DaySailer.org Forum

That sounded like a nitemare I had once. only the tiller was rubber, and my crew looked like Howdy Doody.

I had a sailing nightmare once where I was going over a waterfall in TRW, but backwards, and I thought if I could just point a little better, I might be OK ...

... do do do do! You have entered the Twilight Zone!

Noooo! You can't do this to me! When I can't get back to sleep, I don't count sheep. I trim the jib.

Good tread! permit me a few "visuals" of solo sailing the DSI under ideal conditions (with the necessary apologies for the shaky camera...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slzif3dqfYM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOp7q-Jg3B8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfS4WQFK5lE

Any more wind and things like jibing in solo conditions would be, er..."interesting"...
Thanks to this site tricks like the bungee tamer, etc make solo sailing (and auto-filming the experience) possible...can't wait to get out there again. Lake Winni (Guilford) is about 1 hr from my house, but I find it hard to justify when I got Great Bay and the seacoast minutes away (just have to deal with tides).
Cheers,
Mike
P.S. Greenlake, those 1/4" spinnaker sheets we talked about do feel a little "heavy" in light winds!

Mike, I've never sailed on the Great Bay. It looks really beautiful. When ever I would drive by it, taking my daughter to UNH, I would speculate as to the sailing conditions. I'm guessing you get some pretty good current running through their. For a short while my daughter was on the sailing team for UNH, but it got too cold for her. Frost biting starts early in New Hampshire!

Sailing the Guilford Islands on Winnipesaukee is pretty great. When the conditions are right, it's as good a place to sail as anywhere. J Boats have a race week in the summer which they bill as, as good as race week in Key West only with more latitude. However, there is no seabreeze! So, some days it's way better to be on the coast.

Yep, KC, there are current issues around pinch points (like Adams point), but once past them one can veer away from the main stream... or just time your trip up the bay with the flood and back out with the ebb (the Adams point ramp is useless 3 hrs either side of low tide)...OR, if conditions permit, on the DS one can significantly reduce the "lateral profile" of the boat by raising the CB and the rudder (and paying the price with extra leeway). I still want to "do" lake winni one of these days, but I'm not a big fan of crowds of motor boats so I might wait till after labor day to try it
Cheers
Mike

You definitely have a good point about the huge crowds of motorboats on Winnipesaukee. Weekends are definitely messy in the afternoon. On weekends it's plenty quiet before 10 AM and tolerable until noon. If there's a decent breeze it's still decent out in the islands in the afternoons. However, if you have a weekday available, even in August it's nice. You're right though, in September it's a totally different lake.

I single hand almost exclusively. on my DSII. Jib controls are stock, main sheet has a traveler on stern to a cam cleat on the CB trunk. I am comfortable up to the point where we get white caps {15 kts?}. I always sail with the main sheet on my knee and when it is blowing or puffy the jib sheet is on the other knee. An adjustable tiller extension that allows me to sit on the rail or nearly to the cuddy bulkhead completes the gear.

Thanks for posting this. It just about describes my situation on Johns Pond in Cape Cod. I go alone up to about 10 knots, or perhaps 12 to 13 knots if reefed.

What do you use for a hiking stick? My old Daysailer 1 has a hole in the teak tiller for a stick, but did not come with one when I bought it 2 years ago.

I use a forespar telescoping one - about 48" or so. I have a shorter one, but don't like it. The current one is usually a bit too long to fit inside the sheet for tacking, so I telescope it down - so effectively I use a 40-42" length. I made a holder for it, to store it along the tiller. I used a maglite- holder (the C-cell size) riveted to some double sided velcro. Works well, and probably a bit cheaper than one sold for that purpose.

I also have a Forespar telescoping tiller extension, but not as long as Greenlakes when extended. I have a clip on the tiller for storing it when not in use.

John

Here's a picture of the grip end of the extension and the bracket, including the rivets and velcro straps. As mentioned, the bracket is the one sold to hold C-cell sized Maglites. (Note that the rudder was not mounted for this shot, so all the angles are a bit unusual)

Attached is a picture of my tiller with the tiller extension and my Tiller Tamer mounted.

John

I'm probably way late for this thread but I have the Ronstan rf3134 "battle stick". It's worked well for three seasons now. It goes out to 44 inches and when I'm single-handed I use it extended fully most of the time. This is just enough so that I can get on the rail up against the cuddy with my feet in the hiking straps and leaned way out. For tacking, I can just get it through behind the center boom sheet with the rudder hard over and the hiking stick following. I secure it to the rudder with a loop of bungee when not in use. I kept breaking clips.

About breaking clips. Obviously I'll have to see whether I'll break mine -- it's rather a recent addition. I am expecting (hoping) that by using velcro to strap it in place instead of screwing it into the tiller, it will have a bit of "give" that will make it come off, twist around the tiller or get out or the way rather than breaking. whether that works will have to be seen.

I'm wondering about the universal joint on the battlestick. It has some springiness in it. Is that enough to prevent the extension from laying down horizontally under its own weight? My problem is that if I let go of the extension it will invariably wedge itself under the side decks. I have one of the 2-axis traditional universal joints, and while it works in all other respects (and has a quick disconnect) it does not resist the extension dropping into the cockpit.