by Rich Wilson | Dec 6, 2016 | Q&A, Q&A - RichWilson, Q&A-RW-wk5
Dear Liv: Yes, we have been in some storms in this race (we had some severe squalls the first night) and then we have a storm to the south of us now that is quite severe. It is why I chose to stay north for a bit, to let the storm pass to the south of us. In the past,...
by Rich Wilson | Dec 6, 2016 | Q&A, Q&A - RichWilson, Q&A-RW-wk5
Dear Chengfang: It’s unusual, when I’m on land, sometimes I dream of being at sea. Yet when I’m at sea, especially if its bad weather, I dream of being safe on land. Right now the boat is going so fast, and bouncing around so much, that I wish I was...
by Rich Wilson | Dec 6, 2016 | Q&A, Q&A - RichWilson, Q&A-RW-wk5
We have a device called an autopilot which will steer the boat while I am asleep. In fact it steers the boat most of the time that I am awake also! The autopilot has an electronic compass. And it is also connected to the wind instruments. So I can set the autopilot to...
by Rich Wilson | Dec 5, 2016 | Ship's Logs
Last night and today, after the fractional gennaker was put back in service, our education continued. It is essentially impossible to put a reef in the mainsail while going downwind. One can winch down on the luff reef lines, but one is putting a huge load on them...
by Rich Wilson | Dec 4, 2016 | Ship's Logs
Yesterday, a small breakage gave a big problem. Today, we have made a repair and are back near 100% on it. The fractional gennaker, which I have been growing to like with its manageability (compared to the masthead gennaker) and versatility (compared to the narrow...
