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  • in reply to: Topping lift set up #25869
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    The disc is to keep the forestay off the luff of the genoa while furling it.   If the forestay is allowed to foul the partially furled sail it then tends to get caught up in the wrap,  and jams the system so that it won’t furl any further,  which rather defeats the object.

    It is about the minimum satisfactory size,  because the forestay and the luff are naturally so close together,  and it does rely on carefully balancing the tension  in the forestay once the rig tension is set up.   Perhaps I may yet experiment with using an additional short length of shockcord.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Topping lift set up #25861
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    By fortunate coincidence I have A Capella on her road trailer and hitched up to the car outside the house at this very moment,  all ready for departure tomorrow morning for the Cruising Week.   So I can take some photos.

    The choice of rope is not critical;   I used polyester braid of about 5 or 6 mm diameter because I happened to have some to hand.   I think that for this particular purpose there is some merit in the method which I chose to produce an eye at the lower end (by forming the eye and then putting on a tight seizing to make the eye permanent (or at least semi-permanent);   this has one very big advantage over splicing,  for this one application,  in that it permits one to set it up to a very precise length.    It is of course possible to produce a spliced eye with a similar precision as to total length of the rope,  but that precision in splicing takes a great deal of skill.

    The rope is secured to the top of the mast using a small plastic fairlead,  which is screwed to the mast using self-taps.  You could alternatively use a strap eye,  and that could be either screwed or pop-rivetted to the mast,  as you can also see in the first photo.   I can’t now remember why A Capella has both fittings,  even though it was almost certainly myself who attached them,  many moons ago;   at any rate the strap eye is not currently used for anything.

    You are also going to need a suitable strap eye or other suitable securing point on the top face of the boom,  near the aft end.   I can’t remember whether this is something that I had to supply and fit,  or whether it was already part of the boom.

    I started the job by securing a sufficient length of rope to the masthead,   ensuring that it was longer than I was going to need.  I decided to terminate it in a carbine hook,  so that it can be just clipped onto the strap eye at the end of the boom;  I used the closed type of carbine hook,  which has a complete ring at the narrow end,  so the rope is captive;   with the open type there is a risk that when not under tension the rope could migrate down the carbine hook,  and then when the hook is opened it becomes possible for the rope to become detached  –  which we don’t want.

    Then on a day of light winds I rigged her,  including the mainsail,  and put some tension on the kicker.  At that point the end of the boom is as low as it is ever going to be in normal sailing,  and the length of the topping lift can be adjusted to match the height of the boom end.       Pass the rope through the ring at the narrow end of the carbine hook,  and just take up the slack,  but without putting any noticeable tension on the rope.    Apply a seizing to secure the end of the rope back on itself,  and cut off most of the surplus,  but leave a few inches spare,  to allow for later adjustments if found necessary.   Preferably use a hot knife to make the cut (so it melts its way through the rope,  leaving the ends neatly and securely fused,  so the rope doesn’t unravel afterwards.

    The second photo shows the lower end,  but in a completely different context.  The boat is prepared for a road journey,  so instead of the topping lift being clipped to the boom it is parked by clipping it onto the spinnaker pole ring on the mast,  and then it also serves to park the end of the genoa halliard,  etc.   But I hope you can still see what it is when shorn of the temporary appendages.

    Ideally you will find that this supports the boom at a comfortable height when the sail is dropped,  or while reefing,  but in normal sailing the topping lift is always not quite under tension,  so it never interferes with the shape of the sail.   But this is the stage where you examine your handiwork critically,  and if you find that you need to lengthen the rope by an inch or so  –  and if you had the foresight to leave a few inches surplus when you cut off the majority of the surplus  –  all you need to do is undo the seizing and give it the extra inch,  and put on a fresh seizing.

    Do make sure that the seizings (top and bottom) are as tight as you can make them,   and it helps to put on frapping turns as well.   Even stronger of course,  but I don’t think it is really necessary in this situation,  is a racking seizing.

    If you are unfamiliar with this aspect of ropework I am sure that there are many handbooks and also online instructions which will show you how it is done.

    Hope this helps,

     

    Oliver

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Oliver Shaw.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Oliver Shaw.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Oliver Shaw.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Oliver Shaw. Reason: Correction of typos
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    in reply to: Mast rake settings #25774
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    I think it is partly familiarity with the site,  and I use certain parts of it moderately regularly.

    I suppose that if I were younger my detractors (of a certain generation) might call me an “anorak”!!!

    Regards,

     

    Oliver

     

    in reply to: Mast rake settings #25771
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    It is online,  in the Members’ Area of this site;   look under Members \ All About Your GP.

    Also there is the Goachers’ Guide,  and one from Pinnell & Bax.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25714
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    A smaller mainsail in medium or stronger winds is a very good alternative to fitting a good reefing system;   but it is fundamentally less flexible,  and buying a decent one  –  even second-hand  –  may well cost about as much as fitting a reefing system to a full-size sail.

    If the wind freshens further,  you may be glad of the ability to pull down a further reef.

    And if the wind eases off and becomes light you may well be very glad of having the full sail available  –  especially if you need to buck a foul tide to get home.

    For my money,  I choose to go for a decent modern slab/jiffy reefing system for those reasons;   but an owner then needs to learn how to operate the system at sea,  in whatever conditions the weather may throw at you.   Once you have learned the basics,  then practice,  practice,  practice  …,  until the procedure becomes absolutely second nature,  and totally safe and confident and reliable.   I repeat;   in whatever conditions the weather may throw at you.

    When we were caught out in that unforecast force 7/8 off a major Anglesey headland we immediately pulled down the first reef,  followed immediately by the second reef,  and only after that did we look around and see the one capsized and inverted casualty.   But we were able to pull down those reefs because,  first,  we had a good system well set up;   and,  second,  because I had done the operation countless times previously (both single-handed and fully crewed),  so actually doing it was a routine operation and was no difficulty.

    However sailing permanently with a smaller sail is a viable alternative.   If you happen to have such a sail anyway,  without needing to buy one specially,  that of course skews the cost comparison.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25713
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    I concur with fitting permanent righting lines,  although there are several different ways of doing this.

    I first came across them in 2009,  when the Cruising Fleet were caught out in an completely unforecast force 7/8 (on a forecast of only force 3!) off a major Anglesey headland.  The one single-hander in the fleet capsized,  and then inverted;   then,  in conditions in which I would have been desperately struggling had I capsized,  he righted his boat without outside assistance and resumed sailing.    Alright,  he had a wineglass wrap in his genoa,  but he had successfully righted his boat,  in horrendous conditions,  single-handed.

    Talking with him after the event,  he told me that the key to his recovering from the inversion was his righting lines.   These were a pair of long lines,  secured to the boat amidships,  with an overhand knot about every foot of their length,  and terminating in a monkey’s fist.   From amidships he reached under the inverted hull,  pulled out the nearest righting line,  and held onto the end,  and never let go of it;    that is the reason for the monkey’s fist at the end of it.

    He swam down to the stern,  and round to the other side of the boat,  flicking the line over the transom and across the hull.

    Then he lay flat in the water,  supported by his buoyancy aid,  with his legs braced and his feet on the gunwale,  and hauled in the line,  one knot at a time.    Doing that,  the boat has just got to come up eventually.

    Another accessory that I fitted to A Capella,  because 15 years ago (at age 65 then) I was concerned about my ability to climb back aboard after a capsize,  was a “rope ladder”.    This was a commercially produced one,  using lightweight synthetic rope and plastic rungs,  and it is permanently secured to the boat,  adjusted so that it can readily be deployed over the side of the boat at the aft end of the cockpit.    I can’t tell you how well it works,  because I have never needed to put it to the test  –  and I have always aimed never to need to do so,   but it seems like a sensible precaution,  just in case.

     

    Oliver

     

    in reply to: Different types of boom? #25289
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    There would seem to be two options.

    One is to rigidly fix your attachment points,  which would not then need sliders;   merely some sort of eye plate pop-rivetted to the boom.    If they are in the right position,  right first time,  they will remain right for as long as you retain that same sail;   but they may need to be moved if you ever switch to a different sail.    Although all GP14 sails are “made to measure”,   according to the Class Rules,  it is a matter of record that mainsail roaches today are very much more pronounced than those of (say) fifty years ago.   I suspect that the difference is in the evolution of the Class Rules,  but I have not researched that point.

    The second option is to instal a track,  so that if   –  for which perhaps read “when”  –  you don’t get the position right at the first attempt you then have the facility to adjust.

    Personally,  I would regard the benefits of flexibility as outweighing the benefits of saving the (modest) outlay,  always provided you can find a track that suits at a sensible price.

    All being well,  once you have got your system set up you will not normally need to change the position.

    By way of informing that last comment;   I set up the system on A Capella in 2006,  and re-adjusted it for the first time in 2022  –  16 years later.    Once I had it set correctly it remained correct for a very long time.    However on my bigger boat I have fixed positions (on a wooden boom),  which I confess I have once adjusted,  by the sheer brutality of drilling yet more holes.   But,  again,  once set it remains correct for a good number of years.   But when I set it up I knew what I was doing,  so I was reasonably confident that I had got the positions right.

    If I were in your shoes,  I would go for the flexibility of having a means of adjustment,  even though ideally it will need to be adjusted only once in the life of the sail.

    Hope this helps,

     

    Oliver

     

    in reply to: Different types of boom? #25284
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    The sliders look fine,  but your boom is a fairly old one which does not have a track,  so you will need to buy a short section of track to match the sliders,  and pop-rivet it in place.

    I would expect that the chandler who supplied the sliders could also supply the track.

    This one might be suitable,  but check the dimensions before buying:   A..26 Alloy Mast Track Anodised Silver 0.3m – Travellers & Fairleads from Pinnell & Bax Limited UK (pinbax.com)

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25239
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    With apologies for possible repetition,  we seem to have a technical problem;   my reply to one of Frank’s points seems to have been published by email but not on the website,  so I am posting it again:  …

     

    The GP14 sails very well with a mainsail only and being able to get rid of everything up front is a huge plus when coming ashore. 

     

    True,  but her pointing is very limited.    Even just a pocket handkerchief of headsail makes a big difference.

    I first learned the limitation of sailing under mainsail only in the late sixties,  in my first GP14,  in one of the then Tideway Races run by my home club,  Liverpool SC;    roughly 10 miles downriver on the ebb to New Brighton,  adjourn ashore over Low Water,  then back again on the flood.

    On this occasion the return leg was a beat  –  it is much more usually the other way round  –  and soon after the start of the second leg the port shroud carried away.    With no spinnaker on that boat my jury rig was to drop the jib,  and use the jib halliard as a jury shroud.   When the same thing happened a couple of years later in an Anglesey estuary in my next GP14 I used the spinnaker halliard for that purpose,   and so still had the benefit of the genoa for the passage back to shore.

    So we now had a sailable boat,  but with no headsail,  and a beat to windward of still about 8 miles yet to go.    We duly made it,  but it did seem to take us an eternity!!

    Looking back,  many decade later,  I had a total of four shroud failures in three different dinghies within the space of just a few years;   and absolutely none thereafter.   Why none subsequently?   Because I had learned my lesson,  and improved my maintenance!!

    My other experience of sailing under main only is more recent.   When A Capella was a new boat,  around 2006 or 2007,  I had a week’s day-cruising holiday on Anglesey with a good friend who had limited sailing experience,  and on our first day the wind was dead offshore and borderline too strong;  so I chose to launch with main only,  and probably one reef at that.    We had a good sail until it was time to return home,  which presented us with a beat to windward;   and the boat really would not go well at all.    But as soon as we unrolled just a mere pocket handkerchief of headsail she was transformed;  this made all the difference to her ability to go to windward.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25238
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    If you can anticipate the gust …

    Tactfulness:  ….

    Last September my old friend Steve White invited me down to Southampton to run a further iteration of the Advanced Cruising Course there for his club.     For other reasons I had borrowed A Capella back from her custodian,  my godson,  and I took her down as the demonstrator boat.   For the third day of the course we planned a day-cruise to the head of Southampton Water,  and Steve and I teamed up in “my” boat,  A Capella.

    Both of us are now dyed-in-the-wool cruising men,  but both of us are also erstwhile seriously good racers from our youth;  I was a regular member of my University Team and also my College First Team,  while Steve was on track for a place in the Olympics FD squad until he had to drop out because of the financial cost of it (no sponsorship in those days!).   So we were two expert dinghy cruisers,  and erstwhile high-level dinghy racers;  and we each had great respect for each other’s abilities and seamanship.

    I confess that nowadays,  when not racing (which is most of the time),  I am less assiduous than I might be at continuously watching for changes in the wind and adjusting the set of the sails accordingly.   Of course that won’t do when racing  –  it may cost you a place or two  –  but provided you remain safe it doesn’t greatly matter when cruising.   And on this passage there were numerous eddies,  so the wind was almost as variable as on inland waters  –  which as primarily a coastal and estuary sailor I am no longer used to.

    I helmed on the outward passage,  and we swapped ends for the return.   When I was helming,  Steve was the master of tact.   If I had failed to adjust to a change in the wind,  Steve would quietly remark that “My end of the boat is on (such and such a point of sailing)!

     

    Oliver

     

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25237
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    At the risk of bragging,   both Simon and Frank have participated in past iterations of my Advanced Cruising Course,   and we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

    I think most of the ideas which we have each espoused are included in the two online documents which I referenced previously,  in the Members’ Area of this website.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25232
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    I concur with Norman in the advisability of having an anchor;  indeed in tidal waters I would regard this as essential anyway.   But I have what I consider a better solution to the problem of the lee shore beach,  albeit that this does rely on the fact that I have a decent reefing system anyway.

    On various occasions around the country I have sailed from a lee shore beach,  and my home club has what is predominantly a lee shore beach with a concrete slipway,  and a strong tide setting across the slipway.

    Given that the boat is already suitably equipped,  my preferred technique is to drop the main while still in deep water,  and come in under genoa alone,  using the genoa reefing line almost as a throttle to control the speed,  with the aim of arriving very gently at the slipway and stopping exactly on the slipway in shallow water.     The gentleness is because I have no wish to graunch my centreboard on the concrete!

    Sailing mainly in locations with ample expanses of water (at my home club the estuary is about two and a half miles wide at our location) I usually have no need to anchor while dropping and stowing the main,  but if sailing on a small lake I can well see that this would sometimes be very useful.   I normally use the anchor for other purposes.

    But the genoa reefing system is more or less essential to that technique;   far more effective than merely dumping sheet.

    Hope this helps,

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Sailing GP14 single-handed #25229
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    I note that Simon has already replied,  and I fully concur with most of what he says.   Including the depth of the mainsail reefs;   both of us have effectively what one might normally consider a second reef and a third reef,  missing out the usual first reef,  and we both find that that works very well for a day-cruising GP14.

    Simon and I differ only on the matter of continuous headsail sheets,  and that is a personal choice.   His approach works well for him,  and my different approach works well for me;   but both methods are fully viable.

    That apart,  a good starting point is the Members’ area of this site;   under the tag  “All about your GP” you should find my paper on “Suitability for Cruising & Single-handing”.

    There is one update to that;  Rob Helyar (Flexible Reefing Spars) retired a couple of years ago,  and there is a doubt whether his truly excellent genoa reefing system is still available.   He passed on the rights to Richard Hartley,  of Hartley Boats,  but I have emailed Richard three times now  –  as a potential customer  –  and for whatever reason he has not replied.   And last time I looked the system was not mentioned on the Hartley Boats website.    However I believe that the Bartels and Aeroluffspars systems are still available,  and Simon tells us that Trident are also now offering one,   and Edge Sails have introduced a different take on the matter which certainly works well in lighter conditions,  although I have yet to see it tested in seriously heavy weather.

    It is likely that you will eventually want a genoa reefing system,  although a short term alternative is simply to sail with the standard jib (if you have one) instead of the genoa.   When you do invest in a reefing system do be aware that reefing requires more than just a furling system;   you need a luff spar (or alternatively the Edge Sails longitudinal batten system) to ensure torsional rigidity of the luff.   Without that,  there is a likelihood of the top of the reefed sail unrolling  –  and by Finnegal’s Law that will always happen at the worst possible moment!

    See also,  again in the same location,  my paper on Reefing Systems.

    Hope this helps,

     

    Oliver

    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Useful to know that Reliance Marine are again stocking suitable fairleads in a dinghy size.    That is where I bought mine for A Capella 17 years ago,  but at that time I had the last of the stock.

     

    Oliver

    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Agreed;   when seen on the deck that 150 mm cleat looks very suitable.

    I am inclined to agree that the 100 is too small.

     

    Oliver

Viewing 15 posts - 76 through 90 (of 708 total)