We had a rudder problem in Sumatra, repaired with glass and epoxy resin, but our hull was solid glass not sandwich. Please take your time thinking it through, perhaps waiting another season. Cape Horn is waiting for you. Another point is awards. How can I vote for Sweet Ruca as the best emerging channel?
@@SailingSweetRuca i know Roxy will do a proper job. Our rudder problem happened during our citcumnaviation in the 1980s. Hopefully we can make it to Ilhabela without incident.
Great video. Helpful hint on spinnaker sock dousing at night. When the shoot is up, mark the line that one needs to pull to douse with tape. In that way when dousing at night and the deck lights preclude you from seing the top of the mast, you will know which line to pull to douse.
Hey Ron! Hope your sailing season is going well!!! That is a great idea, no doubt from your shorthanded racing experience! We will have to do this. That would even help make moves faster in the daytime.
@@SailingSweetRuca A beautiful Lady like Kate is never a distraction from your video's. It is a plus to the exceptional over all content you all put together.
Your subscriber rate should be through the roof. We watch some other sailing vlogs but no one compares to your skills when it comes to sailing. I can't wait each week for your videos just to see you sail. Someday I might even be familiar with all the jargon, but what an education for sailors. You guys are terrific.
I keep on admiring your sailing skills and calm reaction to issues, which cannot be escaped or ignored.. These "Unidentified Floating Objects" together with abandoned fished nets are becoming more and more prevalent. Hope the damage, whatever the severity, can be repaired..
Think I'd be clipped on at all times on deck. You only need a life jacket if you go overboard only by then its too late. Wearing a Personal Locator Beacon is next best thing to being saved from the ocean.
It's an interesting reminder that downwind sailing in light airs is actually pretty irritating! The very fact that there's a need for a preventer speaks to the bad things that can easily happen in these conditions - a far cry from the very romantic images of a brightly colored, billowing spinnaker eagerly pulling a sailboat across azure seas :-) Nice teamwork on the takedown!
What safety precautions do you take for a man overboard event? I do not see deck personnel ties or on deck life vests. When solo sailing I always dragged a 100 ft of rope. On one trip to Anacapa Island I actually fell overboard, but was able to grab on to the skiff I was towing. I climbed aboard the stern of the skiff and pulled myself back to the stern the sloop. It gave me a new respect for safety. Falling overboard is easier than you think! 😳
Yours is a scary story that really puts things in perspective, thank you for sharing. We are glad you are here! We do use harnesses and lifejackets often, any time the conditions call for them. It would not hurt to wear them more often.
I was much younger in the early 1970’s and had an attitude of invincibility. That wake up call changed all that. Safe Travels. Glassing that through hull post shouldn’t be a huge problem once you are out of the water. My guess it is damage from whatever you hit in the Atlantic.
It is important when sailing at night with only one person on watch that a harness is worn and no one should leave the cockpit without calling the person below.
I heard one captain describe his man overboard process. Soon as the call goes out you park the boat immediately and do you best to hold position. The man overboard then swims to the boat. The reasoning is that it's extremely difficult for crew to spot person in water, but easy for person in water to spot the boat, and, if the captain is sailing back and forth trying to find the person, he or she might just be sailing further and further away from the person. This was a professional captain who had sailed in the clipper race. I believe this is the best way unless crew never loses sight of the person. And either way, practice is key to success when it really happens.
Y’all have got your stuff together! So awesome that you teach as you go along, please don’t stop that! I’m 60 and trying to buy my first live aboard, y’all are inspiring!
Great video guys! Katie Bikini is genius and yes Curtis, she did an incredible job that solo night!! Hope the fiberglass repair is minimal. Keep her outfootin the dolphins!🇺🇸
I've never seen a RU-vidr say "no biggie" when analyzing an approaching front. 🤣 And, best dolphins yet I'd say! Realistically, seems like a blessing in disguise to find the extent of the damage when you did. Seems like a much worse scenario if it held on until you were closer to or around the horn!
WOW. Amazing video. To date this is the best RU-vid video about sailing I have ever seen. I can't get enough of this. You two are amazing. Thanks so much. Keep having fun and stay safe.
Hey fantastic sailers I really love your videos!!!! Your autentic, real people and its really about sailing!!!! Keep going, keep loving each other, hope the boat will be okay so you can continue your fantastic journy!!!! Your both fantastic people! Warm greetings from Johan in Holland!
Curtis and Kate, I hope that the hull damage turns out to be a quick fix. Awesome sail and videos. That was more Dolphin than I have seen in one area; video or personal sightings. Thank y'all for sharing. Blue Skies, Fair Winds, and Following Seas. Faithfully, James
Bravo! on the way your preventer is rigged. A proper preventer is rigged only one way, and that is from the boom end to as far forward as you can get it on the bow, and then back to a winch in the cockpit. It is all about physics; example, a proper preventer would be about 1200 pounds (540 kg) as against some 7,000 pounds (3300 kg) or more on an amidships attached alternative! Of course, on a smaller boat the loads will be lower, but the strength of the gear will be lower too, so the dangers will remain. I have seen numerous booms broken from preventers set from mid boom to mid rail. I have enjoyed your channel immensely, be safe Bo S/Y Aurora
Hey Bo! Right on! Great info. We haven't done the math on the loads, but we have seen a fair share of bent and broken booms after tough races. Our preventer setup isn't perfect, kind of a jury rig as we haven't installed dedicated hardware for it :-)
Nice work!!! We recently started sailing, bought a Catalina, invested in the repairs and hurricane Ian has severely damaged her. We are heading south this week to start doing the repairs needed, so we can get back out asap. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to watching more.
Thanks Dream Aloud. Our hearts go out to you and all those sailors (and everyone else) affected by Ian. We are glad to hear you are enjoying the videos though. Be safe and best wishes!!!
@@SailingSweetRuca Hi, hope you are OK Please send me details on your sailing rout in real time so that I can follow your journey on my map. Safe Sailing From Danie South Africa
Hi @@danieoosthuizen144 you can track us in real time on our website www.sweetruca.com, you can also find more behind the scenes details, photos, and stories on Patreon (patreon.com/ruca), where you can contact us directly as well. Cheers!
So sorry to hear about the cracks in your hull! I think another preventer is in order......a governor set at 6 knots will keep the stresses on your boat to a minimum. Speed kills, and breaks stuff. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare, will save lots of money and trouble. Cheers!
Heya Bob! Check back to episode 72. We hit a whale at ~3-4 knots near Africa. That is the cause of the issue. Don't think we can keep the reigns in to stay under 6 all the time, but it is not a bad idea. Cheers! :-)
Good engineering; or seamanship if you like, understands that every system has a weakest point-a fuse, if you like-and it pays to be mindful and intentional about where there point are.
Great vlog episode guys ‼️ Bummer on the hull leak😢😢 yet confident you will take care of it. Kudos to Brooke for the evening sail watch. ✨ 🌊 💨 ⛵️ 🏝 👙 🌞 ✨
Hi Richard! Sorry it took us so long to get to all the comments this week! We hope you are having a wonderful day, and appreciate your vote of confidence :-) Stay well and see you next week!
Another great episode, you get a really good balance of technical info, just sailing, navigation, where you are and daily life in every episode ive watched .. well done. A thought for you, as a seasoned sailor, both cruising and offshore long distance racing, ive seen plenty of boats use preventers and whilst i personally wont use one due to the danger they provide from the over confidence they can create, I know many people who do. One thing ive seen time and time again especially with systems were the preventer is bow based like you have, is lines snapping (even super strong lines) or other hardware failures, eg cleats that you would never have expected to fail due to the sheer power that can be in the mainsail when it tries to jibe unexpectedly on a bad roll. Since the Preventer is a safety device, and one you obviously rely on, have you tested it? To test is is fairly simple, and can be done in sheltered waters, all that is required would be to set the mainsail in say 15 or 20 knots of wind, (no jib required your only testing the main) and then deliberately set your helm 5 or 10 degrees past gybe point. it may take a few minutes to actually gybe without rolling water to help, but it will do it, and make sure your both out the way of it when it happens. The guage of your preventer line i suspect may not be sufficient to stop the gybe and it would be better to know before you need it in a rolling sea!
Hi Ollie! You may have set the record for longest RU-vid comment :-) Haha! We like your eye for detail and helpful points though :-) 6mm dyneema has an average break srength of around 8000 lbs. We would prefer the rope to break before the deck fittings. Keep in mind there is also a mid-boom brake, which will absorb some load also in the case of a broken line. Kind of a failure path cascade. We have soft tested it as you suggest and it is OK, but a violent chinese gybe would make for some pretty extreme loads we can only guess about. If you can figure our the line load on the end of the boom in a broach we would love to know what that is! This may call for a spreadsheet!
The crack in the hull is easy to repair with Marine Tex. It dries in water, underwater, in any water. And it last for years. You can overcoat the dry Marine Tex with epoxy fiberglass. All from the inside of the hull. And it will last forever. Never leave the dock without it.
Right on Gill! We carry underwater epoxy on board, but by the time we noticed it was better to get to port than try to repair at sea with an incoming storm. Check out Episode 88 for the final repair
Wondering if you might have less cyclic action on the outhaul connection if you had a clew strap around the boom? Your video shows a lot of movement going on there at the clew. Lots of wear going on with all those cycles and dynamic loads with the clew jumping around like that. Another armchair sailor comment which I'm sure you guys love!- using a stretchier line for your preventer, dacron or covered nylon, might be good to reduce shock loads in the event of an accidental gybe. That dyneema would stretch very little and may snap or transfer high loads to the rig causing something else to break. An application where a lower tech line might be better.
In keeping with this strength and stretchy goal I have used a 7/16″ (11 mm) Ultrex Plus high modulus rope for the boom line to keep the mass down and make stowage along the boom work better. The deck line is good old 5/8″ (16 mm) Dacron (polyester) double braid with a break load of ~16,000 pounds (7250 kg). I could have made it smaller by using high modulus rope, but thought it better to have a bit of stretch in the system and, anyway, larger diameter line is easier to handle on a winch.
I live in Cedar Key Florida and they said Starlink was not here at this time yet. Today we got the dish and when we hooked it up we are watching you at this time on Starlink. This is fun because the picture is so clear. I remember Joe Anderson who was at a church in Belo-Horizonte Brazil when an angel appears and they called him tabasco because of his color. This angel came to Jacksonville Florida my hometown and showed up in a picture there. I have the photo but I don't want people to worship angels so I just tell of the event.
OH Kate and Curtis you are killing me! Racing boats with only an auto pilot and very sensitive to weight are not voyaging boats! Sure it is a blast to go fast and I used to do that also but when I am 2000 miles from land in the middle of the Pacific in a squall I need a boat that won’t BREAK and so do you! Your Displacement/L = 160, mine is 400+! That says it all. Ben S/V DAWN in the South Pacific
Hey Ben, thanks for looking out. We like all sorts of boats, and each have their pros and cons. We will keep going fast for now though, we are having a blast :-) Hope to see you somewhere down the road in a beautiful anchorage. Cheers!
Would be nice to have a sailboat that doesn’t break for a year or so! I have like $9k in repairs and refits this year already and mine is only a 23 1/2 FT Reve De Mer, that has included a new motor, lots of fiberglass repair, complete repaint including auto fouling. Thank goodness my sailboat is in The Philippines where such things are more affordable.
Haha! Our feelings exactly!!!! B.O.A.T. Always feels good to check off the projects though! Hopefully we will get a chance to stop into the Philippines one day!
The best thing I ever saw, when I was in the merch. The captain stopped the ship, so we could see a sword fish and shark fighting. He said it’s not everyday you see this happening Also another time, which happens quite frequent. The first time I experience this. There was a banging noise on the outside of the ship. When I looked over to see what it was. It was a whale rubbing his back. whales do this quite often, Some of them are massive 👍👍 I hate to be in your little boat when that happens 😂
Awesome teamwork you guys gotta play some Enya carribien blue while those dolphins are swimming with the boat lol. How's the dog like being on the water? Stay safe out there and thank you for sharing your journey
Sounds like a good plan! Who can say? Lol Roxy loves it. She is with us nearly 24/7, loves meeting new people, new smells, birds, dolphins, swimming, hiking, and laying in the sun. She is a great boat dog! Thanks for the comment! 😊
@@SailingSweetRuca anytime. I love watching the channel that's awesome that the dog loves it. Safe travels you guys thanks for the response and your awesome content 🙂 ⛵️ ⛵️ ⛵️ ⛵️ 😊
"Windy" as we have named it is a D400. It doesn't make much at low wind speeds. Here is a link to our blog where we went more in depth about its worth on board. sweetruca.com/is-a-wind-generator-sailboat-worth-it/
What are the reqular checks you do for finding issues? I think that checking the qvadrant and the rudder area is not something that many do. Sad thing that you have issues in the hull, good content for us and stuff that one can learn, but still unfortunate thing to happen. Still enjoying your sailing skils and the professional way you two manage the boat. Is the area affected with a core material or solid?
Great questions Topc! We do check the steering regulary as part of our regular rounds (bilge, through hulls, keel bolts, steering, mast/boom, standing rigging, running rigging, if motoring that too). We don't specifically look at that area of the hull regularly though, but in this case internal salt water made us look closer. It is a cored area, so will require a proper repair. (Coming soon!)
Great video! Loved it all but just one criticism. From 3:37 to 8:30 this should have been your background music: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XBw25CrUS-o.html ......Sometimes I just crack myself up!
I wish my boat had enough sail area to break any rigging. It can't generate enough force to break anything, let alone hardly get us moving. It is the standard rig Catalina 30, which for my family might actually be more than enough for a bunch of novices. It also ca'tn sail straight in a very balanced manner like your boat. It has a huge belly, and it's like sailing an 80 year old man that really needs a diet. The boat tends to really rotate on it's belly with a lot of weather helm. I am so unhappy that your rudder has been over stressed. I'd bet a dollar that you folks hit a whale. Especially if there isn't bash damage on the rudder. If you had hit a log or container typically it will create a bit of impact damage at the spot where the contact occurs. I'm guessing you don't have any of that from your inspection in a previous episode. Whales tend to wrap around a boat and spread all the impact out over a very large surface area from a "blubber goo impact." I don't know how else to describe it. If it stopped you dead then it had to be a large sucker likely double or triple the tonnage of your boat. If it didn't actually hit the rudder and instead the keel, I'd bet that the animal wrapped around and gave the rudder a big love tap, or the boat pushed the animal down a bit and it hit the rudder in passing. I'm thinking if the rudder took the entire stopping force it would have snapped anyway. If the boat leaned in at initial impact it was a keel hit, if the boat stayed level it would have been a rudder hit I'd think. Just my 2 cents. The Bed Pirate Roberts says "He doesn't want to be woken up from a nap in the middle of the night by anything." You have his lazy eyed sympathy.
Hey Allyn! We are still catching up from last week! Hope your week is great! Be careful what you wish for!!! :-) Trust us, it is not fun when you go to the marine store and see the price tag on a big shackle or block! Smaller and slower also has its benefits! That's what we tell ourselves when we end up parked next to a giant superyacht that costs more to fill with fuel than our boat is worth :-) We agree it is probably a whale and like your "blubber goo" theory :-) Give the Bed Pirate a cheek rub for us! Cheers!!! Roxy says hello!
Hence the ? ;-) Got to work the algorithm, we did have a major collision with a possible whale in episode 71. There was actually a chance when we found this of major delamination, escalation of the problem, and possibly loosing the rudder.
![Sinking Ship? Cracks In Hull Sailing 75 mi Offshore [Ep. 85]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
