Howard Audsley wrote: Howard, You are so right! The sea and its moods haven't changed, but designers feel that any technical tweaking, - spaghetti diameter masts with triple spreaders and tons of rigging to keep things in line - and deep fin keels that sheer out of the bottom of the boat if you hit something solid; ( I've personally seen some examples of this at Noank Shipyard, where the owners hit nice solid New England rocks at hull speed) and spade rudders whose upper edge will snag lobster pot warps and firmly wedge them in place so that you can't steer, any chance they get. The answer is simple: sea-going boats have to be built for that purpose. the danger of a mast failure is not something I want to live with for the sake of an extra 0.2 knot speed advantage. Decks are for work that has to be done a a boat. 7 degree sheeting angles, and shrouds going through the middle of your deck may be excellent for America's Cup racers who go home every evening after the race; but are lousy if they impede your progress to the foredeck. (and if you can't carry a case of beer from the bow to the cockpit without learning how to dance the racing shroud rigging ballet first) 7 degree shroud angles also add tremendous loads to the rigging trying to keep the mast in place. Much higher loads on all the fittings and if one fails, its bye-bye mast. Hydraulic backstay adjusters are another engineering idiocy. There is no way you can keep the leading edge of your forestay straight; I don't care how many tons of pressure you add to it. All you eventually do is drive the mast through the bottom of the boat. If you don't believe me, lift the lid on a grand piano and push down on one of the high note strings. You can depress it; and it has very high loads (which is why the base for all the strings is a huge cast iron casting to take the incredible loads caused by the tensioned strings). The old CCA design rules resulted in healthy, long lived, excellent sea boats. The IOR Rule, which later came into use, results in disposable racing boats; if something breaks; or the mast goes overboard; holler MAYDAY, and when rescued, order a new and better boat with more gimmicks.... Nah! The old designers had it right, which is why Hinckley in Maine is still building Bermuda 40s to order, designed by Bill Tripp in the mid-60's. Design conservatism gets you home again; modern design, where anything that breaks is a disaster, doesn't. My two cents worth Connie

The topic never came up here, but hits a hot button with me.

When you look at the backbone structure of a boat like Serrafyn, you realize she was built to go to sea. She could take it.

I compare that with the recent news where a 16 year old girl was sent out by loving parents to sail around the world on a 40 foot racing sled. Her boat fell apart in the same waters where the Pardeys rode out a hurricane and came out the other side with nothing more that a blown out sail and confidence the boat would protect them from almost anything.

The point being the stupidity of sending out a 16 year old (or anyone else for that matter) in a technology dependent death trap.

Larry had it right.

On Jul 15, 2010, at 1:52 PM, bownez@juno.com wrote:

...

Anyone looking for a BIG winter project??

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/boa/1842501480.html

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