Slab reefing

I am a great believer in slab reefing, simple and effective.  A number of boats I have sailed on over the years have been fitted with the correct number of cringles on their mainsails, for reeving pennants and for securing a reef’s tack to the rams horn; but not all have had sufficient sheaves in the boom to take lines for the clew outhaul, a hardener and 3 reefs.  I was following a thread the other day on an internet forum, and someone came up with the idea of reeving the pennants through blocks which could be moved up the leach for the third reef to be taken in.  The author of this idea concluded with the point “just a shackle to move”.  I wonder if a snap shackle would make this idea a lot easier to set up?  I suspect that there is a danger with such a system, that if the reef is not taken in early enough, there will be a risk of flogging sail with a block attached to it to try to tame.  Worst still, the reefing pennant adrift with a flogging block to retrieve.  I wonder if anyone has used this system and would like to comment on the idea?

Lessons from a long passage

Our plan during the middle of November was to make a long passage out into the western approaches to the Channel, and perhaps pop into a port or two on the north Brittany coast. We had on board, three boat owners, one with a 22 footer kept in Boston, another with a Sadler 32 kept also on the east coast, and a third who owned a Dehler 34 moored in the Solent. All were looking for the chance to get some experience and add some miles to their log books for eventual Yachtmaster Offshore, though one said he was more interested in having some fun. The forecast was bloody, f8’s and 9’s from the south west were to prevail for the first two days, so we spent some time playing in the Solent and fighting wind and tides. There seemed a bit of a break in the weather coming up on the Wednesday, so we planned on sailing round the Isle of Wight, leaving Yarmouth with the last of the ebb, so that on turning round the Needles we would have wind and tide both going with us.

There were two major lessons which came out of this trip. The first was lookout with buoy identification. It is so easy, if you are not following a properly prepared pilotage plan, to assume that a buoy in the distance is the one you are looking for. As we came down to the Shingles Elbow red buoy just northeast of the entrance to the Needles channel, there were occasional squalls of rain which reduced visibility a bit, but not so much that buoys could not be picked out with binoculars. However the skipper for the day did not check the buoy colour or shape properly, and assumed it to be the Bridge westerly cardinal. As a result, a course steered to put this red buoy on our port side would have placed us close to the breakers on the Shingle Bank, but luckily we correctly identified the mark, and then picked up the cardinal. The lesson brought home in such a situation as this, is to have your plan properly prepared with courses and distances between navigation marks. If needs be, zero the trip log at each mark and always try to be one jump ahead of yourself when piloting. What I mean by this, is to identify the next mark but one when eyeballing the yacht in and out of harbour. If any of you would like a beginner’s guide to preparing a pilotage plan, email me and I will send you a copy of my notes. My contact details are available on my website: Arrow Yacht Enterprises.

When I have experienced skippers on board, I let them prepare and execute their plans without my input, unless something is going to go pear shaped. We had rounded St Catherine’s Point and had a strong spring flood pushing us along; we were sailing with just one third headsail and two reefs in the mizzen, making 6 – 7 knots through the water, and sometimes up to 9 knots over the ground. David was doing the navigation for the day and was quite relaxed about it all. It was he who had come along for the fun! The wind was up in the 20 – 25 knots range so we were making good progress, but it was quite clear that if we did not harden up in the SW wind fairly soon, we would end up being taken a lot further east than would have been good for us, and would have ended up with quite a beat back into Portsmouth. Rex, who had a lot less experience than the others on board, had clearly taken in what he had learnt during his theory courses, and pointed out what the tide was doing to us, and what the end result would be. David saw the wisdom of Rex’s point, and we hardened up and sailed on that point of sail all the way to the entrance to Portsmouth. The lesson here is to make use of your instruments, monitor your course over the ground (COG) and speed over the ground (SOG) and deduce what is happening to you. A quick estimated position (EP) on the chart will tell you what is going to happen to you in two hours time and often will save a lot of unnecessary sailing, particularly if you are trying to make that pub for supper or a pint before closing time!

Some thoughts after a Yachtmaster Assessment

During a Yachtmaster preparation course a few months back, two of the three candidates were well up to the required standard and both passed. The third came to me with misgivings on the Wednesday, saying that he was not happy about his boat handling and thought he should have more practice before taking the assessment. I thought he was up to the required standard and told him so. I seem to have given the chap confidence, so he said he would have a go at the exam. We had, in fairness to this candidate, some strong winds during the Monday and Tuesday of the preparation week and it had not been easy to park the boat on finger pontoons with a strong cross wind; but the other two had managed successfully. The third candidate had made two Atlantic crossings and had spent most of his time in either the Mediterranean or Caribbean, he had been crew and mate of a large charter yacht, but had rarely been behind the helm for close quarter manoevres, and was understandably a little lacking in confidence in strong tide and wind conditions.

The examiner arrived on board and candidate 3 decided to be first with the assessment. A safety briefing was given, followed by preparing a passage plan to take us from Gosport to Cowes, setting off about 9.30 pm. The examiner ordered that the GPS be turned off.

The first point I would like to emphasize here is that a Yachtmaster is not expected to buoy hop down the Solent to get from A to B. Reduction of soundings exercises should be carried out to ascertain the rise of tide at a particular time. A Yachtmaster then can see if there is sufficient water over a shallow which will allow him to cut a corner safely and, if needs be, save time on passage. He should then be able to shape a course to his destination, providing there is sufficient water over the shallows. By all means use buoys to help on position finding and to help keep a check on progress. The trouble with candidate 3 was that he followed the ferry route out of Portsmouth harbour when we were close to HW; he took as his departure point one of the port hand buoys close to the small boat channel, but failed to make a log entry of time, log reading and course steered. Not being familiar with the Solent, the candidate then started heading for the north beacon off Wootton Creek thinking it was north Sturbridge, the two are in fact nearly three miles apart. Shortly after that he admitted he was lost.

I have always encouraged any navigator who is lost or confused to stop the boat and gain time to gather his thoughts. This can be by heaving to, putting down the anchor or taking down the sails and motoring into wind or tide so that there is the least amount of speed over the ground. This the candidate sensibly did, but was a trifle nonplussed with being lost and having difficulty in locating lights which could be recognized on the chart.

See my tips on the man overboard procedure we practiced.

GPS accuracy

Are you happy with your GPS accuracy? If you have doubts, it may be worthwhile checking whether you have the correct datum entered in your set. A useful accuracy check is to compare GPS ranges, for example, between waypoints with some on the chart.

Mooring – ropes

When mooring to a quay or pontoon be aware that others may need to use the pontoon as well. How often do we come to moor and find a mass of rope on the cleats? Bowlines or round turns and half hitches should be used to make fast to the cleat, ring or bollard on shore, and the bights made fast on board, each one on a cleat, post or whatever there is to hand AND each one able to be eased under load.

Follow the maxim that there should be one rope for each job with the ends made fast on the pontoon/quay or whatever.  This way you will have shown consideration for others and been seamanlike.

When sailing, think boom

When sailing, think boom.  The boom can be a lethal instrument, and particularly if you have a boat where it can sweep, at head height or less, across the cockpit. Always be aware of what this can do, encourage your crew to keep their centres of gravity down low and be aware of what can happen to the boom. Be particularly aware of the possibility of an accidental gybe; if you have inexperienced helmsman, rig a preventer just in case; even if the helm is experienced there may be conditions which make a preventer a safe measure.  I understand that there is a yachtsman’s crash helmet now on the market, what next? An hydraulic stair lift to get you up and down the companionway?

Moving around the boat

If moving around a sailing boat, and if she is heeled to leeward, always move forward on the higher or windward side.  You are further from the water, if hooked on with your harness and you do fall, you have further to go and are less likely to fall overboard.  If you do slip there are more things to grab hold of on your way and therefore a better chance of you avoiding a dunking. If going forward on the leeward side everything is the other way round.  Skippers, how often do you brief your crew to work on the windward side of your boat?

A few guidelines for making a safe landfall

I helped with the delivery of a motor boat a while back from London to Salcombe. We were very lucky with the weather, having a high pressure system over Ireland for the whole trip and had four days of sunshine and light winds. The owner had kept his boat on the Thames for some time and had not fitted a fixed VHF set, so we were dependent on a hand held device. This radio served us well for talking to harbour masters and marinas when within 2 or 3 miles of a destination port and berths were arranged at all overnight stops.

We failed to receive, however, the weather forecast from Dover Coast Guard whilst on passage from Ramsgate to Eastbourne: HMCG received us and we them on channel 16 but for some reason we failed to transmit sufficiently on channel 67 for Dover to hear us. Whether the antenna was high enough, or not, I do not know but owners making such passages should seriously consider an emergency antenna fitted to the highest part of the boat or fitting a permanent VHF radio with a good long whip antenna to give the extra range.

On this particular trip we had friends who had come along to reinforce their navigation skills and it was brought home to me how many people are so reliant on GPS, almost to the exclusion of everything else. GPS is an excellent electronic aid, it saved my bacon in May when on passage from Le Havre to Cherbourg in 50m or so of visibility; but it should be used in conjunction with the well tried practices we have been taught with paper charts. Here are a few guidelines for making a safe landfall:

• Do not necessarily use the waypoints at the harbour entrances, but anticipate the direction from which you will be approaching and chose a waypoint which will help you to “eyeball” your way in. See my previous tip on approaching harbour.
• Maintain a plot of your position at regular intervals; the intervals will depend on your speed. As you get closer to land it is worthwhile plotting these positions more regularly. If you can, compare these positions with an EP plot, a sounding and, better still, a three bearing fix. A dead reckoning track alongside your GPS track will give you an idea of the strength and the direction of the current.
• Try to visualize what the land is going to look like at your arrival point and check to see if your imagination and reality are the same. Not all that easy.
• If you have the slightest doubt about your position or the course into your destination, slow down, stop engines or heave to. It may even be necessary to anchor if you are really unsure of your position. Re-check your navigation plan and cross check with everything available – radar, compass fixing and soundings.

Understanding weather forecasts

Do you listen to the forecast regularly and do you know and understand the terms used by the forecaster? To know how rapidly a low pressure system is moving or when the various types of weather are going to arrive is very useful and the RYA Weather Forecasts booklet G5/02 will be a great help. When you hear the weather forecast on the radio, you should be aware of the meanings of the terms used:

Gale Warnings
Wind is expected to reach force 8 (34 kns) or over, but gusts of 43 kns may occur. If severe gale warnings are given, the mean wind speed is expected to reach force 9 (41kns). Storm warnings include winds of 48 kns +, force 10 +.

When the weather is likely to arrive

• Imminent – within 6 hours of the warning
• Soon – 12 hours from the time of issue
• Later – 12 hours + from time of issue

Visibility

• Good – more than 5 nautical miles
• Moderate – 2 – 5 nautical miles
• Poor – 1000 metres to 2 nautical miles
• Fog – less than 1000 metres

Speed of movement of pressure systems

• Slowly – up to 15 kns
• Steadily – 15 – 25 kns
• Rather quickly – 25 – 35 kns
• Rapidly – 35–45 kns
• Very rapidly – over 45 kns

Those of us who rely on the synoptic chart for an idea of the weather need to be able to interpret not only when the fronts are going to arrive with their possible attendant wind shifts, but also what wind strengths. By using the geostrophic wind scale you can get an idea of the wind strength in the area you will be making passage. If there is no wind scale on your weather map, you can still use the scale, by interpretation, given in the RYA Weather Forecasts booklet.

Out-dated Almanac

Recently, whilst on a delivery trip, the Almanac was out-dated and had been supplemented with the year’s tide tables from another almanac. This worked fine, except that we had only small scale charts and no up to date pilot book. This meant that the layout of harbours from the old almanac was out of date; and we were missing buoys which should have been there, and were a tad  perplexed when buoys we were expecting to see had disappeared. A trip to the chandler is often necessary so that you have the most up to date information and the largest scale charts available, then your pilotage and navigation can be less problematic!