by Rich Wilson | Nov 16, 2016 | Ship's Logs
Last night I was back at it trying to understand our downwind sails. We have a truly enormous masthead gennaker, about 370 square meters (3700 square feet). Yet somehow it doesn’t seem always effective. Finally I came up with a theory as to why. The front 3 or 4...
by Rich Wilson | Nov 16, 2016 | Q&A - RichWilson, Q&A-RW-wk2
Dear Suer, Yes. On that first night, the wind might go from 15 knots to 25 knots in a couple of minutes, and then back to 8 knots, and then back to 25, or even to 34 knots that we saw, and then back to 8 knots. This might take place over a half hour or so, and the...
by Rich Wilson | Nov 16, 2016 | Q&A - RichWilson, Q&A-RW-wk2
Dear Felicien, Thanks for your question. Please also see my answer to Louison et Nans. Sailing an IMOCA Open 60 is usually so tiring that one can fall asleep anytime anyplace. In fact I’ve found in the last few days (I got no sleep for the first 36 hours in...
by Rich Wilson | Nov 16, 2016 | Q&A - RichWilson, Q&A-RW-wk2
Dear Louison et Nans, I will try to sleep between 5 and 6 hours in 24 hours. It will not be all at once, and it is unlikely to be all at night. I have some really good stocking caps that pull down over my eyes so that I can sleep during the day! I studied with a sleep...
by Rich Wilson | Nov 16, 2016 | Essays-RichWilson
For a mariner, Crossing the Line is a special event, no matter how many times he or she may have done it before. North turns to South (or the reverse) on the GPS. The Line is not marked by buoys, only by signs (+ or -) in the spherical trigonometry of the planet. New...
