No sailing this weekend

This is a short post to say that sailing to Brighton this weekend is cancelled. PassageWeather.com predicts easterlies tomorrow and then westerlies on Sunday, exactly the opposite of what I need to get there in reasonable time. But I still plan to visit Jake and his Coromandel Sinobee, as well as the Brighton Kite Festival. I’ll just go by train.

The good news is that this will give me some time to write up some recent sailing adventures and edit some video. Quite a few people have been asking how recent trips went, and I have some fun footage of being in the middle of the Round the Island Race.

Watch this space!

Summer sailing plans

Tammy Norie’s summer is coming together.

2015-07-04/05 is the Junk Rig Summer Rally at Warsash.  Last year I kicked off my east coast adventures at the East Coast Rally and some Cambridge friends came along for the ride. It’ll be great to meet the south coast folks. Various members of my family including my nephews and niece are coming along too.

2015-07-10/13 I plan to sail Tammy Norie to meet her sister Sinobee, recently bought and being restored by Jake McLewee in Brighton. Jake came along to Tammy’s launch and a day sail and is learning rapidly about Coromandels and junk rigs. That is also the weekend of the Brighton Kite Festival. I’ll have to pack and bring my collection of fighter kites!

2015-07-23/24 is a meeting of the Small Sailboat Club at Ashlett Creek in the Solent. I’m looking forward to meeting James Hall in his Paradox Microcruiser.  The Paradox and Enigma are fascinating designs, and I think they’re just crying out for a junk rig.  James has been thinking along these lines and I’ll be discussing it with him.

2015-08 has no specific dates yet, but CUYC will likely be sailing Puffin to Bruges. I’d like to rendezvous with Puffin, then take Tammy Norie to meet her sister Siskind at Edam and explore the Netherlands. Siskind is being restored by Antoine Maartens who you’ll find commenting quite often on this blog. I think that will be my big trip and main holiday this summer. It’s a chance for some passagemaking and coastal exploration in good company!

As always, let me know if you’d like to meet or join in with any of this!

Kite-cam improvements

This chap has been taking pictures of his boat from a kite. I’ve been having a nice conversation with him about it in the comments section.

Travelling Aurora - journeys of a Cape Cutter 19

Whilst moored on the Deben, I had a chance to try out my improvements to the kite-cam rig for aerial photography with my gopro.

I have added pulleys and used a longer picavet cradle, in order to better damp the oscillation of the kite. I am getting better at aiming the camera and I’m pleased with the stability improvements.

However, I notice that the weight of the camera rig tends to stall the kite sometimes and I wonder if the tail could do with more drag to correct the angle of attack. The pulley are also lined up the wrong way and don’t seem to help with the main problem, movement at right angles to the kite line. Further, I wonder if a larger cross would’ve more stable. I can feel a Mark 2 coming on…

For those who have asked, here are some shots of the rig I used…

View original post 1 more word

Tammy from a Kite

I’ve been meaning to try some kite aerial photography for a while. I was tidying up Tammy Norie while stuck on a sandbank at Wells-next-the-Sea, and found a dowel that I’d bought to repair the broken spine of my Japanese Rokaku fighting kite. Time to give it a try! It worked better than I thought, but still not very well yet. I clearly need a more stable kite and rig.

I think a box kite would be better. They are simple and stable and have plenty of lifting power. That and a Picavet suspension ought to do it. Something to do when I’m not so busy fixing the boat.