Guest Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Gingernuts should always be served with tea so you can dunk them. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Is generally refered to as 'the Owner...' Damnsight better than Gingernuts . eh. I've only ever sailed around the gulf by myself. I had 5 days away back in june or so. my AP is an old Raymarine wheel setup. When the previous owner removed the wheel and replaced the original tiller , all the old pump and drives were taken off as well. I ended up fitting a lecomble and schmitt electric/ hydraulic drive and a rudder feedback unit so as to carry on with the existing computer. ( st 6000? IIRC) Pretty damn good investment so far.. stronger than I am anyway. Link to post Share on other sites
Atom Ant 0 Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Well I've not done any great distances singlehanded but have been from Gulf Harbour to Barrier (and back again after the holiday of course) more times than with crew. My best time was 4 1/2 hours from ropes off to anchor down in smokehouse in a ball busting southerly. One time I sailed to Barrier single handed in a light SW which is dead downwind and I wrapped the kite round the forestay when I was a bit slow with the sheet. I thought "stuff it" and went below to make lunch. When I came back up, the kite had unwrapped itself and was nicely set! I arrived at Barrier and rafted up alongside my friends Genesis for the night. They ended up having a major domestic and I quietly slipped back to my boat and went to bed. I woke up at 6 to hear them argueing again, so I quietly untied and left. I noticed that the wind had gone to the NE so I though "stuff it" and motored out, put the kite up and sailed home again! My mate asked me to take his wife with me but I refused so it was a single handed sail again. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 My longest solo trip - Tairua Harbour to Mercs to Grt Barrier to Whangarei Hrbr to Tutukaka to Mimiwhangata to BOI, return via Whangarei to Kauwau to Akl. St4000 was a good and reliable crew. My Manson supreme held fast in 50, peaking 65kn. Just soooo... good, but would have enjoyed some company most evenings whilst at anchor. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 About 1990 I sailed singlehanded non stop from Punta Arenas,Costa Rica,to the bay of virgins in the Marquesas.It took me 35 days.Main reason for the slow trip was once I got the south east trades I found the boat rolled much less if I didnt use the mainsail.I just used a polled out genoa and then got used to not working.The weather was so good,without line squalls or anything of that nature,that I sailed for TWO WEEKS without making an adjustment.It seems unbelievable now,but that is what I remember. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Aaahhhh Puntarenas, wonder if it is the same sleazy shithole I remember. Had good times there. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Was that Danish guy still running the waterfront hangout when you were there?The guy that got prosecuted for shooting an intruder in the ass with a saturday night special? Did you visit isla Gitana?Was old Carl and his gang running the place? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I was there before he shot the guy though. Never made Gitana, spent a lot of time at Ballenas?? near the mouth of the bay and also at Golfito. Main memory of Golfito was whorehouses everywhere and the little YC on the river. After Golfito tried getting up the river to David in Panama with 6'6" draft. Got well and truly planted near the mouth of the river, actually a bit tense there for a while. After trying all the usual tricks with nothing working we were sitting on a sandbank thinking about the problem with all sails up trying to heel her off , when along comes a solitary puff of wind and away we go. Unfortunately in my stupidity I had only tied one genoa sheet on so now we are doing 7 kn can't tack and heading for ther river bank about 2 boatlengths away. All the crew cheering coz we're not stuck anymore and Dad shitting himself as we hurtle towrds the jungle. Oh what fun we had. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I always wondered if David was worth a visit.Too bad you didnt make it. Early in my career I was sailing about NZ and doing lots of headsail changes and I thought it a good idea to have a snap shackle on the sheets.One day I was trying to skin past some rocks,saw I wasnt going to make it,and tried to tack.The snap shackle dragged past the shrouds and opened.The boat wouldnt go to windward on just the main so there I was wallowing just off the rocks with the jib flapping wildly.And of course I didnt have a reliable engine.I managed to recover the situation but I gave up the snap shackle idea about then. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 We did eventually make it to David, really nice town and the cheapest provisioning we encountered-ever, did a wonderful bus ride up to Boquete. The anchorage is in the river off a little restaurant that is really just two tables on the beach. We were waiting for food while the kids played on the beach when the cook walked out of the kitchen with a large bowl of chook entrails, tapped the bowl twice and an 8 ft alligator popped its head up about two metres from the kids. It walked up the beach and sat on its hind legs like a puppy while the cook spooned chook guts into its mouth. My mother who was with us nearly sh*t herself. Thanks for the story on the Russian, like you I love meeting people who are "different". Like the Kiwi in an H28 on his third circumnavigation, stopped clearing in and out of countries about 14 years ago as it was too much hassle, now he just kinda "sneaks" around. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Brisi-Suva-Apia-Penrhyn-Oahu................ each leg a little longer than the last..... I couldn't find crew, and didn't want to wait, while the weather was good to go.... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Nice first post Keith, welcome. Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Done a few s/handed Channel crossings. Not particularly long but with the English Channel being the busiest shipping area in the world it is taxing insofar as you have to cross both the Westbound and Eastbound lanes (with about 10nm separation between them) and at times it can be so busy that you actually have to line up and work out which two ships you're gonna pass between - a bit like crossing a busy motorway in slow motion. Question, whilst we're on autopilots too. I've got a ST4000 that I'm really unhappy with. No matter what I try with calibration settings (and there are dozens of them) it still snakes around the course in any kind of a breeze. But I haven't got the rudder sensor arm fitted - do you think that if I fitted it I would notice better performance i.e. does the unit really need the feedback to work well? Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Question, whilst we're on autopilots too. I've got a ST4000 that I'm really unhappy with. No matter what I try with calibration settings (and there are dozens of them) it still snakes around the course in any kind of a breeze. But I haven't got the rudder sensor arm fitted - do you think that if I fitted it I would notice better performance i.e. does the unit really need the feedback to work well? Yeah AC the rudder sensor is very important so it knows were to centre the helm to or it will spend all it's time over correcting Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Never sailed in the Channel, but going through Straits of Gibraltar and the Straits of Hormuz sound similar, an endless procession of ships at speed, you feel like a possum in the headlights. Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Question, whilst we're on autopilots too. I've got a ST4000 that I'm really unhappy with. No matter what I try with calibration settings (and there are dozens of them) it still snakes around the course in any kind of a breeze. But I haven't got the rudder sensor arm fitted - do you think that if I fitted it I would notice better performance i.e. does the unit really need the feedback to work well? Yeah AC the rudder sensor is very important so it knows were to centre the helm to or it will spend all it's time over correcting Bugger, another job to add to the list. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 I cant believe how many people sail with only one hand? hARMless enough i spose But how did you lose these hands?... thats the real story. (Chainsaw, skillsaws?) Thank god for self tailing winches Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 I've always wanted to do a long passage with a real chef on board, now how do you do that single handed? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 I've always wanted to do a long passage with a real chef on board, now how do you do that single handed? go to night classes! Link to post Share on other sites
ex TL systems 63 Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 new plymouth to matai bay and then auckland in a 33 tri nice trip. old tillerpilot worked all the way and then went crazy and never worked again, i have a autohelm 4000 now that seems pretty good on a 46 ft cat Link to post Share on other sites
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