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Wow Skip ! Not only is that gorgeous, but you went for a nice, long walk- to Chicken Ranch Beach !!! You are more apt to get moisture from Kay than we are.
 
I am really curious, I hope someone guesses it.

I also hope someone tells us the answer soon. Otherwise, we will be moving on. Plenty of twists, turns, and adventures to report. Here's something to chew on in the meantime: what class boat did my brother and I race in the Olympic Trials that had a solid lead rudder. And why?
 
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So I'll try again...

Perhaps the marbles were intended to roll around - or perhaps move more vigorously - inside the hull to break up or loosen accumulated crud and maybe also some rough fiberglass inside the hull so it could be removed by rinsing or vacuum cleaner. Sort of like shot-peening a fusty old car frame prior to restoration.

It would probably work best to take the boat for a long ride on the trailer rather than sailing.

Tom K
 
I read a very funny book a while ago, titled " Good morning Captain" In one chapter, some shipyard workers were building a large, steel trawler for a grumpy man who did nothing but complain. In the spirit of " Don't get mad, get even" they placed a large ball bearing into the hollow deck beam that would be right above the grumpy owner's bunk, so that it would keep him awake at night, rolling back and forth. Using the same concept, good friend and talented metal fabricator Joey Hulse put marbles in the tanks of his Laser to keep himself awake at night during his successful rounding of Point Conception in his Laser.
 
I also hope someone tells us the answer soon. Otherwise, we will be moving on. Plenty of twists, turns, and adventures to report. Here's something to chew on in the meantime: what class boat did my brother and I race in the Olympic Trials that had a solid lead rudder. And why?

Maybe Skip and his brother raced a Tempest in the Olympic trials. Lead was allowed in the Tempest keel. Since the two youngsters ( I presume) were lighter than the adult skipper and crew, the lead rudder may have offered a way to make weights closer.

Ants
 
Maybe Skip and his brother raced a Tempest in the Olympic trials. Lead was allowed in the Tempest keel. Since the two youngsters ( I presume) were lighter than the adult skipper and crew, the lead rudder may have offered a way to make weights closer.
Ants

Hi Ants, Thanks for the guess. Also kudos to MillyB for answering the marble riddle. No, my brother and I were not racing a Tempest in the Olympic Trials. Not only did our Olympic class boat have a lead rudder, but a mast that was kept vertical in the boat no matter heel angle of hull.
 
My wild ass guess;The led rudder was on a 5.5:cool:

Thanks MillyB, I needed that marbel explanation, I tried to Bully the answer out of skip, but he held firm.
 
Thanks Howard. It was a very Joey thing to do.
My guess on the lead rudder is the Star Class, and probably because they were very young and very lightweight
 
Good Grief! In this day and age, one does not expect a newspaper or online news source to employ a weatherman. But the NY Times reporters really outdid themselves this morning in describing approaching Tropical Storm Kay. These are just some of the descriptive words used in their report: "barrels closer," "churns along," "crawls up," "hovers," "sweeping," "posing," "threatening," "veers closer to Coast," "veers away from Coast," "parallels Coast."
Sounds like they might need a Grib and Tonic.

Howard was correct that my brother and I competed in the '68 Olympic Trials in the 5.5 Meter Class. At the time, spade rudders were not allowed, and rudders were hung off the back end of the keel. In an attempt to minimize wetted surface, 5.5 Meter designer Brit Chance came up with the bright idea of making the keel area smaller by making the attached rudder out of lead. The problem was this put the rudder nearly in the center of the boat. As well, you got to turn a very heavy hunk of lead weighing hundreds of pounds with a tiller and extension.

Further forward, the mast butt was stepped on a trailer hitch ball. And the shrouds went through large sheaves in the deck at the chainplates to a hydraulic ram below decks. This allowed the mast to be canted to windward as the boat heeled to leeward. How well did this work? I can reveal that on occasion the hydraulics would fail and the mast, with a loud whoosh, would cant itself to leeward instead, which with the lead rudder, made for a festive event. The name of the 5.5 was OUTTA SIGHT, and unfortunately we were, but not in the intended direction.
 
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Had an interesting encounter at the start of the Hog Island Race last Sunday. We had a well timed start at the starboard end. Everything went well except with 10 seconds a larger Raven (24') swooped down on our little Day Sailor, barging from the wrong side of the line, oblivious to our hails. Basically, out of control.

At the start, the port side of the Raven was bumping along our starboard side, and his luffing main boom hit me in the head. I'd role played this situation before, and being pissed with adrenaline running from the boom encounter, I grabbed his leeward shrouds and rail and gave him a big push backwards, sending us forward away from the fray.

If there is any rule that deals with this hull pushing and head banging situation, I am not aware. Here is a photo of the Raven rudder. I'm guessing it was designed by Alexander Calder in the early 50's? Calder was a revolutionary sculptor who developed mobiles as an art form. How he got into Raven rudders I do not know.

Raven Rudder.jpg
 
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I grabbed his leeward shrouds and rail and gave him a big push backwards, sending us forward away from the fray.If there is any rule that deals with this hull pushing and head banging situation, I am not aware.

Typical Tomales Bay calamitous chaos. That sounds like a lot of fun. Just seeing the water in the background of this photo makes me long to be there.
 
I am very happy that the 110 fleet had it's own start in the Hog this year- for this very reason. I hope you were not damaged Skip and, BTW everyone, he and Skip Shapiro won overall in the Daysailer.
Yes, I think rudder by Alexander Calder !
 
The father of one of our SSS Forum's posters was navigator for the most audacious, well planned, and successful voyage of exploration ever undertaken. From Magellan to Drake, to Slocum and Stan Honey, this voyage and its navigator is their peer. There was no GPS, the charts could be many miles off, communication was tenuous, and where the voyage would end, if ever, was uncertain.

For a bowl of Macapuno, what voyage of exploration is this? Here is your hint: a primary celestial object, one of the brightest stars in the sky, was the primary guide to navigating the voyage. No, not our sun, Sirius, nor Hokeule'a. You will be closer thinking of the keel of ARGO, the mythical ship of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.

Ready, Set, Go!
 
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At the start, the port side of the Raven was bumping along our starboard side, and his luffing main boom hit me in the head. I'd role played this situation before, and being pissed with adrenaline running from the boom encounter, I grabbed his leeward shrouds and rail and gave him a big push backwards, sending us forward away from the fray.

If there is any rule that deals with this hull pushing and head banging situation, I am not aware.

One of the exceptions to Rule 42:

132EB1A4-B518-4A3E-AC2F-E853F18F7B4F.jpeg

But the basic rule 42 specs only wind & water to propel so …
 
The father of one of our SSS Forum's posters was navigator for the most audacious, well planned, and successful voyage ever undertaken. From Magellan to Drake, to Slocum and Stan Honey, this voyage and its navigator is their peer. There was no GPS, the charts could be many miles off, communication was tenuous, and where the voyage would end, if ever, was uncertain.

For a bowl of Macapuno, what voyage is this? Here is your hint: a primary celestial object, one of the brightest stars in the sky, was the primary guide to navigating the voyage. No, not our sun, Sirius, nor Hokeule'a. You will be closer thinking of the keel of ARGO, the mythical ship of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.

Ready, Set, Go!

The Transglobe Expedition circumnavigated the globe (vertically - whose reference) from September 1979 through completion in 1982 as described in a book (To The Ends of The Earth) by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. The route included Sahara crossing, ocean crossing, Antarctic crossing, heading up the Yukon, and waiting on melting Arctic ice floes and wondering whether the retrieval craft will arrive before the floe is no longer viable. There were navigators at various stages of the expedition, so I can not provide the exact name at this time.

Cheers,
Ants
 
I am very happy that the 110 fleet had it's own start in the Hog this year- for this very reason. I hope you were not damaged Skip and, BTW everyone, he and Skip Shapiro won overall in the Daysailer.
Yes, I think rudder by Alexander Calder !

Thanks for the heads-up, MillyB. The Sleddog can be reticent to toot his well-earned horn. Congrats to the two Skips!
 
The Transglobe Expedition circumnavigated the globe (vertically - whose reference) from September 1979 through completion in 1982 as described in a book (To The Ends of The Earth) by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. The route included Sahara crossing, ocean crossing, Antarctic crossing, heading up the Yukon, and waiting on melting Arctic ice floes and wondering whether the retrieval craft will arrive before the floe is no longer viable. There were navigators at various stages of the expedition, so I can not provide the exact name at this time. Cheers, Ants

Hi Ants, The Transglobe Expedition certainly qualifies as Epic. However, it is not the voyage of exploration to which I refer. Please feel free to try again.
 
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There seems to be some contention about using Hog Island as a mark in the Hog Island Race. Imagine successfully navigating close in and through these astral rounding marks with their 220 moon obstructions, including 80 near Jupiter. Never mind Venus spins backwards. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220911.html
 
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