My Starboat Sail

This was sent to me by Sherwood. Mac Hancock went for a ride with Eric Egge on Stella and wrote the following note

My Star boat sail was just wonderful. It was about 3:45 in the afternoon. The day was bright and sunny. Air was maybe 65 or so. When we pushed off there was practically no air movement in the marina (West Bay), but we put up the sails and kind of sailed/sculled out of the marina and into lower Budd Inlet. The masthead fly indicated air movement out of the south so we set up on a kind of east bound reach. There was no indication of air movement at all on the water surface, but as I glanced at the water, by noticing stuff floating just below the surface I could see that we were moving right along, maybe two knots or so. It was amazing. In short order an afternoon breeze came up and we just moved out at a wonderful clip. At times the breeze may have been 8 to 10 kts in little gusts and the boat almost instantly shot forward. I had on my Polaroid sunglasses and as I looked at the masthead the sail with it's red star was a brilliant white and the blue sky was so polarized that it literally looked black when juxtaposed with the whiteness of the sail. That's the upside of the event. A star is a very powerful and brilliant performer.

Then there're the "other" aspects which I lump into two categories:

Complexity:
1. The mast is controlled by several mechanisms. It can be physically ratcheted fore and aft on a track using a lever mechanism. It can be bent using the vang. It can be bent by using the primary running backstay. It can be bent by using the secondary running backstay. It can be bent using the cunningham. The effect on sail draft is instantly visible from the cockpit and the range of draft is considerable; more than I've ever experienced in any other sailboat. The effect of sail draft is also instantly felt in the tiller and the ability to keep the boat on it's best angle of heel. This doesn't take into account the adjustments available for "tuning" all manner of other mechanisms like the vang, the cunningham, the location of the jib fairleads, the hiking straps and much more. Adjustment lines are all over the place.

2. The boat is the most uncomfortable, anti-ergonomic device that was ever invented to float. The boom sweeps across at about 8" above the deck/cockpit. There is a rigid post in the center of the cockpit atop which is the main-sheet blocks/cleat. This post divides the cockpit neatly in half. The helmsman occupies the aft half and the crewman the forward. In order to tack it's necessary to crouch down into the cockpit so low that visibility of the water around the boat is completely lost for a moment. Getting my old frame into such a crouch is possible but I don't do it as rapidly as racing conditions would call for. As helmsman one is obliged to call out the tack, begin to turn, wait in an upright position long enough to be confident that the windward backstay(s) are unloaded, release them (at which point they're pulled forward by bungees under the deck), duck into the cockpit crouch, continue steering (blind) for a bit whilst the boom passes overhead, arise as quickly as the boom allows in order draw the erstwhile leeward running backstay(s) into taught position before the wind loads the mast on the new tack and finally to continue the turn onto the new tack, stopping it without going unnecessarily far beyond closehauled.

It is a magnificent thing to sail, but the insistent, continuous physicality is way beyond what I'm interested in doing. I suppose that speaking personally there's a parallel between Star sailing and flying. I just love to fly low and slow in a small plane. However piloting an airplane demands constant attention to the operation of the plane; especially when flying low. The level of attention, even after becoming a skilled pilot, detracts markedly from what I find so enchanting about flying ... the ability to look out and observe the earth from that vantage point.

Anyhow, after Eric and I got the boat buttoned up, we went upstairs to Tugboat Annie's and had an excellent beer and burger which was a delightful way to end a great afternoon sailing.

That was my Starboat sail.

Ciao,
mac