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Onshore winter storage and windage on rig.

  • 13 Nov 2015 17:51
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    Reply # 3632358 on 3602189
    Anonymous member
    Hello Iain,

    I'm at the coo's tail on this thread, but I've been wondering about that question as well for a while. As you say, if the boat is positioned to make it possible, a sly sail in the winter would be great. The yard where we are at Crinan is maybe more sheltered than Arisaig (if that's where she is) but still it gets gusty everywhere in around buildings/cliffs etc and I suppose that is what is relevant.

    Is it too simplistic to say that the answer lies mainly in the weight, depth and beam of the boat and how she's supported? For example our boat is a centreboarder, 29 o/d and about 6 tons. Quite a low c of g I think. But a lighter fin keeler of 6' draught is just that bit less intrinsically stable? Solitaire looks reasonably heavy? 'Guys' or lashings to strong points 'ashore' would help, as Arne suggests.

    I'd be interested to know what you decide.

    Pol.
  • 29 Oct 2015 19:10
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    Reply # 3606429 on 3602189
    Deleted user

    We wintered our previous boat, a Sunbird 32 schooner junk, ashore in yards in Cornwall, the south of France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Portugal. We usually left the masts up, but dropped the covered sails down to the deck. Whenever possible we got the yard to drop her into a cradle facing the prevailing/stormiest expected wind, though some yards wouldn't do that. The only time we were seriously worried was while sleeping aboard on the hard in Port Leucate, S of F, during a violent thunderstorm. Because we were only there for a couple of weeks we had left the sails in sailing condition. The masts vibrated a lot and the boat shook and we worried a lot, but  the cradle was strong and there were lashing points on the hard which we used in the middle of the storm. The lightning flashes were as scary as the wind, but all was well. Follow your instincts and the advice of the yard.
  • 28 Oct 2015 14:09
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    Reply # 3604112 on 3602189
    Deleted user

    we are on the hard at the moment, sails bent on, 3days ago a huge thunderstorm passed over us with 50+ knots of wind. We shivered our timbers with gusto but were OK. the storm ran south and hit Lavrion ,on theAttic coast of Greece,some 35 miles south of us,wind was recorded at 150 kph, Over 100 boats were tipped over,torn from theircradlesand most lost their masts as well as sustaining  major ,if not terminal, damage

    I would reckon the shorter unstayed rig might flex a bit but maybe deny the wind the leverage of arigid ,stayed tall mast..........we will see!! Tony&Sally RonGlas
  • 28 Oct 2015 00:14
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    Reply # 3603113 on 3602189
    Anonymous member

    I have never taken the sail off of my junk rigged vessel - it has spent the off-season on the hard in Virginia, Florida, and Guatemala - no problems so far.  Just survived a Cat 5 hurricane threat in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico which turned out to be a dud - the hurricane came ashore 100+ miles south in a rural area and the Mexican mountains quickly forced a downgrade to tropical storm status.  We got nothing but a bit of rain here.
  • 27 Oct 2015 22:18
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    Reply # 3603034 on 3602189
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Iain, it is all about odds.

    A really awkward windgust can make a boat tip over, even with the mast removed, so of course it takes less to do so with the mast still in place. Having seen the result of some winter storms in my harbour (all boats without masts), I can understand your yard manager's concerns. Unless I could tie the mast to some solid points on the ground, with quite wide ‘shroud angle’, I would never let any of my boats over-winter ashore with the mast on.

    Arne

     
    (.. from my harbour, January, this year...)

    Last modified: 28 Oct 2015 07:55 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 27 Oct 2015 21:35
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    Reply # 3602988 on 3602189
    Deleted user

    The manager of the boat yard my boat is in, in the NW of England, expressed concern about re-installing the masts when the boat would stay out of the water over winter.  He worried that unstayed masts would suffer greater wind induced vibration than stayed masts, and jeopardise the supporting wooden props in a gale.  The masts are not back in yet. 
  • 27 Oct 2015 18:56
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    Reply # 3602827 on 3602189
    Deleted user
    Iain Grigor wrote:My boat is now ashore for the winter.  I have left her rigged, just as she came out of the water. I want to leave her like that: if there is a good spell of weather mid-winter, I will launch-off and get some sailing.f But is it acceptable to have the boat rigged nomrmally while on the hard?  My yard has no experience of junk rig, and are making noises about windage and stability and the strength of their cradles.  My boat is ashore in north-west Scotland. I would welcome some informed advice in this respect .....
    If the sail is down and the cover is on it cannot be much more tham 3 or 4 foot above the deck. Should the cradles not cope with this and the mast windage (with no standing rigging) they are NOT up to spec!
  • 27 Oct 2015 17:24
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    Reply # 3602695 on 3602189
    Deleted user

    Certainly at least some marinas require sails to be taken off boats on the hard. I had experience of one where their concern was that roller furling headsails can come unfurled in high winds and pull a boat over. They'd had experience of that happening and several boats had been damaged domino style. But it was easy enough to get them to see a) that that couldn't happen to my stowed and lashed junk sail and b) that taking a junk rig apart was rather more of a job than taking the headsail off a pointy rig. In that marina the sail stayed on and in the one other marina where I kept a junk it wasn't a problem. So as always, if there's a problem beginning by talking it out isn't a bad idea.
  • 27 Oct 2015 12:49
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    Message # 3602189
    Deleted user
    My boat is now ashore for the winter.  I have left her rigged, just as she came out of the water. I want to leave her like that: if there is a good spell of weather mid-winter, I will launch-off and get some sailing.f But is it acceptable to have the boat rigged nomrmally while on the hard?  My yard has no experience of junk rig, and are making noises about windage and stability and the strength of their cradles.  My boat is ashore in north-west Scotland. I would welcome some informed advice in this respect .....
       " ...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in junk-rigged boats" 
                                                               - the Chinese Water Rat

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