $#%! do you mean, head her up? How do I go up?"

Yep, they went over. And came back up again. And Mom learned to trust a keel to do what it needs to do in extremis.

So far as I remember, Uncle did not crew again. I never heard whether it was his choice or not . . .
 
sardog1 said:
On terminology:
Yep, they went over. And came back up again. And Mom learned to trust a keel to do what it needs to do in extremis.
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I took an ASA Sailing course a couple winters ago down in Florida and I remember the captain (course leader) made a comment that sailing is 97% boredom and 3% complete panic.

Of course, this same captain also ran us aground in Biscayne Bay while we were under power on a no-wind kind of day. He was yakking away all pompous about some past sailing adventure with Navy Seals or something and I'm watching the depth gauge numbers getting smaller and smaller (shallower than the depth of our keel for sure) and noticing that we're not really making forward progress. So, I finally got his attention and he was astonished that we'd gone off course so much and run aground. He hadn't bothered to spend time with the charts that morning since he was so familiar with the area, so we had no set course to follow all day. He was a sorry excuse for a captain, really.

Anyway, sounds like we need to start a Hikers Who Like to Sail social group!
 
Toe Cozy said:
Anyway, sounds like we need to start a Hikers Who Like to Sail social group!
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Or in my case: Hikers who would like to know how to sail or Hikers who have seen sailors and are trying to emulate them.

;)

I mean how hard could this be he thought. Man has been sailing for what, certainly over 2000 years, maybe 4-5000? About the only people that didn't sail was Neanderthal man. Wind pushes boat, what could be simpler. :rolleyes:

Keith
 
SAR-EMT40 said:
Or in my case: Hikers who would like to know how to sail or Hikers who have seen sailors and are trying to emulate them. Keith
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Yup! I hear ya. ditto for me.

;)

SAR-EMT40 said:
I mean how hard could this be he thought. Man has been sailing for what, certainly over 2000 years, maybe 4-5000? About the only people that didn't sail was Neanderthal man. Wind pushes boat, what could be simpler. :rolleyes: Keith
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Ah...hubris...getting homo sapiens in trouble for thousands of years! And we're the intelligent life form? ;)
 
sardog1 said:
On terminology:

My dad, mom, and uncle are on Lake Superior on a bareboat charter. It's a bit breezy, with El Sol disappearing rapidly behind an impressive thunderhead bearing down on them. (Mom is about to learn the true function of a keel.) Dad leaves Uncle at helm while Dad starts to make his way forward to reduce sail urgently. Uncle is a powerboat kind of guy. Dad is about to get knocked you-know-what-over-teakettle by the boom and shouts into the breeze, "HEAD HER UP!!!"

Uncle shouts back, "What the $#%! do you mean, head her up? How do I go up?"
Click to expand...
When talking to a beginner, I try to say things twice--once in the proper jargon and once in plain English. Can be hard to do in an impending emergency...

We took some power boaters out on a 38-foot sailboat. Took them a bit to learn that every time you turn the wheel, you had to trim the sails, too.

Yep, they went over. And came back up again. And Mom learned to trust a keel to do what it needs to do in extremis.
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Good thing it was a keelboat rather than a centerboarder...

Never had a knockdown, but I have had to reach underwater to get to the lee-rail winch on a fairly stiff 38-footer (~15,000 lbs displacement with ~7000 lbs in the 6 ft fin keel).

Doug
 
SAR-EMT40 said:
I mean how hard could this be he thought. Man has been sailing for what, certainly over 2000 years, maybe 4-5000? About the only people that didn't sail was Neanderthal man. Wind pushes boat, what could be simpler. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Here is a nice little primer which some might find useful: http://sailing.mit.edu/LearntoSail/SailingBooklet/booklet_unified.shtml
(MIT has a very active sailing program out on the Charles River. This is their instruction booklet for their beginner's boat.)

The details may vary between different boats, but the principles are the same.

Doug
 
SAR-EMT40 said:
I mean how hard could this be he thought. Man has been sailing for what, certainly over 2000 years, maybe 4-5000?
Click to expand...

The first sailboat (at least seagoing) was the Argo, invented and built by Argus, one of the Argonauts, with some help from the goddess Athena, for the voyage of Jason and the rest of his heroic band. Apollonius Rhodius tells us so in his Argonautica, written around 250 B.C. but set in the Heroic Age preceding the Trojan War - maybe 1350 B.C.

Caveat: Archaeological evidence does not support Apollonius on this, and the Argonautica itself tells of encounters by the Argonauts with other sailors and vessels.

Speaking of MIT sailing, I have spent a couple of enjoyable days in their boathouse on the Charles, witnessing regattas they have hosted.
 
Beautiful boat, Dan. Check out the one I sail on: Facebook - Schooner Summertime. Besides photos, I posted a video I shot as an experiment this summer with my camera.
 
It's so true about sailboats being a lot of work. I'm honored to be a friend of an owner of the Schooner Summertime. I get to work, clean, assist cook, hoist sails, pull anchor, coil and flake lines, paint, sand, row, and sail. :p
 
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erugs said:
It's so true about sailboats being a lot of work. I'm honored to be a friend of an owner of the Schooner Summertime. I get to work, clean, assist cook, hoist sails, pull anchor, coil and flake lines, paint, sand, row, and sail. :p
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Very nice boat!I love the schooners,and all the work that goes with them. I had the opportunity to take the helm of the Nathaniel Bowditch ,sailing back to Rockland breakwater several years ago.
http://www.windjammervacation.com/
I would still like to do another schooner trip,but I can't bring myself to pay to sail on someone elses's boat.

The cost of owning a boat can be steep,but I'm working on that.
4 months/year-Lake Erie June-Sept
4 months/year-Exuma,Bahamas Jan-April
starting June 2010.....
 
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