[Alberg30] Towing by bow cleats

Tue Oct 2 11:38:04 PDT 2001

What great historical information and theory, Gord!  I sure am glad you are
an A30 guy!  

Thanks

Neal Jackson
PEREGRINE
No. 486

-----Original Message-----
From: Gord Laco [mailto:gord at transatmarine.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 7:42 AM
To: public-list at alberg30.org
Subject: Re: [Alberg30] Towing by bow cleats

Hi,

In my early days as a rigger at Toronto's Tom Taylor Company (I still dream
sometimes how that building smelled in the morning - rope, etc Good!)  we
built a rig for a fellow whose deck stepped Mirage 27 mast had been torn
down by a tow line.  He was angry that he had come to grief while following
the advice of Eric Hiscock whose said "right here on page X" that the mast
is where a tow line should go.   He said he hated Hiscock for fooling him.

Well, you can't do that to a deck stepped mast.  Under normal sailing
conditions there is virtually no side load on the lower part of a deck
stepped  mast.  All that load is taken up by the shrouds with the highest
load being on the masthead.  Loading at the heel of the mast is all
compression - that is why our boats were designed and built with such a
modest male insert for the step.  That is also why there are no shrouds
below the spreaders, and the strongest shrouds of all go to the masthead.

You've got to look at your boat and decide which of the truisms of the
yachting sages fit.  Hiscock etc wrote during a time when all seagoing boats
had "solid" keel stepped masts with massive re-inforcing at the deck.
That is not true of our Albergs.

We had another customer who had torn the top quarter of his mast off while
trying to heel his grounded boat over using the main halyard.  He was
genuinly confused because he had books that described such a procedure as
the right thing to do.  Well - his boat had a fractional rig, which means no
shrouds existed above the forestay, and that is where the mast broke.  The
exit box for the main halyard was also destroyed by the side load before the
mast gave up. He had chosen a halyard with no side load support and that
could not swivel to line itself up with the un-natural task he was asking of
it.

Towing by the mast in a keel stepped rig works because mechanically you
would have to tear up the deck or break the mast where it is supported by
the deck to break the tow.  (Like Curly from the Stooges trying to carry a
ladder sideways through a doorway, well, sort of)  Neither thing is likely
unless the mast is an unusually light section.  Towing by the mast with a
deck stepped rig is dangerous because you would be asking something of the
heel of the mast for which it has no support.

My plan for an extreme tow if I ever need one is to use the deckhouse.  I
don't plan to use the whole hull (although that way is strongest of all)
because I would be squeamish of standing in the cockpit inside a bight of
line under high load.

Gord
#426 Surprise

----- Original Message -----
From: <SandersM at aol.com>
To: <gord at transatmarine.com>
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Alberg30] Towing by bow cleats

>
> In a message dated 9/28/01 8:34:18 PM, sutherlandt at prodigy.net writes:
>
> << I would not recommend towing from a "deck stepped" mast. If you do not
> feel comfortable attaching to the forward cleats I might suggest
> attaching a bridal to the main sheet winches. >>
>
> Okay, I was the poor soul who, alone among all list members, suggested
towing
> by the mast.  And I've read all of the replies, and I am more than
somewhat
> chastened by them all.  But I must say that I am not yet convinced that I
was
> wrong.  I take the point that the mast stands on a step that does not
inspire
> confidence that the mast would remain standing when a lateral force (such
as
> a tow line under load) is applied.  But think about it:  Every time you
sail,
> the mast absorbs huge lateral forces -- that is, the wind in the sail.
And
> what's more, it absorbs them mostly in the bottom quarter of the stick,
down
> at the foot of the mainsail.  Wouldn't running in a gale produce lateral
> forces on the mast far in excess of a tow line?  Does anyone fear that
> running under sail in higher winds presents a threat of dismasting?
>
> The mast, as several have noted, is extremely heavy.  It would take a
pretty
> massive force to lift it from the step and cause it to fall.  I wonder:
Does
> anyone know of any case in which an A30's mast became unstepped when
rigged,
> under any load, for any reason other than a failure of standing rigging?
Has
> anyone ever heard of any mast being pulled from its step by a tow line?
> These are not meant to be rhetorical questions -- I'm just wondering
whether
> the fears that have been expressed are grounded in experience.
>
> The common wisdom imparted to me at an early age was to tow by the mast,
and
> it was never qualified to apply only to keel-stepped masts.  Now, I'm
pretty
> thoroughly confused.  Good thing I traded in my Alberg for a Chris Craft!
>
> Sanders McNew
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