wakeup
Active member
Wot I learnt about Rag \'n Sticks
Last week I went out sailing for a day on a 43ft Legend (US Hunter).
Thanks by the way for all of you who posted advice to the 'bluffers guide to rag n stick' I managed to bluff my way through the day without getting keel hauled.
I thought I would just jot down the bullet points in non-scientific terms of things that occurred to me throughout the day not to create a them and us debate, more to point out by experience from a stinkies point of view.
Firstly why do the rag n stick brigade call us Stinkies? It was noticeable just how many various noxious odours were permeating throughout the boat as opposed to a nice clean stink pot. It seems raggies don't go fast enough to get away from their own exhaust fumes or other odours and therefore th cockpit of a sail boat is a pretty smelly place to be even on a big one. I really think they should be called stink barges or something like, afterall most of the boat is mostly under water most of the time so all sorts of smells include the heads drift throught the boat even though the boat looked spotlessly clean and was only 4 years old. They really don't go fast enough to change the air in the boat infact I am sure one of our crew broke wind and it took ages to get away from the odour confirming my thoughts that rag n sticks don't go fast enough to escape a beery fart.
Secondly there isn't anywhere comfortable to sit in a cockpit for several hours even in a big sail cruisers as this one. Why would anyone want to sit in/on a sail boat for more than 20 mins unless they had to?
Thirdly they are not comfortable to steer as you contantly have to hold the wheel and when sailing close to the wind the pressure from the rudder through the wheel can be quite significant. How the hell can you open a beer and change the cd whilst steering a rag boat!! Us stinkies can do all of this with one finger on the wheel.
Fourthly 8 knots really does feel like double the speed than four knots in a sail boat
Would you notice the difference in a stinkpot? I think not. We were all whooping when we first got over 8 knots, but by the end of the day my colleagues (also motor boaters) wanted to put the throttle down to get back to port but were dismayed to see that it still only did 8 knots even thrashing the diesel.
Fifth, you have to keep looking around all the bloody time wot with all that tacking and jiving you get bloody disorieted the coast was on the left, then the right then behind and then in front and we were heading for a point west of us the whole time!
They don't steer dead straight when go up and down a swell they tend to wiggle a bit left then a bit right. They do turn quickly when you spin the wheel which is especially useful for cutting up motor boats with right of way.
They cut nicely through the swell n chop and the ride was very comfortable compared to a planing boat.
They go faster into the wind than with the wind behind them.?? Seriously this is what our skipper told us something to do with optimum aerofoils. And by the way they run the engine when going down wind to stop the rudder stalling in a swell!!!!
Why do they need to be pointy at the back as well as the front (Looks a bit like a pregnant whale). Crew couldn't answer that one they just glared at me, I think I might have been rumbled at this stage. Seems to me there would be less not more hull in contact with the water if it were just pointy at the front and same beam at aft as mid ships (reduced surface area when healing perhaps).
The radio and instruments and all the gadget, toys and switches were all down below so nothing to play with except a compass. You'd think they didn't want to get them wet or something! Wots the point of having all that gear and not displaying it?
They are nice and high of the water giving you a feeling of security and superiority when entering and leaving the marina. I guess this could go to my head if I did it all the time.
All those rope tails in the cockpit were a bit of a health and safety nightmare to be honest. If sailing hadn;t been been invented and all of a sudden someone came out with a product such as a sailboat you could imagine the trouble they would have trying to get it certified as safe. Yeagh well we've designed this thing with a 20m mast thing that carries a big flappy thing that can push the whole 20 tones of boat. Oh and we've got lots of ropes, pulleys and winches that all under strain carrying the 20 tons of load that could rip your arm off if you do the wrong thing. Oh and it got a huge 15hp engine that will really get it out of trouble at 8 knots.
I know this has been tongue in cheek. It isn't meant to inflame a them and us debate they are simply my observations/ brain farts about the experience. I did enjoy my day sailing and it has helped me appreciate the differences between stinkies and raggies and I would recommend all stinkies to give it a go for a day. You will really appreciate what raggies have to contend with. Execept I just didn't get the wash issues unless you happended to be at anchor and it hasn't converted me mainly becasue of the discomfort and slowness. I am told I should try a catamaran to overcome these objections. It was nice to turn the diesel off though and just listen to the wind push you along.
yada yada..
Last week I went out sailing for a day on a 43ft Legend (US Hunter).
Thanks by the way for all of you who posted advice to the 'bluffers guide to rag n stick' I managed to bluff my way through the day without getting keel hauled.
I thought I would just jot down the bullet points in non-scientific terms of things that occurred to me throughout the day not to create a them and us debate, more to point out by experience from a stinkies point of view.
Firstly why do the rag n stick brigade call us Stinkies? It was noticeable just how many various noxious odours were permeating throughout the boat as opposed to a nice clean stink pot. It seems raggies don't go fast enough to get away from their own exhaust fumes or other odours and therefore th cockpit of a sail boat is a pretty smelly place to be even on a big one. I really think they should be called stink barges or something like, afterall most of the boat is mostly under water most of the time so all sorts of smells include the heads drift throught the boat even though the boat looked spotlessly clean and was only 4 years old. They really don't go fast enough to change the air in the boat infact I am sure one of our crew broke wind and it took ages to get away from the odour confirming my thoughts that rag n sticks don't go fast enough to escape a beery fart.
Secondly there isn't anywhere comfortable to sit in a cockpit for several hours even in a big sail cruisers as this one. Why would anyone want to sit in/on a sail boat for more than 20 mins unless they had to?
Thirdly they are not comfortable to steer as you contantly have to hold the wheel and when sailing close to the wind the pressure from the rudder through the wheel can be quite significant. How the hell can you open a beer and change the cd whilst steering a rag boat!! Us stinkies can do all of this with one finger on the wheel.
Fourthly 8 knots really does feel like double the speed than four knots in a sail boat
Would you notice the difference in a stinkpot? I think not. We were all whooping when we first got over 8 knots, but by the end of the day my colleagues (also motor boaters) wanted to put the throttle down to get back to port but were dismayed to see that it still only did 8 knots even thrashing the diesel.Fifth, you have to keep looking around all the bloody time wot with all that tacking and jiving you get bloody disorieted the coast was on the left, then the right then behind and then in front and we were heading for a point west of us the whole time!
They don't steer dead straight when go up and down a swell they tend to wiggle a bit left then a bit right. They do turn quickly when you spin the wheel which is especially useful for cutting up motor boats with right of way.
They cut nicely through the swell n chop and the ride was very comfortable compared to a planing boat.
They go faster into the wind than with the wind behind them.?? Seriously this is what our skipper told us something to do with optimum aerofoils. And by the way they run the engine when going down wind to stop the rudder stalling in a swell!!!!
Why do they need to be pointy at the back as well as the front (Looks a bit like a pregnant whale). Crew couldn't answer that one they just glared at me, I think I might have been rumbled at this stage. Seems to me there would be less not more hull in contact with the water if it were just pointy at the front and same beam at aft as mid ships (reduced surface area when healing perhaps).
The radio and instruments and all the gadget, toys and switches were all down below so nothing to play with except a compass. You'd think they didn't want to get them wet or something! Wots the point of having all that gear and not displaying it?
They are nice and high of the water giving you a feeling of security and superiority when entering and leaving the marina. I guess this could go to my head if I did it all the time.
All those rope tails in the cockpit were a bit of a health and safety nightmare to be honest. If sailing hadn;t been been invented and all of a sudden someone came out with a product such as a sailboat you could imagine the trouble they would have trying to get it certified as safe. Yeagh well we've designed this thing with a 20m mast thing that carries a big flappy thing that can push the whole 20 tones of boat. Oh and we've got lots of ropes, pulleys and winches that all under strain carrying the 20 tons of load that could rip your arm off if you do the wrong thing. Oh and it got a huge 15hp engine that will really get it out of trouble at 8 knots.
I know this has been tongue in cheek. It isn't meant to inflame a them and us debate they are simply my observations/ brain farts about the experience. I did enjoy my day sailing and it has helped me appreciate the differences between stinkies and raggies and I would recommend all stinkies to give it a go for a day. You will really appreciate what raggies have to contend with. Execept I just didn't get the wash issues unless you happended to be at anchor and it hasn't converted me mainly becasue of the discomfort and slowness. I am told I should try a catamaran to overcome these objections. It was nice to turn the diesel off though and just listen to the wind push you along.
yada yada..
