I haven’t been around for a while. But now I am back thinking and thinkering.

Salt showing her old number one jib

Problem: It is time to do some major refitting to the jibs. Problem is that my number one Genoa is more or less 6 meters at the lower end sweeping the deck. Getting it down and secured is a major job. Changing from number 1 to number 2 is at best a challenge. I hoist number 2, tack and get the number one on deck. But if it is really blowing and waves are building in the North Sea while you are trying to master the damned large sail – which is not fastened other than in the forestay profile, tack and sheet – two arms are not enough. The only way to get rid of the beast is to get it down the hatch unpacked – which will make everything wet down below.

There must be a better way to handle this!

Solution: As I said – I have been thinking. I have come to the conclusion that hank on sails must be much better and safer. So this is what I am going to do; I will fit two forestays, not fore and aft but parallel. I will fit a stainless steel triangle at the bottom and top of the two forestays. The triangles will make them parallel with no more space between them than enough to avoid letting the hanks twist into another while hoisting or taking down a jib.

The big deal about having two forestays is to let me hank on two sails at once. I will hank the number one on starboard and number two on port. If it is blowing too much for the number 2 I will hank on the number 3 on top of the packed and secured number one. This requires sail bags easily secured too the guard wires, big enough to contain each sail and sheets, with an opening for the hanks in front.

Safer, faster, better: Point is that parallel forestays will make it easier to change sails, to secure them and keep them on deck. This will save space, time and foremost make it possible to sail for a shorter time with the wrong sails set.

So – why don’t I just do like everybody else and go for a wrap around furling jib? Because roller furling always look and feel wrong on an old 70’s masthead with huge genoas. In light conditions you need a light number one, as soon as it blows you need a flat and low number two and so on. You will never need a furling jib half way up the forestay.

Why worry? Parallel  – not cutter rig – but parallel forestays was coming into fashion at the time somebody found out that roller furling was the thing to have. So it was all forgotten. However, as far as I can tell nobody really has any negative experiences with the parallel system.

This really bother me – I came up with this grand idea all by my selves and found out that it went out of fashion decades ago. If it is such a grand idea – how come nobody uses it? I can’t be that smart. So please come on – give me some advice? What’s the catch?

First glimpse of the Noss and Shetland

I like alliterations – I have to admit to this. However, Salt is a wane whale and we did go West.

She´s vane with new stainless steel ventilators and a new spray hood. The spray hood is the best investment in comfort for the creature in Salt since the diesel heater. Now it is possible to sit out of the spray even in heavy weather and rain. 

The boatclub in Lerwick

I thought the spray hood would be taken down as soon as the sun shined, but no. I don´t think it ever will be taken down. Even when racing it is nice to get out of the spray.

Racing: Talking about racing. Salt has not raced much so far this year. The reason is that I have abandoned ship and started crewing in a hot X-35. She´s faster, has more

Cruising is relaxing

competition and its cheaper racing for me. However, we have raced the Salt with good results in the two 1928 races. And I did race the Seilmakeren in a Maxi Mixer this year – and we won our class. Which I am very proud of since the boat is much harder to sail than Salt and the weather was awful with gail, hail and rain.

Shetlands: Mid June we set sail for Shetland from Stavanger. A week before I talked to my brother in law John about equipment. I told him to bring his winter long johns, a woolen hat, mittens… – more or less what you would bring for a mountain trip in winter – plus a watertight set of rain clothes. Crossing the North Sea this summer, a sun stroke was more of a problem than cold fingers. Dead calm seas and a Florida like sun took us to Lerwick.  Wonderful, but I only have 100-120 liter diesel and a range of a 40 hours plus at 5 knots.

We still had some diesel left when we arrived Lerwick though. So we did sail a few hours. Lerwick is changing into a modern city that could be anywhere in the world. Gone are the mom and dad shops, the gray and wet stone shop fronts and the girls in last years fashion. Now they are all up to date and driving new shiny cars. Good thing the boatclub still holds on to the old forms and respatex tables with charts.

Shetland Race going back to Bergen started the morning after we arrived. Salt has taken part in this race several times. This is the only time I have been happy I did not have to start. The sailboats where just drifting in the super light breeze. Dead calm was what waited out in the North Sea – no wind and sails banging back and forth in the old sea. Not a lusty thought. For us left behind there was still lots of life left in town. Farmers- and fisherman’s marked, live bands all day and beers to make it all bearable. Of all the absurd thinks to do in Shetland we ended up going to the sports area and play two rounds of mini golf.  I don´t know about anyone else who has played mini golf in Lerwick.

Fair Isle like few have seen the island before

Fair Isle: This summer I had decided that we where going to Fair Isle no matter winds or rain. So we arrived at Fair Isle in dead calm and seriously hot weather. The fairytale island – more or less exactly between the Shetlands and the Orkneys – came out of the sea in a heat fog! Fair Isle has 60 days a year of gails and storms each year. The warmest day ever recorded was in 1979 and the record was 19 degrees. The Salt crew arrived in 25 degrees, and no wind at all. What´s the statistical possibility of hitting such a day? None at all.

Green and dramatic - that´s Fair Isle for you

Fair Isle was wonderful and definitely worth the hazards of heatstroke and motor cruising. The Island is all green, sheep and birds. More than 54000 puffins live on the island besides all kinds of Sea Gulls and birds I have never seen or heard of before. And it is so green. Green is so much more than green – it is yellow green, emerald, dark green, brownish green, light green, bluish… they have all the variations at Fair Isle. And the shape of the island is so dramatic with green pastures ending in deep cliffs with white beaches deep down the geos. Geos are short small fjords formed when the island split like a glacier.

Tea-mugs: For years I have wished for a number of beer-glasses from the pub in Fair Isle. It would have been tops to invite some unsuspecting fellow sailor aboard for a beer – and then served it up in glasses from the gale tormented island in the west. There is no pub in Fair Isle. The shop keeper have no glasses with Fair Isle motives. However, I did buy some tea mugs. So if ever a non suspecting sailor turns up for a good story, I have to serve tea. Which is fine for me – but kind of ruins a good storytime.

Scotland: From Fair Isle we sailed in a heavy mist through the Orkney islands to Kirkwall. Thanks to the Tiki Navigator on my laptop and maps from the British Admiralty we could do navigate the archipelago in good spirits. Going in to Kirkwall the strait is pretty narrow and shallow. I could hear the shore less than 100 meters away – but we did not see it. During the day the fog lifted momentarily a few times and revealed a wonderful landscape of low laying islands with long beaches. I did not enjoy the Orkneys the last time I sailed there. But this summer it really would have been fine to spend a few more days on the outer islands. Kirkwall is nice to. Narrow streets and cobblestones, small shops and tearooms.

Salt followed the Scottish coast south to Aberdeen with a short stop in Wick. The small port of Wick has a reputation of being gray and anonymous amongst Norwegian sailors. But just outside the port it is nice and welcoming. The yacht port is all new and opened up this summer with lots of space and safe. However, I don´t enjoy harbours organized as camping grounds. I always feel that I could be anywhere in the world and I might as well have stayed home when settling in  to such a harbour.  It´s just not my cup of tea.

The most lonely sailboat in the world - Salt in the commercial harbor of Aberdeen

Why I am an idiot: Calm waters and sunshine made it possible to follow the Scottish coast pretty close going south. A low and green coast with long beaches spotted with castles. Relaxing cruising. In 1996 Aberdeen hosted the Tall Ships Race and I participated sailing the Wyvern. The port was then all flags, sails and people. So I presumed that Aberdeen was a large port with lots of sailboats. In good spirits we sailed straight into the harbour through the narrow river-inlet. That was all wrong! – You are idiots, the harbour master screamed at us from the powerboat ordering us to follow them. – Don´t you have VHF?

Sure – the harbour master is all correct. Aberdeen is a strictly commercial harbour with huge ships and the overnight ferry to Lerwick. Had we met any of the other ships in port going out the inlet as we sailed in – there would have been no more Salt left. Sailing into Aberdeen is totally stupid and dangerous. I won´t do it over again.

However, Aberdeen is a nice town. And I like the commercial ports better than the boring camping-ports. Dockworkers are nice and the commercial fishermen too – once you get to know them.

Denmark: In Aberdeen the crew took a flight home. Thale and I sailed to Thyborøen, Denmark, double handed. 350 nautical miles in all from hot summer weather to huge seas, thunder and lightning combined with a gale  - typical North Sea and the German beak weather.

A storm in 1893, or there about, opened up the sea between the Limfjorden and the North Sea at Tyborøen. It is still like sailing up a river going into Tyborøen. After some long days in the ocean it is nice and calm though. The gail pushed us through the fjord at top speeds with main only. Interesting sailing in narrow lines. Wonderful farmland all around. A few nice out-harbours and small quaint fishing villages. Compared to the dramatic nature of the Shetlands and Fair Isle the Limfjorden and Denmark is like sailing in a park pond. Beautiful, but boring.

Anholt – a small wonderfull island in the middle of Kattegat, Danish, but once taken by the British and of importance to Sweden in the old days – is perfectly placed for a cruise from Aarhus. We spend some amazing days in the sun and on the beach at Anholt before we cruised down to Gilleleie – due north and as far as you can get from Copenhagen without crossing a bridge or take a ferry. Thale abandoned ship for Copenhagen while Ellen and Mathias renewed the crew. In sun, rain and thunder we cruised the coast of Demark down to Kerteminde and Odense. Kerteminde is the yacht center of Odense and a quaint village of its own. Nicely situated in a bay with a view to Storebelt, Kerteminde became our turning point for this summer cruise.

From Kerteminde we sailed straight for Anholt. Lots of wind and no waves sped Salt North at 9 knots upwind. For more than 1 hour both the through water speed and speed over land/GPS was consistent 9 knots or more.

Home: Going up Kattekat towards Skagerrak we met the current and some heavy winds resulting in short steep waves and some very wet sailing. We had to dry out for a couple of days in Skagen before crossing the Skagerrak to Arendal. We then hugged the Norwegian south coast and sailed in as much sheltered waters as possible. Scotland is dramatic and beautiful, and Denmark is orderly, green and parklike – Norway is both. It sure felt good to be in home waters.

Ellen and I sailed home alone in some heavy weather and large old waves from Eigersund to Stavanger. We had rains and gails, but even the most misery days of rain had at some time during the day a long patch of sunshine. So all in all it was a good summer cruise.

50 kroners misery: Salt behaved good. The only enduring problem was water seepage through the propeller shaft. The Volvo rubber thing for the inner part of the through-hull shaft was sold to me as non maintenance and water greased. That is wrong. Finally home I talked to Volvo and they said it is supposed to be greased every year. I have wringed out numerous buckets of water from under the engine – my hands was sore from the salt and bruises and my knees got blisters – besides, even I who normally don´t mind the sea and the motion can´t enjoy life with my head stuck into a hot engine with diesel fumes for 15 minutes pumping every second hour. Misery to be avoid for a 50 kroner tube of Volvo grease. Agh!

Oh ... summer

Salt is on terra firma and low pressures are marching in towards the Norwegian West Coast – in short – it’s winter.  I know I have been slow on this blog for some time. It seems that the Australians, the Freya double enders and a few international readers interested in Refleks diesel heathers that find this blog interesting. I truly understand you all. I will try to do better.

Let go.. Well – the race season was a nominal disappointment. I don’t think we ever did better than becoming number two or at the best one number one. Consequently, I have decided to forget the season.

To be remembered.. However, I will not forget this summer. We had a long cruise in Ryfylke sailing all day in the sun and warm wind. That is something I haven’t experienced since we sailed the Bahamas. Going downwind it was so hot we had to swim time and time again.

Erfjord in Ryfylke. Motor cruising.

Every night we anchored in a new spot. Most of the time pretty much alone with few other yachters around. The deeper you go into the fjords the less other yachts you will see. Ryfylke really is an El dorado for us seeking nice natural harbors or appreciate the tranquil blond Scandinavian nights quietly hanging on the hook. A gin & tonic sun downer with Salt moving in harmony with the wind and waves – hanging on the anchor – is truly a nice experience.

Spring brings new possibilities…Next season I plan to try out the un boomed mainsail and a battened number two genoa, overlapping, and self tacking. Engøy Seilmakeri has redesigned two sailes to fit the above description. In theory this will make her more easy to

Fresh summer sailing at Sjernarøy

singelhand, more effective –particlaryly while reaching – and safer. Most sailing accidents involve the main boom. Getting rid of it will make things easier. The overlapping 130% Genoa will be boomed by battens, switch by the mast, and be regulated by one sheet only. Sounds to got too be true? Right. Even so, I did test it once this fall. Moreover, it all worked out. Admitting, it did not blow much – in fact next to nothing – and I had to take the sails back to the loft – but it did work. Both the fully battened main and Genoa tacked without problems. So this spring we will see.

Furthermore, I plan for a new trip to Shetland, Fair Isle, Scotland and through the Caledonian canal. I am afraid this so far is fireside sailing.

Incoming from Kvitsøy and Skudeseilasen no1. doublehander

However, I do think a lot about it. Time will show.

Once more…Besides, I will participate in the Seilmakeren – the race from Bergen to Stavanger (Skudenes) and back. But this time in someone else’s yacht. Two races in no wind is enough in Salt. So I guess it will be a real blow this spring.

Best of x-mas to you all!

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside

Finally – two Wednesdays in a row the wind has blown more than a trickle and we have won both races. I know, it’s just a race and nothing to brag about. But still, it’s good to know that there is life in the old whale when it comes to a blow.

It is annoying to make a third or a fourth place when there is no wind at all. However, considering the competitors up front who all have brand new high tech sails and are race boats by pedigree, it is fairly nice that 30 years old Salt still hang around and sails in her handicap. It is a fact of life that something has happened the last 30 years of yacht construction. I bet Salt weights twice, if not thrice, the weight of a few of our companions. And I have missed crew a couple of races so I have had to single hand and double hand a race or two. I am telling you that she is not easy to handle alone in a blow among hard-core competitors with no faint heart for the single handler.

I am just so pleased with finally winning a few races. And this weekend we are sailing a short hand races from Saturday to Sunday with the weatherforcasters promising rain and wind – the nicest flying whale weather you can think of. The assurance of winning a race makes me optimistic about the next one.

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside

Ever since I started using Tiki Navigator as my navigational aid and electronic charts, I have been in need of something to protect the machine. Problem is that in foul weather the rain and spray will find its way down to Salt’s charttable. If the outside wet and cold don’t find my laptop, I will most certainly bend over it and drip salt water all over the machine or somebody is going to spill a cup of tea, leave a wet hat … you know, something bad including water will happen and the mishap will show up in the most disadvantageous time.

It took me less than ten minutes to make an “envelope” of the window fabric, with a double flip-cover on top of the laptop. I put Velcro underneath the laptop to tape it inside of the cover. I taped the sides of the cover, and used Velcro for the top panel of the envelope. The cord for the charger and the GPS comes out under the top flip. The cords are double bended – coming up under the flip, covered by the Velcro, and then down to the laptop. The laptop is secured by Velcro inside the envelope.

Underside of the cover has Velcro which mates with Velcro taped on to the chart table top. The hole thing just sits totally secure. It so happens that the small cheap GPS for the computer works fine under deck. All I have to do is to place the small GPS among by navigational books. This works fine.

During dark and rainy nights with hard landfalls, I can move the laptop out into the cockpit. The Tiki Navigator has a nifty night solution where everything turns read to keep your night vision keen and bright. The chart is so big that I have no trouble checking it out while sitting at the tiller.

Dry fingers

My computer has a mousepad easily used through the cover. I can still browse the charts, change sizes and find my routes. The only problem is that you have to have dry fingers using the mousepad through the cover. So I have pad of paper towels in close reach. However, it’s hard to write with the cover on. But I won’t write much as I am navigating – particularly not during cold and rainy nights.

I was afraid the cover would make the computer overheat. This is not a problem. In fact the computer is no hotter inside the cover than without it. The reason might be that navigation is not hard work for the laptop. In fact it’s hardly using any brains at all. Just sits there.

I have a cheap charger connected to my main battery. The whole contraption sucks more electric juice than I expected and the battery for lights and electronics are to small, only 70 amps. It keeps the computer and everything else going for most of a day, and then I can run the navigator on the laptops internal battery for a few hours. It works, but 70 amps is not enough anymore. I will change the battery and install another to keep it all going and to avoid running the engine to charge.

That’s it – a fast and cheap answer to my computer problem onboard. It has worked since last spring. It has worked in heavy weather, in rain, hail, summer, sunshine and dark nights. What more can you ask for 32 dollars of waterproofness?

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside

Boy, was I glad I installed the AIS I won last year in the Shetland Race. I didn’t have any positive expectations. In fact I was rather annoyed for having to install two new antennas and another peace of equipment drawing ever more electricity.

The Simrad AIS 150 sender and transponder really made me feel safe. You can spot ships 32 miles away. That is nice. But even better, you are telling them where Salt is, who she is and her call sign, plus our speed and course.

Even ferryboats reacted to our signal. I have never experienced this before. But with the AIS going I am convinced the ferry-skippers really made an effort not to run us down.

I guess the real secret to this is that the AIS will show up on their screens, alarms go off, and a possible collision will enter the professional electronic logs. Running us down will simply look bad on the officers CV and it will be possible to find out what happened. Using their powerful radar’s they knew we where out there in earlier days too. But as a cynic I must say the AIS makes the trick of being seen and avoided so much more easy and convincing as it makes tangible and lasting electronic records of our existence.

It doesn’t draw much electricity either. Even if it did – it sure is nice to know that commercial freighter skippers know where you are and are heading as their tall sharp bows are towering over you.

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside

Seilmakeren Doublehanded 2008 is a race from Bergen to Stavanger and back. It’s more or less 180 nautical miles long and it shorthanded limited to a crew of two. It’s a free race with only the start, pitstop and goal defined. It’s up to every boat to choose it’s track. In principle you can either go out into the ocean outside of all the island, or go in-between all the island.

We choose to go out into the ocean. We lost more or less 4 hours by this move. So we decided to go inside north and Back to Bergen. Both tracks where the wrong decision. Going North there was no wind at all. In periods we went backwards. In periods we moved by the current, we where swirled around, we sailed into wind-less areas while we could se boats passing us outside.

In short a rather frustrating race. But it started well:

We had a wonderful sail to Bergen in incredible spring weather. Sun for a week is not common at the West Coast of Norway in May. But alas, no wind.

As a painted ship upon a painted ocean we sat from Wednesday until Saturday morning. Then we just gave in.

We started well and choose to go with the new asymmetric spinnaker. A good choice the first few miles. Further up the road we should have changed to a symmetrical, but then it was to late. When we finally changed we got back the lost but shot into a windless spot and stayed there while the others passed us at good speed.

The same story happened over and over again.

It was all in all a wonderful trip, but a rotten race.

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside

No more putty

I have chosen not to add on an extra million or more layer of putty to make the Keelpro totally flush with the aero dynamical, or is it hydro dynamical, form of the keel. Instead I have chosen to make the keel protection as friction free as possible with harmonious lines.

I might be wrong

However, I have no more time for spring chores before the yacht is lifted and back in the sea. Besides – the Keelpro looks ok. There are no disharmonious lines and no lines from the Rubber Bumper along the keel that should disturb laminating water flowing along the keel. Actually, the lines along the keel are now rather modern. She looks like she has been given a modern bulp stern. In theory this should work out positive.

Positive

While most of the curiosity during the fitting has been rather negative, the attitude is now turned more positive. Most of the old salts now agree it is a good idea, and that it might protect me from hitting a rock in the first place, and if I hit one – it might give the Kaskelot some protection by flexing the rubber and getting rid of the kinetic energy by pressing the water out of the Keelpro, while seven tonnes of yacht stops dead on a submerged rock.

I don’t know for sure. However, the thing looks good, and it is adding another 10 kilos at the very bottom of the boat. The general rule is that 1 kilo in the mast has to be compensated with five kilos in the keel. Consequently, this has to work the other way around. Added 10 kilos at the very bottom of the keel will compensate for the weight of both the main and the genoa – say 50 kilos or 100 pounds. This should give me less listing and thus a better upwind performance. Besides the keel has become a little wider, which might give Salt improved helm balance.

Negative

The negative argument is of course the possible non-harmonius lines along the bottom of the keel, which might disconnect the laminating water and slow me down in no-wind conditions. If it works out negative I will add the extra million of putty layers during summer or at end seasons.

Time will show and the living will see. I’l be around to check it out.

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside

Nothing catches the old salts curiosity more than the keel protection I am fitting. Nobody really believes it’s worthwhile – that is to say nobody but some of the female sailors. They know their husbands hit’s a rock every now and then.

My answer to all the curiosity is the truth. I would have sailed on happily and hoping not to hit a rock if I had not read about the Keelpro. Now that I know I can protect my happiness and reckless sailing days, it would just be too annoying hitting a rock knowing better.

I really think the rubber bumper will protect me against ever hitting a rock again.

At least I tried.

It is quite a lot of work getting off years of old bottom coating and 10 millimeters of putty to get to the iron keel. With everything off, the iron keel had to be coated with 5 layers of two component paint – witch took forever to dry. The paint needed 5 degrees or more to cure. Nowadays there are few days and nights above 5+. Weill – it worked out.

Today the Keelpro is glued on to the keel with massive amounts of glue. So far everything looks good. However, the temperature is moving up and down from 3,7 to 14 – and the glue needs 5 degrees all night. I have borrowed an infrared heater to keep the old girl hot.

Tomorrow will show whether I failed or succeeded. Salt will be put back into her element Saturday no matter what. And I am traveling to Tønsberg Thursday. 3 more days to go and that’s it.

I will write something more about fitting the Keelpro as soon as I am finished.

Soon the cruising and racing season are starting up. It keeps me bright and alert all day and night.

The Kaskelot depiction takes you topside