Contents - Wayfarer Institute of Technology
Contents - Wayfarer Institute of Technology
Contents - Wayfarer Institute of Technology
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
each sail's strop is left through the tack cringle and stays<br />
there when the sail is in its bag. A sturdy snap shackle on<br />
the bow fixture or jib tack is faster, but tangles with other<br />
equipment.<br />
We prefer piston hanks to the plastic ones which are used<br />
for racing. They do need to be kept oiled and in good condition.<br />
Light Air Sailing. More <strong>of</strong>ten than a storm, you will have to<br />
contend with light airs. If you are carrying a working jib,<br />
you might as well use it in addition to the genoa. It can be<br />
rigged out forward on a paddle or oar, or it may be worthwhile<br />
to make a bowsprit that lies along the foredeck. On<br />
the <strong>Wayfarer</strong>, the inboard end <strong>of</strong> the bowsprit is wedged<br />
Spinnaker. Some people like to cruise with the spinnaker<br />
and try to plan for long down-wind passages. We find we<br />
so rarely get an opportunity to use it that it is not worth<br />
the space it occupies, and we do not carry one. For downwind<br />
passages in strong wind and with a sea running, the<br />
safest and most comfortable way is to lower the main and<br />
wing out two jibs on poles. This greatly reduces the risk <strong>of</strong><br />
broaching, but you cannot stop quickly. Don't fall overboard<br />
without a life-line attached.<br />
Trysail. The working jib doubles as storm trysail if the following<br />
adapter is made to run up the mast track: a narrow<br />
strip <strong>of</strong> canvas, the length <strong>of</strong> the luff <strong>of</strong> the jib, with a bolt<br />
rope sewn in along one edge to suit the groove in the mast,<br />
and along the other edge eyelets to suit the jib's piston<br />
hanks. The boom is not used. Fairleads for the sheets are<br />
necessary and the spinnaker sheet fairleads may serve.<br />
This "try-sail adapter" idea is from an English sailor named<br />
Peter Clutterbuck. I do not know how <strong>of</strong>ten he has used it<br />
himself. In conditions that warranted a storm trysail, I<br />
would probably be lying to a sea anchor with the mast<br />
down, or lying on a beach in a sheltered cove if I had listened<br />
to the weather forecast.<br />
under the wavebreaker and a bobstay runs to the bow ring<br />
at the stem. The working jib is set as a flying jib, using the<br />
spinnaker halyard. This arrangement is complicated to<br />
tack and it seems to add very little speed when hard on<br />
the wind. It does help noticeably on a reach, if you are not<br />
up to hull speed.<br />
With a quartering wind, you can try a main and two foresails,<br />
with the smaller guyed to windward on the whisker<br />
pole with a downhaul.<br />
Auxiliary Motive Power. We do not carry a motor; nor<br />
have we cruised with anyone who does. Oars and paddles<br />
are more reliable, cleaner, lighter, less expensive, less<br />
magnetic and do not require potentially explosive fuel. If<br />
you have to travel up a river you might think it worthwhile<br />
taking a motor, otherwise I recommend oars.<br />
Improvised cutter rig.<br />
Rowing five miles, without hurry, in ten to twenty minute<br />
shifts is not hard work. We can make about two knots but<br />
one and a half is sufficient and easier. You can sing "The<br />
Volga Boatman" or "The Skye Boat Song" if you like. There<br />
is no call to hurry cruising but there is reason to think<br />
ahead. That is, to realize in good time that you will need<br />
to start rowing if you want to be in before dark. It is essential<br />
to wear gloves for a row <strong>of</strong> more than a few minutes,<br />
unless your hands are already used to it. Leather sailing<br />
gloves without fingers are excellent. Any leather or work<br />
gloves that will stand up to the wet will do well.