+Patrick Childress Sailing Thank YOU !!! we sail the Canadian west coast ,for now !! pristine waters and premium boating area , many remote anchorages..

That is a good idea for topic. We will put it on the list.

Thank you Sealight.

+Patrick Childress Sailing lol!

You might want to bring so couple tubes with you to make a couple plugs to that good cheap boat waiting for you in Langkawi, Malaysia.

Coming from another You Tuber, that is a big complement, thanks!

Hi Rob, Thanks for the positive comments. I do like your new
blonde crew. She will be a valuable asset especially in these foreign
anchorages for watch duty. Many S. Africans sail over to Madagascar, all
in what the other cruisers would consider the wrong direction. At the end of
each “how to” video I will put up a snippet of the things we see locally so
there will be more Madagascar
scenes in upcoming “how to” videos...…….PS.... After talking to a lot of S. African sailors, we have decided to go to Tanzania for several months. You might want to think about sailing from S. Africa up to Tanzania then over to Madagascar. We will be hanging out in that big area for the next year or so. Tanzania is supposed to be a fantastic place...the island of Zanazbar is just off the coast of Tanzania. Always heard of that island and now I know where it is.

Patrick, thanks so much for the incredibly detailed response and great ideas! I love the idea of the loops tied to the clew for lighter conditions... much easier to set up than two guys and a topping lift. Three poles... holy smokes! I think I need to do some experimenting! Thank again.

Tim

Hi Tim, As the very experienced sailor Bill Seifert said, “It is easier to pull a boat than to push it.”
Using the main for off the wind sailing moves the CE, center of effort, so the jib cannot always counter act that rotational influence causing a lot of work for the rudder to maintain a straight course and keep the boat from yawing all over the ocean.  This is especially true when the main is blanketing the jib. So sailing off the wind, I rarely use the main, especially when it blankets the jib. As long as there is enough wind and our single jib is large enough to move at the desired speed, there is no need for the main.   Off the wind, with only a jib, the boat is far more stable and steers much easier.  Way back when I learned how to sail, the instructor said “The main is the first sail up and the last sail down.”  That is simply not true.
When the wind gets light, like around 10 knots, it is not worth the effort to remove the 90% rollerfurling jib and put up the 120%. Changing sails was far easier to do in the old days of hanked on sails when they were simply stuffed in a sail bag.  In the light conditions, off the wind, is when the main goes up on the leeward wind side of the boat, with a preventer tied to a deck cleat, and the jib gets poled out to windward. Since there is generally a slot open between the mast and jib,  the stay sail fills it nicely. This is not necessarily air flow over a cambered surface but simply pressure on a surface.  Long ago we had a spinnaker for crossing from the Galapagos to French Polynesia. That lone sail was up 24 hours a day for nearly a week then had many shorter spells of use on that passage. We no longer have a spinnaker nor room on this boat to store a
spinnaker so we make do with the sails available.
We have  3 running poles, 2 are 15’ 6”, each a different diameter, and the shorter pole  is 12’.  In settled weather, sometimes I am lazy and just attach the outboard end of the long running pole to a loop of line tied into the clew while the sail is rolled up then pull jib sheet to unfurl and set the sail in the desired position. In rougher conditions I will set up the traditional fore, aft, and topping lift to the running pole then pull the jib sheet out, through the pole end, to unfurl the sail.  I never use guys for the small pole but just attach it to a loop of line tied in the clew. If that pole were attached
directly to the sheet, because of movement, it will cause a wear spot in the sheet. The loop of line is sacrificial. When the waves are still up but the wind has died to the point the sails are slatting,  I will use the smaller pole, and sometimes the longer one, to help keep the jib from slamming so much.
If you look at the section of video sailing to see Lemurs, in the “Sail Repair” vid, you will see a black shock absorber attached to the boom. That helps a lot to ease the slamming and slatting of the main when the wind drops but the waves are still up a bit. The same can be attached to a jib sheet to serve the same purpose.  It is certainly helpful to have Rebecca aid me in setting all this up while in the middle of an ocean but often I don’t want to wake her so I set it up alone. I hope this helps.

Thanks Gayle, for mentioning sail repair tape. I should have said something about it in the video. The 3 rolls of sail repair tape we have on board have all lost their sticking ability so there is a shelf life to repair tape. I tried using it anyway, with the 5200 as the glue, but it would not stick to the sticky side of the repair tape so the tape peeled off as though it were cellophane. Maybe there are heavier tapes available but the sail repair tape I have is the weight of spinnaker cloth and may not be suitably strong for rips in some locations on a large sail even if it would stick securely. Still, I agree, sail repair tape cold be an option but before applying, I would prepare the rip area in the same manner as described in the video to insure proper adhesion. But then again, any sail repair tape directions I have read say that it is for temporary use till a more secure mend can be made. As a corollary, nearly all the sail maker applied telltales on our jibs have blown off as the sticky dots did not hold. That tells me that especially on a new, slick, sail, the sail spot should be lightly sanded prior to installing the telltale sticky dot. So, I do think gluing with 5200 might be the best long term solution.

Thanks for watching.

We hope you are following us on our blog too! it’s http://www.WhereIsBrickHouse.com. We are on Facebook too!

Blind Squirrel, thanks for staying with us for so long! The October issue of Blue Water Sailing magazine will have our 11th consecutive, annual, "What Worked, What Didn't" article. Upon leaving Rhode Island, we thought we would be away for only 4 years. Now, I can't imagine ever going back and living in a house.

Thanks for the positive feedback. That helps to keep the motivation.