Crash Boat Operation; Tip #2; Go for the Mast

When the crash boat goes in for a rescue it's usually for two things; a breakdown that has rendered the sailboat unsailable or a capsize situation that has rapidly deteriorated (a capsize, then a righting, to another capsize, to another righting, to a capsize, to a very tired crew sitting on the daggerboard). For that second situation, when I'm faced with an exhausted crew or a crew that has had difficulty in righting the boat, I make a beeline for the mast. My goal is to get the mast pulled up and then laid across the crash boat. It may take some work (I'll even work extremely hard to pull up a mast of a boat that may be attempting to go turtle) but it makes much shorter work of a rescue. For a tired crew, the key is to get the sails down. It is extremely difficult to get the boat righted, a crew onboard and the sails down, without capsizing again. If one can get the mast stabilized on the crash boat, it makes it much easier for the crew to work at the halyards from the water. The boat is stable on her side, the sails aren't flapping a mile a minute. The crash boat operators can help lower the sails, or if need be, release the halyard shackles if there is a problem with the halyards being snarled up. Many times it makes the situation more manageable if the crash boat operators just takes the sails from the capsized boat and stuff them onboard the crash boat. Once the sails are off, getting the boat righted and under tow is much easier. I've gone for the mast rescue on dinghies as big as a Lightning and catamarans as big as a Nacra 20.

Links to my other crash boat posts;

The Lowly Crash Boat Operator
Crash Boat Operation, Tip 1
Crash Boat Operation, Tip 3
Crash Boat Design

Crash Boat Operation; Tip #1; Work from upwind

When the wind is strong and the waves are lumpy, this is most often when crash boats are needed for rescue, and this is also the worst possible combination for low speed maneuvers in an outboard motor craft. Many times I've seen crash boats come up from leeward, make several passes and then after gunning the motor, ending up smacking into the capsized sailboat. If I'm operating a crash boat, I make my approach from upwind, place the crash boat abeam of the wind, switch to neutral and then drift down to the capsized vessel.

The advantages;

1. Downwind drift speed is slow and controlled. If I need to make contact with the capsized vessel, I'm approaching at a slow enough speed where it is easy to grab onto the capsized boat or, if need be, fend off.
2. I can assess the situation without worrying about jockeying the boat. I can count heads. I can talk to the crew on the boat or in the water without yelling over a motor in gear.
3. The motor is in neutral. No fear of wrapping lines or injuring someone in the water.
4. If I decide I need to be somewhere else, it is easy to shift into gear and slowly motor sideways away from the capsized boat.
5. It's also easier to throw a line downwind.

Links to my other crash boat posts;

The Lowly Crash Boat Operator
Crash Boat Operation, Tip 2
Crash Boat Operation, Tip 3
Crash Boat Design

Music Whenever; Dropkick Murphys "I'm Shipping Up to Boston"

It's been awhile since I featured a sailing ditty......

Classic Moth Plans; "Little Mae Too" Vintage Design

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Click here for the metric offsets for Little Mae Too

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As mentioned previously, American Roger Gintling published plans for a Moth in 1943. It is very, very similar to the Moth Nantais that was built in France during World War II. My scanned copy doesn't give the magazine name that these plans originally appreared in.

Yes, the "Little Mae Too" is an old design, but, except for the scow bow, the V'eed hull sections of the "Little Mae Too" are similar to the Sunfish or the Snipe, two dinghy classes extremely popular to this day.

Vintage Moth designs are stable and good weight carriers. Just the ticket if you want to build a small sailboat for your cabin by the lake or something for the kids to kick around with.

One doesn't have to copy the bubble deck design of these vintage boats, a curved foredeck with a flat aft deck would look nice. And it would be good idea to at least have two air buoyancy tanks by closing in some frames with plywood.

The following scan of "LIttle Mae Too" plans isn't the sharpest but, combining this PDF file with some of the photos of the Moth Classique Nantais construction, one can get a good idea how to build a "Little Mae Too". I've also fed the line plans through MaxSurf design software which I've put at the end of the PDF file, also with some metric station spacing.

To print or download this PDF, move your mouse over the top menu bar. Click on the upward-facing arrow icon in the top-right to open the PDF in another tab on your browser. You can print or download the PDF from this new tab.

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For a review of Classic Moth designs, click here.

Race Committee; The Lowly Crash Boat Operator

It's winter in North America; the season of the yacht club seminars. Lets see, there is always a seminar about how to improve your racing results (probably several of those), a seminar about the racing rules and one for proper race committee procedure; but I have never, ever seen a seminar about the best ways to run a crash boat. Even our hallowed NGB, US Sailing, has yet to put together a course on crash boat operation! Odd, because crash boat operation is such an essential part of safety for the sailors in a regatta. "Ah!", you say, "No big deal in running a motor boat to and fro, righting capsized boats and plucking those hapless dinghy sailors from the water." Well, it definitely is a bigger deal than most clubs plan for. Operating crash boats safely and effectively in big winds and big seas takes quite a bit of skill and experience. Unfortunately in most U.S sailing clubs, the crash boat operator is the low man on the race committee totem pole; they are usually the volunteers with the least experience. And to compound the problem, most clubs plan on just two crash boats, no matter the size of the regatta. Things can go south quickly when two crash boats with inexperienced operators are faced with multiple boats down!

I've done a fair bit of crash boat work (though now, I too am mostly consigned to the main RC boat these days). There are things that work and things that don't work as well. There needs to be some national discussion on best crash boat practices, maybe even a crash boat manual drawn up. And these procedures should be taught every winter!

Well at this point, I was going to drop into a well done YouTube video by an English club on crash boat procedures. The video had just popped up in the last week, prompting me to climb onto this soapbox. Unfortunately, after getting all this verbiage out, I found the post had been taken down. (Sigh!!)

Well not to worry. This subject is certainly worthy of a thread of future posts. I would like to hear of other experiences with crash boats, either as an operator or as one being rescued; good and bad.

Links to my other crash boat posts;

Crash Boat Operation, Tip 1
Crash Boat Operation, Tip 2
Crash Boat Operation, Tip 3
Crash Boat Design

Another Moth Nantais Build

Contstruction Moth Classique

Plans de Moth Classique

More news about the French Nantais Moth Classique keeps surfacing. Guimbert Alexis, a 23 year old house carpenter in France, sent along some pictures of a Nantais Moth Classique he built last year. He built it to have a craft to learn sailing and the workmanship is superb! I must admit that I haven't ran across too many young boatbuilders in the U.S, particularly those building sailing dinghies. I would like to see more young people have a go at it. The Moth Classique is an ideal boat for a first time project as, not only is it a small project, but the Moth Classique also offers so many different designs for different sailing abilities as well as different building techniques.

The Nantais Moth sports the bubble deck that was popular in the 1940's. This has the big advantage of keeping the skipper out of the water on what is essentially a low freeboard hull. Also the old Moth rule limited the height of the gooseneck to 9" above the deck (correction; from George A's comments, original rule was 12" boom height). This resulted in the old rule Moths having a very low boom. Our current Classic Moth rules in North America eliminated that restriction, making it easier to push the boom up to a height where it doesn't box the ears and force the skipper to kiss the floorboards on a tack.

Setting up the station frames, center plank on...........




Hull planked in plywood and flipped...........



Deck framing complete.................




Deck on.................



Nantais Moth Classique out on the water.............





Again, congrats to Guimbert Alexis on a beautiful Moth Classique!

The lines to the Nantais.

Links to previous posts on the Nantais Moth Classique can be read here and here.

In 1943, American Roger Gintling, published building instructions for his Moth "Little Mae Too" in one of the popular do-it-yourself magazines of the day. It is a close "kissing cousin" to the Moth Nantais. I've posted on the details of the Little Mae Too over here.

Music Whenever; Dan Auerbach "Goin Home"

My daughter Robyn steps up to the plate again, ringing in 2011 with a wistful tune from Dan Auerbach about Home.....

How roots tug on us this time of the year...

How we return to that center that dwells among us greatly during the holidays.....



And the lyrics.............

I've spent too long away from home
Did all the things I could have done
Gone are the days of endless thrills
I know I'm not the only one

So long, I'm goin', goin' home¦

I saw the streets all ripe with jewels
Balconies and the laundry lines
They tried to make me welcome there
But their streets did not feel like mine

So long, I'm goin', goin' home¦

I want the sun to hit my face
Through oak trees in the open lot
Forget about the things you want
Be thankful for what all you got

So long, I'm goin', goin' home¦