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:) excellent advice, especially looking at experienced crew, some skippers are expert at looking cool and calm in the face if impending doom, and only afterwards do they admit they were shitting themselves just like most of the crew. Some feel obliged to maintain outward calm at all costs I think (to avoid the spreading fud).

 

So was the 10 knots on the tracker achieved at a constant rate due to wind speed/sailing force alone or at bursts for several seconds down the face of a wave type of thing.

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Brass Monkeys

 

Sorry to dissillusion you SJB but I've believe your brass monkeys story is an urban myth. This is what Wikipedia has to say:

 

It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[7] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be an urban legend. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[8] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[9]

 

They give five main reasons:

 

1. The OED does not record the term "monkey" or "brass monkey" being used in this way.

2. The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as possible.

3. Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling around on deck and causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks—longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot were inserted for ready use by the gun crew.

4. Shot was not left exposed to the elements where it could rust. Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true or jamming in the barrel and exploding the gun. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.

5. The physics does not stand up to scrutiny. The contraction of both balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not be particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced under laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high precision for this purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have occurred in real life aboard a warship.

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A question regarding "max speed":

The Tracker 7.7 has a listed "max speed" of 6.5 knots (http://westhavenmarinebrokers.co.nz/att ... 009013.pdf). Is that correct, or am I missing something...?

 

As a previous tracker owner I can share our experiences. We had a diesel in ours so it was a bit heavier.

 

Motoring comfortably = 5 knots

Max motoring = 6 knots, maybe 6.5 at a push (digging big holes and burning lots of diesel)

Upwind = 4.5 knots (fixed blade prop), 5 knots (folding prop)

Two sail reaching = 7 knots

Downwind with spinnaker = 6.5 knots

Fastest ever = 11 knots (GPS speed over ground), approx 20knots wind under spinnaker while surfing down a wave.

 

The Trackers are quite conservatively powered (some would say underpowered) so need a bit of a breeze to reach these figures. The good thing from a newbie's perspective is that they virtually always feel under control. Well knot the 11 knots under kite but at all other times.

 

IMHO they are a really safe boat and awesome to learn to sail in. What's better they can take you virtually where ever you want to go. We spent 10 nights at Barrier in ours (2 x adults, 2 x kids).

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GRP = Glass Reinforced Plastic aka fibreglass.

 

Another common abbreviation that you come across in advertisements for small boats is GOP = Glass Over Ply, which basically means a boat primarily built from plywood with a sheath (usually a single layer) of fibreglass.

 

Any opinions on GRP vs GOP? I've read that fibreglass is good for beginners, so I was looking mainly at GRP boats. Is GOP any/much more difficult to maintain in comparison?

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Depends on the level of cover. Inside and out, you may not have as much maintenance. Outside only, you may have a little more. GOP is normally lighter in weight. But also tended to lend itself to the Home biulder and the older designs before GRP came into NZ early 60's. Although boats are still bilt today in GOP.

But really, the two methods end up making boats that are as far apart as Steel and Ferro are for instance. Ply is far lighter and thus the boats are a lot more lively. The list of differences are huge.

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