Mon Feb 20 12:00:00 EST 2012, Sitka Sound, AK
On Saturday, after setting sail in a near-calm, the wind steadily increased to a pleasant sailing breeze. We dropped the fisherman and sailed along nicely under yankee jib (the forward-most sail) and mainsail (the aft-most sail) alone.
Had lots of problems tacking with the yankee jib sheets catching on the forestaysail stay. Normally I have the forestaysail (trinquette) set before the yankee jib (a much larger sail). I wasn't using the forestaysail that day (for no particular reason), so there was nothing to keep the yankee jib from wrapping around the forestaysail stay each time we tacked. So someone went forward on each tack to help the yankee jib get around the stay.
It was a nice sail anyway. For a few minutes there was some hail to remind us it was still February in Alaska, but it never rained, and the wind was good.
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Comments [2]
Maybe a dumb question but could you partially furl the yankee when you tack the unfurl it after tacking. You might still get enough turn to tack and lessen the catching on the stay.
The best thing to do is put the forestaysail back on a furler. That way, when tacking, the yankee jib is dragged across either a furled sail, or a smooth extrusion, not a wire. Of course I need to buy a new furler to do that :).
Richard
Sun Feb 19 22:00:00 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
Got out for a pleasant daysail on Saturday. It seemed there would be very little wind, and we motored up towards the head of Sitka Sound before we found wind and started sailing.
The lower forward corner (tack) of the fisherman sail is just visible in the picture, pointing down. The fisherman is raised by two ropes (halyards), both of which are led to the foremast on Issuma. In the picture, Clayton and Blaine are raising the fisherman, looking aloft to ensure it is not getting tangled as it is raised.
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Richard
Tue Feb 14 13:01:36 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
I'll be giving a presentation on Sailing the Northwest Passage next Sunday at 5PM at the Kettleson Memorial Library in Sitka.
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Dave and Anke
Thanks for the invitation! When some more projects are done I'll plan to come over, as I'd like to meet you also.
Richard
I seem to recall that the Dave and Anke boating story is a very interesting one. ( http://www.akzeigers.com/DaveAnke.html )
Richard
Tue Feb 7 12:00:00 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
In the picture, I am mixing the meringue for a lemon-meringe pie. The lemon pie can be seen in the rectangular pan. The rectangular pan pretty much takes up the entire rack of the oven. I whittled down the end of a wooden spoon so it would fit into the chuck of the cordless drill to mix things like meringue with. The cordless-drill-with-wooden-spoon method worked better than trying to mix meringue by hand, however, when I got to Alaska, I found a hand-powered egg-beater for sale in a store, which does an even better job.
Issuma has an old Plastimo gas oven. Surprisingly, both the burner and the chimney are at the back of the oven, so most of the heat produced went straight up the chimney. This meant the back of the oven got hot and burnt stuff and the front of the oven stayed cool and didn't cook. I made a heat deflector for the oven which greatly improved things.
Offshore, I tend to bake bread most days. In warm climates, I make yeast bread, using either regular yeast or sourdough yeast. I have not had much luck with getting yeast breads to rise in cold climates, as yeast is quite picky about temperature, and I don't yet have a warm and secure place to leave the dough for several hours to rise. In cold climates, I just use baking powder or baking soda (with something acidic to act with the baking soda) for making the dough rise (resulting in much denser breads).
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Richard
Richard
But, where will you roll out the dough? hmmm.
Richard
Re Heat LOST up the Chimney - You can add a damper... high on the stove-pipe lets it radiate longer into the cabin. High or low, it will 'back' heat into and around the oven.
Consider a stop screw to prevent sailing motion from closing, and a CO monitor (in case damper doesn't allow adequate draft, backing CO into cabin... will depend on the stove's design... dangerous if not compatible).
RE Bread Rising Aboard - In the old days they used hayboxes (TJones describes them in ONE HAND FOR YOURSELF, ONE FOR THE SHIP). Essentially an insulated box or bag, closely fit to a pot. You can add a concrete (or other thermal mass) that can be preheated for baking in the box
These are great for cooking directly, or holding warm (piping hot soup, mid-watch) or incubating (bread and/or sprouts in cool climes).
"3. Using a damper in the chimney helps to make a stove work better.
FALSE
Again, slowing down the draft in a cooking stove is usually detrimental. Dampers should not be used in a well designed cooking stove."
Their tests show that "Hot flue gases need increased velocity to achieve good heat transfer."
Full article at http://autonopedia.org/crafts_and_technology/Woodburners/Wood_Cook_Stove_Design.html
Though about wood-fired stoves, the gas flow analyses apply to all combustion stoves.
I have "barometric" dampers on my Dickinson cabin heaters. They certainly improve the amount of heat that stays in the cabin, but have problems with waves and heeling because they operate via counterweights. I think your stop-screw suggestion might fix that.
I'll read thru the link you mentioned, it looks quite interesting.
I read of the haybox in Tristan Jones' book many years ago, and have had such a thing on my to-do-sometime list for a long time. I hadn't thought of them for sprouting or bread-rising--I was thinking more of slow-cooking/keeping warm soups and stews in the pressure cooker.
Richard
Thu Feb 2 18:22:48 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
I'm giving presentations on Sailing the Northwest Passage next week at the Vancouver Boat Show (http://www.vancouverboatshow.ca).
Times:
3:00PM Thursday Feb 9,
4:30PM Saturday Feb 11,
11:30AM Sunday Feb 12
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Richard
Thanks,
Doug
http://www.northwestpassage2012.com
Doug, there is definitely a spirit of adventure and exploration out there. Audiences seemed to vary from those who had sailed the NWP or were planning to do so, to those interested in hearing and seeing an adventure story. My talk was mostly about my trip, with a little background information and a map of general NWP routes. I think the audience already knew at least some of the history of the NWP. I didn't ask about what ideas people in the audience had about the Arctic or the NWP (I didn't really ask many questions of the audiences, perhaps I should have, but time was limited).
Richard
Tue Jan 31 13:32:26 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
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Tue Jan 24 12:01:24 EST 2012
As it's midwinter in Alaska, I thought I'd post a tropical sunrise picture for variety. The picture was taken in the South Atlantic, near Brazil.
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Sun Jan 22 10:33:07 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
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Thu Jan 19 16:18:21 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
I'm giving a talk about Sailing the Northwest Passage this Saturday in midtown Manhattan, for Frank's Art Evenings.
Location:
Duke Ellington Party Room, 2nd Floor
400 W 43rd Street (at 9th Avenue)
New York, NY 10128 US
Doors open 5PM, talk starts 6:15PM.
No admission, just know that you need to come to the Duke Ellington room
on the second floor.
****Everyone is asked to bring something for others to drink***
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Thanks,
Doug
http://www.northwestpassage2012.com
There are some pictures from one of the presentations at http://www.meetup.com/gotham-city-sailing-association/events/42647082/
Richard
Wed Jan 18 9:23:25 EST 2012, Sitka, AK
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Just to resonate Ron Ouwehand's comment, yes, I am one of the mnay looking forward to your postings and pictures every day.....
If you'd still like to see it, email me.
Richard
