Minimus, Offshore Sailing on a Micro-Budget

[skylark]

http://www.omick.net/adventure/sailing/sailing_offshore/sailing_offshore.html

https://youtu.be/6jGO8Z29H2c

David and Pearl, sailing a Cape Dory 25.

[CharlieJ]

Cool couple. Makes me think of my own work on Tehani, my Meridian 25. I've bookmarked that for further reading

[skylark]

I just emailed Omick and found out he is working on Minimus II, a catamaran.

http://omick.net/adventure/minimus_ii/building/building.html

http://omick.net/adventure/minimus_ii/description/description.html

[skylark]

[CapnK]

Really enjoying reading about what they did for preps, and then the post-cruise followup on how it/what actually worked.

The drogue section was interesting. I wonder though, if you have a boat which will heave-to nicely, why would you ever run off the wind and thus need a drogue? Maybe it could come in handy in an unimagined or unfortunate scenario (dismasted during storm?), but as they mention, it does not provide near the comfortable motion they would get when their boat was hove-to. Seems like a drogue is mostly a solution for folks who feel that they must always press on, regardless of weather and/or circumstances.
That attitude seems like a problem waiting to happen.

I have yet to use a drogue, so I wonder if you could stream a drogue in such a manner that it would create an upwind slick while hove-to, a la the Pardeys storm tactics, in order to avoid using a large and hard to recover sea anchor chute?

[skylark]

Multihulls need a drogue because they don't heave to well.

With regard to monohulls:

"Heaving-to is a seamanlike tactic to employ up to moderately severe conditions, say force seven to eight, but when wind and wave increase above gale force a time will come  when any hoisted sail will flog so violently that something has to break, or cause a boat to be repeatedly thrown upon her beam ends.  These situations are neither comfortable nor safe and again another tactic must be sought."
Heavy Weather Sailing, p. 393

"As the storm further develops, lying a-hull becomes hazardous due to the increasing danger of steep heavy breaking seas. The crew might then consider whether to run before it, or to lie bow or stern to a sea anchor or drogue."
Heavy Weather Sailing, p. 369.

[CapnK]

Good points, thx Paul. That is always said about multi's, but I could (and did a lot of times) make a Hobie 16 heave-to in winds up to the upper 20's/30. You have to make sure they kept just enough way on so as to not get backed down by the wind when topping a swell, that was key. But the basic technique worked well once you'd figured it out.

I guess I never thought of lying-to a drogue *bow first* as opposed to running, because it seems everyone rigs/preps their boat for streaming them from the stern. Seems a properly set up voyaging boat would have strong enough anchoring gear to handle the drogue stresses if it were streamed forward.
Wonder if anyone has tried using one on a forequarter, as that may allow the boat to forereach a bit and calm down it's motion, while making a "Pardy slick" to trip up oncoming waves and make them break before striking the boat (hopefully).

[CharlieJ]

Used to heave my  Prindle 18 to just for a swim etc. But never tried it offshore- just in Matagorda Bay :)

[skylark]

First sea trial results

http://www.omick.net/adventure/minimus_ii/sea_trials/sea_trials.html

[CapnK]

Sounds like "Success". :)

[skylark]

Minimus II is underway...

https://share.garmin.com/SailingOnMinimusII

https://voyageofminimusii.wordpress.com/

https://www.omick.net/adventure/minimus_ii/description/description.html