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Around the World of Sailing
5 September 2001
This weeks features:
Finish Line
Finish Line
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/atwos/2001/se/0905/frw.htm
From 1798 to 1861 2/3rds more US naval officers died
from dueling than combat action.
Water Level Update
Weekly Water Level Update
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/atwos/2001/se/0905/frw.htm
Here is an informative feature that used to appear in the
Friday edition of Sailing Daily. Below you'll find water level
info that pertains to Lake Michigan and Huron.
For information on other lakes see:
http://huron.lre.usace.army.mil/levels/weekly.html
Reference Point
Inches below Chart Datum 0
Difference from last month 0
Difference from last year -3
Difference from long term average for August -23
Difference from Record High -54
Difference from Record Low +10
Forecast for 31 September 2001 -2
Rowing Reporter
Readers Write
Loren Thompson owner of a S2 9.1 wrote in regards
to the Quick Stop man overboard recovery method. He said:
"You should not be recommending this to inexperienced sailors
as the standard. I race a S2 9.1 and when you are using
overlapping headsails, the quickstop method can put a hole
in your jib during the backwinding tack.... It is dangerous
for the crew and puts the boat to close to the person overboard.
We now only do the figure 8 recovery."
My feeling would be that if you try both methods and
one puts a hole in a sail and gives you a better chance of
recovering the person overboard then do it. Deal with the
sail repair later. Second, better to be too close than too
far. Getting near the person is only part of the recovery.
A Hans Christian owner named Rocky wrote: "I recently
read an article in a boating mag, can you help me find it? It
is about a boat owner installing a Yanmar without the help of
a professional."
I believe the article Rocky is in search of was in
Good Old Boat. Written by George Snyder it was in regards to
methods of 'Poor Man's Diesel Installation'. For more see
http://www.goodoldboat.com/history.html#may01
For information on repowering with Universal, Westerbeke
and Yanmar diesels see
http://www.marinedieseldirect.com/repower/home.htm
***************
Team Adventure and Radar
Last month while on pace to break the outright
Trans Atlantic sailing record Team Adventure, hit what
"appeared to be a small overturned fiberglass powerboat,
maybe a 15 to 20-footer, already broken up." In the
aftermath there was much recrimination and muttering
about the use of radar.
The September/October issue of Ocean Navigator
carried an article "The Derelict" that pertains to the
radar issue. The article is about a sizeable sailboat
found abandoned at sea. Author Carolyn Grant writes,
"It would never have shown up on radar and we could easily
have run right into it." The article is on line at
http://www.oceannavigator.com/content/0108/01.asp
If an offshore cruising sailboat is not visible
on radar, a broken up 15 to 20 feet powerboat also would
not come up. Seems as though Team Adventures record run
may have been doomed by our planet's use of the oceans as
a dumping ground. Whether they had radar on doesn't seem
essential to the point.
******************
Muskegon Museum of Art: Across the Waves
Currently showing, this exhibit was inspired by
the Tall Ships visit to Muskegon last month. There's a
variety of paintings with marine subjects from sand dunes
to clipper ships.
Pigeon Hill shows the no longer in existence sand
dune on Muskegon Lake. It was steep with a cap and took
less than 40 years to decimate.
Next Ahead is a painting for the racing sailor.
Three boats race with good heal. 1 ahead and to windward 2
to leeward in line. A racing sailor could spend a winter
night contemplating this scene. Figures visible yet not
prominent. You aren't compared to the prominent sea running.
A painting of Falmouth Harbour in England shows a
heavy air day in a working harbor. An early tug tows a
sailing ship under bare poles. Seagulls ride the wind currents.
The Boat, simply a peopleless rowboat. The oars are
shipped but visible. A resting fisherman? A sailor sleeping
one off? A diver underwater out of sight?
One of the major paintings of the exhibit is the newly
acquired Landfall, the Cutty Sark by Montague Dawson. The
painting is a simple one the famous clipper ship Cutty Sark,
her sails and the sea.
The ship's studding sails are out, yet the speed
doesn't seem to match such a sail plan. Perhaps presentation
was sacrificed to realism?
******************
The Rowing Reporter Book Scout Lookout
Picked up a thrift store for under $ 3.00
Voyage: A Novel of 1896 was a thick imposing black covered
hard back. It languished on the shelf.
The author Sterling Hayden is perhaps more famous
as an actor and more notorious as a sailor. However, he
did also write two books, Voyage being his one novel. Films
included Asphalt Jungle, Dr. Strangelove and Godfather.
Voyage is a multi faceted books that covers much more
than the Neptune Car's voyage from New York to San Francisco.
It touches on the common sailors who signed on forward of
the mast not always of their own volition. It shows great
capitalists dealing with the political upheaval, worry and
paranoia brought on by William Jennings Bryan's Presidential
campaign. We see a pair of labor organizers trying to organize
a seaman's union and being brutally repressed. We get to know
the captain dynamically named Irons Saul Pendleton. There's
even good detail writing a description of ship owner Blanchard's
beloved cupola with its windows that go up and down depending
on the weather.
If you want a challenging read that's about more than
one subject visit the Torresen Marine Bookstore at
http://www.torresen.com/bookstore/ATW.htm.
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