Barber Haul Effectiveness

While on a broad reach, the staysail is eased and the clew hooks back towards the staysail tracks on the deck. At the same time, the leech twists and spills the air out of the top of the sail. This all leads to decreased efficiency in the sail and less speed through the water.

By simply rigging a barber hauler, all of these problems can be corrected.  

The barber hauler pulls the clew out towards the rail, and removes twist from the leech of the sail. Now the sail can be properly set to use the air on a broad reach in the most efficient way possible. 

When the winds are light, this added efficiency means you can continue moving at a reasonable pace instead of seeing the iron genoa! In our case, we were moving at 2.5kn under main and staysail. This may seem way too slow for most, which is what motivated us to rig the barber hauler. Once the barber hauler was set up, we began moving at 3.5kn. Still slow by most standards, but we were still moving under just sail with out the use of a motor.  

When it is blowing harder, we don't set up the barber hauler because we are moving fast enough and we don't feel the need to improve the sails efficiency.  

How to Spot a Cruising Boat

When you see different boats in an anchorage, how do you know which one is a liveaboard cruiser? 

By the amount of junk on their deck!

When your whole world is in the boat, your deck tends to accumulate items that are needed but are too large to fit inside.

Our deck at anchor holds:

Sails
Sculling Oar
Hammock
Anchors
Fenders
Sofas
Gangplank
and Spare Lines

The sails are located on their stays, flaked and rolled up on the foredeck.
The hammock is strung between the mast and inner-forestay.
The fenders are deployed for friends that are coming to raft up. 
The gangplank lives on the port side-deck.
The sofas are positioned in their most comfortable locations.
And the lines are coiled and stowed on the davit arms.

All together, Wisdom looks a bit different from the weekend coastal cruisers that come out for the afternoon. 

While all this gear may seem like it clutters the deck, it does make for a comfy living situation! While underway these items are all secured and put away, but when anchored for a few days in a quiet and relaxing creek, they seem to pile up into a comfy home afloat.

Favorite Place on a Sailboat

If you are in the market for a new boat, you might be looking at things like SA/D, Sail plans, Keel design, LOA, and Draft. These are all important features in a boat, but you should also look at the cozy places on the boat.

These are the places where you will feel at home while underway. No matter how big a boat is, there will always be a place where you like to spend the days. You should make sure they are both available inside and outside of the boat.

The inside one should be very cozy, a place that you can curl up with a good book or watch a movie while eating a snack. On Wisdom, we prefer the starboard settee in the salon: it has a table, a fire place, and a hatch. You can easily make it warmer or cooler, more or less light, and with the addition of pillows, more cozy!

Outside should be a place where you can still keep watch, have quick access to the helm, and be really comfy. On Wisdom, we dub this location "The Throne". Maddie likes to lay down here with pillows and a blanket (to keep the sun from burning her) and watch the clouds go by during the day, and the stars by night. When the sails are balanced, I will join her in the throne as we watch the world go by.

From the throne, you can easily keep an eye on the depth sounder, chart plotter, and compass. You can also see if any ships are approaching, making this a great place to keep watch while relaxing.

The comfy spots listed are unique to Wisdom. Everyone I know (who likes their boat) has a favorite inside and outside spot, and they are all different. When you are looking at a boat, try to find the comfy spot in the boat and try it out before you sign any papers. If you can't find a spot that feels comfortable to you, maybe you should look on to other boats that are comfortable to you!

Getting Off a Shoal

We decided to leave Oxford, Maryland at 7am, during peak high tide so we could ride the current out of the small creek we were anchored in. 

The plan was to raise the anchor when the current stopped flooding and drift out of the creek as the tide began to ebb. This small, narrow creek experiences a 2 foot tidal variance between high and low tide. Such a strong tide also produces a very strong current! The forecast for the day called for "no wind" until 10am, when it would then build to 2-3kn of wind. We figured that we would drift along with the current for the first few hours of the day, and once the wind came along, we would begin sailing! 

We went to sleep with our alarm set for 6am to give us plenty of time to ready the boat in the morning to raise anchor. When the morning came, there was a very strong wind blowing right up the creek! We decided to wait on raising the anchor until the wind either lessened or changed direction.

At 730, it changed from a headwind to a cross wind on the narrow creek. This would allow us to sail out of the creek on a beam reach while still riding the current that was flowing with considerable force.

I was working alone since Maddie woke up with a fever and was not in any condition to help with setting the sails or raising the anchor. I began by raising the mainsail a little bit, then pulling the rode. As we reached the anchor at the end of the rode, the boat began to sway side to side as the bow and sail fought against the wind. I waited until we were pointed on the tack that would take us out of the creek before un-setting the anchor. 

We were aiming the right way so I quickly cranked on the windlass to raise the anchor off the bottom. We were on our way with a partially raised mainsail, taking us along on a beam reach! Just then a puff of wind hit the main and turned the unbalanced boat into the wind, sending us right onto a shoal! 

The tide was going out, so I knew the longer we waited, the harder it would be to get us off the shoal and into deeper water. I explained the situation and Maddie came out to give me a hand with getting off the shoal. I got in Tooth and set the transom of the dinghy under the anchor of Wisdom. Maddie lowered the anchor into Tooth, along with 100 feet of chain. 

I proceeded to row towards deeper water with the anchor, letting the chain fall out of Tooth as I went. By having the chain in Tooth, I was able to row away from Wisdom with more ease. The alternative of taking the anchor away while letting chain out of the sailboat would be much to difficult. The weight of the chain will bog you down and not let you row very far from the ship. I do keep a foot on the chain to avoid it from siphoning out the side. I steadily control how much chain goes out on each stroke to make sure the anchor is set as far away from the boat as conveniently possible.

Once I get to the end of the rode, I drop the anchor over the side of the dinghy and row back to the sailboat. Once on board, I begin cranking on the windlass to drag the boat over to the anchor. At first, the chain came in easily; once the chain was drawn tight, I needed to switch over to the low speed winch. The boat slowly pulled forward as the chain was brought in one link at a time. Once the keel was off the shoal, the chain went slack and the boat was easy to pull up to the anchor. 

Maddie offered to stand at the helm this time to avoid a repeat of what had just transpired. The anchor came up, the main was raised, and Maddie took the helm to get us going. Once I was back to the cockpit, Maddie returned to the bed where she proceeded to sleep the fever away.

With Maddie's help, we were able to get off the shoal in under 10 minutes. I know she was not feeling well, which makes me appreciate her help in these tense moments all the more! If you run aground, consider using a kedge anchor to get you free instead of calling a tow boat. By the time they get to you, the tide can be out, leaving you in a much more difficult situation. Acting fast with a kedge anchor will get your boat free before the situation can worsen. 

Sailing Corgi

Morty is an experienced sailing dog: he grew up on a sailboat and has been sailing since he was a 8 weeks old. At the age of 3, you can tell his favorite parts of sailing are. 

He will sit out in the wind, smelling the air that blows over our boat as we power through the waves. He sifts through scents from beyond the horizon while resting in his comfy seat on the deck. 

The massive rope fenders are a new favorite place for him to relax. He likes to lean into them when he goes forward on the deck. I think he feels comforted by their size and weight. Before the fenders, he would snuggle up in a jib that was flaked on the bow. He was only able to do this if the jib (Josh) was not raised. Under full sail, he would need to find something else to snuggle up to.  

He will  always have us when he needs some pets, and we are easy for him to find on board the boat while underway!