Charles, >How went it? Never Monday took a real pasting (as did many others) but their seamanship served them well. They were still slightly rattled when they visited along with 4 other crews for T-day, not really wanting to talk too much about the experience. They spent 64 hours on 15-ft sea anchor between Minerva Reef and BOI. Tether chafed through at bow roller about an hour before John planned to retrieve the rig. Very rough ride as seas were fairly chaotic and arriving from 2 or 3 directions. One serious rogue strike at 0330 - ripped bow cleat in half, lost dodger, dorades, damaged steering (bent hyd. ram). I got John to fill out a DDDB form for Vic, but am holding pending further discussion. Below are our recent hamMails to bring you up to date. To top off the NZ passage dramas, NZ was hit pretty hard by a second tropical low, squeezed against a stalled high to the SE. We've been hunkered down until yesterday AM. Lost three more yachts off Northland, including one female crew POB when yacht hit the beach, and one female crew lost during tanker rescue attempt (possibly crushed the yacht). Reports are mostly noise so far, so I won't pass on suspect info (the press is pretty hopeless at accurate reporting on SAR). Of particular interest is why they chose to abandon a floating vessel in return for the horrendous risks of getting off the yacht. Shelly & Jane say Hi! They missed you at your place in Oregon, guess you were in Hawaii then. BTW, for our refugee T-day, besides Never Monday and Magic Dragon, we also had First Light from SF Bay, ISIS from BVI and La Nina. All but First Light weathered the second low in sight of our beach. I guess I should post this to TWL also, as some of the members might find useful bits in here somewhere in these ramblings :-) Cheers, Steve ------ Dear John & Dianne, I forgot to ask if you needed any help with repairs, drying out, finding marine svcs, etc. Note that we have washer/dryer and space to dry things - which might help in this dismal wx. Also have a dehumidifier in the guest flat. If you need to use shop or tools, just shout. We'll monitor 16. If needed we could xfer stuff at boating club pier or Russell wharf. Thx a bunch for the DDDB report. I can fax to Victor now, or if you prefer, hold until you have had a chance to read some of the DDDB4 reports first. You experience is very valuable to other sailors, so possibly you might want to fill in other details to Vic by email - easier than scribbling on forms. Last nite I went thru DDDB4 looking for info on "ride". Excerpts: pg 6.16. The ride at sea anchor can be quite uncomfortable, esp where monohulls are concerned. There is pitch and roll, bucking and hobby horsing, as when conventionally anchored in an exposed roadstead... One should not confuse comfort with safety however. Lying a-hull, for example, can be very comfortable, giving a false sense of security, even though it is known to be a formula for disaster in storms. Case in point, File S/M-40. With the sea anchor deployed the ride aboard Karoro was uncomfortable throughout the night. Ann Wilson: "Jim played out the warp and then the chain, and slowly we swung around into the waves...The gentle hove-to movement had changed to a jerky sideways rock, but now we were parting the waves with the bow and not taking them every which way. <sounds like the latter still happened to Never Monday> The ride became deceptively comfortable when the sea anchor was lost and Karoro came beam to the seas. But that was when she came to grief. Ann Wilson again: "suddenly Guy said 'We're going backwards...we've lost the sea anchor...it's OK, it's a much nicer motion now [lying a-hull]...There was no warning. No roar as the rogue wave approached us. It was deceptively quiet...It seemed like slow motion as I rolled out and hit the table, breaking it off the wall. Then the sound of rushing water. I looked up and saw a waterfall pouring through the gap in the companionway." <Vic thinks the Pardey method is the antidote.> Don't know if that tidbit makes you feel better or worse about the experience <g>. Could you please email me Bob McDavitt's report? With Bob's permission, the wx situation would be excellent background for your report. Did you have any leak problems? If so, I know of a method for finding illusive leaks that might be helpful, some tricks for leakproofing chainplates, etc. We HATE leaks! Do you have email addr for "Egress II"? 73, Steve de ZL1SDD ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- Date: 11/29 0:11 Received: 11/29 10:51 From: KH8DL*VK2AGE.#NE.NSW.AUS.OC@dur.win-net.org To: Steve Darden, darden@xtra.co.nz Steve, Thanks for the e-mail and very kind offers of assistance. I think that we are pretty much in control right now but I would like to hear about your methods for locating hard to find leaks. I'm particularly displeased with leaks myself. The e-mail address for Egress II is: ve0mte@dur.win-net.org and their names are Jack and Norma. They should be able to give you a good report regarding the use of their self-made, series drogue. I will need to get a copy of the weather report from my friends aboard Anapurna, Ruth and Buddy. I'll e-mail them at the same time as this goes out and request it. I will ask them to send a copy to your address also. Your quotes from the DDDB4 were right on the money as far as we are concerned. The ride was horrendous but probably safe even with the knockdown. We noticed right away when the anchor was lost and it was almost a relief as the ride became so much more comfortable. After following the news on channel 16 today regarding the 2 yachts in distress I certainly feel we were lucky that we could handle the conditions we faced and the boat held up against the weather conditions. I'm not looking forward to getting into anything like that again soon! Thanks again for the wonderful dinner and the offers for assistance. I'll give you a call very soon and we can talk about your leak suggestions. Johnny and Liz aboard Isis have a few leaks around their chainplates so I know that they would appreciate the information also. All the best, John ----------------- End Forwarded Message ----------------- ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- Date: 11/30 9:07 Received: 11/30 10:14 From: Steve Darden, darden@xtra.co.nz To: KH8DL*VK2AGE.#NE.NSW.AUS.OC@dur.win-net.org CC: adagiomarine@csi.com Hammail sometimes more reliable than ISPs - our Xtra mailserver has been down since 1200UTC Friday! Had to download Outlook to find a mail client that will work until they sort out their gremlins. Hi John, Very happy to hear you don't have any serious drying out or fixups to do! First Light sure does - way too much water coming in where it shouldn't. BTW, we have reports from a number of yachts of 100% dry Lewmar Ocean hatches. First Light has had an ongoing saga of leaks with theirs which we hope to rectify. And I just ordered 36 Lewmar hatches/portlights - those puppies had better not leak! >locating hard to find leaks. I learned this method from Don Watson, chief boatbuilder at Concordia (now head of NE Boatbuilders). Don built "Heart of Gold". I haven't yet had an reason nor opportunity to try it, but it sure makes sense. It is simply to create positive pressure inside the boat, then find any external air leaks by the old soapy water test. The big plus of this method is you can pinpoint exactly where the water enters the "boat bubble". The firehose type tests don't help much unless the entry/exit are the same and pretty obvious. The detective work can get down to the micro level, where you are brushing on the soap film or even using Q-tips if really subtle. Don says it is a surefire way to identify the real source of those ugly remote leaks - e.g., drips on bunk, but source is a staunchion 10 feet away. How to pressurize? A good sized window fan is the pressure source - it doesn't take a lot of pressure differential. Our builder has a couple of these fans mounted inside wooden boxes to make it easy to seal the fan to the cocoon when painting (same positive pressure idea, but in this case the goal is to keep out dust - and sand flies <g>). Button the boat up tight, screw in deck plates on dorades, tape over any vents, companionway hatch slides, etc. Use any convenient plastic film, even garbage bags, to bridge where needed. Get soapy... >good report regarding the use of their self-made, series drogue. Thx a bunch - didn't know they had used series drogue - I gather in passage to NZ. >Your quotes from the DDDB4 were right on the money One plus for v4 is much more thoughtful analysis, distillation of all the cases. It's really difficult to extract a clear picture - yacht & storm is a (blessedly) rare event, much more rare is that combination with drag device utilized, and even more rare is an objective report of what worked or didn't. >we were lucky that we could handle the conditions we faced You are too modest. You made your luck. >Johnny and Liz aboard Isis have a few leaks around their chainplates Alan taught me a 100% method for sealing chainplates, which will be used on Adagio. Yachts that he has "doctored" have gone 10+ years w/o a drop. Easier to discuss with diagrams, but the essence is simple. Chamfer deck opening around chainplate such that chainplate is a "slip fit" where penetrates into interior. Drive caulking cotton (as per wooden boat planking) into the bottom of the "V". Bed as usual (bedding not really needed, but why not). Any water which gets past bedding causes cotton to swell. Caveats - chainplates must be removed to do this right, cored decks must be correctly sealed, etc. Sure hope the yachts still out there are OK. The bits of traffic we hear on 16 are confusing. 73, Steve de ZL1SDD ----------------- End Forwarded Message ----------------- ----------------- Stephen C. Darden Adagio Marine Ltd.