posted November 11, 2005 02:13 PM               

A few threads back we were talking about sail size & being overpowered and such, and I thought about that when I saw today's "Quote of the Day" at BoatUS's homepage:

quote:

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Men often ask when it is time to reef. It is always time to reef when you think it is. The moment you would feel easier and your boat handles better by having less sail spread is the time to shorten down.
- Thomas Fleming Day

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Kevin
Shortstay III, #901

posted November 11, 2005 05:33 PM               

He was the founder and first editor of The Rudder Magazine for Yachtsmen, started in 1891. According to Day, his magazine was “a well-rounded bilgeful of dogmatic advice, arbitrary opinion, clever devices and methods—the sort of thing that you are always meaning to paste in your hat.” Sounds like our kind of guy!

You can still get a collection of articles from that magazine, The Rudder Treasury: A Companion for Lovers of Small Craft. Editor, Tom Davin said of Day that he “inspired the building of thousands of small boats across the country and encouraged the formation of small yacht clubs to make readers for The Rudder.” Without Day, it is quite possible that yachting would still be an exclusive pastime of the very wealthy. Instead, zillions of small boaters can say today that “the sea is the great equalizer."

posted November 15, 2005 03:37 PM              

quote:

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Originally posted by Shortstay:
But make sure there's enough clearance!

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posted November 15, 2005 08:20 PM               

Rivers and canals usually have a set "air draft" height on all their bridges. The older routes like the Midi Canal in France, built in the mid 1600s has a very low air draft. If your boat with mast down is low enough to do it though, it would save you the hassle of sailing around Spain to get from the Atlantic to Mediteranean.

As an aside; sailing around Spain is much easier now then when Louis XIV commissioned the canal. The Spaniards were not too fond of French boats then.

posted December 29, 2005 02:05 AM               

Day built one and wrote a series of articles about the building in Rudder, then sailed her to Europe.

I had a Seabird. It was one of the handiest boats to sail I've ever been on. Jib and "jigger" (the small sail aft) made a very easy heavy weather rig. Main alone for a bit more breeze.

From anchor, I could hoist the jigger, which would sail me up toward the anchor until there was enough slack to pull some in, then she'd sail up again, etc. until the anchor was free. Then she'd point right into the wind while I hoisted the self tending jib.

With jib and jigger I could short tack out of the anchorage and hoist the main when I got out in the clear.

posted December 29, 2005 05:08 AM            

On ocean racers, with canting keels or water ballast, it is not an issue of too much sail but rather an issue of not enough righting moment.

posted December 29, 2005 09:24 AM               

If you have a high tech ocean racer or a boat that planes easily, extra ballast works. The flatter boat just keeps accelerating.

On our fine craft, it's a different scenerio. With the exception of surfing down waves, you can't really go much faster than your maximum hull speed. When you're over-canvased and ballasted things will just begin to break (masts, rudders, etc.)

The trick is to keep the boat driving at its' maximum hull speed. We've found that often means reefed. You'll be going as fast as you can and be doing it in comfort and control.