Anchor rider sail – a world of difference

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Anchor rider sail – a world of difference

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The 2012 summer was the first season with Iris. Anchoring was all but pleasant as she swung like a carousel. Maybe one of the disadvantages of the swing keel she sport. So quite a few nights were spend moored to shore. She draws only 1.1m of water – of the many advantages of the swing keel 😉 – so we get close to shore.

Preparing for the 2013 summer I did a bit of research on how to stabilise the vessel at anchor. We ended up with a delta wing rider sail. It made the world of difference and swinging is now highly limited – leading to most nights being spent at anchor – sleeping.

Iris is 43ft, wights 16MT loaded. The sail maker recommended a size 4, but we ended with size 3, which works nicely. I think the sail is surprisingly large and draws a lots of wind. Hence it is important to secure it well and very tight.

Fell free to check the friendly sail maker http://www.lundhsails.se/produkter/ankarplog 

I prefer to anchor with large cope; preferably minimum 5:1. That may be a bit more than most sailors. Iris was the first vessel into this lovely anchorage along the south coast of Norway. In the evening we wanted to head over to Denmark and when retrieving the anchor if found that the vessel in the middle had dropped their anchor over my anchor chain. Not ideal! With a lot of luck we managed to glide passed the middle vessel and get our hook up without any damage.

Limited space – too much gear – great dish strainer

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Solving the ever returning issue of wanting to add gear on board while fighting limited space. Do you recognise the situation?
The other day while at IKEA, I came across a little gem of a dish strainer. Is this something to write about then? Maybe. The inspiration to write comes from a post at another blog – morganscloud.com (http://www.morganscloud.com/2012/03/03/a-plea-for-help/comment-page-1/#comment-32511) – where they were “desperately” were searching for a replacement strainer for the one they had. Apparently, the old one was great, but it had come to the end of its useful life.
 
As an alternative, I would recommend the one pictured here. The length is adjustable, to fit inside any sink of a heeling vessel. Add a small tray and use in on the kitchen counter while in harbour. Fully collapse it for easy storage in a small space. The pictures tell the rest of the story.
In my mind it fits the slogan of one of the local supermarkets chains, Rema, the simple solutions are often the best ones. I presume the same goes for sailing gear, not only shopping for food, at least if one would ask Lin & Larry Pardey. 

If you like the item, it can currently be found in the kitchen section of IKEA shops. The price is a whopping EUR 7 (approx).

 

Spectra rope offers nice options for attachment of steel rigging items to aluminium hulls

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Aluminium and stainless steel are not the best of friends. So how does one attach all sorts of stainless gear, blocks and shackles – one option is by using nifty small soft shackles made of spectra or dynema. The good guys at colligo marine have made some good instructional videos – in addition to supplying some interesting equipment. Why don’t you take a look

Softie Soft Shackle Construction

Beating the cr… out of diesel bugs

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While searching for possible ways to beat the cr… out of the diesel bugs, I by chance came across a rigorous test of diesel fuel additives undertaken by the reputable German Segeln Magazine 3/2009 (www.segelnmagazin.de). As the test is not freely available, I purchased it to gain access to the results. According to the test, most diesel additives cost a lot and do not do the job, i.e. a waste of precious cash. However, one product stood well up to the test – Grotamar 71. 
This is what the test stated:
In den von uns gewählten Dosierungen wirkte das Mittel perfekt, beide Proben waren vollständig keimfrei. Die Dosierungsangaben sowohl für Schock- als auch für die Permanentdosierung sind auf der Flasche zu finden, allerdings sehr weit gestreut (Unterschied mit Faktor 20!). Mit der Frage, welche Konzentration denn jetzt die richtige ist, wird der Nutzer etwas allein gelassen. Wir haben uns deshalb für einen realistischen und (ab-) messbaren Wert von 0,05 % für die Permanentdosierung entschieden. Die Warnhinweise sind vollständig, der Verschluss gesichert
Google translate for what it is worth:
At the doses we selected the remedy worked perfectly, both samples were completelysterile. The dosage information for both shock and for the permanent dosagecan be found on the bottle, but very far spread (difference by a factor of 20!). The question of what concentration is it nowthe right, the user is left alone fora bit. We have therefore opted for a realistic and (ab-) measurable value of 0.05% for the permanent metering. The warnings arefully secured to the closure
Those interested my find more info here http://www.schuelke.com/int/en/default/48136.php?q=grotamar%2071