Biz, this is what it was last time: LongPac Qualifier Certification
Biz, this is what it was last time: LongPac Qualifier Certification
OK, Jack and I are in. Who could pass up the chance to once again experience what it feels like to be a sock in a front loading washing machine?! Waaaaay to fun to miss. Must confess the earlier idea of a race window is appealing, realizing it has its complications.
Welcome back "Jack"!.. Looking forward to seeing you again...Lightspeed has been having seasickness withdrawal so looks like she is going. However a word of warning! If Lightspeed turns right, don't follow this time..(\__
Jacqueline and I are going if we survive the farallons and figure out emergency steering.
Item number 1 ...check.
Item number 2... There is no way to get a sophisticated emrg ruddder set up in time so i am thinking of going the drogue approach. Someone here posted a demo of a guy using a drogue to steer his boat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vupIl68mCYg. Looked more or less practical although you would need to sort out how to deal with handling steering over a long period of time...God forbid.
I am going to get the drogue and demo for myself it can actually be done on my boat. If yes then I practice.
Anyway, I'm going unless I can't make the steering work or someone tosses me for claiming the drogue is my emerency steering
Mike, as mentioned elsewhere, we passed a very thorough (complete with e-steering demonstration and a stopwatch) Pac Cup inspection using a drogue. Our inspector said we could turn at a rate equal to some of the rudders he'd seen. Now that wasn't necessarily a complement, but nonetheless.
3 things I can recommend/remind:
1. Speed is your friend. The faster you go, the more effective the drogue will be
2. Run the drogue to the midships and at the widest point of the hull. This increases leverage and turns the boat about its axis. If you try to turn from the stern the drogue will just keep pulling on the stern making turning impossible. That's what drogues are really intended to do...
3. Keep in mind that many e-steering methods are not so effective if the primary rudder is still in place. That is a good thing and a bad thing. Good if you actually lose the primary rudder then your e-steering will be more effective than the test. Bad, if the primary rudder just becomes disabled, but is still attached, then overcoming that will be very difficult for all but the hardiest of the e-steering options.
Interesting article regarding e steering and drogue. http://bermudarace.com/wp-content/up...t-a-Rudder.pdf
Shearwater,
Yes, I am hip to the amidships rig. Makes perfect sense and I have a nice fat boat too. Some on the board recommend carrying a sturdy dowel to knock the rudder out of the boat entirely should it become disabled in such a way as to interfere with emergency steering. Since I cleverly purchased a sound spare rudder from a guy on the East Coast who was parting out a Freedom 30, it would not break my heart or my pocketbook to jettison a failed rudder if the worst came to the worst.
I have a few big nerf footballs to stick in the open rudder post tube to seal it up. My biggest worry would be the sheer drudgery of steering with a drogue for any significant length of time. Sounds like that would be torture. I suppose you could macguyver some sort of rig which would allow you to steer with (on my boat) the wheel.
Random thought for the day...
I'm planning on leaving Bellingham, WA around June 27th for my qualifying cruise for SHTP 2016. I should arrive in SF around July 5th +/- a few days. If I renewed my PHRF certificate and sent in my entry by the 30th, any reason I couldn't do Longpac. I wouldn't complete the Longpac qualifying cruise until around the 28th, but that is like 2 days earlier than necessary, right?
This is probably a bad idea, but that hasn't stopped me before.