On Wed, 29 Oct 2014 06:37:26 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Oct 2014 08:09:08 +0700, John B. Slocomb
wrote:

On Tue, 28 Oct 2014 09:35:24 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 28 Oct 2014 10:14:23 +0700, John B. Slocomb
wrote:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:00:06 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 19:52:53 +0700, John B. Slocomb
wrote:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 02:00:18 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 22:21:39 -0500, Richard
wrote:

On 10/26/2014 3:13 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:

Not all boats are Beaters.

In fact..most of the boats below in the two groups are NOT beaters,
but perfectly good usable boats. Yep..some need lines or a sail
patch..shrug.


Sail PATCH?

Are you for freaking real?

Buy a suit of sail.

Oh my, not in YOUR budget?


Punch a hole in a sail and spend $10 for a roll of sail tape..or spend
$1800 for a new sail. Your choice. As for me...Ill simply put on a
bit of sail tape and keep on sailing. You do know that is a suggested
item in offshore cruising kits right along with flare guns and
PFDs..right?


You know? I spent about 15 years living aboard and sailing off shore
and I don't believe I ever saw an "off shore cruising boat" that had
"sail tape". In fact I'm not sure that some of them would even knew
what it was. One reason, perhaps, is that a cruising sailor doesn't
punch a hole in a sail.

This is getting ridiculous, and it leaves me in the uncomfortable
position of defending Gunner. g

I'd like to know what you mean by "sailing offshore." If you mean
coastwise cruising, and if you head for harbor when the wind is above
20 knots, then more power to you. If you mean you're cruising in blue
water, and if you don't have sail tape in your emergency kit, then
you're one lucky dude. (What do you have in that kit, tarred rope and
a sailor's palm?) Or you buy new sails every year, you oversheet your
main so your batten pockets never luff and chafe...in which case,
you're still a lucky dude if you haven't gotten knocked overboard from
an unexpected jibe. g


I didn't give the term much thought as it is pretty commonly used for
other then day sailing. Perhaps "going somewhere" is better.

Perhaps. But blue-water sailing and coastwise sailing are very
different things.

If you make passages across long stretches of ocean, far from land,
you're a blue-water sailor. If you sail close enough that you can make
harbor in a half-day or less, you're a coastwise sailor. Sailing
between islands in the Antilles doesn't count as "blue-water."

I wouldn't disagree, but when you hang about in Marina's in S.E.A. the
vast majority of the boats you find there are from across long
stretches of ocean, and the folks I've met there didn't carry much
sail tape.


And nope, I really don't know anyone that "goes somewhere" that
carries "sail tape" in their stores. It isn't really much good except
for what Gunner described "punching a hole in your sail".

Loop it aroud a bolt rope for a tear that occurs parallel to the rope.
That's a common tear when racing in strong winds. Depending on the
bias of the weave, the tear is likely to be at an angle, rather than
right along the rope.

I've not met many people that would set out with sails so worn that
there is a danger of the bolt rope ripping out and I'm pretty sure
that they would be reefed down in a 30 K wind (Force 7 near-gale).

As for
chaffed holes in batten pockets I think that a much preferred repair
would be to, perhaps, shorten the batten a bit and sew up the end of
the pocket. After all the tape won't hold for very long, and port
might be several weeks away.

Right. In 30 knots and a head sea. g If you sew sails while you're
racing, you're losing.

As I said below, racing is a very, very, different thing than
cruising.



And yes, my "sails ditty bag" has two "palms", a selection of needles,
rigging hook, twine, thread, etc.

And, if you single hand, as I always did, you take a bit of care about
accidental jibes. You can either rig a preventer or buy a jibe
preventer. On the other hand, a cruising boat usually has a deep
enough cockpit that they boom swings over your head.


I've never been a bluewater sailor, but I've done some coastwise
racing, and we *always* had sail tape and patch cloth in the emergency
kit. 'Never had to use them, but I never sailed outside, between
inlets, anyway, with anyone who didn't have a sail-repair kit with
them.

I stated in the previous post that racing was a very different type of
sailing than just going places. And I remind you that no one talked
about not having sail repair stuff aboard.

Racing is a very, very, different thing than cruising.


For that matter I never, in 15 years, met anyone with a "PFD", or at
least they wouldn't admit to even knowing what one was. A life jacket,
certainly, but a PFD? Oh la-de-dah, and a flick of the limp wrist to
you too.

They damned well better know what a PFD is. It's in the U.S. Coast
Guard regulations and the regulations of every state that I know of.

U.S. Coast Guard? Who are they?

They're the ones who set our safety regulations, and they're the ones
who will come rescue you when you haven't observed them and do
something stupid.

Sorry Ed, but the U.S. Coast Guard hold sway in a relatively small
part of the world's oceans.


The have categorized several classes of PFDs. If you sail in U.S.
territorial waters and you don't know which one you have, you aren't
paying attention -- and you may be in a lot of trouble.


I hate to tell you Ed, but I haven't obeyed a U.S. Coast Guard
regulation in at least 20 years, heck probably closer to 30 years, and
so far haven't had any problems.


Of course we call them "life jackets." But they're regulated as
"PFDs."

PFD's see:
The SOLAS requirements
http://www.pomorci.com/Propisi/80-10...Brakocevic.pdf
they don't seem to be required under international requirements :-)

Gunner is not sailing in international waters.

No, probably not, but I am. And I haven't seen a roll of sail tape in
anyone's cruising kit yet :-) Nor had any marine authority ask me
about a PFD.

Your viewpoint is too insular.

My "viewpoint" is the one that was being discussed. Gunner wasn't
talking about sailing in Southeast Asia. Neither was I. Your sarcasm
about "PFDs" apparently is based on your not knowing about the
regulatory environment that the rest of us in this thread have to live
with.

Ah Ed, I did start my comments by saying "You know? I spent about 15
years living aboard and sailing off shore", which I thought made quite
obvious that I wasn't talking about sailing on a lake... or racing for
that matter.

As for your sail-repair kit, I'm pretty sure if I brought up your
point of view on that, amongst most of the offshore sailors here,
they'd ask if you use lignum vitae deadeyes and if your chafing gear
is made of hemp. g

No Ed, we don't use archaic stuff any more. But neither do we use some
sticky tape to mend sails particularly when we think we'll be out in
30 K winds.

Anyway, your sarcasm was misplaced, as was Richard's. I don't know
what the hell he was talking about regarding boat paints. And when you
popped off about PFDs, it was clear that you don't sail where we sail.


I think Richard was probably referring to the fact that most, if not
all, small production fiberglass boats have the hull finished with gel
coat and a boat requiring paint would be one on which the gel coat had
deteriorated to a considerable degree.


Enjoy your sailing in S.E.A., John.
--
Cheers,

John B.