“Stickless in Hawaii: Dragonfly was dismasted 400 miles south of Hawaii. The best we can determine is that a wave, significantly bigger than the others, broke beside us throwing us sideways toward the wind causing the mast to break because of the inertia of the mast and the force of the wind on the sail. The shrouds and headstays were still intact and we made an assessment that trying to save anything from the rig posed too great a risk to the crew considering the conditions of wind and waves, and the absence of safety lines which had been pulled over with the rigging. Al and Stephan cut loose the shrouds and control lines and let the mast go. Fortunately no one was hurt and we were able to make it to Hawaii 6 days later with 10 gallons of fuel to spare. Significant credit goes to the terrific crew for getting through this incredible event!”
It sounds like a shear failure or maybe too large a cutaway for some hardware? I’m trying to get a picture of the buckle before the mast was pushed overboard.
I will be in Hawaii this 17th through 27th. Anyone has anything I should see there, let me know.
I will have the workstation with me and most of the study plans, if anyone orders some.
it should also be a good chance to catch up on 3D modeling and drafting with no calls nor other interruptions.
Last week I got to visit the boatyard of Thain Boats, the builders of the Uganda ferry cats. They are finishing up a SIP panel houseboat with a variation on some hulls that I designed a while ago. Albert, the lead, intends to stack them in the future and stick the internals in with Plexus on the site. These are so much better than the alloy ones that the developer used to require.
Solid knitted glass laminate. No core, hence all the frames.
This strip cedar 45′ has been built in Texas. I understand the hulls are for sale. I imagine they could also be used in a COI cat. Let me know if anyone is interested.
On a mono, the crew can kedge off of the top of the mast. I’ve been there. On a tri, the slackers can all be ordered onto the ama.
A cat with keels is a whole difference scenario, and better hope that you don’t get neaped. A cat with boards can stop, determine the way back out, lift the boards, and flee back. Keels don’t allow that. Thats part of why I prefer boards, among all the other reasons from pointing better to being able to perform repairs while underway.
I see that my friends at CSR boatyard are again hosting the famous Fremont painted naked solstice cyclists, paint prep. The riders will do their body painting at CSR. Maybe this year Scott can coach them that green goes on the right, red, well you know the rest. http://www.solsticecyclist.org/
A soft mast hound. I like that. It should give rotations of over 90 degrees each way of centerline. I’m not sure if they are reliable enough for cruisers yet, and might be more costly than a classic metal one or a metal/composite one. Definitely something to think about.
Years ago a 3D modeled the ideal hound which was the three wires morphing into braids as they reach the mast, and spreading out onto the mast as epoxied laminate. It could not have worked, but was a wonderful conceptual take-off point. This is a way to make it work.
“Rigging
Most of the hardware is on the boat and we are now working on rigging. Here is a picture of our new hounds fitting which is the terminus of the cap shrouds and forestay that hold up the mast. Two titanium thimbles have been threaded into the front of the mast. The lines go inside and are pinned with 5/8″ titanium rods. This is a lot cleaner (and lighter) than our old hounds fitting which was a huge aluminum welded thing with metal shackles. Luke Burritt from Yachtfitters is the mastermind behind this great solution to terminating synthetic rigging to the mast.”
These clear photovoltaics are wild. Imagine your catamaran windows also being your electric source. No idea when Lewmar will start making hatches from this glass.
