Blast from the Past: CAPTAIN'S BLOG September 9, 2007

For Something Really Different:  Here's a Blog entry by Captain Tony Arrow, Spirit of South Carolina's first Captain after her launch and commissioning.  

He's taking questions posted to the Blog by the public and answering them below:  An interesting perspective into our Schooner's first years, and some insights into Schooner ship-handling.

Why we sail the way we sail – 

Q & A I’ve seen you out on the harbor with just the mainsail and Jib set. Why don’t you set more sail?

For a couple of reasons. First, our sheet leads, hardware and layout are not at this point complete. The current set up interferes with the area of the ship that we use for educational purposes. We are in process of designing and fabricating the needed parts and changes we need to utilize these sheets more safely and so that they don’t interfere with the needed education spaces. This will include; adding a boom and a traveler on the foredeck for the staysail, and adding bits and a fair lead mid ships for the foresail. To do this properly, and because the ship has been very busy, will probably take a few more weeks. Secondly, during our educational daysails, we are required to bring the ship to a stop, relative to the current, three times. During the classes, 6 of our crew are involved in teaching classes. That leaves me and sometimes just one other crew member. Any of you that have worked the staysail in its current configuration, know that it takes more than 1 or 2 crew to maneuver. As most of you know, the wind/current combination in Charleston Harbor is dynamic and challenging, and the best solution we currently have to stop the ship is to douse the jib, and stem the wind/current with the occasional engine assist. Sometimes traditional ‘Heaving To’ will accomplish this also, but not always. 

Question:  I’ve heard rumors that Spirit has an undersized rudder and is difficult to maneuver. Is that true? 

 Well that depends how you look at it. The rudder is proportionally historically accurate. For a vessel that sails offshore, or even in a harbor with different expectations, it would be adequate. The Spirit of South Carolina’s inspiration, the Frances Elizabeth was a considerably smaller vessel than the SoSC and would not necessarily have been comparable. Under Power: During recent maneuvering trials we determined that our turning radius, at 1200 RPMs, with the helm hard over, is 600-800 feet. We also discovered that the steering gear was put together slightly wrong, giving us a tighter turning radius to one side than the other. We have shown definitively that the propellers do not interact with the rudder. In the words of our consulting naval architect, Fritz Koenig, vessels with a single rudder and twin screws, where the prop wash cone does not hit the rudder, are notoriously difficult to maneuver. Under Sail: The tightness of a tack varies wildly depending on the current/wind combination. If you look at our hull shape, you can see that it is pretty much designed to go in a straight line, which it does very well. In most scenarios we need to bring the ship up to close hauled, ease up to a luff, put the rudder hard over, then haul over the main and back the headsails to make stays. Don’t believe me? We are 147.8 long tons, with a full keel, and a rudder that is proportionally smaller than just about any other sail boat in the harbor. That being said, Captain Bryson and I are comfortable with sailing and motoring the vessel safely. The main issue for us is planning several moves in advance and being very aware of the navigational situation in the harbor. 

Question: It seems as if the sails are trimmed in or out too much a lot of the time. Is this true and why?

Sometimes yes. Our primary objective on education sails, is to educate while sailing, not to sail as fast as we can. And if you think about Charleston Harbor, you can see that sailing fast can require a lot of maneuvering. We would not be able to give state standard complying, academically challenging subjects justice if we didn’t have crew free to teach the classes fully. When we are sailing offshore, in more seamanship oriented programs, or just having fun, we do want to sail fast. First, because of the sail and mast shape, our sail trim is not always comparable to a more modern rigged vessel. For the gaff rigged sails and on the wind, easing out to the luff point, and bringing the sail just back into full will not give you your greatest speed. The sail needs to come in a bit more than this. I will usually keep the sails in a bit tight on education sails because I don’t have the crew free to deal with constant trimming. Sometimes I may ease them out a bit too much to slow us down if we are reaching the end of a channel, and a few more minutes are needed for the classes. Off the wind, chafe is an issue with the gaff rigged sails. If you ease them too much, you can prematurely wear holes in them where they hit the shrouds. Wanna help make baggy wrinkle? 

 If you don’t understand why I have the sails trimmed a certain way, please ask, I will be happy to share my reasons. I will try to put out one posting a week. If you have particular areas of interest, please email them to me. 

 Captain Arrow