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Winter Checklist Mark, I loved your articles in the online ezine mag. I would also mention that I would replace the Dolphin Striker on boats such as the P19. Where the dophin striker is made from aluminum. I would replace it every 3-5 years depending on how much a person sails. (heavey use every 3 years) (light use every 5 years). The reason is that a crossbar is very expensive to replace. I had mine break on me and I know many others who have the same problem. The problem is as the boat goes through stresses the aluminum bends slightly right at the bolt where it attaches to the crossbar. This will eventually cause it to break like a piece of aluminum that is bent back and forth a few times. Anyway just though I'd mention it. Keep one hull flying, Mike Hill mhill@inlink.com Mr. Michealsen responds: Thank you for the mail. The dolphin striker rod is actually 304 hardened stainless and the strap portion of the striker assembly is T-4 60-61 aluminum. Is it the strap that you had trouble with or the rod itself. (I need to know what to look for) Thanks again.... MM Problems With Bookmarks and Plywood Sails I recently went up to your web page and looked for the *CLASSIC* story on the JATO Rockets at http://www.west.net/~lpm/hobie/humor2.htm. It was replaced by a page entitled: "Some Light Reading - Hobie Under Snow? Get out the books!" This was very promising, but I don't find any links to the mentioned compilations of fine reading. Could you point me in the right direction please? Thanks, and keep up the fine writing... Stuart Felker Stuart, Unlike other websites, On The Wire is updated with all new articles each month. If you bookmark a page, the bookmark will be obsolete soon after. About the only page worth bookmarking is our title page, which will always reflect the most current issue. To find the JATO article, go to the archives section and enter the search term JATO. I also recommend trying the term MISSILES, if you have not seen our infamous sidewinder missile escapade. Thanks for the compliments. We're glad you are enjoying the site. Bill Mattson You gotta see the Jato story, and yes I'm recovering fine. Of course you know the "light Reading" article was a parody, unless you really do have plywood sails or an oak tramp. If so, we need to talk. Frank "nine fingers" Pineau Reprints of Articles BRAVO! Yet another fine job with the ezine. I am the newsletter editor/webmaster for the Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan, and was wondering if both of you would give me permission to reprint Kim's fine article on telltales in our club newsletter (with proper credit, of course). Thanks again for a great effort. Roger Cochran Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan RCochran@provide.net ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cram Unless specifically stated otherwise, On The Wire leaves the option of copyright with the author of each piece. So as long as it's okay with Kim, it's okay with us. I appreciate your courtesy regarding this issue. -ed. Rev. Miller responds: Thanks for your note. Feel free to reprint the article. Make sure you send your computer owning members off to On The Wire as well. If my knowledge of geography serves me well I'm glad I'm not sailing in Michigan at the moment. Over here we are in the middle of national & state titles season and a local heatwave. I've decided heat wave is still better than heavy snow. Cheers, Kim. |
Sailing by Telltales I read your article on telltales online. It is great!! I am going to print it and pass it out at the next fleet meeting. I've been sailing for years and was suprised that I didn't know a few things from your article. When I started reading it I thought this is for green sailors. I quickly saw that it's for everyone. One quick question. I often have though of putting some telltales toward the rear of the main to see if I'm getting seperation. Would your leech telltales do this job or would my idea be useful? Sometimes when I'm going downwind my main just looks way too open at the top. But if I sheet or travel in the top leeward telltales stops flowing. Any ideas on this? What I mean by saying it looks too open is that I just don't see the proper shape in the main at the top. Thanks again!! Keep one hull flying, Mike Hill mhill@inlink.com Rev. Miller responds: You can easily put telltales towards the back of the sail and many sails have them there, but probably not too many recent sails. Too many telltales means that you can lose concentration on the boat as a whole and your race competitors. Leech telltales are easy, just tie a foot of knitting wool to the battens. Separation means something is trying to create a vaccuum, and air will come from somewhere to fill it, some of it from around the leech. Regarding your comments on downwind sailing, there are too many variables for me here. Different boats handle downwind differently. As a general rule it seems (nothing definite here!) that the bigger the Hobie the more it wants to tack downwind while the H14 makes best VMG straight downwind. This means that each sail receives the wind very differently, and I don't know what boat you have. There are also points of sail where the top needs to be more open that the rest of the sail, giving the top of the sail a different apparent wind. If the lee telltale stalls it suggests to me that you are tacking downwind, so the apparent wind is still coming from the front. As you bring in the sail the wind can't quite make it around the "corner" of the mast and sail. I put a part in the article about using the traveller to control the lower telltales, and the main sheet to control the upper telltales. What this does is to allow the top to blow out further. The sail can still have good shape but be at an unexpected angle. Shape is controlled by batten tension as well as sheet tension. Try loading up the top batten/s a little more if you want some more depth. If you are running straight before the wind then the telltales will not be the best indicator as the wind is blowing against the sail instead of flowing over it. The real test here is to assess boat speed. Find a buddy to pace against, then try different aspects of sail trim against that boat. Different wind speeds will also make a difference to sail shape when sailing at an extreme angle. I hope this helps. Don't forget to ask questions of the go-fast guys in your local area. They are the ones who know the wind and water conditions. Kim. |
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