raveling GANNET 2015 When we sailed into Opua, New Zealand, in a gale in September 2014, after crossing the Pacific Ocean in four months and four stops, GANNET, my ultralight Moore 24, was beginning to unravel. All the tiller pilots were dead. The port floorboard was broken and the port pipe berth unusable after the tube jumped out of its socket when GANNET became airborne off a wave and crashed into a trough. These were more important than they might seem because they left no place to brace my foot in the cabin while the little sloop was heeled 30º and more to port as she generally was in the last forty-eight hours of that passage from Tonga. We had inadequate solar charging in overcast conditions with two of the six panels non-functioning. One of the lessons learned from investigations of airline crashes is that they are often the result of a cascade of small failures, none important in itself, but collectively fatal. I did not know what might break next on GANNET, and I did not want to find out, so I pushed hard to get in before the wind backed, increased from 40-45 knots to 50-55 and closed the door, forcing GANNET to remain at sea for several more days. Not long after our arrival I unravelled some myself when I fell and all but severed part of my left shoulder rotator cuff. I do not claim to be better than ever, but, thanks to physical therapy and my own exercises I am better than I ever expected to be six months ago. I know that a torn rotator cuff does not heal, but it feels as though it has. GANNET definitely is better than ever. The boat yard in Opua made new iroko floorboards. I have new tiller pilots and great hopes for the mostly under deck Pelagic. In port the pipe berth was as easy to pop back in place as at sea it was not. I replaced the failed solar panels. And I’ve made several improvements. By far the greatest of these was reconfiguring the cockpit, removing a bridge that held the mainsheet traveler that was always a nuisance to step over and at sea sometimes a hazard, and relocating the traveler to the cockpit floor. The idea for this came from photos I saw online of other Moore 24s that have made the change, and I was greatly aided by Gilles Combrisson of GC Rigging in Point Richmond, California, whose firm made the pod, provided me with the Harken track, risers, bolts and G-10 backing plate cut to size, and advised me of the Harken Duo-Cam that solves the problem of running the under deck backstay control. Gilles credits Scott Easam for first devising this configuration. I did the work myself over a period of four days. It would have taken less but this being New Zealand I was often interrupted by rain. The result has been dramatic. Living on and sailing GANNET is easier in many ways every day. This is one of the best modifications I have made to the little boat. I took delivery of a new G1 gennaker from North Sails Opua loft. My old gennaker is fuller cut and good for broad reaching but slows the boat as the wind moves forward. I have a vision of setting both gennakers wing and wing on an ocean passage and watching GANNET fly under clouds of sail. Because the G1 doesn’t furl well with my Facnor gennaker furler, I’ve order a ProFurl Spinex top-down furler. I cleared the deck by removing unused genoa tracks and cam cleats, also reducing the number of nuts on which I can hit my head inside the cabin by more than forty. I added a TackTick wind system, which being solar powered and wireless was easy to install. I dramatically improved the sound of music with two Megaboom speakers, which when linked to play in stereo are by far the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers I’ve heard. Though some of these are far from essential, all enhance life aboard and sailing oceans. The Tasman, Coral and Arafura Seas, and the Indian Ocean are next.

raveling GANNET

2015

When we sailed into Opua, New Zealand, in a gale in September 2014, after crossing the Pacific Ocean in four months and four stops, GANNET, my ultralight Moore 24, was beginning to unravel. All the tiller pilots were dead. The port floorboard was broken and the port pipe berth unusable after the tube jumped out of its socket when GANNET became airborne off a wave and crashed into a trough. These were more important than they might seem because they left no place to brace my foot in the cabin while the little sloop was heeled 30º and more to port as she generally was in the last forty-eight hours of that passage from Tonga. We had inadequate solar charging in overcast conditions with two of the six panels non-functioning.

One of the lessons learned from investigations of airline crashes is that they are often the result of a cascade of small failures, none important in itself, but collectively fatal. I did not know what might break next on GANNET, and I did not want to find out, so I pushed hard to get in before the wind backed, increased from 40-45 knots to 50-55 and closed the door, forcing GANNET to remain at sea for several more days.

Not long after our arrival I unravelled some myself when I fell and all but severed part of my left shoulder rotator cuff.

I do not claim to be better than ever, but, thanks to physical therapy and my own exercises I am better than I ever expected to be six months ago. I know that a torn rotator cuff does not heal, but it feels as though it has.

GANNET definitely is better than ever.

The boat yard in Opua made new iroko floorboards.

I have new tiller pilots and great hopes for the mostly under deck Pelagic.

In port the pipe berth was as easy to pop back in place as at sea it was not.

I replaced the failed solar panels.

And I’ve made several improvements.

By far the greatest of these was reconfiguring the cockpit, removing a bridge that held the mainsheet traveler that was always a nuisance to step over and at sea sometimes a hazard, and relocating the traveler to the cockpit floor.

The idea for this came from photos I saw online of other Moore 24s that have made the change, and I was greatly aided by Gilles Combrisson of GC Rigging in Point Richmond, California, whose firm made the pod, provided me with the Harken track, risers, bolts and G-10 backing plate cut to size, and advised me of the Harken Duo-Cam that solves the problem of running the under deck backstay control. Gilles credits Scott Easam for first devising this configuration.

I did the work myself over a period of four days. It would have taken less but this being New Zealand I was often interrupted by rain.

The result has been dramatic. Living on and sailing GANNET is easier in many ways every day. This is one of the best modifications I have made to the little boat.

I took delivery of a new G1 gennaker from North Sails Opua loft. My old gennaker is fuller cut and good for broad reaching but slows the boat as the wind moves forward. I have a vision of setting both gennakers wing and wing on an ocean passage and watching GANNET fly under clouds of sail.

Because the G1 doesn’t furl well with my Facnor gennaker furler, I’ve order a ProFurl Spinex top-down furler.

I cleared the deck by removing unused genoa tracks and cam cleats, also reducing the number of nuts on which I can hit my head inside the cabin by more than forty.

I added a TackTick wind system, which being solar powered and wireless was easy to install.

I dramatically improved the sound of music with two Megaboom speakers, which when linked to play in stereo are by far the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers I’ve heard.

Though some of these are far from essential, all enhance life aboard and sailing oceans.

The Tasman, Coral and Arafura Seas, and the Indian Ocean are next.