VulcanSpirit - How did we get here from there?

How did we get here from there?

VulcanSpirit

Richard & Alison Brunstrom

Sat 12 May 2012 22:34

This leg of our trip was about 3000 nautical miles (5500 km) from the Galapagos to the Iles Marquises in French Polynesia. Unusually this trip is downwind the whole way - in our case 24/7 for 20 days - which requires different sailing tactics. The boat isn't constantly slamming into the waves and is not uncomfortably heeled over onto its ear; rather there is a rolling motion, from the pleasantly soporific to the downright horrific when the waves are big and the wind is slight.

We have three sailplans for downwind. The first is 'normal' sailing with mainsail and jib or genoa (a genoa is a big jib the rear of which reaches to aft of the mast). This is the standard configuration seen every day everywhere, and it's good for wind angles from forward of the beam back to about 45 degrees aft of the beam. It works better in stronger winds, and fails badly in light winds and waves which roll the boat and knock the wind out of the sails causing them to billow slack and then power up again with a huge, dangerous and damaging snatch load and horrible noises. It doesn't work at all with the wind behind you. This set-up requires the mainsail to be out as far as possible, which makes it very dangerous indeed if not controlled properly. If the wind gets on the wrong side of the mainsail it can instantly flick the large very heavy and entirely unyielding main boom across the boat from one side to the other. This can cause considerable damage to the rig, and if a person gets in the way they will be thrown overboard or have their skull crushed. So to guard against this we fit a 'preventer stay' going from the outboard end of the boom to the front of the boat and then back to midships so it can be controlled without going to the bow. This can be tensioned up tight and prevents the boom from flicking across in an unintentional 'gybe'. These preventer stays are commonly used nowadays, but some foolish people still sail without them. There are a few deaths every year as a result.

The next option is a cruising shute, as seen below. This is a very large but light sail flown loose footed (no pole; it's held only at each corner) and it's good for wind from about 30 degrees off the beam back to about 60 degrees. This works better in lighter winds and allows us to go more downwind in waves - but it requires constant attention to deal with windshifts and big rolls, when it has to be trimmed. If this is flying you've got to be in place monitoring it the whole time, ready for immediate action. Get this badly wrong and it can end up wrapped round the forestay which means getting up the mast to free it, or even having to cut it down. Not good news. Normally we fly this with the main as well (with preventer) to provide a wind shelter for getting the cruising chute up and down but I've used this picture so you can see the sail. For scale, the masthead is over 20m from the deck. This is a big powerful sail, and it needs to be handled with respect. Getting it wrong is a nightmare, especially for two of us. It has to come down once the wind reaches 20kts, but there's always the temptation to leave it up too long - then regret it at leisure.

We don't have a spinnaker (like a cruising chute but with a pole to keep one end of the sail in position) as they are too difficult for a crew of two to handle, so to go dead downwind we run with the genoa poled out as in the photo below. In this case it's on the starboard (right) side and you can see the pole clearly. The pole itself is a big heavy aluminium beast, held in place by two uphauls (lines from the mast to take its weight, attached at the end of the pole and in its middle), a foreguy and an after guy (lines holding the end in place forwards and backwards), while the sail's clew (rear corner) is pulled out to the end of the pole by the sheet (a rope!). All of this has to be specially rigged and requires both of us to be up on deck (firmly clipped on) as the boat bucks and rolls while we manoeuvre the heavy pole and associated rigging. All in all it's about half an hour's work to rig the pole and sail. In the photo below we have also flown the staysail (a smaller jib behind the front one) which is normally our storm jib. It is held out on the other side by rigging its sheet through the end of the main boom which we've pulled right out to port. It's held in place by the preventer stay and the mainsheet. Because we're going almost exactly downwind we can fly one sail on either side and yet keep them both full. Rigged like this, as long as the wind is 20 knots or more, we can really fly along downwind - and because of the way we've done it we can keep this lot flying even in strong winds because there are spaces for the air to 'escape'. This makes this rig very safe - fit and forget, up to a point. It gives a very stable ride, comparatively speaking, and the faster the better. More wind is good, because the boat accelerates up almost to wave speed so the rolling motion is much reduced. Here I am, taking it easy in the cockpit while the boat sails itself along quite happily:

We don't fly the cruising chute at night (too much risk of disaster), so it goes up and down every day (half an hour's work each way) if the wind is right. The poled out genoa takes a bit longer but can be left in place day and night - if the direction is right. The problem comes if the wind shifts because with that rig you can only go downwind. The 'normal' rig of main & genoa is simplest and safest, but you can't go downwind - so if that's where your destination is then you have to zigzag which means sailing further (but possibly much faster).

So it's no easy doddle sailing downwind in the ocean. Lots of work changing rigging on the deck in big seas, with the constant risk of chafe (the enemy of downwind sailing) causing something to break. There's more than enough to keep a crew of two busy day and night - but also plenty of time to watch the sea go past from the comfort of the cockpit while reading a good book on the Kindle.