Barometers

[ghostlymoron]

Just out of interest. The correct way to clean brass according to my clock restorer friend is to dip it in an ammonia bath then dry it in fine sawdust.

 

[Conachair]

Real progress........I can't resist this one.To quote from Peter Tangvald an incredible character (as I'm sure anyone who has read his books will appreciate).

"It is a wonderful experience to cross a large ocean successfully under sail alone.It is hard to describe the sensation of happiness,of freedom and of general satisfaction given by such a voyage.It is true that the best part of such a voyage is to see the landfall,but this is not because we will again be able to get ashore,but rather because it is the culmination of our effort and proves that the voyage was successful and the navigation accurate.Every day spent aboard during the voyage was well worth living,even including the one when the weather was less pleasant.
I would never lose the wonderful atmosphere and romance of sail which can only be experienced in a true sailing boat.And by true sailing boat I mean one which is not spoilt by any of the modern mechanics and gadgets.I mean one which simply uses the wind as propulsion and uses it in the same way as our forefathers have done for several thousands of years and has proven satisfactory with a minimum of headaches,a minimum of expenses and a minimum of failures.Why should modern people always feel so sure of being smarter than our forefathers?Just because we have stumbled into the combustion engine and from there into the atomic age?But that does not mean that our intelligence has grown,nor indeed does it prove that we are any happier."

Not everyone will agree with him but I can't see why I need info on the sun & the moon when I'm out there experiencing it at first hand nor do I understand what use a barograph is or even particularly a barometer.......

& on the subject of pretty useless bits of kit.Why do so many insist on having a windometer or whatever you call it at the top of the mast?

Well, having spent a moment out there (longest solo passage as 32 days) I would say you should be a bit careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I´ve found that it pretty hard to guess how it will feel out there from a nice warm stable piece of land, everyones experience is different and trying to nail "what it will be like" beforehand just leads to confusion.

Personally I really enjoy watching the weatherfaxes and barometer as weather systems evolve, find it gives a sense of just how powerful and complex the world is and how insignificant a speck we really are. A good feeling, by the way But I´m with him in general with the sentiment, it´s just that you don´t have to throw everything overboard to get there. GPS becomes less important apart from logging daily runs and to see what the current might be up to, so long as you give up any stupid notion of sticking to a predefined course anyway. Engines are very handy but not vital.

Now he didn´t mention spider solitaire on the laptop.... some modern toys would be hard to live without

 

[ghostlymoron]

& on the subject of pretty useless bits of kit.Why do so many insist on having a windometer or whatever you call it at the top of the mast?

I'm with you on that (it's called an anemometer BTW). There always going wrong and are only useful for 'bragging rights' in the pub. If you can't tell by the wind on your cheek which way it's blowing you shouldn't be sailing. Also, your boat tells you when to reef/shakeout so what's the point of them.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I'm with you on that (it's called an anemometer BTW). There always going wrong and are only useful for 'bragging rights' in the pub. If you can't tell by the wind on your cheek which way it's blowing you shouldn't be sailing. Also, your boat tells you when to reef/shakeout so what's the point of them.

Not sure about the bragging rights bit - I have encountered plenty of people who sail by the seats of their pants who are very happy to exaggerate the windspeed that they 'thought' they were seeing/feeling, to be corrected by the facts as displayed on an anemometer from someone who was nearby and experiencing the same conditions!

The wind and weather is always rougher in the telling for some people and perhaps anemometers help keep things in perspective. I agree that we should be able (and comfortable) sailing without one, but we also have a Raymarine graphic display that shows the windspeed over the last twelve hours. Its very nice to get up in the morning and see that the wind really did blow old boots during the night when I was tucked up in the anchorage/harbour, but its average speed is steadily going down... It will also plot graphs of wind direction, so coupled with the (wind up) barograph I can accurately talk about fronts having gone through or not and make plans accordingly.

I was being a bit tongue in cheeks when I posted about the joys of wind up and traditional instruments. In fact I am happy to make the most of any information and instrumentation that is available. To press the point, I would certainly not like to go back to sailing about in fog without a radar...

 

[billcowan]

These barometers are usually paired with a clock. The best thing that happened to mine was that the high quality german quartz movement stopped working. I replaced it with a 1.99 hong Kong job from fleabay. Fortunately the original superfine thin hands didnt fit - so I used the cheapo platic jobs that came with the new movement. Brilliant! they are nice and thick so the clock which is fitted to the midship bulkhead, can be read by the healmsman! sadly the expensive barometer still requires a torch and a magnifying glass to read.

PS If you like polishing brass, go to Greece. Some sort of volcanic f art gas comes out of the sea and turns everything black.

 

[Nicholas123]

Well, having spent a moment out there (longest solo passage as 32 days) I would say you should be a bit careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I´ve found that it pretty hard to guess how it will feel out there from a nice warm stable piece of land, everyones experience is different and trying to nail "what it will be like" beforehand just leads to confusion.

Personally I really enjoy watching the weatherfaxes and barometer as weather systems evolve, find it gives a sense of just how powerful and complex the world is and how insignificant a speck we really are. A good feeling, by the way But I´m with him in general with the sentiment, it´s just that you don´t have to throw everything overboard to get there. GPS becomes less important apart from logging daily runs and to see what the current might be up to, so long as you give up any stupid notion of sticking to a predefined course anyway. Engines are very handy but not vital.

Now he didn´t mention spider solitaire on the laptop.... some modern toys would be hard to live without

I think he found wimen a suitable substitute.He seemed to have an endless supply of them.