Ken
Remembers: the stories and wisdom of Ken Jensen
(W1348) chapter 1: lifelines, trysail & strong, shifty winds ... |
From: Uncle
Al [mailto:uncle-al3854@cogeco.ca]
Now you've done it, Ken! I will build a
web page complete with the attached pics and make it
the first of a series I will call "The stories and
wisdom of Ken Jensen (W1348)". Will get on it right
away. Stay tuned. Cheers, Uncle
Al W3854
Hi, Both of You, NA *W.jockeys*! Lovely reading,
thank You both! [Here rough seas,
current, at high latitude, OAT now less +5°C, water
cold, so W1348 will always, if more than 15 knots, heave
to under main alone -for easy roller reefing- using 1/2
CB or less].
Agree on RED text, by You my dear W.Uncle,
plus the adding of lifelines for running/sailing under
foresail(s) alone. These lifelines must from those
aboard be attached to your W.vessel. Al's
note: next time I sail solo in a blow, I hereby
resolve to be smarter and add lifelines. The
alternative does not bear thinking about. Remember
the Patrick O'Brien book where Aubrey falls out the
back window of his captain's cabin and ends up
rescued in the South Seas by Amazons who see him as
a useful servant/slave. That part was left out of
the film Master and Commander. Family Cruise from 1973 from
Kristiansand to OSLO. [Windy grey skies with four aboard
-late wife, two boys and me- in W1348 sailing from South
Norway by way of Kristiansand and then NE bound for Oslo
under W.jib(2,8 sqm) alone in what we term a 'small
gale' about ~24+ knots. Big breaking seas from UK
[against Baltic Outflow reaching Lofoten beyond the
Polar Circle] nearly reached top of our rudder head
before W1348 surfed away!
At the helm -using our short family tiller- I
feared/expected pooping. Didn't happen - thankfully. But
quite anxiously I looked aft at the white 'grins' in
pursuit! Meantime, my late wife, and life's greatest
love, Mait, was calmly reading from 'Jules Verne' to our
boys who were eating fruit + chocolate with nuts.
Naturally -read Frank Dye- lifelines on all four]. My suggestion, Tom W3133, is to anchor
close to home and practise the cruise-camping with your
Wayfarer! Mandatory
for me who does a lot of cruise-camping, is to have the
cockpit arranged for very easy handling in cruising and
with appropriate gear for a solo skipper! Perfecting the
arrangement has taken me 52 years with W1348! You can,
or rather I do, sleep well on board under a cockpit
cover for quick night stops. We also carry a small
tunnel tent to use for possible base camp on a nice
islet, quiet lagoon or bay, for example. Enjoy high season month with
primarily important *winter solstice* and shortly below
the 'Kiming'[Viking's horizon] what my good Uncle Al is
stretching his neck to look for - south in the new Year!
Got to go now, via icy slipway, to
take W1348's for sail no. 71/2018, only a few days
before stepping into my 91st year. Longevity is due, I
am convinced, to my W1348! All the very best. Rightfully
yours, Ken the older W1348 "Maitken".
another
sailor is put under Ken Jensen's spell: Lovely
to hear from you! I will
put my two cents’ worth in red below. Am also
copying Scandinavia’s #1 Wayfarer, my friend, Ken
Jensen (of the W-trysail in KISS) if he
promises not to nit-pick about the jib really being
the genoa. Ken is always good for thoughtful
commentary from a lifetime in Wayfarers! Cheers, Uncle Al
W3854 From:
Tom Wilber Greetings
Al, Great
hearing
from you and thanks for keeping in touch! Congrats on Storer Trophy
win!
Thanks, Tom. Feels good. Especially at my age of 77. Wow! I do like this font. Will
borrow that idea from you! Very
busy summer with work and family but I managed to fit
some time on W3133 on our end of lake while continuing
to get the boat up to spec. Resealed both buoyancy
tanks, bedded keel band, fixed the centerboard brake
(with your helpful advice and after reading the body
of work you have posted on line concerning this).
While I was at it, I dug out and filled a soft spot
around the pivot-bolt hole with cabosil-thickened
epoxy. Turned out fine. What
a
hard worker you are!! Also
added some cleats for ground tackle and, when
possible, worked on single-handed launching, landing,
anchoring, reefing, heaving to and RR position etc.
under a variety of conditions. Your book is an
oft-consulted item and kept on the coffee-table. I’m
still far from expert but gained some hard-won
experience! Unfortunately,
my kids are not sailors. They’re soccer players. But
the whole family is supportive of my developing
passion. My goal is to keep learning while improving
the boat and hopefully be ready for some significant
cruising when the kids leave the nest in another two
years. Sounds like a fine plan, Tom. You’re always
welcome at the Chesapeake Cruise as well. I
missed the gang at Maine this year. Just could not
swing it. Are there reports and photos online? I
had the flu and missed Hermit also. Money saved
though. What I have is accessible as follows: http://wayfarer-canada.org/
(Cruising
> N.A. Rallies 00-18) > http://wayfarer-canada.org/nostalgia/events/event.nostalgia_M-Z/Rally.reports/Rallies_index3.html
Wanted
to get your thoughts on something: Off
shore winds on my corner of the lake, when they
prevail from south east and east with certain weather
patterns (rather than a.m. localized off-shore
variety) can be hugely variable and gusty – probably a
lot to do with land shadows. On one such day I went
out (reefed) and relished the idea – reinforced from
my days in the motorboat -- of sailing on a calm lake
along a windward shore. As cat paws raced across the
surface, I got schooled! I had a scare or two and
almost got knocked down. Conditions
where you want to stay very alert with hand on
mainsheet; that’s for sure. But upwind that W is
harder to capsize than you might think. If you want to
leave yourself a bit of safety cushion, don’t pinch.
That way it takes a larger windshift to blow into the
wrong side of the sails. And even that shift will get
less of a grip since your sails are partially eased. It’s
on a dead run that you need to be nervous under full
sail in the winds you had. Either jib alone and
straight downward – oops! Freudian slip J - downwind, or tack downwind at angles
where you luff up until the jib fills, i.e. is no
longer being blanketed by the main. If you’re after
relaxation, gybing is a lot less fraught with danger
if you are sailing under jib alone J Forecast
was for 12 knot winds but buoy readings in the harbor
later showed them ranging between 8 and 20 knots. I
found this much scarier than sailing in a steady 15
knot on-shore wind with white caps and I’m still a
little spooked by it.
When
I’m sailing solo in conditions like that I always sail
on a close reach as opposed to strapping the sails,
esp. the jib, right in. Makes it easier to luff up
without backing the jib. Removes much of the
spookiness for me. Another
thing... Sometimes (not always) when I heave to she
wants to bear off. Maybe due to centerboard or mast
rake? In those conditions especially, I like to
heave to with the boat full up. That makes it
virtually gust-proof and drags the tiller to leeward
due to much leeway being made. Something I
should perhaps have mentioned in the book, you need to
fine-tune the main, once the jib is backed. Bring the
main in until there is little angle between the moment
that your jib takes over from a main that is starting
to luff. Don’t know if I am saying this right. When I
heave to, I back the jib (hard = leech past pole eye
on mast) and then sheet the main in until the boat’s
see-saw course tendencies smooth out. The thing is
that you don’t want the main out far enough to give
jib a chance to really push the bow off to leeward.
Practce is good. Hope
we get a chance to get together next summer. I see the
2019 rally is again in Georgian Bay and that may be a
fit for me. I hope so! Hope
to
see you. Regards, Tom Photos:
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I was searching
through some of my old flickr
albums when I came across the following pics from
the last day of our 2015 Chesapeake Cruise, 12 n.mi.
from Tangier Island to Crisfield.
SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days at Milton Parks' Marina in Tangier Harbor just before the fateful incident. I think the place I got hung up was near the third shed from the left across the way.
What better time than this for a quick selfie?
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