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Oliver Shaw
ModeratorExcellent.
The right construction, fundamentally strong, and the split was due only to the failure of one of the glued joints and is easily repaired.
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorFrom the photo which you posted on 14 July it appears that your main chock is adequate, just.
However it does appear to be smaller than I at least would like, and the wider the chock the more protection it gives to the boat (by spreading the load).
If you wish to upgrade to a wider chock, try asking your trailer manufacturer in the first instance, because if they can supply one you can reasonably hope that the mounting brackets will be in the right places to fit those on your launching trolley. But failing that, you could try West Mersea, or CB Trailers, both of whom at least used to offer them (and I would hope they still do).
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorThree tips for re-threading the spinnaker halliard into the mast.
If you have a detachable upper sheave for the spinnaker halliard and all the halliards run down the inside of the mast (this depends on the make of mast), you can temporarily take out the sheave, and then use the main halliard to pull the spinnaker halliard down the mast. Use either tape or a length of thread to secure the two halliards to each other.
However the early IYE metal masts used a different system, with a welded curved tube in place of the upper sheave, and the halliards then ran down the front of the (unusually large) mast slot. I have never done the job, or seen it done, on one of these masts. You may perhaps be able to poke a length of moderately stiff twine down the tube and across the mast slot chamber, to emerge through the slot, and then use this to pull the halliard down the mast; it would seem to be worth a try, but I don’t know whether it would work.
The traditional method is to use a “mouse” in the form of a short length of small section chain to pull a length of light twine down the mast. Feed in the chain at the top, then set up the mast vertically, and shake it so that the chain falls down inside and pulls the light twine after it.
Good luck!
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorJames,
On a mast of your era the two sheaves side by side at the bottom of the mast were intended for main and jib (or genoa) halliards, with the spinnaker halliard being led through a third sheave slightly above them (and central). It is of course entirely possible that your genoa halliard may have subsequently been modified (and possibly the main halliard also) to accord with more modern practice; but that is what was envisaged when the mast was new.
A good start for setting up your spinnaker, a sort of half-way house between the very simple system originally fitted on your boat and a modern system, is that described by Simon Relph in The Basic Boating Book (pages 20-21), available on this site in the Members’ Area. Since he is a past World Champion (twice), although the system he describes is now regarded as somewhat dated it is nonetheless a system which works well.
I also attach a paper which is a composite of three articles on spinnaker rigging, of different eras and by different authors. Of perhaps the most relevant to your boat is the second one, by Brian Hayes, taken from the 1st edition of The Basic Boating book and dating from 1982, when your boat was still comparatively young. It also includes the relevant extract from Simon Relph’s article, and the paper starts with my own article on the subject.
Hope this helps,
Oliver
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Oliver Shaw
Moderator> Does anyone have experience of this kind of set up?
Yes; I had that on my GP back in the sixties, at which time it was fairly usual. It worked well, but when I returned to the class in 2004 (with a more modern set-up) I did not miss the absence of the aft blocks, and I do not now think that they offer any benefit, I suspect that it may be a case of that being thought desirable at the time because the more modern option of sheeting to amidships had not yet been tried out!
Hope this helps,
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorIt sounds as though you were previously using the forestay to support the sail, which is yacht practice, and outdated (1950s and older) dinghy practice. In dinghy practice over the last 50-odd years there is considerably more tension on the genoa halliard, and if you have sufficient tension on the genoa luff the forestay will become slack.
I remember when I was teaching sailing in the sixties asking myself why we bothered to hank the headsail onto the forestay, when the headsail luff had the greater tension; what purpose was served by doing so?
So the first step is to adequately tension the headsail (whether genoa or jib) halliard. Just how much depends on the age of your boat; for all modern (i.e. series 2) boats you can (and arguably should) use either a muscle box or a cascade tackle (giving either 8:1 or 9:1 purchase), and keen racers will then lead the downhaul on that to a 2:1 in the cockpit, which is led back to the two sides of the boat at the thwart; this will give a 16:1 or 18:1 purchase overall. However you may need to adjust your shroud settings at the same time to compensate for this; modern practice is to set the shroud adjustment first, and then apply tension to the rig.
There are tuning guides in the Members’ Area of the site which are worth a read even for non-racing.
For the oldest series 1 boats this amount of tension is vastly more than the boat was originally designed for, and is potentially dangerous, as it risks structural damage to the hull, unless the official mast step conversion has been fitted. However you can safely use a Highfield lever (typically about 6:1 by the point at which it is fully closed) to tension the headsail halliard. (Be aware of correct technique for using this, and of the danger to fingers if this device is operated incorrectly!)
With the headsail correctly tensioned, which thus tensions the entire rig, the forestay will go slack. You then need to ensure that the forestay is kept out of the way of the headsail as it is furled; if not kept out of the way it will wrap up with the furled sail, and jam the furling after only a few turns.
The first step to keeping the forestay out of the way is to take the slack out of it after the halliard has been tensioned. One way is to simply tighten the lanyard until it is just taut; note that this will result in there being significant tension remaining on the rig when you later drop the sail. An alternative, and probably better, way is to use a short piece of light shockcord to keep the forestay just taut.
The second step to keeping the forestay off the furled sail is to use some form of spacer at the head. See the paper on Reefing Systems (also in the Members’ Area) for methods of doing this.
Hope this helps,
Oliver
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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
Oliver Shaw.
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorJust a further thought about the thread method, which I agree sounds like a winner.
If you are making your own replacement centreboard there may possibly be a significant interval of time between taking the broken one out and having the finished replacement ready to fit. In that scenario, despite all care there is the risk that the thread may get displaced. We hope it won’t be needed, but if needed I can see a possible method of re-threading, based on the method which I have seen Speed Sails (as was) use for threading the main halliard down a new mast.
Make up a wooden batten with a hook on the end, put the replacement thread straight through the two bolt holes (using an improvised wire “needle” if needed), with a good long length of thread protruding on each side, then use your hooked batten to pull out a loop through either top or bottom of the casing.
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorSteve,
Good to see you coming in on this.
As our resident early GRP guru, am I right in my initial comment that “I would expect that removal and replacement is similar to the Series 1 wooden boats; remove the pivot bolt (accessible from inside the boat) and then put the boat on her side, and withdraw the board from either above or below (whichever is the more convenient)”?
Regards,
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorI would expect that removal and replacement is similar to the Series 1 wooden boats; remove the pivot bolt (accessible from inside the boat) and then put the boat on her side, and withdraw the board from either above or below (whichever is the more convenient).
However the GRP boats are not my sphere of expertise, and my real reason for responding is the replacement board.
First, avoid plywood like the plague. At one time it was popular for centreboards, primarily because it is a (relatively) cheap and very easy way to make one; but the material is fundamentally unsuitable, which is why it breaks. Plywood is specifically designed to be equally strong both along the board and across it; but the crossed ply construction effectively does that by averaging, so it is not as strong along the board as plain board of a suitable wood would be. And nearly all the load on a centreboard is in the one direction, along the board; there is no great need for strength across the board.
For many years now, whenever I have heard of a centreboard breaking in use I have asked whether it was a plywood one – and thus far I have scored 100% !!
The best construction for a wooden centreboard (or rudder blade) is solid wood, laminated out of strips a few inches wide, and laid side by side. These strips should all be cut from a single length, and alternate ones turned end for end, to eliminate any tendency to warping.
I am reasonably sure than any of our registered GP14 builders can supply a new centreboard, and Milanes specialise in making foils for a number of classes http://www.milanesfoils.co.uk. Speed Sails (no longer trading) used to produce glassfibre foils, but you may find another builder producing them. But be prepared for the price to be eye-watering, whether wood or glassfibre; there is actually a fair amount of work involved in producing something that may superficially look quite simple; think £400 – £600 as a ball park range. If you do order new, be very sure that your chosen supplier knows that yours is the early pattern centreboard; the current (Series 2) version is not the same, and I am not certain that it will fit.
Alternatively you can keep an eye on eBay; I have the impression that they do come up from time to time, although there is nothing listed there currently.
If you have good woodworking skills you can make your own, using epoxy to laminate the strips together. Any specialist marine timber supplier (e.g. Robbins, Stones, Sykes) will supply suitable timber, machined to size, and Robbins certainly will deliver nationwide; I suspect that they all will.
After the woodwork is finished you may wish to sheathe the board in a single layer of fibreglass for protection (using woven mat, and epoxy). If so, remember to allow for the thickness of this (on both sides) in making the board. You may wish to do a test on a small piece of scrap wood before you order the timber, to ascertain the thickness of the sheathing.
Hope this helps,
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorSimon
Full marks for doing things properly, including doing the courses, and for briefing your daughter on what to do if you go overboard. And bonus points for what you are teaching your daughter.
One further thing you could (and should) do; always carry your hand-held VHF, worn on your person. Modern ones are waterproof, and provided you are not unconscious that gives you the opportunity to raise the alarm. There are those who would argue that a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) worn on your person is more reliable; it undoubtedly is, because it relies on satellite communication, so there are no blackspots, so reception of a distress signal is guaranteed; but there may well be a delay of up to 2 hours (because it has to wait for the next satellite pass), and it is a one-way communication with no voice contact with Coastguard. Personally I would regard the VHF as the primary system for coastal sailing, and in a dinghy that is all that I carry, but in the yacht (sometimes going further offshore) I also have a PLB as backup.
There remains the question of what your daughter should do if she is suddenly left alone in the boat, with yourself MOB. I don’t think it realistic to expect a 7-year-old to make a Mayday call, although your wife could certainly do so; but there may be occasions when you sail with only your daughter, and Sod’s Law would of course ensure that that is when things go wrong. … It would (in my book) be very unsafe to expect a child to use pyrotechnic flares – they are dangerous enough even in the hands of well trained adults, and there have been some serious accidents to RYA instructors while demonstrating them, caused by misfires – including one case where a flare misfired and shot the highly experienced and expert instructor in the stomach, causing serious injury.
So we need think of how else your daughter in particular could assist in raising the alarm. A so-called “laser flare” – modern ones nowadays use powerful LEDs rather than lasers – might be worth considering; such as the ODEO Mk III, or the Ocean Signal EDF1, which are reviewed in this PBO article, https://www.pbo.co.uk/gear/led-laser-flares-tested-36341. Be aware that said article is now 5 years old, and there may perhaps now be others in the market. There are also cheaper non-marine units, which may well be better than nothing, but they are not necessarily as good as the proper thing. Primarily that would be useful after you have already raised the alarm by VHF, once the lifeboat is in sight, to help them to locate you.
Hope this helps.
For interest, in the light of the age of your daughter, the attached photo (which I have scanned from in Mainsail) shows the youngest helmsman in the 2008 WLYC 24-hour race; 6-year-old George Graham. No reason why your daughter can’t eventually follow in his wake.
Oliver
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Oliver Shaw
ModeratorGood point.
If wearing only a buoyancy aid one may need to attempt to address keeping the face out of the water when securing him alongside.
The choice of buoyancy aid or lifejacket for dinghy sailing is not entirely one-sided; a lifejacket will turn you onto your back and keep your face out of the water, but this means that it will make it well-nigh impossible for you to right the boat and climb back aboard. That is why most dinghy sailors, myself included, normally choose buoyancy aids; although we will often choose lifejackets for yacht sailing.
I have the impression, but cannot confirm, that at least some of those few dinghy sailors who venture seriously offshore (such as Frank & Margaret Dye, were they to be still doing it today) choose lifejackets.
I am a little surprised that we don’t have a dual-purpose flotation device, in the form of a buoyancy aid which incorporates an inflatable chest bladder and collar which can be inflated on demand (either by mouth when in the water or by manual trigger).
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorAgreed, sailing with a buddy is a useful safety precaution, and it also makes the activity enjoyably sociable.
But a requirement always to have a buddy available can be very limiting. I greatly enjoy sailing with friends; but nonetheless a majority of my sailing is single-handed, if only because of limitations on when (and where) friends are available to sail with me.
The very name of my erstwhile highly bespoke cruising GP14, built for me in 2005/6, A Capella, was deliberately and appropriately chosen. As well as reflecting my other great passion in life, music, a capella is the musical term for a group of singers singing entirely unaccompanied, without the security of an instrumental accompaniment and wholly responsible themselves for keeping on track and at pitch and in tune. Entirely appropriate, therefore, for a cruising dinghy that would often be sailing unaccompanied, without the support of a large fleet or a safety boat, and wholly responsible for her own safe conclusion of her voyaging.
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorSteve White has invited me to correct my statement that I understand that MOB recovery is not taught at RYA Level 1 or 2.
I did say that this was my understanding; and I was going by the desperately limited information on course content available on their website. Even on a check today, on their recently updated website, the only course content that I can find is contained in a downloadable document (attached), which makes no mention of MOB recovery at any level until one reaches Seamanship Skills, which they rate as an Advanced course.
I am happy to make the correction, but if RYA fail to adequately publish the course content they can hardly complain if experienced practitioners get our facts wrong in assessing what the course contains! I have no wish either to do the courses or to buy the books just in order to find out what they teach; I expect the information to be readily accessible!
Steve writes that “The RYA syllabus for Level 2 includes a series of highly related boat manoeuvres including coming safely alongside a boat, jetty, buoy and MOB, to help develop boat handling skills. Furthermore the mandatory capsize drill requires participants to have theoretical and practical experience of getting a crew from the water into the boat. Methods of recovering unconscious crew members are not discussed at RYA L2.
“(The picking up of a MOB first time is a standard sailing test of an RYA Dinghy Instructor-to-be. )
“I concede that the MOB is conducted with a half filled bottle or similar, and not a person.
“On the RYA Safety Boat syllabus, considerable time is spent on this subject, including practical experience of getting an unhelping person into a RIB or other safety vessel using a variety of methods.”
I am happy to make this correction, although it applies to only one detail (in one sentence) of what I wrote.
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorResponse from an experienced sailor on another forum:
“Missing nothing I think, mayday call and securing the casualty in some way must be your first priorities. Better surely that a lifeboat arrives to an upright boat with capable person on board and casualty in water than capsized boat and two casualties in water.
“Remember the other key is delivering a useful mayday – identity, position, number of persons is priority. When you tell the coastguard there’s a person in the water the operations room comes alive and things happen fast, with good reason.”
Oliver
Oliver Shaw
ModeratorLaura,
I concur with Norman, that you are unlikely to find the originals. But while looking for something else on eBay just now I found some which might suit if they are not too large; most of them suit a 24 mm hole, but a few are 18 mm.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/callistomarine?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
The obvious disclaimer; I do not know the firm or the products, so I can only go from the adverts, and for that reason this is not an endorsement. Make your own enquiries.
Hope this helps.
Oliver
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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
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