March 2006 Foghorn, part 2

Adams Cup Women Rule the Waves

The Rio Grande Sailing Club has been selected to host the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Women’s Adams Cup sailing championships at Elephant Butte Lake, April 22-23, 2006. Competing teams will be drawn from the area covered by the Sailing Association of Intermountain Lakes, which covers Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and western Nebraska.

The top two teams from the quarterfinal will advance to the semifinal, which will be held May 6-7, 2006, in Austin, Texas. The national championship will be Sept. 13-17, 2006, in Cleveland, Ohio.

The U.S. Women’s Sailing Championship originated in 1924 and is believed to be “the first women’s championship ever held in the world,” according to U.S. Sailing, the governing body of sailboat racing in the United States. The purpose of the Adams Cup is “promoting the sport of yachting by encouraging proficiency in seamanship and sportsmanlike conduct in sail yacht racing on the part of yachtswomen.”

For further information, contact Pat & Carol Anne Byrnes, 505 265-6741, rgsc@zianet.com, or Sue & Rich Strasia, 505 867-0026, j24kachina@msn.com.

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Science of the Spreader
by Bruce Krohn

Editor’s preface –

Have you ever wondered why all those wires, ropes, rods, poles,
and stuff are attached to a sailboat mast?

Some of them are for controlling the sails, but others are essential for the mast to do its job
of holding the sails without the whole thing falling down on your head. The mast and its rigging –
the shrouds that go up the mast, the spreader poles that hold them out from the mast,
the stays that hold and sometimes adjust the mast fore-and-aft, and all the pieces of hardware
connected to the rigging – are part of a system that lets the boat go from Point A to Point B
without rig failure (if properly maintained and used!) and without having to have a mast so heavy
as to threaten the boat's stability. The rig makes the mast stronger so that the mast doesn't fail
but instead can withstand the powerful loads of wind-filled sails. 

The mast and rig transmit forces to the hull, allowing the boat to sail over the bounding main.    

The simplest mast system is an unstayed mast where any side force is almost entirely a sheer force on the mast. The only compression force on the mast is the weight of the rig. The sheer force on the mast is translated to a compression force on the deck at the partners and a shear force on the sole at the shoe. However, this takes a rather sub-stantial mast to carry much sail. To reduce weight and windage aloft, stays are added. A stayed mast trades sheer force for a tension force on the shrouds, a compression force on the mast, and a combined tension and sheer force on the chain plates. The sum total of the tension and compression forces involved can be calculated based solely on the mast base- to chain plate distance and the height of the shroud attachment points.

There is a practical limit. The force on the fittings that attach the stays to the mast is a function of the reciprocal of the sine of the angle that the stays make as they meet the mast. As this angle narrows, the sine of this angle goes to zero and the function, (and force), goes to infinity. A minimum of about 12 degrees is the current limit for readily available hardware. On a boat with a typical 5 foot distance from chain plate to mast base, the upper shroud attachment point can be no higher than about 24 feet without violating this “12 degree rule”. One way to have a tall mast and narrow beam, but not violate this rule is to use spreaders to artificially increase this angle.

The spreaders also take tension from the outer shrouds, convert it to compression,
and transfer it to the mast. This imposes a bending force on the mast at the
base of the spreaders. (Note that the spreaders are intended to be entirely
in compression which is why they should exactly bisect the angle they make
with the outer shrouds, i.e. the spreaders should point slightly up).
To counteract this bending force, lower shrouds are attached to the mast
just below the spreader bases and run to chain plates. All shrouds are subject
to the 12 degree rule so a really tall mast may have a series of spreaders and lowers.
The addition of lower shrouds, and possibly separate chain plates, helps divide
and distribute the total tension load between several shrouds and fittings.

Spreaders can also be swept forward, or more commonly aft, to help
control fore-and-aft bending in the middle of the mast. The chain plates,
of course, must also be offset fore or aft to do this. Although spreaders
do increase the angle the shrouds make to the mast and drain some tension
from the outer shrouds, they do not, in any way, alter the basic tension and
compression forces as calculated using just the height of the stayed portion
of the mast and the width of the chain plate base. Any tension drained off the
outer shrouds by the spreaders will show up in the lowers.

The spreader length is also important because this influences the amount of bending force imposed on the middle of a mast. If the spreaders are too long, they have too much leverage and will over bend the mast for a given load. If they are too short, they will not transfer enough force to counter the load imposed by the lower shrouds.

In general, the length of the spreaders is set by the designer based on the specified mast section and the anticipated wind load on the sail plan.

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Your Mom goes to the Islands (cont.)

This is the continuing tale of the voyage of Braxton Merritt and crew
on the J-40 Your Mom. In this episode, the intrepid sailors, perilously short
on beer and other basic necessities, approach the unsuspecting residents of Hawaii. 

Land Ho! November 21, 2005

The night before last, Bill was sitting in the cockpit, on his watch.
A huge white albatross circled above the boat like it wanted to land.
Bill shined his light at it  After a few minutes, the bird disappeared,
and Bill lost interest. Then, Bill heard a huge thud in the cockpit.
The albatross landed right in the center of the floor of the cockpit.
After drying his pants off, Bill turned his light on the bird.
Apparently, the bird thought this was its dinner light.
The bird came after Bill and his light, climbing over the traveler,
and into the rear of the cockpit. Naturally, Bill climbed around
the other way to the front.  Just to show who was who,
the bird climbed up onto the skipper’s seat, and sat there
staring at the defeated Bill. Bill happily gave him his turn
at the helm until the bird had had enough. After a few minutes,
the bird returned to flight, seeking his next unsuspecting victim.

Yesterday, after swimming, we motored in light wind on through the night
until around 8 this morning.  We caught another wahoo yesterday evening,
and as Bill reeled it in, a huge group of wahoo, mahi-mahi, and some other
fish (trigger?) followed the boat for about 20 minutes.  There must
have been 100+ fish in the group, with some huge mahi-mahi swimming about.
Unfortunately, we had already eaten, so we let the fish go, and continued
on with our lines reeled in.

This morning, the wind clocked around to a beam reach and picked up
just enough to sail.  This whole trip, and this is the first time we have
a decent wind direction! A beautiful day of great sailing, tanning, reading,
and relaxing (with a little exercise).

It's almost completely clear skies with 85 degree temperature.  We got into VHF range
yesterday evening. We plan on getting to Hilo this evening or tonight.  We'll get the
agriculture/customs inspection first thing in the morning when they open.
We'll clean and re-provision the boat tomorrow, and check out some of the big island, Hawaii. 
Don has a house here.  We plan on leaving at sun-up Wednesday morning to go to 
Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. This should take a day and a half, as we cruise the coastlines of Hawaii, 
Maui, Lanai, Molakai, and Oahu.

Kaneohe Bay is where we'll be mooring the boat over the winter. We hope to be there Thanksgiving evening to have dinner with Jo Ann and the boys, Mom, and Don's son, Josh. They all fly in late Weds. night. This should give them Thursday to get settled in and do the girly and kids stuff that “Old Salts” would rather miss.

Your Mom goes to the Islands (cont.)

1:24 p.m., and Chuck just spotted our first small vessel since CA. It appears to be a fishing boat. We're about 45 n.m. from land (we hope!), which is still not visible. Chuck's still tolerable, so far. He also says to get the snorkel stuff in Hawaii. It's easier and cheaper here.

1:30 p.m. I spotted what appeared to be a whale tail! It kept popping up and down, unlike a whale tale. As we approached, it appeared to be a small craft! Was it full of drugs? Were there dead people on it? It was bobbing up and down, and definitely abandoned. Right then... Fish on! What timing. The fish got off, we dropped the head-sail, and motored toward the vessel. We saw it was a 14 ft. dinghy of some sort. We prepared a tow line. International law lets us claim this as ours! Bill has been talking about this the whole trip. "We're gonna find an abandoned ship to claim as ours!" Anyone that's been sailing on "Your MOM" can tell you we need a new dinghy. Can you believe this? Location 19.64.19N, 154.22.22 W

The dinghy turned out to be a solid, metal bottom, plastic top boat. Barnacles were growing over the entire bottom. The top was flat and covered with plastic. The top half of the vessel appeared to be missing. There was a spot for a motor mount on the stern. A few ropes were hanging off the sides and bottom. I'd sure love to know its story. We took a vote, and everyone (against my vote) decided to leave it be. They obviously haven't seen our dinghy. As we sailed away, I saw two or three large fish near the dinghy. Within a minute, we had another large fish on. The fish was off as soon as it was hooked.

2:00 pm: cell phone reception. We all took turns calling loved ones so they could finally sleep at night. Dad called Hilo Customs, State and Federal Agriculture, and the harbor-master. Unbelievably, they seemed more laid back than the ones in San Diego. Pretty much, "Show up, tie up if there's space, and someone might be by manana. Chaca (hang-loose).” Looks like we may be able to have pizza and a cold beer ashore tonight, after all.

About the same time as phone reception, "Land Ho!" We thought we could see it around 30 n.m. out, but now at 28 n.m., it was land fo' shizzle! This was greeted, by dad's approval, with vodka & pineapple mixers. We've waited 16 days for this! We'll set foot on land tonight. Now comes the real danger. Look out Hawaii!

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RGSC Lands Mast-Up Contract:

It’s official. The governor has signed RGSC’s agreement to manage the mast-up storage facilities at Elephant Butte Lake State Park.

Call Rich Strasia at 505 867-0026 or 866-834-3697 to rent a space; $240 plus 16.50 tax gets you worry-free access to the lake. But hurry - - spaces are almost all gone; 19 of 22 slots have been rented.

From: Todd Brophy in Colorado:

I hope we get a couple teams to come down. Thanks!

Kristen Zagray and Terry Schertz are both excellent J boat captains and they travel. Kristen is just about to take her J-22 to Texas to race the spring series down there.

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Wanted: Adams Cup Sailors & Volunteers

The Adams Cup regional regatta at Elephant Butte Lake is less than nine weeks away and a huge amount of work remains to be done.

Rich and Sue and Larry and folks will need volunteers to canvass local merchants and organizations for support, provide hospitality and information and registration for teams, preparing information packets, help with providing boats of all sorts (committee boat, mark boats, transfer boat, crash boat, dormitory boats or lodging to house team members), and all sorts of things. The jobs break down into groups:

Before the regatta:

(1) paperwork, forms, research, and information gathering, publicity and media relations, sending out notices of race, race info, and registration forms, race program/souvenir, directions, venue description, crew forms, insurance forms, preparing and distributing large quantities of paper;

(2) canvassing potential sponsors/advertisers for support and resources (a sponsor might give cash or in-kind support, provide discount coupons, or even show up with a keg and a bartender!; we also have a sponsor who is providing local team jackets; in return sponsors could receive program advertising, banner advertising, and naming rights; for example, a merchant or group could sponsor the windward mark, provide fun prizes for each race's top finishers or be the sponsor for the committee boat or supply a mark boat or committee equipment or food or .... );

During the regatta:

(3) on-the-water support via committee, crash/safety, mark boats and technical race management support;

(4) off-the-water support for registration, information, transportation, hospitality, lodging, entertainment for teams and judges, arrangements for spectators, press/media.

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Boating Safety Class

Hello Everyone!

My buddy, Steve Harrington (one of those partying Cochiti guys and also a Coast Guard Auxiliary member) passed this onto me and I thought you might enjoy knowing about the opportunity for the upcoming class! America’s Boating Course in 1 day!

When: Saturday, March 18th, 2006 – Time: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where: Foothills Church, 12504 Candelaria NE, SW corner of Tramway & Candelaria

Cost: $15 per student (includes textbook & CDROM and completion certificate)

Subjects: Know your boat, Navigating waterways, Legal Requirements, Operating your boat or PWC, Boating emergencies, Getting underway, and more.

Registration: Pre-registration is important to insure availability of sufficient materials.

Contact: Ron at 293-7543 or Ben at 298-0116

Benefits: Save on boat insurance (some agencies offer discounts). Soon a certificate from a certified course will become mandatory to boat on NM waterways, get a certificate before the rush!!

Contact: Steve Harrington
USCGAUX, Albuquerque
505-385-1300

Buzz Biernacki

New Boating Safety Law passes NM Senate & House

The new law will require that PFD’s be worn by children aboard all boats and that youths of certain ages complete a boating safety class before operating a boat. Because of the new law, the New Mexico State Parks Department is looking for volunteer instructors to help with training. Anyone who is interested should contact State Boating Enforcement Officer Stephen Verchinski, 1220 S. St. Francis Dr, Santa Fe, NM 87505, 888 667-2757 476-3390 238-2398, verchinski@state.nm.us .

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L.J.: Hey Dennis, you ever see an Etchells this old before?

D.C.: Yeah.

L. J.: From the rear?

Rio Grande Sailing Club
PO Box 13953
Albuquerque, NM 87193

www.rgsc.org

Mast-up hotline: 866-834-3697 (toll free)