Gryphon Solo 2: sailing solo, with two

Apparently Joe  Harris was not fully briefed on the presence on the North Atlantic of, would you believe another sailor in a Class 40 making an attempt on the 137 day record Gryphon Solo 2 is working on.

This report and challenge arrived from Gryphon Solo 2 earlier today. This is a cut and paste in italics

BEGIN

Joe aboard GS2- 28’21 N X 56′ 14 W on 11/20/15
Hello folks-

Today I became aware of a new competitor out here on the great Atlantic race course and that is a gentleman named Henrik Masekowitz. Henrik is from Germany and is attempting to break the same record as I am- 137 days around the world, solo, non-stop, unassisted for a monohull boat 40′ or less. Henrik started from France two days before I did and is sailing a Class 40 Akilaria RC 1 named “Croix du Sud”, whereas as I am sailing an Akilaria RC2. Both boats were designed by naval architect Marc Lombard in France and built in Tunisia by MC-Tech- Henrik’s in 2007 and GS2 in 2011. Pretty darn similar boats. I believe Henrik’s web site is:http://www.soloceans.de and he is also on YB tracker at

http://yb.tl/hmsailing

(Cooper inserts YB tracker for HM-my comments at end)

Yellow Brick tracking position for Henrik Masekowitz, Croix du Sud, at 0500z Sat 21-11-15

Yellow Brick tracking position for Henrik Masekowitz, Croix du Sud, at 0500z Sat 21-11-15

So it is “Game On” sports fans… we have a race on our hands, which is I think is what both Henrik and I were hoping for in both originally trying to do the Global Ocean Race, which is no longer happening.

So here we are- completely unexpectedly- joined on the race course around the world- but he coming from France and me coming from Newport. I think the mileages are pretty similar and we will meet up at the equator and then sail the same course around the bottom of the globe- leaving the five great capes to port and Antarctica to starboard- and ultimately around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America and then back up to the equator and then splitting paths, with Henrik back to France and me to Newport.

Henrik's weather for 0900z on Sat.

Henrik’s weather for 0900z on Sat.

Wx chart from Passage Weather for Henrik’s area for 0900z Sat. 221-11-15. Henrik is at 33 degrees 46 mins north and 16 degrees 21 minutes west.

Henrik’s record attempt is also being reviewed by the World Speed Sailing Records Council in England as my attempt is. It’s quite ironic, isn’t it?

Upon reflection, I do think it’s pretty cool… as long as I win smile emoticon However, if I break the old record but lose to Henrik, that could potentially suck… but let’s not go there girlfriend.

AND:

Henrik 1200z Sat

The Wx chart from Passage Weather for Henrik’s area for 1200z Sat. 221-11-15

I know for a fact that this will sharpen my competitive instincts and cause me to push even harder, while remembering that you can’t win unless you finish safely.

So, Henrik- I wish you safe and fast passage… just not too fast pal… and for the first leg… I’ll wager you a bottle of fine French champagne I get to the Equator first- even with your two-day head start!

Best to all-

ENDS:

Henrik is, as of 0400 Saturday, 21-11-15 about 60 miles north of Maderia in modest trades making 7 knots. In 2 hours he will have been going for 8 days . His DMG from last Friday at 0600z to present is on the order of 1100 miles. Based on eight days, his average speed has been around 5.7 Kts.

Next up, the two maxi tris on standby for a shot at the Jules Vern Trophy. That is apart from the boats returning from the TYJV and the Mini Transat…(well those not going by ship anyway). Sheesh going to need a traffic cop out there pretty soon.

Cheers

Coop

 

 

 

D.I.Y boat building

The Mini Diaries, 06 JAN 2015

Do-it-yourself boatbuilding is both very satisfying and often the only way one can realize one’s dreams of having a particular boat. This series of essays/blog posts discuss the home building of my boat, a Mini Transat 650. Well it was not actually built in “a home” but largely by me in a variety of locations in New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Is. and Massachusetts. The boat is a pretty specialized boat, built for single-handed racing, across the Atlantic. How I got involved in that is outlined here.

This group of blog posts, The Mini Diaries, starts in October 2014 in Durham NH, at the home of a mate of mine a fellow sailor, home builder par excellence and a fantastic woodworking craftsman, Vince Todd. My Mini had been parked on his property for while and I finally got to the point where I could re-start work on the refit I started a few years ago.

"The Mini" on her trailer in Vince's Bush Boat Yard. The paint jobs will be discussed later. Emmett's (Vince's son) J-24 next to me.

“The Mini” on her trailer in Vince’s Bush Boat Yard. The paint job will be discussed later. Emmett’s (Vince’s son) J-24 is next to me.

The scene: a sunny day in Durham NH. The first item on the work list is to finish rebuilding the cockpit. Again why this is so will be addressed later on. In order to start on this decent sized fabrication Vince put the boat in a plastic hoop shed, described below, on his property. I refer to this venue as Vince’s Bush Boat Yard because he has his own family yacht, an early 1960’s Ted Hood Robin, a 37’ wooden, centerboard yawl that Vince has restored to better than new. There is his son’s J-24, an Alden motor launch Vince is doing some re-build work on, a skiff under construction in the basement of Vince’s office and various assorted ribs, small sailing boats and dinghies.

The Good Yacht Thora, largely rebuilt at Home by Vince

The Good Yacht Thora, largely rebuilt at home by Vince

 

Inside the hoop shed, even with the temp at 35-40 degrees outside, it is 55 plus on a sunny day. Parallel to this is my involvement with the organization of Block Island Race Week, a prominent regatta in the NE of the US. The event chairman is an old shipmate of mine, one Peter Rugg. He and I have done lots of miles together double hand on his J-105, Jaded that was destroyed and written off by the insurance co. Thus Peter is boat-less in the face of the forthcoming Race Week. In conversation one day Peter remarked that we ought to sail my mini in the DH class at Block Island. Motivation is a wonderful thing and Peter’s remarks gave mine a wonderful swing upwards.

Bushranger inside the hoop shed at Vince's Bush Boat Yard.

Bushranger inside the hoop shed at Vince’s Bush Boat Yard. Test fit of the new cockpit/deck sides

After some discussion in the entire caper with Vince and figuring on the entirety of the Caper, I/we decided it would be prudent to have the boat closer to Newport, where I live, than Durham NH, a 3-hour drive (each way). So first off we discussed the fabrication of a hoop shed to be erected on the grounds of the Newport Shipyard, in of course Newport. The Shipyard is much closer, just 2.8 miles from my house and in the center of one of the bright-stars in the world’s boat building galaxy, Newport.

Vince and I discussed the basics of the shed, sizes materials costs, time required to fabricate transportation erection for starters. A couple of days later I drafted out on square paper a sketch of the shed, took a few pictures of it with my phone and sent them to Vince as a double check and we agreed we were are basically on track.

My design of a hoop shed. Turned out to be a pretty close sketch of what was built.

My design of a hoop shed. Turned out to be a pretty close sketch of what was built.

Shortly thereafter we assembled at Vince’s Bush Boat Yard to fabricate hoops.

More to come…..Coop

 

 

 

 

J-105 Double handed sailing

This essay was originally written by me for the J-105 class newsletter with a view to getting more J-105 owners to take up the D-H aspect of racing, on a boat almost perfect for it.

Few are the boats one can sail solo with a kite up.

Few are the boats one can sail solo with a kite up.

One of the easiest boats on the planet to sail double-handed is notable by its absence from the fastest growing slice of keelboat racing: double-handed.

Regular readers will know of my interest, nay passion, for short handed sailing, often double handed. D-H  “racing” is much closer to “normal” sailing than fully crewed racing for the simple reason that double-handed is how almost everyone who is not involved in some kind of race actually sails their boat. D-H “racing” uses all the same skills and knowledge, preparation and equipment used for “cruising” and it is the shortest line between cruising and racing. Look around at the boats out sailing anywhere on any given weekend and everyone not racing is sailing with one or two people even on some quite large boats.

The really good news is that for many double-handed races a J-105 needs to merely register and show up. Only the offshore or longer races require more equipment than normal. There are many day and overnight races that a well prepared and outfitted J-105 can enter with very little in the way of extra equipment except, most reasonably, jack lines.

FOR "bigger" races it is straight forward to install a "solent" stay on which to set small sails

For “bigger” races it is straight forward to install a “solent” stay on which to set small sails. This picture is of such a rig on the 105 Jaded in the Halifax race in 2009 with one reef and the Solent upwind in about 22 true in the Gulf of Maine. To add to the economy, the Solent/ “4” in this case was a cut down old class jib.

J-105’s have competed in the Bermuda 1-2: Solo to Bermuda from Newport and then DH back to Newport. I have done three Marblehead to Halifax races and several other races and DH and Solo passages on Jaded. A few years ago a J-105 won the Fastnet overall while sailing in the Double Handed Class and one has come second in the IRC class in the 2009 O.S.T.A.R single-handed race. The skipper was 18.

If additional sailing gear is required, say smaller headsails, then it is pretty easy to install a Solent stay on the 105. AND it can be done in such a way as to not take the boat out of class for OD events. Other components like a good self steering autopilot are universal anyway.

Heading to Halifax in the 2009 Halifax Race. A sound Autopilot is a good investment anyway.

Double-Handed aboard Jaded, heading to Halifax in the 2009 Race. A sound Autopilot is a good investment anyway. When DH, you get to do everything….At least once!

D-H racing is a great way to enjoy such a fun boat as the 105, earn something new and frankly have a blast without all the phone calls, beers and sandwiches.

D-H racing has all of the elements of racing that we are used to in crewed events, and more than one person has observed that many crewed races are, largely, D-H in execution until one gets to the corners.

Lots of sitting around, until you get to the corners

Lots of sitting around, until you get to the corners of course

Sail handling, tactics, navigation & steering are all the same with D-H racing but all require that elusive component required when operating a boat—seamanship. Both of you get to do everything but you have to think a few more moves ahead than when sailing crewed. If nothing else it gives a two man crew a different view of what happens forward of the traveler.

Both parties get to do everything DH. Good practice for when executing the Exit Plan. Sorry the picture is blurry, we were going 10 knots after all...

Both parties get to do everything DH. Good practice for when executing the Exit Plan. Sorry the picture is blurry, we were going 10 knots after all…(OK full disclosure, this picture is from a Class 40…)

I have nothing against racing with a full crew. I have done it my whole life. BUT the existence we all live these days bears on all our decisions and trying to round up the crew on Friday night for a Saturday race, has frustrated more than one owner to either abandon racing all together or more frequently take up Double handed.

Fully crewed often means a lot of people sitting around for most of the race.

Fully crewed often means a lot of people sitting around for most of the race.

I count at least 7 groups around the country focusing on double-handed racing. Just on Long Island Sound alone in May and early June there are three regattas with D-H classes, all sailed on the western Sound and so easily within reach of the local 105 fleet. The boats must conform to the local YRA safety regs, which are precisely those that a J-105 has to meet for day racing on Long Island Sound.

For the more adventurous, I count over 20 races between Long Island Sound and Maine that have D-H classes.

So, come on people, get more value from your boat—sail more often. What better way to learn some new stuff and lower the cost per hour of sailing? Oh, it is a ton of fun and the camaraderie is fantastic.

Code Zero Spinnakers

Some thoughts on sail design:

With particular attention “pointing” ability

Especially with respect to Code Zero sails

This essay is in direct response to a statement from another sailmaker to a customer that “a laminated material will point higher” compared to the heavy nylon I was proposing.This is an altogether a too broad a statement.

The type of fabric from which a sail is made is not at the top of the list when contemplating sail shape. Certainly building say a heavy jib of too light a material is not going to be effective but bear in mild also shape is only one aspect of a sail. Apart from “the shape” sails need to consider the following criteria, in no particular order.

Cost, durability, ease of handling, response to hard handling (aka tear strength) range of utility, (wind speed and angle), stowage issues are some of theses criteria.

A code zero is a unique sail in that in most cases it needs to rate like a spinnaker but to work like a genoa. That is it is intended to be used in light air when the boat wants to go up wind and for want ever reason, the “normal headsails” on the boat are not as effective as a “code zero” thus the response about pointing. Years ago such sails might have been referred to as cheater sails

The original code zeros were invented over 20 years ago for the Volvo Ocean Race. Due to the sail limitation rules and the lack of a normal overlapping genoas, Paul Cayard’s team fell upon the idea of having a sail that was designated a “spinnaker” but used as a headsail. They beefed up the boat to take the high loads generated by the tight luff that this sail needed. Fast forward to about 10-15 years ago and similar sails started making their appearances on the domestic recreational race course. Since they had to measure as a spinnaker, which is a girth* issue, all the girth was in the leech, rather like the roach on a mainsail. The other issue with such sails on furlers is the tremendous loads required to set up the luff of the sail so the sail would actually roll around the luff. The boats or the masts that Corinthian sailors sail were just not built for such loads.

About 8 years ago, Hood developed a version of this cheater headsail that was able to set and handled like a normal spinnaker, and was measured as one. This sail did not need a furler, tight luff rope and related costs, was made from Nylon yet could sail as close as 40 degrees apparent.

These sails fit the use profile of the non-professional sailor: They were inexpensive-nylon is cheaper than laminated materials, especially the more recent ones designated code zero materials, they were easy to handle-Just like a normal kite, took up a pretty small space, and considering the infrequence with which they are used this is appreciated by weekend racers. And a particularly appreciated aspect of nylon sails is their relative tear resistance compared to the very light film sails from which code zeros are built. Also nylon is much more resistance to damage from flex, read flogging than Mylar film, a detail if you are to be caught out in a squall somewhere.

With respect to the statement above, a review of design issues is in order.

The pointing ability of a sail is a function of at least two details: the draft of the sail and the entry angle. The draft is of course the fullness of the sail, technically the chord depth. And this depth changes vertically up the sail too. Consider for a moment a conventional spinnaker. If it is full, you can only head up so much in any kind of luffing match with it in pole-on-the-head-stay conditions, close reaching. This is why boats have a flatter reaching spinnaker. Same idea applies to the zero it is flatter again than a regular spinnaker, but fuller than a headsail.

The entry angle is a bit less obvious. This is the angle between the chord line and the angle of the very front couple of inches of the luff of the sail. A narrower angle here means the boat can point higher BUT it also requires that the boat be more accurately steered in order to keep in the groove. If the boat falls out of the groove as when a wave passes, the boat will slow down & the trim needs to be adjusted and the boat brought up to speed again. It is not uncommon for one-design boats to have different shaped headsails for use in flat, moderate of choppy waters. The choppier the waters the wider the angle of attack needs to be so the boat can be steered around waves with out stalling. Stalling is the “falling out of the groove” feeling.

With a sail like a code zero, intended to be used by most production cruiser racers generally in under ten knots true, a wider angle of attack is to be preferred. This is to accommodate the wide variety of conditions that such boats generally sail in.

The loads on a sail diminish dramatically as soon as the sheets are started even a small amount. For instance the load between a spinnaker trimmed hard enough to develop a crease between the tack and clew, as when trying to keep it full in really light air, diminishes quickly when the sail is eased to where the crease vanishes. That is why you may need someone to crank the sail to get it to that stage, but ease it a foot or so and the trimmer can trim by hand.

Going back to the sentence above about building a heavy weather jib from light fabrics, one enters the realm of properties of the fabrics in question: Nylon and code zero fabrics. The latter are a sandwich similar to composite boat building in that there are several layers and glue.

By far and away the vast majority by area of a code zero fabric is Mylar film. Bear in mind that the fabric has two sides, so the Mylar film is 50% of the total fabric in area. This film is half a mil thick. For comparison, a normal laminated sail might be .75 of a mil Mylar for a light air headsail for a 35 foot boat up to say 2 mil Mylar in sails on a bigger boat. It is pretty rare to get thicker film than that because such fabric becomes a real bear to handle.

Next in area is the other 50% of the sail fabric which is very thin deniers (small, tiny in fact yarns) woven polyester that is not shrunk. This is glued onto one side of the fabric.

Finally we get to the strong fibers. These fibers, called tows are glued in between the film and the taffeta. They are described by their denier. This is how thick they are, roughly like half inch line is thicker than quarter inch but thinker than five eighth. 50 denier is what light nylon sails are woven from, 1100 is a thick denier. Most fabrics operate in the 300-900 denier, as a broad statement. Reading the data from one of the major cloth suppliers in the US, their second to lightest material is made as follow:

Half a mil of film:

A tow (cloth speak for a “bundle” of fibers-Visually a tow will look like a thick piece of string) of 1140 denier aramid fiber, gold in color, set on half inch centers on the zero axis. The zero axis is parallel with the length of the roll.

There is a flat X shaped 750 denier tow of an aramid called Technora, this is black

There is a taffeta on the other side of the film.

There is a glue line holding the lot together.

To review

This material is 2.1 oz

This code zero fabric is close to two times the cost per yard than 1.5 oz Nylon.

It is about 30% more expensive per yard than grand prix nylon.

It is about half as stretchy on the zero axis as a comparable nylon

The film on this fabric is only half a mil-Not a strength consideration but a handling and durability question:

Durability is a factor in the sense of dragging the sail over life lines, across stuff on the deck, by the rigging turn buckles with cotter pins just starting to poke thru the electric tape, meat hooks on the halyards of the mast, and around down below. And as noted if caught out in building breeze and it spends time flogging, this (flexing) will degrade the film more than any overloading will do. At any rate most sailmakers to day will make the clew so the ring fails before the sails blows up.

This video is of a Hood Code Zero on a J-105. I was sailing this boat from Newport to Fishers Island alone. In this circumstance we are actually beam reaching, not going to go up wind. I have used this same sail in 25-30 knots true sailing at 90 apparent double handed from Block Island to Greenport in a race. We won because we had a sail we co old set that was right for the conditions.

 

 

 

Double-handed and Single-handed races for 2014

This is my first draft of a calendar for races with either solo or double-handed classes. Largely in the north east. I am doing another won for other regions and for over seas too.

Hurmph: Well it did not format exactly the way I thought or wanted, but you get the idea. Guess I gotta read up on Word Press and excel into PDF’s between now and the next update. Make sure you double check the dates. Some races are not published for 2014 tonight-early Feb. so make sure you do your due diligence.

DATE RACE NAME HOST CLUB Web site
18-May-14 Spring Sprint Indian Hbr Yacht Club Indian HarborYC.com
10-May-14 Edelu Larchmont www.larchmontyc.org
23-May-14 Block Is. Race Storm Trysail www.stormtrysail.org
1-Jun-14 Lake Ontario 300 L. Ontario Offshore Racing http://loor.ca/
1-Jun-14 SYC DH regatta Stamford YC www.stamfordyc.com
20-Jun-14 Newport -Bermuda CCA-RBYC http://bermudarace.com/
28-Jun-14 Single handed transpac Singlehanded Sailing Society www.sfbayss.org
11-Jul-14 Offshore 160 Newport Yacht Club http://www.newportyachtclub.org/
25-Jul-14 NE Solo Twin Npt YC www.newportyachtclub.org
25-Jul-14 Corinthians Ocean Race The Corinthians http://www.thecorinthiansoceanrace.com/
25-Jul-14 GOM-Solo Twin Rockland YC http://rocklandyachtclub.org/
26-Jul-14 Round the Island Race Edgartown YC http://www.edgartownyc.org/
31-Jul-14 Around LI Race Seacliff YC www.alir.org
15-Aug-14 Ida Lewis Distance Race Ida Lewis YC www.ilyc.org
16-Aug-14 Lobster DH* Kittery Pont YC Date is from 13-Not updated as of this writing
29-Aug-14 Vineyard Race Stamford YC www.stamfordyc.com
6-Sep-14 Kittery Single Handed* Kittery Pont YC Date is from 13-Not updated as of this writing
12-Sep-14 Maine Rocks Race Rockland YC http://rocklandyachtclub.org/
4-Oct-14 Brooklyn Ocean Challenge Cup Chinese YC, Greenport NY http://chineseyachtclub.com/
12-Oct-14 Gear Buster Indian Hbr Yacht Club www.indianharboryc.com
AUGUST ’14 Mudnight Madness Mystic River Mudheads http://mudhead.org
AUGUST ’14 Stamford overnight Stamford YC www.stamfordyc.com
JULY ’14 Lloyd Hbr Distance race Lloyd Hbr YC www.lhyc.org
JULY’14 Mohegan Is Race Portland YC www.monheganrace.org
JUNE ’14 Bristol Overnight Bristol YC RI www.overnightrace.com
JUNE ’14 DH racing on Narragansett Bay NBYA/various http://www.nbya.org/big_boat/index.htm
JUNE ’14 Stratford Shoal Overnight Riverside YC, CT http://www.riversideyc.org/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp