Advice on Getting the Tenderly Underway (and Back)

Builder's Forum
21

Ahhh!...thank you for that clarification, as well as for the reefing info.

My next move is to do some extensive backyard rigging and handing of various issues while make-believe sailing - my goal being getting the boat actually sailing before the New Hampshire winter sets in.

Much of you and others have said on this thread should be clearly available - more easily searchable? - by others in my “boat,” whose numbers I would guess (hope?) are significant.  Perhaps a separate spot on the website:  “ins and outs of dinghy sailing” or something more clever...?

Thanks again, Michael.

22

Shoemaker:

Glad to be of help.  It's been theraputic for me, as the only sailing I've gotten in  so far this year is the "brain sailing" variety, and thinking through all this sail drill stuff and trying to set my thoughts down in words has been pretty good brain therapy for me.  No, my health is fine, but, to cut a long story sidewise, I've been sticking pretty close to home this year to help my wife through a rough patch.  We believe she's now on the mend, more's the Lord's blessing, so I'm hopeful of getting my Passagemaker Winkle out on the water before our winter sets in (I'm in central Ohio, so maybe I've got more time than do you?) after I get a couple of little boat projects done.

By all means, do some "dry" sail drill to work out the details.  Hopefully, you'll have some nice, milder wind days here soon to get out on the water for "wet" sail drill--hopefully with just the boat getting wet and not you!  Which is not to say that capsize drill ain't a good idea, if you've got time before the water gets too cold for that to be less life-threatening.  Just pick your weather so you work your way up from light wind to heavier stuff as you grow more comfortable, and you'll be fine.

I wish you all joy of sailing your Tenderly.  They sure are mighty fine lookin' boats.  Those videos John put together of a pair of them going at it hammer and tongs is enough to make anybody with warm blood in his veins want to sail one!

.....Michael

23

 Shoemaker -
When I built my Skerry, I'd never sailed a boat so small. I've crewed (briefly) on square riggers and done a fair amount of sailing on boats in the 40' range, but this business of little tiny boats with no ballast and no keel was completely new to me.
Like Mummichog, my Skerry has a balanced lug, and like Mummichog, I like to launch and move over to a shallow sandy area out of everyone's way, where I can step the mast, remove the sail ties that I've wrapped around the boom, yard, and sail, sort out the halyard, downhaul, and sheet, and haul the yard up momentarily just to make sure everything is right.  I'll slip the circular oarlocks, with oars attached, into the center sockets and drop the blade end of the oars into the open oarlocks at the forward rowing station.  Next I'll install the rudder.  I've rigged a second line to the rudder so I can haul the blade up as well as down.  One jam cleat serves both lines, in turn.  Now I'm ready to hop in, row out against the prevailing wind, which seems to always be in my face, as far as I need to, depending on how windy it is, pull the rudder blade down, insert the daggerboard and secure it with a bungee, hoist the sail, cleat the downhaul, and away we go.  Obviously, if the Admiral is along, she can help with some of this stuff.
My advice to you is to get everything set up so you know it's right, then drop the sail and row out a fair distance from shore before you set the sail.  When you're ready to come back in, drop the sail and row in.  Don't try to master everything at once.  Get to know the boat - how she sails, how high she points, how she tacks, how stable she is.  My first time out I capsized while trying to tack away from a lee shore.  My first time trying to sail out of a cove in a brisk wind I ran into a dock.  I tell you this not to scare you off, but to say I was trying to do things I wasn't yet ready for.
One final piece of advice:  Make sure your mainsheet is long enough that you can let the boom swing all the way out over the bow.  That way you can completely depower the sail.
The Tenderly is a beautiful little boat.  Enjoy her.
hokker

24

Shoe, Gramps, and Hokker,

First off, I've enjoyed all your comments immensely.  Thanks for sharing your experiences and ideas.  

I've had my just finished Skerry (balanced lug) out twice now. First time was calm to 5, second was 5 to 10.  First time out was, Oh gee, this is easy, we're going to have a wonderful time, me and this boat.  Second time was, Oh my, this sucks, I apparently have no idea what I'm doing.  And I'm not new to sailing - have sailed a Wayfarer, Monty 15, and homemade sloop, easily a good fifty times in the past 10 years.  But never a balanced lug.  

I keep my oars secured by sliding the handles through a 2nd set of horned oarlocks.  So far, no problems.  The rudder, without a stop or a bungee, for some reason hasn't popped up. I'm waiting. And, even when trailering up and down the ramp, the rudder stays turned up, on its own, probably owing to it being a snug fit; so as yet, I've attached the rudder while in the parking lot, instead of out in the water.    

I'm still getting used to the forward/backward motion of the tiller, it not being automatic yet in my head as to which way it's going to make the boat turn.

The second time out, I'd made the mistake of raising the sail without first attaching the downhaul.  Out the sail went, almost horizontally, like a kite, the Skerry obediently following.  People on shore, thinking, "Oh my, that guy doesn't know what he's doing."  Good call.  From now on, I'm raising the sail in the parking lot, attaching all lines, and then lowering it for launch purposes.

Until I'm more confident, I'll be rowing far out into open water, too, before raising the sail. Only people with binoculars will be able to tell that guy out there doesn't know what he's doing.  

So, back to sailing, on the 2nd time.  Winds 5 to 10, and a good strong current, heading downwind.  With sail up, I really couldn't make the Skerry do anything I wanted it to.  I couldn't even manage to jibe, from one broad reach to the other side's broad reach; and this was only in 5 to 10.  The hull seemed determined to go downwind, despite movements of the tiller, downhaul and mainsheet.  The sail just kept laughing at me.  Forget about rounding up into the wind to try reaching.  Not happening.  I finally had to lower sail, and get back to what the Skerry allows me to do, as in, Row, which it seems to love to do, into the wind or with it. 

But, I couldn't row, with the sail up, which was seriously disheartening.  The sail seemed determined to present itself flat to the wind, spread widthwise across the boat, gunwale to gunwale.  No fun there.  It totally befuddled me as well as to why the sail wouldn't just feather, as it had the first time I'd had the Skerry out.  

So now I'm reading posts like you're's-all, to figure out just what I'm doing wrong - or maybe there is no wrong, when up against a strong current - in that, a boat like the Skerry, in a strong current, with only 5 to 10, is going to go with the current, no matter what you do.  But I just don't want to believe that, not yet!  Thanks   - Brad 

 

25

I am now “Shoe” - which takes me back to elementary school, appropriate to feeling like a novice sailer again, thanks to Brad, who I see is a fellow alumnus of the Wayfarer, my wife’s most hated sailboat.

Brad’s post, along with certain details of others’ posts, is the reason I asked that first question - which is basically how to prepare for and manage the potential for mayhem in finally getting one’s finished dinghy into the water.  Having no experience in doing so myself as yet, I will not take even a stab at trying to address Brad’s question re winds at 5 to 10, but I hope others will.  And in so doing, it may help to share the details of some more or less spectacular misadventures, along with the 20-20 hindsight that has hopefully prevented them in subsequent sailings.  For example, what exactly happened to Hokker in trying to tack from a lee shore and capsizing?

Perhaps all this should be categorized and posted in its separate place on clc’s website, but for now, I hope we can keep going here.

26

For Daniel B - Two possible causes for your trouble on the second sail.  First - are you sure that the centerboard was in and all the way down?  Don't laugh, it has happened.  The second, and more likely culprit is that the downhaul was way too loose.  Micheal Storer, who designed the Goat Island Skiff and Oz Goose boats (plus many others) is arguably the leading expert on lug rigging/performance.  He says:

 "The downhaul is used to tension the sail – so is the most highly loaded rope in the boat. It is probably the most important adjustment in terms of creating the correct sail shape.  It needs to be medium firm for light winds – until the boat is moving reliably.  Quite firm once the boat is moving well but is not difficult to sail nice and flat in the water.  Fiercely firm once the boat starts to be harder to hold up – it flattens the sail considerably which reduces power."

On the marconi rigged boats like you have been sailing, the mast holds the leading edge of the sail fixed.  No so on free standing lug rigs.  It takes lots of tension to hold the leading edge in the correct position.  When you don't have that tension, the leading eadge sags to leeward and the sail acts more like a parachute than a wing.

Go here to read everything you ever wanted about lug rigs:  https://www.storerboatplans.com/category/tuning/lug-rig-setup/

On the GIS, he recomends either a 4:1 or 6:1 downhaul. (Technically it is a vanghaul because it acts both as a downhaul and a boom vang.) You first raise the sail all the way to the top and cleat the halyard.  You then crank on the downhaul as required to the required firmness.

First picture show halyard on the right and my 6:1 vanghaul on the left, both rigged so I can control from aft.