Travel 2017-2018
Pictures of Cousins and Cousin’s Pictures
Yay! After posting my story, Cheryl sent pictures of Rob.
And her feet.
We might post a picture the painting Cheryl gave us. Here’s the real deal, though. Her online portfolio: http://cherylwilsonart.com/index.html Enjoy.
Family and the USCG Cutter Eagle
Finally got cousin Robert and his wife Cheryl out on Red Ranger. We tried last summer, but there were complicated family issues, and our schedules never aligned.
This weekend was perfect. Light breezes. Not too hot.
And this
The US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle. On it’s way to Portsmouth, VA, to take on a new crew of officer candidates.
I look a lot of pictures. The point of closest approach was about a mile away, so these are zoomed way in and still don’t show much.
This picture offers some on-board context.
Did I take a picture of my cousins? Nope.
Sunday was catch up on some maintenance. Specifically the exhaust riser.
It’s wrapped in layers of insulation. Somehow, the outer layer of wrapping — a woven asbestos tape of some kind — had started to come apart. This left little bits of asbestos dust everywhere in the engine room.
I researched for a while and bought 50’ of DEI exhaust system wrap.
Here’s the 25% done picture
On the right is bare pipe covered with wrap. The fluffy stuff on the left is the old fiberglass insulation that wasn’t totally falling apart. I wrapped the old fiberglass because it’s a good extra layer of insulation.
The DEI folks sell these exhaust wrap locking ties. I couldn’t get them to work. I’ve used good old hose clamps.
Tested the engine. It’s warm to the touch, but seems to be working. Now that the fiberglass is all wrapped tightly in the new state-of-the-art wrap, there’s going to be less dust deposited all over the engine.
Just another day on Red Ranger.
Unsporty Conditions
This weekend, we went to West River Sailing Club for a party. The actual location was about 0.5 nm away from the club as the crow flies. Google said it would be five miles driving around the creeks of West River.
What’s important is that unlike our last big outing, conditions were not sporty.
The party is called a “land-sea cruise.” It’s at someone’s house. So you can drive there or boat there. We went by boat. Two boats, really. Red Ranger took us to the WRSC. Then Scout took us the last half mile to the party location.
On Saturday, the breeze was a good direction for us to beat to weather.
I had heard a rumor of folks who reef their headsail when beating to weather because it can be sheeted in at a narrower angle. I think there’s something to this. The question now is “how much?”
I didn’t even take a full reef, and I think we pointed at 55° instead of our more common 60° off the wind. This is a good thing. And we went fast, which is important.
Sunday conditions were even lighter. We had a peak of perhaps 7 kn of wind; it fell and fell and fell. The wind was from more-or-less directly astern.
This means easing the main sheet out so far that it chafes on the bimini sun-shade. This is bad. Really bad.
We need a better arrangement for down-wind running: one that doesn’t involve chafe. Or the possibility of pulling apart the bimini. The more we looked at it — we had plenty of time for this — the more we thought about putting a secondary main sheet on the toe-rail.
Our idea is to have an off-the-wind mainsheet from toe rail to boom end. For this kind of run, unclip the mid-ship main sheet and use the off-the-wind mainsheet. This would be a kind of poor-sailor’s traveler. It has two positions: centered and all the way out to the toe-rail. To do this, we need more loops on the toe rail. Perhaps we should try it on for size to see how well it works.
Here’s the Chesapeake Calms video. It was pretty calm. We had to give up sailing when speed dropped below 2 kn; we can’t really steer and are only drifting at that speed.
Here’s sunset on the creek looking up toward the commercial barges
Sporty Conditions
We invited our neighbors, Dan and Jen, to the boat. The weather was deep into the realm we call “sporty” — wind was about 15 kn, gusting into the low 20’s. It was supposed to slack down to 10 kn later in the day. Summary: 15g20>10.
Sporty conditions aren’t for newbie boaters. Dan and Jen have some boating experience. Since it includes whitewater kayak, SUPaddleboard, they’re unlikely to be put off by some waves and splashing around.
Sporty conditions aren’t really our thing, either. That’s why we took so few pictures.
We dawdled: a lengthy tour of the boat; a tour of our end of the marina.
We anchored sort of near the Calvert Cliffs. The chart shows a sudden shoaling from 10’ to 3’. We stayed well out in the 10’ area. The bottom there seems to be harder than other places in the bay. Perhaps it's scoured by the current from Tracey’s creek and Rockhold creek. On short (5:1) scope, we dragged a bit.
At first, I was thinking of trying single-reefed main. But. At the last minute, I decided that might be too much, and went for mizzen and stays’l. We poked our way along for an hour or so, a little under-canvassed, but happy to be sailing relatively flat.
We tried to tack. I thought we might be able to swing from a beam reach all the way around to the other reach. I’m now sure that Red Ranger can’t make that big a change in direction. The right thing to do is to grind the mizzen all the way in to get as close-hauled as we can.
It might even be possible to push the mizzen to windward to force the bow around. If I had two more people comfortable pulling ropes, I may try that some day.
After stalling out entirely, we gybed around. It’s easy to do under “jib and jigger” because the mizzen is so (relatively) small. I can pass it from side to side while standing on the after deck.
Later in the afternoon — 15:00 ish — the wind finally started to slack off. We pulled out the Yankee.
CA pushed the boat speed to 7.1 kn on a regular basis and 7.2 kn when the residual 20+ kn gust hit us.
This is about the fastest we’ve ever sailed. It’s getting close to hull speed (~8.2 kn) Since high tide was 3:30, I don’t think we had much current added in to our speed.
Trimming the yankee under those conditions is difficult. It’s almost impossible to turn the winch. I found an on-line sail power calculator. I plugged in the P, E, I, and J measurements for a Whitby (13m, 4.5m, 15m, 5.6m). LP for our yankee is 90%. This nets out to 1100 pounds of force (510 Kg). Half a ton. That seems to model what I was observing.
I think it’s CA’s skill at the wheel made it possible. She says the new B&G instruments are a huge help. Specifically, the rudder position indicator. Previously, she’d fight the wheel, presuming that it was somehow her fault Red Ranger kept pointing up into the wind. Now she can see how much rudder she’s got: this means she can have me adjust sail trim to better balance the helm. Less fighting means more forward motion. It’s like getting a new boat. Seriously.
Sun Shades and Awnings
After a great afternoon with friends, sailing. CA made the sunshade-windscoop for the bow.
The idea is to keep direct sun off the V-berth as well as catch the breeze when we’re at anchor. It rigs quickly and wraps up into a tiny bundle of fabric when not in use. We think this will be very handy when the conditions are too sporty to sail.
Stowage
We used to carry two spare anchors on deck. We have two on the bowsprit, ready for use.
Yes, that’s four anchors. If we need to stay put, we can.
On the left is a CQR. (“Secure”, get it?)
We kind of like it, but other people curse it out roundly. So we replaced it with a Rocna.
On the right is a Danforth. We’ve used these on other boats. They weigh nothing, and are kind of fun in that respect. But… There are places where Danforths are supposed to be ideal. As it is, it’s just spare. We’d use it if nothing else seemed to grab.
There’s CA, stowing them
Yes, she’s standing in the lazarette. It’s that deep.
Clearing the anchors off the deck reduces the visual clutter on deck. It’s probably safer to have them below. It certainly makes it easier to move the mizzen running backstays without anchors underfoot.
Also.
There were things at the bottom of the lazarette that needed to come out and see the light of day for a moment. Perhaps get washed off. And also, discussed. “Do we really need this?” And “When would we ever need this?” Most things in there passed the test, and went back in.
