Tilman

[Babylon]

Thanks to Minn, Arcticpilot and others for interesting info and stories.
A

I second that.

I read Tilman's sailing books some time ago, but good to be reminded of the man and his achievements.

 

[westernman]

I read somewhere that he never used the topsail.
Can anyone here elaborate on that?

The top sail on my Pilot Cutter is pretty easy to set and take down and adds a fair turn of speed in light to moderate conditions.

 

[oldvarnish]

I read somewhere that he never used the topsail.
Can anyone here elaborate on that?

When sailing in high latitudes he often removed the topmast, largely to reduce windage, I think.

 

[westernman]

When sailing in high latitudes he often removed the topmast, largely to reduce windage, I think.

Which would make sense if you are not going to use the topsail.

Did he think the winds would always be strong, so that the topsail was never going to be of any use????

 

[prv]

Which would make sense if you are not going to use the topsail.

Or vice versa - you remove the topmast because you're expecting enough bad weather that you'd rather be without it, then you can't set the topsail even when the weather's not bad.

Did he think the winds would always be strong, so that the topsail was never going to be of any use????

Square-riggers used to take down topgallant masts for the Southern Ocean. I think I read somewhere that they stowed topmasts too, although I'm not sure that's right as topsails are a pretty integral part of the rig and are our storm sails on Stavros.

Pete

 

[westernman]

In theory my top mast can be taken down - but no way am I going to be doing that on the sea - let alone in rough weather.......

 

[prv]

In theory my top mast can be taken down - but no way am I going to be doing that on the sea - let alone in rough weather.......

Hence doing it in advance, and putting up with slower progress in between.

Pete

 

[oldvarnish]

My guess would be that Tilmann knew only too well the fragility of his boats and took every step to reduce the stress on them - hence the removal of the topmast.
In one fine phrase, he recorded 'we left Lymington and were afforded a fine view of the Isle of Wight between the planking'.

 

[Kukri]

He was always very concerned to minimise the stresses on the hull and gear, espescially the rudder, and was content to make slow progress. Baroque had a pole mast, i.e. the topmast was integral, and was up all the time, like a Bermuda or Marconi mast, yet he did not carry a topsail. On the other hand the trysail was kept stowed in the dinghy on deck, rather than below, as we wanted that very regularly.

My observations (and I made them very carefully) of heaving to in a pilot cutter under HW Tilman were that we made a square drift at one knot. He was concerned to maintain that, and adjusted the backed staysail and the lashed down tiller to achieve it. I wrote an article in Classic Boat about this. HWT wanted the boat forging slowly ahead so as to avoid the risk of her being thrown back on the rudder, with the risk of breaking it.

 

[misterg]

Did he think the winds would always be strong, so that the topsail was never going to be of any use????

He explains the reasoning in one of the 'Eight Sailing/Mountain-Exploration Books' - it's a while since I read them, but it was in preparation for possible heavy weather IIRC.

I must also thank the contributors to this thread for the fascinating snippets about the extraordinary man they knew.

Andy

 

[Woodlouse]

The lack of topsail, and topmast was as everyone has already mentioned, due to the expected weather on the trip. In the areas where Tilman preferred sailing the wind can get up to phenomenal strength with very little warning.

Having sailed a gaffer in Patagonia I can vouch for his thinking. The need for a topsail is very small, and if you can save space on board by not carrying it then so be it. If at the same time you can reduce the windage, weight and top hamper of the rig by leaving the topmast in Lymington then that is better still.