Beneteau381
Well-known member
Take no notice of the old crankies on here, a laudable project
S
DIY wind speed and direction
- Thread starter slawosz
- Start date
S
Neeves
Well-known member
If you have dragged a few times this summer, anywhere, I might suggest there is something wrong and you should be looking at making changes. You say 'generally due to unforecast sudden changes - are you suggesting you have also dragged for other reasons (but less frequently). Most people don't drag, at all. Your ground tackle and techniques should be good for virtually anything - the reason to move is to offer more comfort - NOT because you doubt your ground tackle or techniques. Your choice of location might be part of the problem - I would have thought having dragged once, presumably unexpectedly, then you would choose the locations with more care - expecting the unexpected. To drag a second time should have hammered this home for you.
I hate to make the suggestion but your post suggests you are something of a liability - to others as well as yourself - and they are your words.
Anchoring is actually very simple, it is really not difficult. Many people, most, survive quite well with unexpected changes of wind etc etc - but they might have a better technique and or better ground tackle (the 2 tend to go hand in hand).
Do yourself, your crew and your neighbours a favour - question what you do. There is no shame in asking for advice and comment - there is some shame (and increasing shame) in dragging a few times this summer (or any summer) and doing nothing to reduce the incidences of dragging to zero.
And don't say you could not enjoy some help - your own posts admits to a problem.
Jonathan
RunAgroundHard
Well-known member
Another thread Jonathan, this is about DIY wind speed and direction.
RunAgroundHard
Well-known member
...the numbers don't lie
The B&G stuff plots wind direction and velocity over time and shows the shift trend. They feed that into their tacking software. If you could format your graphs to show the same, that would be useful trending for predicting the headers, lifts.
Kelpie
Well-known member
Thanks for your concern and advice. I consider our ground tackle adequate- 12m mono using 25kg Rocna, always power set, with 10mm chain. The times we have dragged, we have never been the only boat to do so. It's been like a game of dodgems at times. Crowded Med anchorages with limited options for extending scope or going elsewhere. Not much to do but sit up on anchor watch with the key in the ignition. Even if we held perfectly, some other numpty would drag in to us anyway.
I used to have complete faith in the Rocna. Have sat out many blows around the Hebrides in confidence. But the Med was different. No space, poor holding, and totally unpredictable weather.
Neeves
Well-known member
Yes its another thread - but its in answer to a comment posted by a member.
If you are forced to using a short scope - then your fall back is to use a decent snubber. Using a snubber with chain means that when the chain is taut - you still have elasticity and your anchor will not suffer snatch loads. The fact that others drag is not an excuse - it simply means that they have the same problems.
The simply fact is - you might not need the chain at all - its there because its abrasion resistant (and you feel good about using chain - and you are not alone). But when the wind is up and the rode is taut - the snubber will continue to offer elasticity (which is the same as having access to more catenary).
Kelpie I'm sure you don't want to start another thread
. But celery is an accepted distraction Jonathan
thinwater
Well-known member
The wind always changes dirrection for thunderstorms. My practice is based on this (you set the V in the dirrection of the shift , not for the current wind.
But if you have dragged several time, something else is wrong.
fredrussell
Well-known member
Daydream believer
Well-known member
I have a windex on my vhf aerial, plus a Raymarine wind instrument with display over the hatch, where I can see it. I tend to use that a lot, Especially at night.
I see little need for additional gizmos whether they be WIFI, or hard wired, as my raymarine unit is. Actually I have little faith in wifi, so prefer the hard wired versions of anything. My Raymarine gives me reasonably accurate wind speed, whether true or apparent & apart perhaps for an expanded scale- Something I had on a unit many years ago, I see little need for anything else.
I am not into guessing wind speed with a wet finger & I defy anyone to accurately tell it without a decent instrumen. Regardless of their claims when they get to the club bar. As for bits of wool; I have these on the sails, would not be without, but gave up with those on the shroud years ago. I do have "not so fond" memories of hoisting a burgee up the mast, at the start of every sail,. My windex, with its 2 indicator arms, now solves that issue & is far better than a fluttering rag on a stick, or bit of wool.
I see little need for additional gizmos whether they be WIFI, or hard wired, as my raymarine unit is. Actually I have little faith in wifi, so prefer the hard wired versions of anything. My Raymarine gives me reasonably accurate wind speed, whether true or apparent & apart perhaps for an expanded scale- Something I had on a unit many years ago, I see little need for anything else.
I am not into guessing wind speed with a wet finger & I defy anyone to accurately tell it without a decent instrumen. Regardless of their claims when they get to the club bar. As for bits of wool; I have these on the sails, would not be without, but gave up with those on the shroud years ago. I do have "not so fond" memories of hoisting a burgee up the mast, at the start of every sail,. My windex, with its 2 indicator arms, now solves that issue & is far better than a fluttering rag on a stick, or bit of wool.
Neeves
Well-known member
It is all interrelated but the heel angle of your yacht, measured with a 'sort of inclinometer' of your compass bowl indicates (if you cannot feel it) that you are heeling too much and thus you are not sailing very efficiently, you need to reef, change the sail or move the ballast. The little bits of wool on the sails (imaginitively called 'tell tails') tell you that you have trimmed the sails for the wind into which you are sailing.
What more do you really need
Does it really matter if its 16 or 18 knots true and the fact that its actually 18.4 knots.....?
If you were racing this feel (that I inadequately describe) might be converted into numbers and you might thus squeeze a little bit of speed out of your yacht - but you are not racing - you are there because you enjoy sailing.
Each to their own
However sail a multihull and you lose part of the feeling, as it does not heel quite so much and knowing wind speed can be invaluable - especially off the wind.
Jonathan
What more do you really need
Does it really matter if its 16 or 18 knots true and the fact that its actually 18.4 knots.....?
If you were racing this feel (that I inadequately describe) might be converted into numbers and you might thus squeeze a little bit of speed out of your yacht - but you are not racing - you are there because you enjoy sailing.
Each to their own
However sail a multihull and you lose part of the feeling, as it does not heel quite so much and knowing wind speed can be invaluable - especially off the wind.
Jonathan
NormanS
Well-known member
Surely part of the joy of sailing is the feel of the wind, and making intelligent use of it. I really don't need instruments for that, but then I learned to sail in dinghies.
BobnLesley
Well-known member
Wind-speed instruments tend to be more use after a blow than during one: A small screen reporting that the wind's now gusting to 48.2 knots makes it much harder to tell yourself that 'it's probably gusting about forty' and that is not a good thing. However, once it's all over you can join in the chat with the other skippers in the anchorage/marina comparing last night's wind-speed readings; it's a very similar game to peeing up against the wall at primary school.
Kelpie
Well-known member
I've used a second anchor set in a V when I had space to do so. In crowded anchorages though, you can't do anything very different from everybody else, as you all have to swing together.
Anyway it's all a thread drift. The point I was making is that wind instruments can be very useful at anchor, not just when sailing. Sometimes the instrument is the only thing you can see.
As a former dinghy sailor, I used to think expensive instruments were just gizmos for people with too much money. I've changed my mind on that.
Daydream believer
Well-known member
I had a dinghy until 2019 & could not sail without a burgee, or preferably a windex. On my Phantom I had 2 windex fitted to the mast at gooseneck level to save looking up. I found them invaluable. But to each his own.I would not sail any yacht or dinghy without a reliable means of wind direction. Since 2000 I have had wind speed & have suddenly realised how useful it is, in spite of poo pooing it up to then.
Down wind can be difficult to assess wind speed, because wave conditions can vary so much; as can boat reaction in the same wind but different seas.
Upwind is similar. I can hold full sail in 22kts in flat water without realising what has happened. But in other conditions I am reefing at just 15kts. But then I have to adjust the angle to the wind to get better drive. I also have to "work" the waves. I find that watching the instruments, along with the log & compass, helps me in that I soon can see if I am making good progress to windward, or just bearing off & fooling myself.
The instruments are best used as a set rather than one on its own. More so at night.
NormanS
Well-known member
How on earth do you manage without a waveometer? ?
Daydream believer
Well-known member
60 years on the tiller, Man & boy. It is called experience. ?
Do not worry, You have hope yet, but you must try harder.
srm
Well-known member
When I got my first cruising boat only the very well funded and very serious racing boats had mast head wind instruments. Mere mortals like myself had a burgee plus telltales on the shrouds. Since then a windex has replaced the burgee.
I have had boats with wind instruments and they are very nice to have, but in no way essential. Unless, of course, you choose to sail from inside a wheelhouse or tent and never poke your head out into the sea air. The mechanical variety all eventually suffer failures of the sensors, not surprising considering they only get a rest in a mirror calm, regardless of whether the boat is in use or not.
Offshore I use a windvane steering device so normally know the wind direction. The teltale on the top of the vane warns if something is wrong with the gear. The feel of the boat and sails tells me the relative wind strength, simply more or less sail without the need for numbers.
Although, I do remember one post on a similar thread some years back that stated:
"No true sailor would go to sea without wind instruments"
Its up to the individual where they choose to spend their money. I have never been able to justify the exorbitant cost of a set of wind instruments vs a windex illuminated by the tricolour lamp for night use.
I have had boats with wind instruments and they are very nice to have, but in no way essential. Unless, of course, you choose to sail from inside a wheelhouse or tent and never poke your head out into the sea air. The mechanical variety all eventually suffer failures of the sensors, not surprising considering they only get a rest in a mirror calm, regardless of whether the boat is in use or not.
Offshore I use a windvane steering device so normally know the wind direction. The teltale on the top of the vane warns if something is wrong with the gear. The feel of the boat and sails tells me the relative wind strength, simply more or less sail without the need for numbers.
Although, I do remember one post on a similar thread some years back that stated:
"No true sailor would go to sea without wind instruments"
Its up to the individual where they choose to spend their money. I have never been able to justify the exorbitant cost of a set of wind instruments vs a windex illuminated by the tricolour lamp for night use.
WindyWindyWindy
Active member
It's a good idea. Part of what signalk needs to get some traction is an ST style display. Which is perhaps the tricky part. 3D printing doesn't give a nice finish from what I've seen.
I'd be looking at an esp32 putting out signalk over WiFi. I think they have Arduino IDEs available for them. It's tiny, low power, got the network stack, and you don't need a lot of ancillaries for a couple of light sensors.
I'd be looking at an esp32 putting out signalk over WiFi. I think they have Arduino IDEs available for them. It's tiny, low power, got the network stack, and you don't need a lot of ancillaries for a couple of light sensors.