New Boat 4 Sled

[Wylieguy]

Yes, I think 3/16" cassette tape is the way to go. I use it on the Wylie and on the Holder. Better to take it out of the cassette, though. Using 8-track tape was soooo IOR! And cigarette smoke is very bad for one's health, even second hand smoke inhaled by the leeward boat.

[sleddog]

Would agree cassette tape makes excellent telltales, as sensitive as single-ply TP, but more durable, waterproof, and longer lasting.

In a perfect world, cassette tape would be white, not black. Black cassette tape is difficult to see at night.

Which is why I recommend TP telltales if the wind is light and fluky, especially at night. And why I provide friends on ocean races with 1/2" x 14" strips of white, half ounce, polyester spinnaker cloth telltales.

Though I don't always agree with Dennis Conner, we do agree the best downwind driving aid, especially on a dark night, are white tell tales at head height, lit if necessary by a dimmed flashlite.

Tell tales are considered by many to be "old school." I've actually had well intentioned crew rip my nylon tell tales from the rigging, and laugh when I bring lengths of TP and Duct tape on deck.

They would prefer to steer by instrumentation, often ill calibrated, affected by masthead upwash, and suffering from a time delay.

No worries. I know when the going gets weird, they'll likely be looking at our stern light.

I came on deck once on one of the West Coast's better known sleds for my night watch. I asked the pro driver which of the many glowing red instruments he was using for reference. "Oh, the True Wind Angle (TWA), that one at the bottom, to starboard."

I didn't have heart to tell him that was the depth sounder.

[Philpott]

I came on deck once on one of the West Coast's better known sleds for my night watch. I asked the pro driver which of the many glowing red instruments he was using for reference. "Oh, the True Wind Angle (TWA), that one at the bottom, to starboard." I didn't have heart to tell him that was the depth sounder.

That was sensitive of you.
As a knitter, I use wool yarn. Currently in use: dark red (winter hat for my girl) which shows up well against either a blue sky or that morning grey so often experienced in Berkeley. I will be sure to stock off white (fisherman's sweater for my boy) for arrival after dark to Drakes Bay. Thanks for the advice.

[Harrier]

I would agree that white tape would be best. However I have never had a problem seeing the brown tape when looking aft and up from the companionway against the night sky. Always seems to be enuf light...and I always have a flashlight handy there. I used to use yarn, but the tape is better in really light air.

[Philpott]

..... when looking aft and up from the companionway against the night sky.

If I recall correctly, that is the companionway that remains open so you can throw beer cans out when you're done with 'em.... hmmm?

[Harrier]

As long as they're not plastic.

[sleddog]

Last December, DAZZLER and I wrote about remote Roca Partida, "Parted Rock," southwest of Cabo San Lucas. This lonely rock, less than 300 feet long, juts up from the oceanic depths, out of sight of any other land. Roca Partida is so small, that Dazzler was able to swim around its vertical walls in 45 minutes. http://sfbaysss.org/forum/showthread...-4-Sled/page90

Roca Partida is the smallest of 4 islands of Mexico's Revillagigedo Archipelago, 860 miles southeast of San Diego and 260 miles southward of Cabo San Lucas. It is the remnant of a very old volcano, the summit eroded by wave action. Currently the volcano is dormant. But others in the area of the Revillagigedo Islands are active, and occasionally large rocks and sulphurous bubbles are shot to the surface during undersea eruptions, especially near Socorro and San Benedicto.

It is inspiring to see a photo of a humpback whale and newborn calf swimming at Roca Partida has just won National Geographic's Traveler Photo Contest over 17,000 submissions.
http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/201...ontest/400373/

At a recent birthday party in Santa Cruz I met local artists, father/son Michael and Ea Eckermann. Ea's paintings and posters suggest strongly of his close relationship with the sea, especially the California coast and Hawaii. Michael's stonework graces downtown Santa Cruz's Pacific Avenue. http://www.eckermanstudios.com/

[sleddog]

Google Doodle is celebrating the 101st anniversary of the traffic signal, first successfully used in Cleveland. With the rising popularity of the automobile, increasing speeds, and pedestrian crossing hazards, the traffic light became vital for public safety, and for the orderly flow of the "horseless carriage" at increasingly crowded intersections.

An alternative to the traffic signal was built in Long Beach, CA. It was called a "Traffic Circle," aka "Round-About," or "Rotary." I well remember this traffic circle, the giant roundabout at Lakewood Blvd and Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. It was built in 1932 for the expected increase in traffic for the '32 Olympics at the nearby rowing stadium.

No freeways or overpasses in those days.

The Long Beach traffic circle seemed especially dangerous, even thrilling, to us kids as we and the dog rolled about on the lowered back seat of the family station wagon. Sometimes Dad would take us around twice. There was even a (false) rumor the designer died driving around his creation.

Massachusetts apparently didn't get word of the newly patented invention of traffic lights, and went with the Rotary instead. A specific rotary, the Bourne Rotary, connecting mainland Mass with Cape Cod at the bottom of the bridge over the Cape Cod Canal is especially challenging.

There are two lanes around the circle at Bourne, with 10 exits and feeder lanes merging in a giant headache. Did I mention there is a gas station situated in the Bourne Rotary?

The Bourne Rotary is not for the faint of heart, your granny, or anyone without good reflexes and peripheral vision. Aggression, honking, and accidents are legion on the Bourne Rotary.

The first time I drove the Bourne Rotary at rush hour, I thought "what a great place to practice dinghy starts and mark roundings." But Bostonians aren't playing by the Racing Rules of Sailing. Inside overlap, overtaking vessel, and vehicles entering from the right don't count for much at Bourne.

In the SF Bay Area there is a more civil alternative for mark rounding practice: the Marin Circle in North Berkeley. The Marin Circle is a roundabout with spokes coming in from seven directions. Cars coming downhill on Marin whip around the Circle and into the path of cars going up hill.

The reason the Marin Circle is good for starting and mark rounding practice is because many are scared to death and mostly polite.

If you are practicing mark roundings at the Marin Circle, just beware of potential "white out" conditions when some jokester pours dish soap into the lovely center fountain, Berkeley's first public work of art in 1911, creating a traffic circle of soap bubbles.

[DaveH]

If I recall correctly, my Cambridge MA based cousins advise re the Bourne Rotary was along the lines of:
you have to commit, don't be timid, and avoid the cars with bent fenders and side panel divots; they just don't care and will hit you.

come to think of it, that does indeed work alright for starts and mark rounding tactics...

DH

[Critter]

Check out the "Magic Roundabout" in Swindon, England. It has a central circle with five mini-roundabouts arrayed around it.
Incidentally, studies have shown that rotaries/roundabouts move traffic more efficiently than signalized intersections. There are several of them around southern New England.