Tammy, Emmelène, and Amiina

I sailed Tammy Norie from Portsmouth to Poole Harbour for the August bank holiday, in tandem with Chris Boxer aboard Emmelène. It was a weekend of many meetings, but this video shows Tammy, Emmelène, and Edward Hooper’s Amiina.

Amiina has Edward’s latest version of the split junk rig, and Emmelène is using his previous version. Tammy Norie has her original flat Hasler-McLeod rig from 1983, and so this was a rare opportunity to compare rigs on two boats of the same hull.  Unfortunately we only had very light winds, and Emmelène’s sail is significantly larger than Tammy’s, so it’s by no means a thorough comparison.

Can Emmelène point higher than Tammy Norie? Not really. Tammy Norie can go very close to the wind, but gets slower and slower. The sail never seems to stop completely. Emmelène, like a Bermudan, seems to have a definite highest angle “groove”. She’s faster than Tammy up to that groove, but stalls and stops above it. This was noticeable when manoeuvering into Portsmouth Harbour entrance in a northerly F5. I wouldn’t say this is a particularly amazing advantage for Tammy, except when manoeuvering under sail.

Is Emmelène faster to windward than Tammy Norie? Definitely in light wind (up to force 4) and probably in general. Emmelène with one panel reefed was about ⅓kt faster over several hours to windward in a F3 crossing Christchurch bay. Emmelène had to drop two panels to stay with Tammy in a F4 from Beaulieu to Lee-on-Solent at about 80° off.

Is Emmelène faster downwind that Tammy Norie? Again, definitely in light wind. Since both sails are in drag mode, this is probably just due to Emmelène’s larger sail area, as seen towards the end of the video.

What is clear is that Edward literally sailed rings around Tammy in Amiina!

All this makes some sort of split more likely in a future rig for Tammy Norie, though I’m likely to go for some sort of compromise or hybrid approach. What I mainly plan to do is experiment, and you’ll read about it here on the blog.

There’s also a photo album of the weekend on Flickr. A more general account of the trip will follow.

Edit: More photos by Edward Hooper, including pictures of Tammy (which are hard to take when you’re sailing her).

Edit 2: Amiina (with the sail that’s currently on Emmelène) was featured in a side-by-side comparison of the junk and bermudan rigs in Practical Boat Owner, 2014-11-05.

Michel’s videos of Tammy Norie

Antoine Maartens has uploaded a few videos of Tammy Norie taken by his brother Michel.

Sailing past Dulcibella on the way from Huizen to Kinselmeer.

Sailing in to Kinselmeer to meet Siskin and Dulcibella, with commentary in Dutch by Michel. Shows me coming alongside under sail, and how easy it is to do with the junk rig.

You can also see some videos of Tammy’s sister Siskin over on Antoine’s channel.

Thank you Antoine and Michel!

The Trials of my Hebridean

I have finally edited the video footage of my various trials of my Hebridean self steering system during and after my Netherlands cruise. This is a system I built over two weeks in July. Here’s the result.

Here are a few things I mention in the video that are worth repeating.

• When I set off, my Hebridean was not complete and I had no experience with wind vanes.
• This is a story about my Hebridean on my boat.
• Very small boats and junk rigs may require mods to the plans.
• I should have spent more time experimenting with the bungee.
• Don’t copy me until you have tried the system according to the plans.

Thank you everyone for your help and support with this project. Special thanks to John Fleming for showing great patience when dealing with me. Paul Thompson for keen technical insight. And Stephen Crowther for useful observations and support.

I’m sure the story’s not over yet, but part one is complete.

To Netherland

I have quite a lot of video from my Netherlands cruise, but not much where I’m talking about the journey or the boat. So I’ve decided to put together some “flavour” videos to frame everything. Here’s the first, with highlights of the outward journey.

Music is the excellent Flying Journey by Reasy.

More to come.  I do have some talking video too and I’ll edit that too.

Tammy Norie and Siskin

It was the chance to meet Siskin and her owner, Antoine, that made me even think of going to the Netherlands this year. I ended up meeting and making many friends, but sailing Tammy Norie and Siskin together was the biggest goal. We had two great days sailing and a lot of fun.

I sailed into Huizen in the afternoon of 2015-08-22 and moored up next to Dulcibella, an immaculate Drascome belonging to Antoine’s brother, Marcel.

And then it was over to the next pontoon to take a look at Siskin. At that point her sail was off, and none of her halyard, sheet, topping lifts, or even mast lift were rigged. We soon sorted that out!

Antoine has modified his mast in a way that’s quite similar to Tammy Norie’s, and so it was quick work to fold it down and get all the lines in place. We had a lovely feast of mussels with Antoine and Marcel and their spouses, and a lot of boat chat. It was really great to meet them all.

Late in the morning, after a few more fixes, Antoine and I sailed our boats out of Huizen.  Antoine at the controls for the first time.

How proud and happy he was.

We rafted up for some lunch, and soon after we were joined by Marcel on Dulcibella.

We spent the evening in Kinselmeer, just east of Amsterdam, and caught the fireworks from SAIL Amsterdam 2015.

Antoine tried out Eaglet.

And we were joined by a swimmer from a nearby Etap.  I went to visit them and they showed me how the boat had foam-filled compartments to make it unsinkable.

In the morning there was a strong wind from the east, and Antoine didn’t seem sure that we could sail out of the narrow exit to the Kinselmeer. I was sure I could do it, and soon enough he found out that flat sailed junk rigs certainly can go to windward!

The Markermeer was rough with steep short waves, as I’d been warned, and I was soaked with warm water several times as we reached north to Edam. It was an excellent day.

And here’s video of Tammy and Siskin together.

Tammy Norie and Stern

I met Marco and Jan aboard Marco’s Wharram catamaran Stern when I was windbound in Rye at the start of my Netherlands cruise. They were waiting for the same wind change as me, and we had several long chats and meals together.

Macro had bought Stern in Scotland and extensively rebuilt and improved her. Like Tammy Norie, she was a boat in the DIY spirit, and Marco had a lot of knowledge in common with me. What’s more, he too had a newly fitted self steering system — a Mr. Vane — and was just getting to know it.  Jan was an older chap with a friendly twinkle, and though we weren’t able to talk as fluently, he clearly had a great deal of knowledge and experience.  They gave me many tips for the Netherlands.

Neither Stern nor Tammy are particularly easy to handle through locks, and at one point we missed two cycles as numerous big white cruisers zoomed past us and filled them up.

“Typical Dutch,” said Marco, “always wanting to be first. Dank u wel,” he called to the passing yachts, with sarcasm that transcends national boundaries. “Friendships and marriages are made and broken in the locks.”

We ended up sailing together to the Netherlands, through Zeeland, up to Amsterdam and through SAIL Amsterdam 2015, finally saying goodbye in the Markermeer as Stern headed home towards Oostmahorn.

Our journey through Zeeland was not very pleasant, with rain and headwinds a lot of the time. But after we came through the Krammersluis into the Krammer we had a couple of hours of downwind fun, and filmed each other sailing. Here’s some video.

Thank you Marco and Jan, for excellent company and new friendships.

Addendum: It turns out that this boat that I saw in Harlingen, the Bruinvisch, is owned by Jan and his brother. Jan did tell me he had a boat there, but I didn’t know which.

Twist into Sun

After a stormy day’s sailing from Terschelling to Harlingen the sky’s twisting clouds opened up into sunlight.

The need to stop the flop

A little while ago I pointed out an article about a thing called a “flopper stopper” that would help to dampen rolling caused by wave action, and a video by Andy Lane where he shows the problem while crossing the Atlantic. Well, I had exactly the same problem while on my recent Netherlands cruise.  Here’s a short video showing how bad it can get in calm conditions. This kind of rolling makes doing anything aboard very difficult, including maintenance and cooking.

 

Tammy in the Waves

I have quite a lot of video to edit from my Netherlands cruise.  Here’s a little teaser (featuring the Hebridean).

Constructing the Hebridean day 12

This past weekend I sailed from Fareham to Emsworth and back with a friend from Cambridge, and while aboard (and under way!) I assembled and attached the incomplete pendulum and was able to test some aspects of the Hebridean wind vane self steering gear that I have been constructing since last Monday.

Before setting out, I finished making and attaching the counterweights. These balance the vane and push rods so that wind pressure is able to twist the pendulum. John Fleming’s plans involve creating counterweights by setting lead shot in polyester resin. But Dad has a better idea. He found a couple of old doorknobs and we filled them with lead instead.

I tapped 10mm threads into the handles, then tapped 6mm threads into some 10mm threaded rod, so that the counterweights could be bolted to 6mm threaded rod on the Hebridean.  This also allows for some adjustment in their position with lock nuts.

I attached the upper counterweight to the vane and fiddled with it until the vane just returned to vertical.  It’s then that I found out exactly what the “grub screw” is for.  It tilts the upper counterweight arm so that you can get the vane vertical.

The lower counterweight balances the push rod mechanism.  You need to detach the vane and pendulum, but hang the pendulum push rod so that you get the right weight.

You then position the lower counterweight until the main push rod moves up and down with minimal force.

With these things done, I took the frame and pendulum aboard Tammy Norie. While underway I attached the pendulum sides and hinges.  Drilling oak with a little hand drill is slow going, especially when the helm is tacking every few minutes!

The results were very satisfying. I was able to get the pendulum into the water while under way and see how it moved the whole gear when twisted.

This kind of testing also revealed problems.  I left the end of the extension proud of the trunk, to keep that end of the cross-lap joint strong.  Unfortunately, it clashes with the mount and prevents the pendulum being fully lifted out of the water.  I’ll need to trim it down.

There’s another issue with the pivot and mount.  I made the mount as a sandwich (as recommended) but this means that the split pins keeping the pivot in the mount clash with the sides, preventing the Hebridean from rotating.  I’m not sure what John intended here.  I notice that his boat has the mount in a different orientation so perhaps he didn’t notice this problem.

Later on I was able to attach the whole push rod linkage to the pendulum.  Once that was done it was possible to steer the Hebridean by wiggling the vane counterweight rod.

I even have a video of this bit!

Unfortunately, this last test was taken just before we had to moor up, so I didn’t have time to test using actual wind. As it was we only just got unloaded before the tide dried out Tammy. We even had to push the rowing boat through the mud to get home.

I’ve taken the pendulum back home to Cambridge to shape it at home when I’m home from work.