Good Footage of Fiji Passage

Took a couple of screenshots of water coming over the windward gunnel on this guys YouTube video from his trip Gold Coast to Fiji. Interesting fast aluminium yacht too with lifting keel and note that even though he is single handing he doesn't have self tailing winches. No cockpit coamings either. Plenty to do on that yacht for a single hander as there look to be running back stays as well.

I enjoyed watching that. It reminded me why I don't like high winds.
For those who haven't seen it here is a link to a video made by DrRog on our passage to Lord Howe in 2016.

I watched that vid a couple of weeks ago, commented on his channel and asked if the yacht was an Adams 13. He came back with "Close, she is a Radford 14."

I said that the 10L per hour coming into the bilge would have had me very worried. It turned out to be a pinhole in the plating near the bow where the paint had blown off for some reason. Possibly an imperfection in the original coating.

He certainly showed what can be achieved with a sound yacht and good planning.

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cisco said..
I watched that vid a couple of weeks ago, commented on his channel and asked if the yacht was an Adams 13. He came back with "Close, she is a Radford 14."

I said that the 10L per hour coming into the bilge would have had me very worried. It turned out to be a pinhole in the plating near the bow where the paint had blown off for some reason. Possibly an imperfection in the original coating.

He certainly showed what can be achieved with a sound yacht and good planning.

Yes those pinholes and the possibility of others and hull thinning at other hidden places would worry the hell out of me.
I have considered the advantages of aluminium hulls a number of times but keep coming back to the fact that stray currents or other electrolytic mistakes some over which you have little control (like at marinas) can turn your hull into swiss cheese in short order.
Some sheath the hull with epoxy but then you might as well have a sheathed timber boat and the problem still exists at through hulls and the hull is still exposed from the inside.

He is now attacking insulation and noise problems which would also be far less with a fibreglass hull.

Good old fibreglass has a lot of advantages

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MorningBird said..
I enjoyed watching that. It reminded me why I don't like high winds.
For those who haven't seen it here is a link to a video made by DrRog on our passage to Lord Howe in 2016.

Morning Bird....
A great memorable video to watch for the second time.... You always come across different challenges on every voyage.
Leaving Lord Howe Island in 35 knot winds and getting off the buoy mooring would not have been easy.
A Great Experience that you will never forget !!!!
Thanks for sharing again....
Cheers....

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MorningBird said..

BeamReach said..

MorningBird said..
I enjoyed watching that. It reminded me why I don't like high winds.
For those who haven't seen it here is a link to a video made by DrRog on our passage to Lord Howe in 2016.

Morning Bird....
A great memorable video to watch for the second time.... You always come across different challenges on every voyage.
Leaving Lord Howe Island in 35 knot winds and getting off the buoy mooring would not have been easy.
A Great Experience that you will never forget !!!!
Thanks for sharing again....
Cheers....

We started to leave the mooring when the wind had dropped to maybe 15-20 kts. We shouldn't have, we should have waited. It picked up again over the next 20 or so minutes.

Having released the mooring we had very limited options. The moorings out there are extremely heavy and your mooring line attaches to a loop underneath the mooring. This means lifting the mooring to deck height, not possible with the two of us in that chop and wind.

I should have thought ahead and taken a safer option.

Having taken the option we did we got out OK, except for a scare when a wave pushed our bow over going through the reef. I make a small exclamation.

However, I think the stress of the episode contributed to my getting a bout of seasickness during the night. It was very rough that night, 30+ and peaked at 50kts or so.

Yes, considering the conditions, you could have ended up on the Reef!!! You had a good deckie and meal preparer on board...
There is no way my Yanmar 8hp would have pushed my Duncanson 29 through those waves and wind.
I have been caught in a storm and rain squall of 30 knts plus on the nose at night, heading across St Vincent gulf, SA in a westerly destination. My boat was not moving forward, under full throttle and it was very hard to keep it into the wind, we were getting blown way off course.
Luckily we were 2 miles from our destination and had reached the bay, so I quickly ran forward and dropped the anchor, with lots of chain and rope out.... I was concerned we may have been blown into nearby oyster leases!!!! Within 30 minutes the storm had blown over and it was dead calm again and we motored into the Marina at 10pm.
It was a bit scary at the time, but you always learn from your experiences !!!!
Cheers