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No Comment (Reducing Air Draft!)

Akavishon

Member III
A friend emailed me these ... no comment ;)


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So you want to travel the ICW with a mast higher than65 feet! This boat came in last night at Vero Beach.
It has an 80' mast and 7'10'' draft. Each water bag
weighs 2000#. It's been coming down the ICW.
What a treat to watch the crew execute this maneuver.

See attached photos.
 

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Chris Miller

Sustaining Member
With the depth issues the ICW has, I would guess they can only travel at high tide... Seems like going outside would have been a LOT easier...
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Movable Righting Moment

I would imagine that it might take a while to fill the bags, depending on pumping capability, although at least the first one could be dunked over the side...
Once you start to move the weight out, it would have to be limited by a control line, and would finally only descend to where the water level would neutralize the "ballast."
Never been to the right coast, but have read much (!) about the dangers of the outside journey.

Loren

ps: niftly way to get off a sand bar, too!
:)
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
Perhaps the bags are always filled and just get swung out by the bridges. Once they're past the bridge, they can lower the bags into the water, return the boat to level, haul the bags back alongside, and hoist them back aboard with the halyards for stowage on the centerline. If the bags aren't allowed to swing out, they'll have only a slight effect on the heel when they're alongside, close to the centerline.

(Or, maybe, they have a high volume pump.)

Pretty clever system.
 

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
We met a couple from Florida this summer up cruising in the NE area. Their CS 40 had 7+ft draft. The owner was an experienced ocean racer and had lots of sea time. When I asked how they got up the ICW with that much draft he just looked at me strangely and said "Why would I drive a SAILBOAT up that shallow dirty trench? Thats for the powerboat crowd." He apparently sails "outside" all the time. I don't know much about that patch of water but it certainly seems reasonable to SAIL the boat rather that motor along. RT
 

JMCronan

Member II
I sail in the North Carolina area and it can be tricky to navigate. The biggest hazard is unmarked shoaling. The sand bars along the outerbanks change so often that by the time a new chart is published it is already out of date. But just as with anything, the proper amount of planning and use of common sense makes the area just as safe to navigate as any other.
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
> How do they get the bags out there?

I expect that as long as the bags are kept off the centerline at the outset, and are kept out of the water as the boat heels, that they swing out there by themselves as the halyard is cranked up.

Think about the bags hanging just over the side, like a fender, but not touching the water. The boat will list a little towards them, right? Any additional random movement of the boat will cause the bags to sway a bit further from the centerline, away from the boat. Once they move a little, just like what happens in a dinghy when you hike to low side, they will be increasing the capsizing force downward on the mast and the boat will list a bit more. As long as the halyard is cranked so that the bags don't hit the water (reducing their ability to pull the mast down), the sway-and-list process will continue with the keel becoming more and more horizontal to offset the bags' downward pull.

Another way to think about it: imagine what would happen if the bags were hoisted to the top of the mast. They're heavy enough that the boat would capsize. But, once capsized, as the halyard was being paid out, the boat would right itself. If the halyard were paid out slowly, the boat would gradually right itself with the bags dangling far away from the hull as is in the picture, and then coming back in alongside the hull.
 
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