La Vagabonde's crossing

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by boatman61

A quick check on the boats specs shows it has a single line furling system as opposed to the more common drum reefing.. the brain cells were likely used on how to rejoin it without it jamming or jumping the teeth.

I didn't look.

I'm not impressed with either continuous line or underdeck furling. I do like a lock pin in the drum for when the wind is up.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

I didn't look.

I'm not impressed with either continuous line or underdeck furling. I do like a lock pin in the drum for when the wind is up.

I do like the single line on drifters and asymmetrics but otherwise the furling drum and topside line feed is my preference as well.

[Breaking Waves]

Stepping thru the next couple days, using a 4.5kt average. Red X marks the boat's position along the route.

Current - High to the east, big low above, slack low to the west and developping tropical low below (FUN fun fun !!!)



10:30 utc 20th (+12hrs) - low to the west has strengthened, tropical low has moved north a bit and top low moved east. Wind on the boat a bit up with crush zone between western low and eastern high.



22:30 20th - frontal system starting to develop - complex interaction with crush zone between low to west and high, and feeder band connecting to tropical low




... more next post

[Breaking Waves]

21 0430 all trends continuing, wind on boat back up a bit as this is the CPA to the frontal band.



pay real close attention board for 6hrs before and after this - to clouds, wind shifts and wind temps, and park up if you sniff the front closer than it should be.

This would also be a time for the shore router to look at real-time sat pictures to watch front - can be done on board but easier from shore.

[Breaking Waves]

21 1030 distance to front is increasing



21 2230 front has moved away and this is all over and you could start thinking about getting sail back up

[Breaking Waves]

22 1030 tropical low has folded into main low and there is still wind, even after all the frontal excitement, that's just how this passage is going to be ... 25kts with much higher gusts





OH yea, the wind speeds on each chart are sustained. . . gusts 50% higher can be expected and even more in local squall bands.

[Breaking Waves]

the wind profile looks like this



breezy but nothing unmanageable

[Breaking Waves]

one other thing . . . this is a 1/4 degree resolution grib . . . . . that is way better and finer resolution than the 'old days' where we used 2 degree resolution and they could miss entire compact tropical lows.

But it is still coarse enough that it smooths out frontal edges, which are often very sharp in the real world - often you get a transition within 100's of meters.

So, you don't want to trust edges too precisely and don't zoom in too much, and understand the weather enough to know what might have a very sharp transition and what will probably be eased into.

In this particular case, you need to be watching for signs of this frontal edge, and I would have the boat prepared 6nrs ahead for a very sharp shift and build if somehow you made a mistake and overran it.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by atoll

irregardles of wind speed it will be a hell of a lot more comfortable running with the wind,and they shouldl lose the nasty cross swell they must have been getting from the NW and SE.
. . .

In anything under 25 to 30 knots of wind, I personally prefer sailing on a close reach to anything else. There's more heel, which is a drawback, but my boat at least feels better and is much faster than on other points of sail, especially in light wind. There's less chafe, it's easier to steer, the boat rolls less or doesn't roll at all.


FWIW.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by ccannan

The force of wind speed increases as the square of the wind velocity not the cube!

yes you are correct, was thinking as it is squared the volume increase would be cubed
mind you ,my built in windometer goes from fresh to frightening after 30 knots,no maths needed

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

In anything under 25 to 30 knots of wind, I personally prefer sailing on a close reach to anything else. There's more heel, which is a drawback, but my boat at least feels better and is much faster than on other points of sail, especially in light wind. There's less chafe, it's easier to steer, the boat rolls less or doesn't roll at all.


FWIW.

i was thinking more along the comfort levels on a catamaran,where heeling and rolling are not so much of an issue.
in cats the noise level makes a big difference to comfort levels,which increases substantially with the angle of attack to wind and waves.

wind anywhere forward of the beam and they slap and bang horrendously,as the wind comes aft and you can run off, noise levels drop considerably,as does the banging and slapping .

monos also on a close reach will pretty much steer themselves if the steering is locked,cats generally don't have the same weather helm issues as monos and are just as likely to run off as to run up if the steering is locked .

sail balance is important for the helm,but cats you do need to actively steer them whilst making way unlike monos that will hold a rough course with the genoa in ,main eased and helm locked off
so steering is a full time job whatever course you are on if hand steering.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by atoll

yes you are correct, was thinking as it is squared the volume increase would be cubed
mind you ,my built in windometer goes from fresh to frightening after 30 knots,no maths needed

Lol, I have the same built in wind meter.

[Joli]

I think it’s kind of stupid to be sailing transatlantic, west to east in November. Oh well, people do what they want

[ahun]

Originally Posted by Joli

I think it’s kind of stupid to be sailing transatlantic, west to east in November. Oh well, people do what they want

Not if you are a baby...

[Budawang]

Originally Posted by atoll

i was thinking more along the comfort levels on a catamaran,where heeling and rolling are not so much of an issue.
in cats the noise level makes a big difference to comfort levels,which increases substantially with the angle of attack to wind and waves.

wind anywhere forward of the beam and they slap and bang horrendously,as the wind comes aft and you can run off, noise levels drop considerably,as does the banging and slapping .

monos also on a close reach will pretty much steer themselves if the steering is locked,cats generally don't have the same weather helm issues as monos and are just as likely to run off as to run up if the steering is locked .

sail balance is important for the helm,but cats you do need to actively steer them whilst making way unlike monos that will hold a rough course with the genoa in ,main eased and helm locked off
so steering is a full time job whatever course you are on if hand steering.

Having owned both a cat and a mono I can say I prefer the motion of my mono in most offshore conditions. The constant acceleration and deceleration and bouncy motion of a cat is more sea sickness inducing and tiring. Even when not slamming, cats genetate a lot of water noise which is also tiring. In rough offshore conditions, give me a good medium to heavy displacement mono any day.