[bolger] Re: Sharpie forefeet
A little-remarked characteristic of the now nearly 20 year-old Light
Schooner (Scooner) design is the bow barely out of the water and the
strange manouevering charactistics which follow when surfing.
Planing in flat water presents no difficulties -- the crew simply
shuffles about, usually back, until the boat is flying at her fastest
and only the run is still attached to the water...
However, surfing in moderate waves (2-3 feet) in strong winds creates a
new raft of problems. There is a limit how far back the crew can shift
before the transom submerges in the following wave, especially where the
wave is breaking or at least whitecapped. The sound of a breaking wave
coming from behind is truly thrilling in an undesirable sort of way.
Where wavelengths are long, the immersed bow makes for much effort on
the part of the helmsman to anticipate attempts at broaching. However,
as the water shallows and the wavelengths shorten, the problem ceases to
be bow eddies and broaching possibilities, but rather becomes the chance
of running the boat bodily under. It is possible to sit angled down the
following wave with the bowsprit and most of the foredeck stuck into the
back of the wave in front. Indeed, with a bit of judicious helm work
and quiet manipulation of the staysail sheet, it's possible to scare the
forecockpit crew witless. Injudicious helm work resulting in a totally
buried bow and a 2-inch waterfall into the forecockpit will scare
everyone witless (but in this case, the helm had only half a wit to
begin with).
Whatever, once the bow is jammed well into the next wave, the tendency
to broach stops, presumably because most of the energy input is from the
now-buoyant bow trying to push upward out of the wave.
Tim & Flying Tadpole
Schooner (Scooner) design is the bow barely out of the water and the
strange manouevering charactistics which follow when surfing.
Planing in flat water presents no difficulties -- the crew simply
shuffles about, usually back, until the boat is flying at her fastest
and only the run is still attached to the water...
However, surfing in moderate waves (2-3 feet) in strong winds creates a
new raft of problems. There is a limit how far back the crew can shift
before the transom submerges in the following wave, especially where the
wave is breaking or at least whitecapped. The sound of a breaking wave
coming from behind is truly thrilling in an undesirable sort of way.
Where wavelengths are long, the immersed bow makes for much effort on
the part of the helmsman to anticipate attempts at broaching. However,
as the water shallows and the wavelengths shorten, the problem ceases to
be bow eddies and broaching possibilities, but rather becomes the chance
of running the boat bodily under. It is possible to sit angled down the
following wave with the bowsprit and most of the foredeck stuck into the
back of the wave in front. Indeed, with a bit of judicious helm work
and quiet manipulation of the staysail sheet, it's possible to scare the
forecockpit crew witless. Injudicious helm work resulting in a totally
buried bow and a 2-inch waterfall into the forecockpit will scare
everyone witless (but in this case, the helm had only half a wit to
begin with).
Whatever, once the bow is jammed well into the next wave, the tendency
to broach stops, presumably because most of the energy input is from the
now-buoyant bow trying to push upward out of the wave.
Tim & Flying Tadpole