[Public-List] Preparation for Summer 2011

[Jim Davis]

I agree with Gord on the main.  This should be a case of telling him how you are going to use it and he should suggest the jack line.  You can also discuss two or three sets of reef points.  For a headsail, I would think a good 150 on a roller with either a drifter or asymmetrical spinnaker for your light air use.  A stand alone storm jib may be of value, but with the smallish size of the A30 and the large size of storm waves, Richard Mairs suggestion of a good drogue more realistic.  Also there is a physical limit of how much can be stuffed in the hull.

Personally I do not like locking the gooseneck unless all your lines run to the cockpit.  In my case I have left the lines at the mast for several reasons.  First raising the sail, the added friction on a cockpit lead halyard forces the use of a winch on the cabin top - with a fixed gooseneck even more mandatory.  With a sliding gooseneck and working at the mast I can easily raise the sail all the way, then lean on the boom, push it down for tension and belay the downhaul.  This also works for reefing.  Also I don't want all the spaghetti in the cockpit for people to trip over.  While there is a comfort factor of not leaving the cockpit in heavy weather, I still prefer to work at the mast.

For electronics, I prefer stand alone equipment.  This way if one fails, you still have the other.  Remember the famous Mr. Murphy founded the Optimist Club.  As to mounting the RADAR Dome pole mounts seem to be the best for sloop rigged boats.  You can then mount a crane for hoisting outboards, etc.  Your workable range is limited by the antenna height and screen size.  Putting the dome at the spreader height on an A30 gives you a sea horizon of about six miles, dropping down to a pole it becomes about five.  Add in with the small screen you can't distinguish between targets on the longer ranges, this is a simple matter of square inches of the display and the size of the target blobs.  You want the targets as large as possible for ease in spotting them.  Not only are you the RADAR operator, but also helmsman, lookout and navigator - keep it simple and fast.  I have an older Raytheon 24 mile on Isa Lei and the only use for the long ranges is as a weather RADAR.  As Michael pointed out the RADAR should be user friendly and easy to adjust/tune.  It should also be used allot.  My recommendation is that it should be on at all time you are under power.  This seems excessive, but it is the only way you will get used to it and learn how to adjust it under different sea/weather conditions.  Thing look quite different on a RADAR screen than they do to the eyeball.  If you are not comfortable using it instinctively in good weather, it really won't be of any use when conditions go bad and you really need it.

Jim Davis
S/V Isa Lei
CT 35

Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.
Ulysses S. Grant



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