Voyaging

The US Navy has finally gotten around to a serious study of watch standing schedules (https://goo.gl/dE4W4R). As an active duty Navy Medical Officer, I certainly saw enough injuries related to sleep deprivation; fortunately, none were as disastrous as the recent collisions. I am glad to see the navy move away from a centuries old approach to scheduling watches.

Each year, just prior to the fall boat show season, Practical Sailor editors consult with our testers to come up with a select list of Gear of the Year from the previous 12 months of testing. For most of the 2016-2017 testing season we focused on essential everyday products that owners of boats of all sizes-with a few exceptions-rely on. While our testers appreciate new technology, they recognize that a safe passage often depends on the reliability of the weakest link, and that weakest link is often a seemingly minor component that gets little attention. In short, our Editors Choice list is not the sexiest product roundup, but if youre serious about keeping your electrical connections corrosion free, making professional repairs on a blue-collar budget, maintaining a safe speed in a steep following sea, or looking for a way to manage a big genoa without upgrading to an electric winch, youll appreciate it.

I feel for the crew of Tanda Malaika, a family of six whose 46-foot Leopard catamaran was lost on a reef on the southwest corner of Huahine in French Polynesia in July this year. The loss is especially acute because, as the captain himself points out, it could have been avoided. The account of the wreck, provided by the skipper/owner Dan Govatos, and recorded in the podcast Slow Boat Sailing offers important lessons for cruising sailors.

Charles Nethersole has been a professional sailor for decades, and in addition to racing commitments and deliveries, hes accrued 14 years of sea time as a professional captain aboard 55- and 57-foot, Chris White designed, Atlantic catamarans.

In Part 1 of our special report on multihulls we scrutinized the implications of stability and the benefits derived form a wide stance, buoyancy and hull shape of multihulls. This time well look at structural issues and the energy transfer that takes place due to a multihulls impressive initial resistance to heel. We will also delve into what all this means for the rig, rigging, hull structure and hardware interfaces.

Ten years ago, you may recall having seen the Walder boom brake demonstrated at sailboat shows. There wasn't anything quite like it. The device caught on for a time with single-handed racers, who liked the way it slowly eased the boom across during jibes. (Philippe Jeantot had one on Credit Agricole when he won the first BOC Challenge.) When your hands are full with jib sheets and the wheel or tiller, there's too often the tendency not to pull in the mainsheet to minimize the shock load on the gooseneck when the boom slams across to the new tack.

The loads of a flying jibe in late summer squall are enough to shred sails, rip out deck or boom fittings, bend or break the boom gooseneck, or even bend the boom itself. The novice sailor learns very quickly to be wary of an unintentional jibe.

Ideally, you don't put yourself in a position where an accidental jibe can happen, but even an experienced sailor can get caught off guard by sudden, violent wind shifts in mountainous coastal areas or in night-time squalls. The most common way to take the fright out of an unintentional jibe involves a preventer, something weve examined in a number of previous reports. Preventers are especially useful when sailing deep downwind in rolly conditions, when exaggerated yawing lets the wind sneak behind the mainsail.

Getting over seasickness as quickly as possible must be the focus and responsibility of all on board. Having dealt with 400 seasick sailors (out of 1,200 sail-training students) on ocean passages over the past 42 years, I have become very experienced at prevention and treatment. The following steps to avoid or lessen the severity of seasickness has served well over those years.

For maximum maneuverability, the control lines-one port, one starboard-should attach at the widest part of the boat. This maximizes leverage and places the effort close to the center pivot point. On a catamaran, closer to the transom works because of the wide beam, but for monohulls, attaching near the pivot point at the keel will be more responsive. For maximum responsiveness, the drogue should be as close to the transom as practical-this results in more responsive steering and minimal drag. We found the best compromise to be around 65-80 percent of the way aft, where there is still enough beam, but less risk of the control lines fouling.