Interesting sailing...

[Norman_E]

....Without any wind speed indication. You don't know how much you rely on things until you lose them. My wind instrument anemometer has got stuck, and despite taking it down and cleaning it twice, it still won't turn. (It works fine at deck level, but put it up the mast and it lasts until you get down again!) The result is that I am having to judge wind speed by feel and guesswork. Not too hard when it blew strongly. I even guessed the windspeeds pretty accurately according to another sailor who was out in the same area. Where it is hard is in light winds, where I find it difficult to guess, when motoring, if it is going to be worth hoisting the sails. Having said that I had a good light wind sail today from Symi to Bozborun.

I think I will have to grasp the (expensive) nettle and buy new instruments, and am debating an NMEA 2000 setup.

 

[Chrusty 1]

....Without any wind speed indication. You don't know how much you rely on things until you lose them. My wind instrument anemometer has got stuck, and despite taking it down and cleaning it twice, it still won't turn. (It works fine at deck level, but put it up the mast and it lasts until you get down again!) The result is that I am having to judge wind speed by feel and guesswork. Not too hard when it blew strongly. I even guessed the windspeeds pretty accurately according to another sailor who was out in the same area. Where it is hard is in light winds, where I find it difficult to guess, when motoring, if it is going to be worth hoisting the sails. Having said that I had a good light wind sail today from Symi to Bozborun.

I think I will have to grasp the (expensive) nettle and buy new instruments, and am debating an NMEA 2000 setup.

Goodness gracious, however did we manage to sail anywhere, before the advent of electrickery?

 

[Seajet]

Goodness gracious, however did we manage to sail anywhere, before the advent of electrickery?

Chrusty1,

I was wondering the same thing; I must as a priority fire 12 volts through my wool telltales & windex, it should bring me up to Ben Ainslie standard in a flash; literally !

 

[Conachair]

After sailing for ages with any windspeed readout I bit the bullet and bought a nasa meteoman.

I´ve tried turning it off and on underway but it doesn´t seem to make any difference to the wind at all

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[lustyd]

My windex broke the other week, I've no idea whether I'm on a reach or a run now

 

[Chrusty 1]

Chrusty1,

I was wondering the same thing; I must as a priority fire 12 volts through my wool telltales & windex, it should bring me up to Ben Ainslie standard in a flash; literally !

I do have the odd moment of bemusement when I realise that some people spend more on electronics for their boats, than I paid for me boat! I don't really believe it makes 'em better sailors.

I have always thought of sailing as a sort of elemental thing, just me, the boat, the water and the wind. Mind you, there are two bit's of electrickery I am grateful for as I bimble about the oggin, one is me tillerpilot, the other is me little handheld CP. I'm afraid that I consider all the rest of the parafinalia as so much baggage. I still use paper charts though, and would never put out to sea without them. The batteries never go flat on paper charts!

By the way Norman, I am not disparaging you, we all find our own level really, just that banks of electronics isn't mine.

 

[Martin999]

My Wind Transducer Fell Off

I lost my second transducer in 3 years after being invaded by starlings. I've not had it replaced yet (c£400) - and may not as SWMBO now doesn't know how windy it is

 

[Chrusty 1]

My windex broke the other week, I've no idea whether I'm on a reach or a run now

Gosh, that must be truly awful......However do you manage????

 

[V1701]

You could try a hand held anemometer, Kestrel brand from about £90, Skywatch brand from about £30. Cheaper alternatives on ebay...

 

[OGITD]

My cups off the NASA head-unit and my Hawke were ripped off in the storms helped by a neighbours halyard.
I have the replacement parts but not fitted yet as my plan is to send the NASA unit back to have it replaced (for a price).
I have taken to sailing using the tell-tails and I’m about to install the ‘ancient mariners’ bit’s of wool off the stays.
Although after a while you just sail to the wind & the feel of the boat ….. especially in the dark with you glasses covered in salt crystals so not able to see the instruments.

 

[30boat]

I haven't had a working wind instrument for years as I'm certainly not spending any more money on that blasted Raymarine thingy.It keeps breaking dow.Even when it was working I didn't turn it on all that much.I can sail the boat perfectly well without electronics telling me how hard it is blowing.I even manage to reef when I need to...

 

[onesea]

Having just got a boat with wind gear after long time without, cannot say I mind it to much.

The Echo Sounder and water log I appreciate. Although it does lead to some interesting conversations...

SWMBO: 8.1knots..
Me; Thats good, Ditching the main as fast as I can.
SWMBO: Oh did you see the end of the boom was in the water on that one
Me: Hmm 28 knots on that gust I think we need a reef.
Discussion over..

Last boat no wind gear,

ME I think we really need a reef now,
SWMBO: Why?
Me: Look at the wind on the sea..
SWMBO: I cannot see it..
Me: well look at all the other boats they are much bigger and all have reefs in!

Then she wonders why sailing terrify's her!

 

[cgull]

I haven't had a working wind instrument for years as I'm certainly not spending any more money on that blasted Raymarine thingy.It keeps breaking dow.Even when it was working I didn't turn it on all that much.I can sail the boat perfectly well without electronics telling me how hard it is blowing.I even manage to reef when I need to...

I had a Charter boat out last week and the Wind Instrument was not working.
Didnt really make any difference.

 

[prv]

It's odd, I've never sailed according to the numbers on a wind machine, even though in my chartering days every boat had one. I couldn't tell you what wind speed in knots I'd reef at - if there was enough wind to be reefing, I wasn't bothering to look at the instrument, the amount of breeze was abundantly clear.

I'll concede that the "how much of this breeze is because we're motoring?" question is made easier by a wind instrument with GPS and true wind, but looking at the surface of the water will do.

Quite happy with my burgee on KS, don't miss the "damn whirly thing" (as previous owner called it) for a moment.

Pete

 

[Kimmo]

We've now gone without wind speed instrument to Med and back. The Nexus wireless wind speed indicator broke down in a hailstorm on the first week from leaving home. Shows windspeed when the transducter is on deck, but not when it's on top of the mast. We've had that Nexus wireless unit for 3 years and in total it perhaps has worked in total for 3 weeks during those 3 years. Had to buy a mast ladder to make it quicker to climb to the mast to fix constantly the transducter.

Wont buy a wind speed instrument ever again and certainly not anything which is wireless or Nexus.

 

[fireball]

Well - "they've " been amazingly harsh on you ...

FWIW I agree with you - when you have a decent breeze it is easier to judge strength/direction - when it is just a F1-2 it is much harder to identify - especially if you're motoring - at which point a glance at the numbers does help decide whether or not to sail.

 

[Seajet]

It's odd, I've never sailed according to the numbers on a wind machine, even though in my chartering days every boat had one. I couldn't tell you what wind speed in knots I'd reef at - if there was enough wind to be reefing, I wasn't bothering to look at the instrument, the amount of breeze was abundantly clear.

I'll concede that the "how much of this breeze is because we're motoring?" question is made easier by a wind instrument with GPS and true wind, but looking at the surface of the water will do.

Quite happy with my burgee on KS, don't miss the "damn whirly thing" (as previous owner called it) for a moment.

Pete

+1; I don't need a guage to tell me how frustrated or frightened I am !

 

[neil_s]

I like my NASA Wind.

When I look up at the Windex my hat blows off.

QED

Neil

 

[Scillypete]

I will admit to having gone a bit high tech in that I have red and green ribbon tied to the port and Starboard shrouds, 'tis all thats required to find the wind direction. As for knowing if there is enough wind to sail or should you motor, surely if there is a ripple on the water then there is enough wind to sail, it might be a tad slow though.

 

[jwilson]

....Without any wind speed indication. You don't know how much you rely on things until you lose them. My wind instrument anemometer has got stuck, and despite taking it down and cleaning it twice, it still won't turn. (It works fine at deck level, but put it up the mast and it lasts until you get down again!) The result is that I am having to judge wind speed by feel and guesswork. Not too hard when it blew strongly. I even guessed the windspeeds pretty accurately according to another sailor who was out in the same area. Where it is hard is in light winds, where I find it difficult to guess, when motoring, if it is going to be worth hoisting the sails. Having said that I had a good light wind sail today from Symi to Bozborun.

I think I will have to grasp the (expensive) nettle and buy new instruments, and am debating an NMEA 2000 setup.

I have sailed a lot of miles with no electronics at all, and can happily still live without them if need be now.

I agree however that the one time thay are genuinely useful is to know that if they are set to true wind, you can tell if it's worth bothering turning the engine off. Without them it's easy to be fooled by the apparent wind and think you have enough to sail by at a reasonable speed. Put up sails, engine off, find you are only drifting, sails down, engine on again..... Repeat occasionally.....