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New Boat 4 Sled

united_flight_turns_around.jpg

News today that United Flt.724 from Hono to SF had to turn back when two hours out because strong headwinds were causing "fuel overburn" and the real chance of running out of gas brings back memories of Ocean Station November, a fixture of Transpac Races until 1973.

Ocean Station November was a Coast Guard ship stationed at the point-of-no- return, halfway to Hawaii, along the Great Circle Route and usually in the middle of the Pacific High. A usual tour of duty for Ocean Station November was a month before relief.

On Oct.16, 1956, Pan Am Flight 6 radioed the CG cutter PONCHATRAIN that she had two engines out and would have to ditch. Preparation was rushed, a foam path was laid on the ocean wave, and Captain Dick Ogg safely landed Flight 6 nearby to the PONCHATRAIN. Even though the Stratocruiser 377 broke in half, all passengers were safely rescued.

PanAmDitches-3.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvagZxur7sU

Ocean Station November was discontinued in 1974. If a 2016 Bugliter receives a radio call from the sky above requesting fuel, would suggest a nap and/or stiff drink may be in order.

But this begs the point. What was today's United flight doing running low on fuel because of "strong headwinds' while flying west to east? I consulted upper atmosphere wind charts this afternoon: the usual west to east jetstream was in place. And there weren't no stinkin' headwinds anywhere to be found.
 
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United 724's return yesterday was odd and the "fuel overburn" explanation seems strange. But going back does beat turning the flight into Gimli Glider version 2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider).

Airliners attempt to operate with a minimal fuel load to save money. However, FAR 121.639 specifies that the aircraft have enough fuel to reach the destination, then fly to the most distant alternate, and then still have an additional 45 minutes normal cruise fuel remaining.

Still, things happen. I know of a Virgin America flight that diverted to KOAK for fuel because traffic control was delaying the flight's arrival at KSFO. (You can only fly in circles for so long.) The flight landed at Oakland, got a little gas, and then flew from Oakland to SFO with a plane full of disgruntled, delayed passengers and undoubtedly some explaining to do to the home office for the expensive pit stop.
 
John S commented: United 724's return yesterday was odd and the "fuel overburn" explanation seems strange. But going back does beat turning the flight into Gimli Glider version 2

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider).

Thanks, John, for recalling the remarkable story of the Boeing 767 "Gimli Glider" running out of fuel and successfully gliding 17 minutes to a semi-controlled crash landing at a Canadian race track/drag strip on July 22, 1983. The only injuries were to passengers in the rear who slid down the evacuation slides, which, because the front landing gear had collapsed, did not reach to the ground.

The causes of the Gimli Glider running out of fuel are a classic case of incorrect assumptions and human error, including calculating the fuel in Imperial pounds rather then the correct Metric. As well, the fuel gauges were not working.

Thank goodness the pilot of the Gimli Glider had glider experience he put to good use to bring his plane down safely without engines, mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, or navigational assistance. In an ironic twist, both the pilot and co-pilot were reprimanded and faced demotion and suspension while at the same time being awarded the first ever Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship.

Since the Gimli Glider incident, no one has been able to replicate the incredible landing in a simulator. The 767 aircraft was temporarily repaired on site, and flown off the drag strip.

Can you imagine being the two young boys on bicycles riding on the race track only to look back and find a completely quiet commercial airliner about to land on your heads?
 
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Aspiring Buglighters, if not already, should be aware of large and often opposing forces generated in the area of the gooseneck, the boom vang attachment at the boom, and the boom vang attachment at the base of the mast.

30% of Buglighters suffer some damage in these vulnerable areas where forces can be vertical, horizontal, downward, and rotational, simultaneously, and at locations that are point loaded for extended periods.

For example, the leech of the main, spinnaker sheet, and sometimes a dip in an ocean wave will be trying to lift the end of the boom, while the vang is trying its best to prevent the boom from lifting. Boom vang attachment points are subject to failure, as is the boom itself, at the boom vang's point of attachment. One method of mitigation is a sleeve, either internal, external, or both, on the boom.

Another common failure is the gooseneck fitting itself. If the gooseneck is meant to operate smoothly with the boom horizontal, and the mainsheet is attached to an eye or bale on the bottom of the boom, when sailing downwind with the main eased, the mainsheet will be trying to rotate the boom sideways, a force the gooseneck may not have been designed for. This rotational force can often be minimized by using a webbing attachment for the mainsheet block to the boom.

Travelers also take a lot of load. The safest thing to do with a traveler on a dark night, or going into a jibe, is to secure it amidships. Stan Honey likes to use stretchy nylon line on his traveler adjustment lines to provide some shock absorption during a windy jibe.

Fingers, travelers, and jibeing do not mix.
 
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On a recent road trip with Safety at Sea and Product Advisor Chuck Hawley, Chuck produced from his bag of tricks an aluminum propeller shaft, clamp-on, "zinc" collar. Though I don't have a propeller shaft on my current boat, Chuck convinced me that aluminum zincs are better for the environment, less expensive, and lighter than traditional magnesium zincs traditionally used to combat underwater galvanic corrosion. I have no reason to doubt Mr.Hawley, and am sure if I had the need, would choose aluminum zincs.

For SHTP racers, propeller shaft zincs create parasitic drag in the worst place: at the leading edge of the rudder. The day before the SHTP I made it a practice to dive the bottom of WILDFLOWER, wipe the bottom with a towel, remove the shaft zinc, and band my Martec folding prop with a heavy duty rubber band. I also made sure the prop shaft was marked with the propeller vertical, as well as having a functional shaft lock using Vice-Grips to keep things in place.

Once at anchor in Hanalei, it was easy to reattach the prop shaft zinc in the clear water.
 
"the best laid plans o' mice an' men gang aft agley." So wrote the Scots poet Robbie Burns.

Last year at Catalina Island's West End Bald Eagle nest, the lone eaglet that was hatched didn't survive. This year things look better, with scrappy eaglet twins seeming to double in size weekly, their attentive parents bringing fish tidbits on a regular basis.

http://www.ustream.tv/west-end-cam

We wish these birds well. Their extinction due to DDT was almost a sure thing. Their comeback on Catalina and in the Channel Islands is a happy ending, success story.
 
The phone rang. It was our local mast maker, Buzz Ballenger.

"Hey, Skip, How'd you like to drive MERLIN's new mast to the anodizer in LA? It's the only tank long enough in California."

"Sure Buzz, How long did you say the mast is?"

"92 feet, Skip. But you shouldn't have any problem."

Gulp. For two years I'd been driving dozens of Buzz's new masts and booms over Highway 17 and up the Nimitz Freewary to/from Metalco, the anodizer in Emeryville. But most of those spars hadn't been over 50 feet long.

It turned out the anodizer in LA was pretty much right downtown. This trip was pre car-GPS mapping. I had to have every exit and turn carefully thought out. Or risk disaster, and being on the 5 o'clock news.

Though there were some heart racing moments, things went smoothly, with MERLIN's mast sticking forward over the hood of the Ford van, and 70 feet behind on its special trailer.

fuel tank.jpg

Just yesterday, I read the last remaining Space Shuttle external fuel tank is underway by tug and barge from New Orleans, through the Panama Canal, to Marina Del Rey. There the fuel tank, 28 feet in diameter and 154 feet long, will traverse city streets to be put on exhibit downtown at the California Science Center. Anticipated arrival in MDR is May 19, pending a successful "Baja Bash."

Then a giant, 42 wheel trailer will take 18 hours to move the 15 story long, 33 ton fuel tank 16 miles through Los Angeles suburbs to its new resting place.

What a scene that will be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc

https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/04/...tank-in-existence-heads-to-california-museum/

"Hello. NASA calling?" "You say you need another driver?"

As that overlooked and lesser known Liverpudlian band, Yachts Without Radar, sang: "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCbI-7joT50
 
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Contrary to what one would think, smells have been an important part of a lifetime afloat. As a kid, the family L-36 was kept on a mooring at San Pedro's Fish Harbor, next door to the StarKist tuna canning factory. The olfactory sensation of canned tuna is forever imprinted in my mind.

I learned early on the smell of land shortly after dark meant the old sea breeze was dying and a new offshore breeze was beginning to waft down shoreside canyons. Windshift and sail change coming!

The smell of fresh varnish was always a delight for the senses. And boatyards regularly smelled of Red Lead, traditionally used for bottom paint on wood hulls.

An alcohol stove or Aladdin lantern in the cabin gave off an unmistakable odor as it was being pressurized. So did the smell of mildewed canvas, an electrical short, and engine exhaust from outboard motors.

In September, 1987, I was 18 days out of Bora Bora, bound for Hilo, Hawaii when I encountered the most pleasurable smell at sea I'd yet experienced. It was dawn, and the downslope breeze of the Big Island's volcanos reached well offshore and enveloped WILDFLOWER in the luscious scent of moist land and tropical flowers.

Though it's not everybody's idea of an ideal fragrance, the scent of pine tar certainly evokes the romantic ideal of the long past Age of Sail with their wooden ships and iron men.

Pine Tar Recipe, ingredients available from a local hardware store:
(Ideal for finishing and preserving pine, oak, cedar, spruce, and traditional rigging.)
Equal parts pine tar, Japan Drier, boiled linseed oil, and turpentine.
 
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Okay I get it - I'll try to shower before I invite a bunch of folks aboard for a sail.

Great day Saturday - it was fun having you aboard again (along with Philpott and Cliff Shaw, both of whom are temporarily boatless).
 
BobJ said:
Great day Saturday - it was fun having you aboard again (along with Philpott and Cliff Shaw, both of whom are temporarily boatless).
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Thank you for the Estuary tacking and jibing practice! But what we really want to know is did the new, dark blue fender covers with the embroidered "RAGTIME" get fitted to the fenders to protect and enhance the shiny new paint job?

Doggies.
 
Diesel fumes + salt air + a faint whiff of fiberglass = Boat

Add the sound of clicking halyards to the equation, and it's a full-on flashback to childhood boats.
 
And then there is the sweet smell of Sapele saw dust mixed with the odor of epoxy resin, which in this case means that that the Dog's sled is getting a new rudder.
 
Philpott said:
Okay, I'll bite. Photo, please?
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WILDFLOWER's (my 22' cat) original RudderCraft polyethelene rudder blade had the unpleasant tendency to breakaway when boat speed reached 13 knots.

H.S. and I found a beautiful Sapele plank at Jackal hardwoods in Watsonville. The new laminated rudder blade, using Lamello technology for additional strengthening, should be much stronger, a more hydrodynamic shape, 6" deeper, and 4 pounds lighter. It is taking shape in Howard's shop, and will be finished bright for Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival appreciation factor in September.

Rudder3.jpg
The old polyethelene rudder blade overlaying the new.

Rudder 1.jpg

Rudder 2.jpg
Port & Starboard side, & trailing edge are shaped.
Sealer coat applied prior to shaping the leading edge to protect the trailing edge and stabilize the shape while finishing the leading edge
 
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