Is the 'kedge' obsolete?

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

OOoops, this is getting truly embarassing:
He did sail in the 81 Mini Transat - did very well, ...in fact he won it.

But it seems from a French newspaper report that he actually pinched Joshua from the museum to sail in "the English Transat" (presumably the OSTAR) in order to qualify for the the Vendée Globe. The report is dated 2000, which is when his case came up in court (1 month in the slammer!)

So it seems Joshua must have been fixed up after Cabo San Lucas well enough to race again.

Now the story I heard... At Cabo San lucas Bernard sold Joshua for a dollar to some Canadians, who dug her out and rebuilt her. The french museum bought her and restored her into an exhibit. Then your crazy french man got the gig (or convinced the museum) to sail Joshua out to the start of the Ostar or somesuch, except he kept going, and didn't return her as he was 'sposed to... But believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.

Edit: not sure what this has to do with kedges, or how the conversation got here.. but hey, I was never one to stick to the topic.

[nigel1]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Now the story I heard... At Cabo San lucas Bernard sold Joshua for a dollar to some Canadians, who dug her out and rebuilt her. The french museum bought her and restored her into an exhibit. Then your crazy french man got the gig (or convinced the museum) to sail Joshua out to the start of the Ostar or somesuch, except he kept going, and didn't return her as he was 'sposed to... But believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.

Edit: not sure what this has to do with kedges, or how the conversation got here.. but hey, I was never one to stick to the topic.

Does it matter, its a nice story

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Now the story I heard... At Cabo San lucas Bernard sold Joshua for a dollar to some Canadians, who dug her out and rebuilt her. The french museum bought her and restored her into an exhibit. Then your crazy french man got the gig (or convinced the museum) to sail Joshua out to the start of the Ostar or somesuch, except he kept going, and didn't return her as he was 'sposed to... But believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.
....

thanks for that, SnowP. If it's true, it answers how he got the boat out past those spooky red light beams you always see in museums in jewel heist movies....
(actually IIRC the harbour at La Rochelle used to have massive chains lying across the sea floor joining the forts on either of the moles, which they could pull it up in times of war to keep the Wops or the Poms out... but it could equally well be used to stop someone breaking out...

If either of us runs into him, we can get the story from the horse's mouth. His name's Jacques Peignon. Make sure he shows you his photos. Inspirational. I attach a cool shot of his most recent boat pulled up inside the lagoon at Ile Saint-Paul .

Might as well change the topic from kedges .... after all, Nick Jedi seems to have unilaterally ruled that the term 'kedge' is hereby applicable only to a stern anchor with a dedicated launching and retrieval system, so I guess there's nothing much to discuss....

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

Might as well change the topic from kedges .... after all, Nick Jedi seems to have unilaterally ruled that the term 'kedge' is hereby applicable only to a stern anchor with a dedicated launching and retrieval system, so I guess there's nothing much to discuss....

It seems you missed my answer to Kettlewell who came with the definition from a dictionary which is kind of authoritive I would think...

[Snowpetrel]

If either of us runs into him, we can get the story from the horse's mouth. His name's Jacques Peignon. Make sure he shows you his photos. Inspirational. I attach a cool shot of his most recent boat pulled up inside the lagoon at Ile Saint-Paul .

Great Photo, actually I saw the boat when he was in Hobart, in true form I think he got himself into a bit of strife over permits. What an awesome boat though. If I remember correctly he had twin danforths in hawse pipes ( got to bring anchors back into the conversation!).

Those Mini transat french winners are pretty crazy, I met one in antarctica, he was sailing his folks old Jeaneau 40. The boat was a wreck, sticky tape on the windows to stop them leaking... Anyway we got a good sh*t kicking coming back from the peninsular. I really should have left the peninsular 6 hours earlier than I did but I was waiting for a nasty developing low to show it's hand. Anyway after hiding for a while in a wee nook under the lee of Isla Deceit I finally got anchored in Caleta Martial just before the wind really started to honk for real. I remember being very very thankful we were tucked up where we were.

The next morning who shows up from the drake passage but this mad frenchman in his beatup Jeaneau. cheerfully hanging on to the emergency tiller (the steering had crapped out) I asked how it had been, "ahh" he says "iz a lettle rough last night" And shrugs in that french way. "ahh but iz not so bad.."

Since then I have stopped sneering at french production boats.

[Andrew Troup]

I could fill a book with great (true) stories about French cruising sailors.
Did this one happen to have a Gauloise stuck to his bottom lip at the time? ;-)

They're often a lot more fun than French racing sailors, I reckon ...

and three times as brave

(at least, the ones we see down these deepish south parts, generally on their way further south.)

(PS- SnowPetrel: watched the first 20m of your DVD tonight. Friggin awesome! Great complement to your Dad's writeup too - anyone who likes one absolutely must buy the other....
Did you ever wonder about the merits of a tehered hydrogen balloon with a wee camera for next time you have to run the gauntlet of the pack ice? or a kite if there's too much breeze for a balloon? Not hard to make hydrogen, if you've got EXTRA strong bottles for the acid... not like David Lewis with his glass jars of petrol !)
( I guess this would work best if there was wide enough angle lens that the boat was always visible in the pictures, for orientation)

(if you won Lotto, you could alternatively consider one of those microlight planes you strap to an inflatable - wouldn't that be useful for ice pilotage!)

[S/V Alchemy]

No one who has read about the exploits of Yves Parlier would even think of running down French yachtsmanship. Brittany in particular seems to produce a serious number of top-ranked sailors on a regular basis.

But do they kedge? Je ne sais pas!

[Kettlewell]

Anyone remember Peter Tangvald? I last met him in Charlotte Amalie harbor onboard his engineless wood boat he built himself. He had sailed in and dropped the hook right in the middle of the cruise ship turning area so had to move, and he was kedging his heavy boat across the harbor in the trade winds. He would row out an anchor way out across the harbor, and then his young daughter would wind in line endlessly on a cockpit winch. I went over in the dink and helped him out. Took a few hours to move a half mile or so, but he managed. That was shortly before he lost his boat and his life on the reefs of Bonaire. Shows what you can do with a kedge anchor.

[rtbates]

My guess is that a kedge anchor will be obsolete when running aground becomes obsolete. Or maybe running aground where Tow Boat US doesn't operate..

A kedge anchor is not an anchor type, ie, adjective, it's an anchor activity, ie., verb.

[Kettlewell]

A lot of folks who call for a tow boat service to pull them off something would be better off using their own "kedge anchor" (any anchor used in the activity of kedging) to stabilize the situation and wait for tide when they can pull themselves off. It can often be gentler on the boat, less dangerous for all involved, and certainly less costly.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by rtbates

My guess is that a kedge anchor will be obsolete when running aground becomes obsolete.

+1... ...and let's remember that more cruisers run aground than admit to doing so.

I belong to a yacht club with specific rules about these situations: When aground, always lower your burgee before rowing out the kedge.

[Kettlewell]

I belong to a yacht club with specific rules about these situations: When aground, always lower your burgee before rowing out the kedge.

My club is a little more informal--the unwritten rule is: When aground, break out another cold one and wait for the tide.

[Randyonr3]

[QUOTE=rtbates;1200953]

A kedge anchor is not an anchor type, ie, adjective, it's an anchor activity, ie., verb.[/QUOT.E]

Im thinking the kedge anchor ranks right up there alongside the full keel heavyweight for those that believe the boat was built to run aground ..
For the rest of us, good charts and à cautious mind work just fine.

[charliehows]

Originally Posted by SlugmasterP

Would setting two anchors in line on one rode be an option? Obviously you'd probably attach the two rodes together to form one long rode. I've never done it but I was in a seminar where they talked about doing it.

yeah i used an anchor train for months when my boat was permanently anchored off herne bay in auckland 25 years ago - there were a few rocks on the bottom and one of them just the perfect size got caught in the tines of my danforth and started it dragging, nearly lost the boat onto a seawall. After using the train it never dragged again. It was effective with rope rode, all chain creates a problem because the chain twists, havent solved that yet.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by rtbates

A kedge anchor is not an anchor type, ie, adjective, it's an anchor activity, ie., verb.

Well, not where I come from. The activity is called "kedging", not "kedge anchor" and not "kedge anchoring". Kedging.

A kedge anchor, as I always understood it, is an anchor rigged for immediate deployment from the stern. You see that on about 1 out of a 1,000 boats. There's a Halberg Rassy here right now with a whole launcher for it on the stern, incl. roller everything.

But somebody has posted a definition where it is any anchor while it is being used to kedge.