New Boat 4 Sled

[BobJ]

You can see Monterey from Santa Cruz only 57 days/year on average. Portola and his soldiers tried 57 times to see it through the fog before giving up and trudging 57 miles, whereupon they saw the southern end of SF Bay.

And the poor crew of the SAN CARLOS - 57 of them had scurvy...

[H Spruit]

OK-OK-OK!
What does the discovery that Monterey has FOG, to do with the significance of the number 57 to the Mercury fleet?

[Dazzler]

For anyone driving to/from Monterey on Hwy 1, I recommend a short hike to the top of Mulligan Hill (elevation 60 feet) to view what Portola didn't see. Mulligan Hill is a famous landmark from seaward, and sits above the artichoke fields, just north of the mouth of the Salinas River.

Of course enquiring minds want to know why is there a hill named Mulligan in this otherwise Spanish explored and named area. And, I point out that Jackie did say that this is the History Channel. Although I may not have the slightest idea how the number 57 relates to the Mercury one design, I can provide an explanation for Mulligan Hill.

Mulligan Hill [Monterey Co.]. The elevation shown as Cabeza de Milligan, ‘Milligan’s Head’ on a diseno of the Bolsa del Potrero grant, was long known as Mulligan Head. It was named for John Mulligan, an Irish sailor and one of the earliest foreign residents of California. He arrived before 1819, taught the art of weaving to Indians at several missions, and became part owner of Rancho Bola de Potrero; he died in 1834 (Bancroft 4:747-48).

From: GUDDE, Erwin G., California Place Names, The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names (Univ. of California Press) 2004

[sleddog]

Like shoes, keels come in all shapes, sizes, styles, and practicality. The keel design list, in no particular order, includes full keels, fin keels, bulb keels, twin keels, bilge keels. Peterson keels, elliptical keels, winged keels, lifting keels, canting keels, and torpedo keels on struts. Lead keels, iron keels, cement keels, and expended uranium keels (Eric Tabarly on the ketch PEN DUICK VI)

Unfortunately, keels are not without accompanying drawbacks. The brief fad of winged keels often caused grounding difficulties when the wings would get stuck in sand or mud and acted as an anchor.

Keels do little when the boat is level and not heeled over or making forward progress. At anchor, the pendulum effect of keels can cause unpleasant rolling. Underway, keels can pendulum fore and aft, causing pitching. And of course they can detach, usually at inopportune times. I will never forget the sight of the maxi-sloop DRUM in the 1985 Fastnet Race when she capsized after the keel sheared off due to a design error.

Keels are "mostly out of sight, out of mind" until they come in contact with the bottom, or floating objects. The current Vendee Globe Race around the world is having an especially high rate of attrition due to keel difficulties and strikes with "UFOs"

On a practical basis, from Maine to California to Hawaii, keels collect kelp, plastic, wildflife (including a large turtle we hit in the 1985 Transpac), rope including nets, lobster and crab pots, even submarines (again, the yacht DRUM, this time in 1988, off the coast of Scotland, when a submerged Royal Navy sub collided with DRUM. The Navy denied the incident until DRUM's owner offered to return the lens from their periscope which had holed DRUM's hull.

That there was genius, accidental or intentional, or just a yacht design feature of the early 20th Century, I do not know. But the fact is the Mercury Class One Design Sloop is well suited to sailing in waters where kelp, anchored and floating, can slow, even stop in their wake other more modern designs.

The Mercury's keel is angled 57 degrees aft from vertical on its leading edge. There is no magic in this number except for the fact it is great enough to neatly shed kelp without having to resort to kelp cutters, kelp sticks, "flossing," windows, G-Pros on a stick, or backing down to clear keels with more vertical leading edges.

The extensive kelp at Stillwater Cove? No problem for a Mercury. Sweet.

[sleddog]

Good Golly, Miss Molly, the National Weather Service (NWS) is calling for up to 12" of rain in the Santa Cruz mountains in the upcoming storms. What I would call a "firehose, they call an "atmospheric river (AR). "Possibly historic flooding in Yosemite, the Sierra, and elsewhere" they forecast. Except the NWS often uses the term "hydro" issues.

Most know "hydro issues" is short for "hydrologic" issues, or flooding. However, not all. Just across the border, in Canada, "hydro" means "electrical" or electrical grid. A hydro issue in British Columbia means electricity is down, not flooding.

Another example of different meanings for the same word is local slang for the 420 friendly crowd: "hydro" means "hydroponically grown marijuana." Does the NWS know this?

Further south, in the South Pacific, although most weather sites argue otherwise, a "cyclone" is not the same thing as a hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere. A hurricane in the Eastern and Central N. Pacific is defined as cyclonic storm with windspeeds equal to or greater than 64 knots. But in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, and elsewhere, a cyclone is defined as a tropical storm with windspeeds of 35-46 knots, a polite gale in the Gulf of the Farallones.

In fact, something that causes many nervous Milk Run cruisers to piss in their seaboots is that a Category 1 hurricane between the West Coast of North America and Hawaii, or in the Caribbean or N. Atlantic would be classified a Category 3 cyclone between New Zealand and Oz,Fiji/Tonga/Samoa/French Polynesia.

http://about.metservice.com/our-comp...ical-cyclones/

[BobJ]

I was pretty close to chicken on that one and would have nailed it had I flipped my protractor upside-down.

On the subject of keels, how well do boats with (true) Scheel keels go to weather? The current object of my next-boat interest (at the cruising end of the spectrum) has such a keel:
Morris 32 on Yachtworld

Some good posts/explanation about Scheel keels in this thread.

[sleddog]

On the subject of keels, how well do boats with (true) Scheel keels go to weather? The current object of my next-boat interest (at the cruising end of the spectrum) has such a keel:
Morris 32 on Yachtworld
Some good posts/explanation about Scheel keels in this thread.

I first met MIT grad Henry Scheel at the One-Ton Worlds at Helgoland, 1968. I especially recall his friendliness, the sail number of his One-Tonner HAWK (#2020) and his interesting keel of which he was most proud.

HAWK, a Bill Tripp design, was fitted with the original Scheel Keel. My recall is, even with their amateur crew and untested boat, HAWK was not much off pace, upwind or down.

Personal reflection is, given all things else equal, I would love to have a cruising boat with a Scheel Keel. The tradeoff of shoal draft without much loss in keel efficiency or righting moment, and reduction in wetted surface is, theoretically, a good one. If you go aground, the Scheel keel is reportedly the best shape to get unstuck with. In addition, a Scheel keel lets you have the closest tie-up to the Corinthian YC bar.

Shoal draft keel = No thanks.
Shoal draft Scheel Keel = Yes, please

[BobJ]

The keel in that photo looks different in proportion and cross-section than DRUMMER's. I think Chuck Paine's boats (including this Morris) are supposed to have true Scheel keels but now I'm wondering. I'd have a hard time owning a boat that couldn't go upwind.

Otherwise there are many things I like about this boat. See any red flags Sled?

[sleddog]

Otherwise there are many things I like about this boat. See any red flags Sled?

No red flags, but a bunch of yellow ones, including the 6 digit price for a boat with a PHRF rating of 183, and plenty of varnish to maintain.
The underbody and displacement just doesn't give me a fuzzy feeling the Morris-32 is gonna go upwind or down very well, especially with just 4.25' of draft.
I'd prefer a mainsheet within reach of the tiller, rather than midships. Especially important for shorthanding.
For $100,000 less you could get a well maintained Express-34 with just as much room and coziness, a knot more speed, a local designer, and a couple of gallons of dark blue paint thrown in for good measure.
The good news is the Morris 32 has a 47 degree swept keel and skeg: good for shedding lobster pots when cruising Maine says Chuck Paine.

[AlanH]

Having read about Scheel keels for years, and not knowing diddly about them, I found this picture to be helpful.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...p;d=1410724491

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My own current "I'd sail that" cruising boat wishlist is an Aloha 32. On thing I really like about the boat is that most were built with storage up forward instead of a useless V-berth. This shows the layout, which makes incredible sense to me. I'd move the traveler down into the cockpit. There's a nice bridgedeck just waiting to have a good traveler mounted on it.



I'm somewhat less wild about the rudder, seems kind of exposed, though no worse than any keelboat I've sailed in the past.

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/57619
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