My first sail.... by Pete, an interesting read

[cruiserpete]

Hi all,
My first sailing day on my first TS was planned for Saturday.

A little over 3 months ago I decided to look for a sailboat but was unsure of keeler (my first choice) or TS (an option I was not sure about as I'd never sailed a TS) however, after discovering trailersailerplace and then subsequently investigator563 and posting a few questions I got a lot of good advice by members of both forums that convinced me that a TS was certainly the better option. Once again, the members of both forums came forward with superb options on WHAT TS I needed and that the fantastic Investigator 563 was the right option for me and I have never doubted that decision.... I've NEVER read a bad word about 563's. I picked up a small pocket sized book on Australian and NZ sailboats and it had a review on 563's and it simply raved about the 563... 563's are the way to go

Then a little over 1 month ago I purchased my Investigator 563 locally and it's sat in the driveway whilst I pottered about it..mainly just cleaning her and procrastinating.

Well, on Sat... I planned to go for my first sail in my 563 , she still needs some cosmetic work however, she is seaworthy (as far as I know ) and with winter quickly closing in I want to get some time on the water before parking her until the next good sailing day.

All safety equipment is checked and packed, battery is charged, a 'test' hoist of the rigging & sails a few weeks ago whilst parked in the driveway, the kettle, gasmate stove, coffee, a travel mug and a few muesli bars are packed.

Weather looks good:
Cloudy with 45% chance of 1-5mm afternoon rain (I'm going out on the morning high tide for 2 or 3 hrs and returning a few hours later so should miss the rain).
Wind is light (just what I need for my first 'test' sail) ESE - 8knts tending E 8knts
High tide is 8.14 so I want to be launched and on the water before 7.15am which gives me a 2 hr "test sail" and/or motor with enough time to catch the end of the morning high tide.

My Contour Roam HD adventure video camera is charged and mounted on the boat so I should be able to capture the full 2 hrs including launch and retrieve.

Lastly, I'll take this opportunity to de-name on the water and seek permission from neptune to change her name from Bultaco. Then on Sunday morning I'll perform the christening ceremony

Here's the ode, de-naming

Here’s the actual de-naming ceremonial recitation:

“In the name of all who have sailed aboard this ship in the past, and in the name of all who may sail aboard her in the future, we invoke the ancient gods of the wind and the sea to favor us with their blessing today.

“Mighty Neptune, king of all that moves in or on the waves;

“And mighty Aeolus*, guardian of the winds and all that blows before them:

“We offer you our thanks for the protection you have afforded this vessel in the past. We voice our gratitude that she has always found shelter from tempest and storm and enjoyed safe passage to port.

“Now, wherefore, we submit this supplication, that the name whereby this vessel has hitherto been known, ( Bultaco ), be struck and removed from your records.

“Further, we ask that when this vessel is again presented for blessing with another name, she shall be recognized and shall be accorded once again the selfsame privileges she previously enjoyed.

“In return for which, we rededicate this vessel to thy domain in full knowledge that she shall be subject to the immutable laws of the gods of the wind and the sea.

“In consequence whereof, and in good faith, we seal this pact with a libation *offered according to the hallowed ritual of the sea.”

Now you can pop the cork, shake the bottle and spray the whole of the contents on the bow. When that’s done, you can open another bottle for yourself.

How long should you wait before the new naming ceremony? There's no fixed time. You can do the renaming right after the denaming, if you want. But most of us would prefer to wait at least 24 hours to give those sneaky sea demons time to clear out.

(* Aeolus, as I'm sure you know, is pronounced EE-oh-lus, with the accent on the first syllable.)
(* A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit)

I'll then rename my TS whilst I'm on the water.

Here's the renaming ceremony
New Christening Ceremony

The traditional ceremony calls for a bottle of champagne to be broken across the vessel’s bow. On small boats, the bottle is usually enclosed in a fine-mesh net so that dangerous splinters of glass do not escape. Alternatively, you may open the bottle and spray the contents on the bow and forward topsides.

If you have serious objections to the use of alcohol, use any sparkling non-alcoholic drink instead. The gods will not despise you nor punish you in any way for acting according to your true conscience.

The christening is very short and simple. The essential parts are the new name, and wishes for fair winds, safe passages, and good fortune. You can make up your own ceremony if you like, but here is one example. It is to be spoken immediately before the breaking of the bottle or the spraying of its contents:

“I name this sail boat (Storm trooper). May she bring fair winds, safe passages, and good fortune to all who sail on her.”


(From How to Rename your Boat and 19 Other Useful Ceremonies, Superstitions, Prayers, Rituals, and Curses,published by Paradise Cay Publications.)

Yes, I'm a tad superstitious

[cruiserpete]

First sail UPDATE:

A bit of a debacle on Saturday... a series of misfortunate events if I can call them that...

Well.... high tide came and went and I was still in the car park rigging my Investigator

The series of misfortunate events unfolded as thus:

6.00am up and excited... showered, quick cappuccino and toast (did not want to waste time, want to be launched and on the water at 7.25ish)
Quick check of willyweather on my smartphone (which are not that smart really)... ESE winds increased from 7 knots to 8 knots all day but only 45% chance of rain.. Yay, still looks like a good day.
Gave the missus my sailing plan plan & return by time or call the coastguard... kissed her goodbye, she wished me a safe and enjoyable sail.

6.30am Quick check of the TS...Bugger.. realised I forgot to do 1 (one) thing.... forgot to get fuel for the outboard. Clambered on the 563, torch in hand (it's still dark ) disconnected fuel tank and bolted to local servo.... surely they open at 6.30am.... Nnnnoooooo they open at 7.30am. Ok, no problem bolt to next suburb..... yay, 24hr servo.... 22 litres of premium 95 unleaded with 50:1, 2 stroke mix added.

7.15am: Back home... connected fuel tank and away I go..... woohoo running late but excited much
7.20am Arrived at boat ramp, no one around except me and a couple of guys fishing off the boat ramp... sun just poking some light through the morning clouds... what a fantastic looking day..a tad windy for my likes but still on the safe side for my test sail.

8.00am: Ok... running very LATE...but ready to go and mast ready to raise, halyard sorted, shrouds clear, all looks good.... Bugger me, a rope holding the wires from the halyard near the mast end is still tied on and it's a good metre out of my reach... the mast is now connected to the mast step so the mast is now projecting a good 2-3 mrts behind the 563.....THINK..what to do..the SKATEPARK
Beauty... reverse to skate park's very top ramp about 50 metres away and position mast near top skate ramp, simply walk up skate park's top ramp and undo rope.
YAY.. that worked.... drive 50 metres back to boat ramp parking
8.20am: finally ready to raise mast..... UP SHE GOES... woo hoo.... BUGGER... halyards are twisted...Arrgggg ..need to drop mast to untangle
8.20am.... Ok when I said drop mast..... I unfortunately did drop it.... Luckily the mast landed on the padded transom mast support Phew...all ok
8.45am: ..ok mast raising take 3 ... wow, feeling mentally buggered now... fiddling about making sure all cables are sorted, right all is good.
9.05am Up she goes..... and I'm stuffed.... might just have a rest

High tide was 8.14am.... so I decided get out the gasmate stove, put on the kettle and have a cup of coffee..because by the time I launch, park trailer get back to boat and going I'll only have about 30 mins at the most before I'll need to consider retrieving because the ramp is a high water ramp and I've only got an hour or so either side of high tide plus I was simply not in the mood for a 30-40min sail....

PLAN....
Do it all again tomorrow..

What I learnt today:

Take a ladder in the back of the car to climb up and down the TS in the car park, rather than precariously hanging off the pulpit with 1 foot gingerly balanced on the winch like some sort of crazed monkey

• allow PLENTY of time to rig, at least a good hour because I'm still a beginner at this.

• It's ok to make silly little mistakes because that's how we learn

• Skateparks do serve a worthwhile purpose

• Don't forget to undo the rope near the end of the mast before stepping the mast

• untangle ALL lines leading to the deck

• the mast will NOT magically stand up by itself whilst I switch hands to hold the lifting rope

• instant coffee sucks

• and most importantly.............. when all else fails, smile because no one got hurt, good lessons were learnt and I get to do it again tomorrow with a higher degree of understanding and knowledge. All in all.... it was a good learning experience

I have video of the mast falling..... but I do hope you'll all excuse me if I delete it as I never want to see it again. It's also very easy to lip read the expletives I ended up saying (a few choice words were said)
Pete


Here's to Sunday and all that it may bring

[cruiserpete]

First sail on Sunday - UPDATE

After yesterday's debacle with rigging and such I Hooked up a handy billy (block & tackle) as per a fantastic article I read in "Morton Investigator association" PDF to help raise the mast and lock it off as it's lifting .

Unfortunately, the line running between the existing block & tackle was too short so a quick race to the local marine supplies (they close at 12.30 so I only had minutes to spare ) back home with 10mtrs of 8mm line plus a few other sundry items purchased whilst I was there. When I got home and ran the new line I realised I should have purchased 10 mtrs of 6mm not 8mm. Thus, the 8mm was a fraction too thick to freely run through the block & tackle. So I used 2nd block & tackle attached to the 1st one to give an the extra metre I needed and it looks like it will work.....


Q/ What did I NOT do ?
I did not test it as I had faith it would work, thankfully, the 2 blocks and tackles were certainly strong enough to help lift the mast, the problem was the 2nd block/tackle combined with the 1st block & tackle created about 6 inches extra to the total length of the "handy billy" thus leaving me 6 inches short between the forestay end and the deck/furler chainplate. Once again, I missed the high tide and with only 30-40mins left of high tide to launch, sail and retrieve, I decided to once again... give the sailing today a miss.

If I use 1 block & tackle (as shown & described in the Morton Investigator association PDF) I'll be able to get enough purchase on the forestay to help raise the mast and connect the forestay to the furler rig plus, get more purchase on the forestay to tension the forestay.

Once I rerun a 6mm line I'll be able to effectively raise and lower the mast plus effectively tension the forestay.

Oh well....there's always next weekend....I will invest in a mast raising system such as, a homemade jin pole system or a commercially available one such as, mast mate

All in all.... still a good day because:

• I learnt that a test run is worth every minute

• A jin pole style lifting arm or commercial mast raising system is what I need if I'm to continue sailing single handed as I intend on doing

• Instant coffee still sucks

[Dr. Peter]

I do love my mast mate!

However, saw something interesting wrt raising the mast. Did not take a picture so will try my best to describe:

It looked like a big camera / speaker stand. Two legs went into the forward corners of the cockpit and an extended leg went directly back to stern. The mast balanced on two wheels connected to the central post which was raised 'a metre' above the cabin. The mast was rolled back to the stern in the horizontal position and pushed down to the step and connected. That was the cool bit - rather than trying to hold the mast up the person was holding the bottom of the mast down, which he then connected.

So when it came to raising the mast fully - it was already at 40-50 degrees.

I reckon it was better than my mastmate in that there wasn't a mastmate mechanism to deal with afterwards. He just disassembled it in to the skinny little package that these stands return to.

[Ozzie]

Pete here is a rehash of a post I made a while back , you may not have seen it. I am about to try it. Basically to adapt it to the 563 trailer I'm going to put an upright with a pulley in the jockey wheel clamp while the car is on the trailer. Then use the fuel tank and anchor to counterweight the mast and hopefully it should , like a mast mate, allow the mast to be lifted easily my hand . You might want to consider it. Means there is no stuff to be attached to the boat.





http://home.comcast.net/~vic-sitter/sit ... ng_System/

Interesting reading all these mast raising systems, so I googled the subject and hit 'images' and looked at what came up. I already have a long steel pole with a roller on the end that will fit down the winch post on the trailer, so this was similar to an idea I had only I thought of using water as the counterweight, pumped in with a hose at home or bucketed in at the ramp.

The idea is really the same as mast mate . Counterbalance the weight of the mast till it is negligible and then lift it yourself with all the control you need. Because I'm moored I have not had much impetus to develop this further but this guy seemed to be on the right track even though this is only a prototype. No sense in having to carry a 30kg counter weight though which is why I thought of water but then... why not use a portable heavy weight you already have ...a fuel tank with 10 liters of fuel . Then just add a little extra weight to counterbalance.

[cruiserpete]

Hey Ozzie,

That's a fantastic looking counter weight system, heck, if elevators have been using it for years there is no reason why a similar system cannot be used to raise and lower a mast. It looks like I'll still need to walk the mast up and along the boat until its seated on its step but if the counterweight is calculated carefully the mast should stop at any point of the raising?. I'll then use the mainsheet to tension my forestay once the mast is raised and I think I'm done...

I'll look into this one as it sounds easy to rig and the only real work is working out the counterbalance weight for the mast. What does an Investigator 563's mast weigh ?

Please note the below calculations/workings/words (and some may even say, ramblings are only a rough working guide and at NO stage should they be taken as correct unless a 563 owner with a proven engineering background can verify or even better rework and offer accurate calculations?

Say 24kg (Google searches seem to indicate an 8mtr aluminum mast weights approx 20kg so I've added 20% for good measure) PLUS given that the Starwind 19 in the previous post uses a 30lb (18kg) counter balance my 8.2kg seems a lot off therefore, is a 563 mast HEAVIER than 24kg ??

However, continuing with the calculations so, 24kg mast weight X say, 2m (distance of weight to lever fulcrum) = 48kg of applied torque
Then 48kg applied torque / by distance from fulcrum to lift point on mast say, 5.9m (jib luff distance) so a total counterbalanced weight of 48kg/5.9= 8.2kg

Now I'm not sure if the above is simply hocus pocus because I'm used a simple lifting formula using google search and as with ALL things internet, especially searches they must be cross referenced and evaluated. My simple calculation indicate a weight of 8kgs when countered by the distance from the 8kg weight to fulcrum and then fulcrum to mast would counter balance the mast..
Therefore, I shall try this system with 8kgs and see how I go...

Thoughts ?
Cheers, Pete..... I'm liking this system over all the others I've seen and using baby stays on the side should negate any cross wind or slewing of the mast (as should be used with all good mast raising systems)

[Yara50]

Sorry guys, I think the counterweight idea is crazy. You can get all the force you need with rope and pulleys, and you already have the required "handy billy" in the main sheet tackle. The mast is not that heavy on our boats, and the sideways stability is easy to provide by hand, if most of the weight is taken by a pulley system. (But be sure to park the trailer on the level when rigging.)

As you lift, the downward force reduces by the cosine of the mast angle to the horizontal, which is why the spring loaded mastmate type systems, where the force also reduces, are good, but still more gear to buy.

[Ozzie]

Ian I think the counterweight system has great advantage because you are not needing to use one hand to control a line. You can just use them to hold or move the mast. Also you are not adding more stuff on the boat to get caught on things, which is a standard problem with mast raising . I have eliminated the snagging by using the foam twistys mentioned in another earlier post . I admit you need an upright but I already had one, and the jockey wheel clamp is on the trailer.

Pete I don't think the weight of the counterbalance is too critical. Just load it till you have reduced the weight of the mast to a level where you can easily move and control it. Even side stays may not be needed if the counter force is enough . It will be like raising the mast underwater

[Steve]

I have made my mast support at the stern high enough so I can lift the mast from a standing start from on top of the cabin roof. This now eliminates that step up from the cockpit carrying the full weight of the mast. I find it a little more unnerving when I have help (some one on the forestay) as it is hard to tell “who’s got the weight??" I have thought about moving the support forward to the washboards just for the rigging procedure, for more of a lift advantage.

[Yara50]

I think the counterweight system has great advantage because you are not needing to use one hand to control a line.

True, but my mainsheet lower block has a cam cleat on it, so I can let go the rope and leave the mast in suspension while I sort out any tangles. Teeth also work when changing hands, as the tension on the end is minimal. (For this you need your own teeth .)

Once you have lifted the mast, you unclip the mainsheet assembly, and clip it back on the boom and traveller, so there is no extra gear left on the boat.