SHIPS'S LOG FOR THE YEAR 2006

2006 projects and additions:

1. Double braid nylon dock lines
2. Shroudrollers
3. Nicro 3" Day and Night Solar vent with stainless steel cover complete with teak interior trim ring
4. New battery

Dock Lines

The dock lines are all 1/2 inch double braid and twist construction nylon to control shock loading and ease the stresses on the hull and gear. Falcon Line Master mooring compensators are also used. Avocet sits around 12 to 18 inches away from the dock when the mooring lines are in place.

The dock lines are attached to the pilings using the Round Turn and Two Half Hitches knot. The Round Turn and Two Half Hitches is ideal for attaching a mooring line to a dock post or ring. The Double Overhand Knot is used to add security. We also use the Double Overhand Knot as a stopper knot as a better alternative to the commonly used Figure Eight Knot.

Shroudroller

A Shroudroller was added this year. The Shroudroller is a hollow, two-piece, self-locking ABS unit that spins easily allowing the headsail and sheet to run freely when tacking. The Shroudroller prevents fouled lines, as well as limiting chafe and wear on rigging, sails, and sheets. The only down-side is that tacking is now a bit noisier as the headsail works over the roller.

Contacts of Interest

One of the more interesting contacts to date was from Gerry who was seeking haul out advice. The fact that Gerry was from Ireland was amazing. Gerry's trailer construction and the haul-out of Flip Flop went very well. Gerry races on a Sigma 33 which is docked in a marina in Dublin. The boat Gerry was pulling is their first cruiser which would have sat exposed on a swinging mooring to the SE gales which Ireland gets in October/November. Flip Flop will be re-launched in May. While Gerry measures his distance in nautical miles we are restricted to measuring our distances in nautical metres.

Randall, who lives in British Columbia, found a very nice 1980 Chrysler 26 complete with wheeled steering, roller furling and tandem axel trailer. The boat was located in California and brought back to Canada. Randall was planning on restoring this boat but employment opportunities took him to the west coast. So he sold the boat after putting an ad in the local newspaper two days before Christmas and had three people lined up, cash in hand, in -23° C weather to buy the Chrysler 26.

Polar Plots - Part One

Mike Andersen created this Sail Track map from data collected during one of our first major sails together. The GPS track was collected using a Garmin Foretrex 201 wrist receiver. The average speed of this excursion was well above 5 knots (approximately 80% of the time), 12% of the time above 6 knots, 42% of the time above 5.5 knots and, 25 % of the time above 5 knots. The high maximum one-time event of 7.76 knots occurred at the tack change. Mike and I found the data from the sailing excursion fun to examine on the computer both statically and visually . . . especially when one imagines that they are participating in an America's Cup race.