TWL: Wind resistance
Mike Finley says "pointed her nose to the wind like a fine
sailboat." Sorry that I don't know what was happening with you LRC--but a
sailboat in those conditions will not point her noise into the wind--she
will turn crosswise or down wind--and that is where sailboats get into
trouble when near lee shores in gale force winds.
Not only does one have to overcome wind resistance as Larry points out--but
for the most part with wind comes seas. There is inertial resistance of the
boat as it pitches into seas, but also if an outboard is mounted on the
stern often the prop will come out of the water.
Bob Austin--lots of time at sea in sailboats--some of it hurricane force
winds.
Howdy all,
No offense to Mike but I must agree with Bob Austin. I've been practicing
my MOB drills on SF bay (borrowed boat) and in a pretty steady wind of 20
kts or so the boat definitely falls off to either port or starboard
(surprisingly, WAY more than half the time it presents its starboard side to
the wind) and locks in roughly perpendicular to the wind direction. I asked
the Captain who taught our trawler handling class last May and he said
essentially the same thing as Bob. Since he is writing a book on boat
handling I won't say what term he used but he has coined a term for the
effect and describes the effect as the interaction between the boats center
of mass and center of pressure. It was normal for sailboats but I didn't
expect the same behavior from a powerboat.
I completely believe the ultimate loss of ability to drive into such a wind.
Faced with the same situation I imagine I'd try and run before it until
things settled down, assuming I had the clear sea to run on. God knows what
would happen if you were in a channel and couldn't reverse course quickly
enough.
Regards to All,
Frank & Claudette Weismantel
Elverta, CA
Boatless for a little while longer
-----Original Message-----
From: trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com]On Behalf Of Bob Austin
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 2:46 PM
To: Michael Finley
Cc: 1trawler world
Subject: TWL: Wind resistance
Snip
I retract the sail comment, it was only meant as a metaphor. I understood
that would be the case in a well designed sailboat, it apparently isn't as
has been pointed out by those who have more experience than me, but I
completely stand by my personal experiences. As such, in the peak of the
storm, regardless of rudder direction, we were nose to the wind with props
turning at 2000 rpm. This was a short moment in time, maybe 10 minutes or
so. I was on the helm with two friends, both more experienced than me, and
we were all pleasantly surprised by the way the trawler handled. While we
made almost no forward progress, we held steady in the storm. You guys are
tough, I will use spell check twice and only comment on personal experiences
in the future.
Best regards,
Mike Finley
-----Original Message-----
From: trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com]On Behalf Of frank
weismantel
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 5:41 PM
To: Trawler-World-List; Bob Austin
Subject: TWL: RE: Wind resistance
Howdy all,
No offense to Mike but I must agree with Bob Austin. I've been practicing
my MOB drills on SF bay (borrowed boat) and in a pretty steady wind of 20
kts or so the boat definitely falls off to either port or starboard
(surprisingly, WAY more than half the time it presents its starboard side to
the wind) and locks in roughly perpendicular to the wind direction. I asked
the Captain who taught our trawler handling class last May and he said
essentially the same thing as Bob. Since he is writing a book on boat
handling I won't say what term he used but he has coined a term for the
effect and describes the effect as the interaction between the boats center
of mass and center of pressure. It was normal for sailboats but I didn't
expect the same behavior from a powerboat.
I completely believe the ultimate loss of ability to drive into such a wind.
Faced with the same situation I imagine I'd try and run before it until
things settled down, assuming I had the clear sea to run on. God knows what
would happen if you were in a channel and couldn't reverse course quickly
enough.
Regards to All,
Frank & Claudette Weismantel
Elverta, CA
Boatless for a little while longer
-----Original Message-----
From: trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com]On Behalf Of Bob Austin
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 2:46 PM
To: Michael Finley
Cc: 1trawler world
Subject: TWL: Wind resistance
Snip
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