DanCrane...it's official...no longer limited to armchair-sailing!

[prv]

What exactly is a spreader-bar?

If you just put a strap round your waist/bum and hooked the front of it onto something, it will pinch in at the sides (try it with your trouser-belt!). The spreader bar has the hook on the middle of it, and has the strap(s) running from one end of it (in front of your left hip) to the other (in front of your right hip). That is, the strap is U-shaped rather than circular. This means there is no pinching inwards.

Pete

 

[Greenheart]

Thanks Pete, I had assumed the spreader bar had that function, except that some harnesses don't mention having one - sounds painful!

Iain, that's all very sound advice, I've taken notes. I'm sure a second line from the centreboard 'horn' could secure it to a point astern...in fact, a short length of attached line whose purpose I'd wondered about, begins to look less in-the-way, more bloomin' obvious, as I reflect.

There are several unused cam cleats and unaccountable blocks around the centreboard case and elsewhere in the cockpit...I just need longer to think about them in use.

Last evening was all a bit hurried...SWMBO didn't even know we were going till she came home after six, and she is appallingly impatient when she doesn't understand why something takes time...meanwhile, she absolutely refuses to listen, look and learn. Not an ideal pupil or crew-member, but that's a rather separate issue.

In spite of yesterday's very light airs, I didn't attempt a gybe. The chaps at the club must have wondered at my manoeuvering as I 'wore round' repeatedly, rather than subject SWMBO to the sudden slam and disarray of a gybe.

I'd be reluctant to use an inflexible means (like a pin) to hold the centreboard down...I don't know the waters I'm using very well, and wouldn't be surprised to go damagingly hard aground with the board fixed down. I think my centreboard case was recently internally re-sheathed in glassfibre, it looks pristine in there.

I didn't bother checking rig-tension yesterday...no gauge, not much wind, no worries! But I now see what I was told months ago, about dinghy-rig tension being controlled largely by the genoa halyard (it's a wire bolt-rope).

But even though I lately acquired a plastic chopping board to cut up as chocks for the mast gate, I hadn't fitted them yet. Rather an oversight if it had been windy.

As I pulled her out, I even saw that I hadn't fitted the bungs in the sidedeck buoyancy chambers! Talk about sloppy.

 

[Seajet]

Hi Dan,

just a thought, but how about doing a capsize check as soon as you have the time and place, I have found capsizing can become an ogre in the mind of the crew if one doesn't demonstrate / practice the boats' ability to recover.

I did this with all my dinghies just by a slipway, the Scorpion had ' Don't Panic ' in large friendly letters ( as in Hitchhikers Guide ) on the bottom; when we put her over a chap came running down the slip, we thought he meant to help us but instead took a photo then cleared off...

The old Int 14 however did not do well in the test, bubbles followed by sinking; so I suppose it was worth finding out.

 

[TangaraToo]

Given that I'm about twelve stone and 5'8" tall, not horrifically plump, does anyone have a definite variety of trapeze harness in mind as ideal for me?

I'd heard that the made-to-fit type are best - unsurprisingly - but I'd hoped to get going for under £80. What exactly is a spreader-bar? How different are the nappy-style from whatever else exists? Is it worth bidding £20 for some old thing on Ebay, or will it probably be a false economy?

I insisted my son had made to fit with quick release hook if going to use a trapeze. He has the P&B version. Really good, no buckles etc to catch. £145.
This decision was made after the first time he got hooked up when dinghy turtled and he was dragged under by his harnes (main sheet caught).
The difference between a standard harness £80 and his at £145 is just £65. Hopefully he will never need to use the quick release but I still consider it money well spent.
This is him doing what he loves.

 

[Greenheart]

...just a thought, but how about doing a capsize check as soon as you have the time and place, I have found capsizing can become an ogre in the mind of the crew if one doesn't demonstrate / practice the boats' ability to recover.

Thanks Andy. I've already collected four two-litre clear plastic lemonade bottles...I still have it in mind to construct an inconspicuous, transparent masthead float!

Lots of Int 14s at my club, and as far as I can tell, a likeable lot of lads & SWMBOs sailing them. Can't say I like the boats much though...too angular and functional.

 

[Greenheart]

The difference between a standard harness £80 and his at £145 is just £65...I still consider it money well spent.

I know, it's absurd to be tight-fisted when the alternative might be too ghastly to think about. I'll just have to work a bit harder! Great picture, what's the dinghy?

 

[prv]

I've already collected four two-litre clear plastic lemonade bottles...I still have it in mind to construct an inconspicuous, transparent masthead float!

Oh - I thought you were going to tie rocks on strings to them to confuse the local pot-fishermen

Pete

 

[Greenheart]

Oh - I thought you were going to tie rocks on strings to them to confuse the local pot-fishermen

Softly, softly, Pete!

I have to have a reason, for going out there with all those plastic bottles!

 

[TangaraToo]

I know, it's absurd to be tight-fisted when the alternative might be too ghastly to think about. I'll just have to work a bit harder! Great picture, what's the dinghy?

It's an ISO. Pic was taken just before they hoisted the bad boy sail (19sqm Ass.Spin). Would have loved to get a pic of that but rib I was using couldn't keep up and I wasn't about to let it come at me.

 

[Seajet]

Dan,

I used to crew a trendy Int 14 for a colleague, it cost a serious fortune and one couldn't really operate it without gloves for the thin sheets and kneepads for the user unfriendly hull; it didn't handle nicely either, like a tea trolley with a jet engine strapped to it, I often wondered why he'd spent over £10,000 more to go just a little faster and a lot less pleasantly than my cheap Osprey !

 

[Greenheart]

It's an ISO.

Ah, the ISO! That's about the same Portsmouth Yardstick as the old Osprey, if memory serves! Maybe not when that massive kite is aloft though. And possibly not my particular old Osprey...particularly with self at the helm...

 

[Greenheart]

I often wondered why he'd spent over £10,000 more to go just a little faster and a lot less pleasantly than my cheap Osprey !

My thinking exactly. Ten grand would buy an amazing classic Flying Dutchman...incredible presence, beauty and finesse...I can't find much to get excited by, with boats which are only good at going fast, and not always that fast.

 

[prv]

I often wondered why he'd spent over £10,000 more to go just a little faster and a lot less pleasantly than my cheap Osprey !

Racing, presumably?

Going just a little faster is the be-all and end-all, sod everything else.

I enjoyed doing a bit of racing for one season when I was 19, but I have no particular desire to do it again now.

Pete

 

[maxcampbell]

Well done, Dan. I crewed an Osprey in the seventies and have always wanted one since.

Couple of thoughts - if you want to helm from the trapeze, you're going to need a very long tiller extension (or, depending on mainsheet arrangements, 2) - it's what's prevented me doing the same so far.

SWIMBO's as crew are a nightmare - sorry, let's say some can be a nightmare from time to time. What about giving her the tiller, telling her what to point the boat at and do the rest yourself - that's what I do now, and it has transformed our sailing. You won't get many trips with a crew "reluctant to take instruction" (or whatever you said originally) before you end up irretrievably single-handed.

 

[Greenheart]

Amusing idea, SWMBO at the helm...quite a few years ago, I attempted to teach a pretty teenaged friend to drive. It wasn't going well, so I suggested that she just steer, because, how hard can it be? And meanwhile I worked the pedals...

...but luckily it was a nice empty country road. I seem to recall we both got quite distracted.

I wonder about length of tiller extension. My present one is a full four feet long - quite a bit longer than I can imagine ever needing whilst hiking in the stern of the cockpit.

Obviously it might be rather short for a serious trapeze posture...especially if trapezing from a point seven or eight feet forward of the transom. Is it worth experimenting, putting a narrow wood rod inside the tube of my extension, so it can telecope out to six foot or more? The Osprey's main tiller is itself five foot long...

 

[Lakesailor]

For me, that link goes to the top-level forums list.

Your original link says the forum doesn't exist.

I guess when you make those requests, you're sending cookies as well as the address. You're not logged in to that forum, are you?

Pete

That was the idea as none of the other links seemed to work. You have to go into the Help and Advice and then Centreboard and Rudder.

 

[Lakesailor]

Thanks Pete, I had assumed the spreader bar had that function, except that some harnesses don't mention having one - sounds painful!

Don't fall for it...... he's pulling your pisser.

 

[maxcampbell]

Amusing idea, SWMBO at the helm...

It's not the helm, it's just steering. All the ropes are far more complicated, and far easier to do oneself.

 

[Marakei]

Congrats, Dan. Had begun to think the day would never come!

 

[Iain C]

And another thumbs up from me! Well done Dan!