Recent content by Roger Janeway

On the transition from sailing for work and sailing for joy, here is the opening paragraph from a 1975 book, Advanced Sailing, by Tony Gibbs, Part I-1 (The Theory of Sailboat Design): It's ironic that sailing craft seem at last to be approaching a whole new plateau of development, now that...

That’s what I found when I slacked off on the topping lift and pulled its control line out from the boom slot. That’s the tangle that caused the jam. I unwrapped it and then pulled it taught. No more loops of slack line.

Thanks, everyone, for the links to all the prior discussions of the boom hardware, the explanations of how to open up the boom, and the Garhauer vang endorsements. Today I examined the boom more closely, armed with all this new information and looking for a way to avoid removing the boom end...

I have read a number of old threads and see that many are happy they replaced their topping lift with a rigid vang. I am considering that because of a problem that recently arose with the boom-internal hardware for my topping lift. (This post overlaps with a comment I just posted to...

I expect so but as you have probably heard, the Gulf Stream can be rough. I did the passage between Newport RI and Bermuda a few times in a fast 39-foot sloop with plenty of other crew, and sometimes it was sedate and even boring, and sometimes it was absolutely exhausting.

My 1986 26 footer, of which I am the happy and recent third owner, came equipped with a Martec MKIII folding propeller. It is a 2-blade, measured at 12"x12", mounted on the 3/4" shaft. The pitch has not been adjusted for a long time and it might now be too powerful for my engine, which maxes...

Alan, how did your solar power experiment go? Or did you have to postpone because of all the rough weather?

Today outside Marina del Rey was a day much like the one shown in Christian’s video, giving hints of summer. But Spring sparks exuberance in many forms, and that included a pair of jet skiers buzzing around the bay and blanketing it with a noise like monstrous mosquitoes. I would like to hear...

Was that video filmed this Spring? It seems most days outside Marina del Rey recently have seen 6 foot swells with 20 knots blowing. So although I am almost Christian’s neighbor, the video depicted an alien dream world to me.

Translating the 33-year-old prices with help from the CPI: "Base price was $150K, add-ons $39K, and total of $211K with tax and freight."

I like that sentiment but when there's no wind I don't want to be there. I grew up trying to catch extremely light bursts of wind on very flat water -- Long Island Sound, Cape Cod, Penobscot Bay -- and that can be fun, but it's less fun when there's an ocean swell slatting your boat around...

Christian recently provided a helpful overview of the general seasonal variation in wind in another forum, but I would like to know whether any sailors in the Santa Monica Bay recommend any particular sources for predictions. I am familiar with the regular afternoon westerly we get in the...

I’ve only owned a boat for three months and can’t imagine how I’d handle it without this forum. So I guess I’m stuck with Ericsons going forward. A nice problem to have. Thank you, everyone!

Just discovered that editing an old post does not create a new event on the "what's new" section, so I'll report for those interested in putting a line around their forward hatch to prevent snags that my line is a 69 inch length of 5/8" line, with a few inches overlapped as shown in the photo...

Not only that, but Letcher's writing is beautiful. Thank you for posting this. Whether I have the self-discipline to follow his discussions of sailing dynamics is doubtful, but I appreciate his explanation of why my boat can mostly hold her course on a close reach in moderate wind with the...