26 Thursday Oct 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
We changed the web address of this site. If you made it here then you know the new address is: http://www.farreachvoyages.wordpress.com
We plan to keep our other website on-line as well. It is the original site and is the one that documents the six year rebuild of the Far Reach. You can visit it at www.farreachvoyages.com.
23 Monday Oct 2017
Posted in Equipment, Modifications, Uncategorized, Upgrades
The Far Reach has a headstay and a forestay. Until recently, the forestay was dyneema with a spliced bronze eye connected to a bronze turnbuckle. It was difficult to disconnect the forestay and pull it back out of the way to make short tacking easier.
Cutter rigged boats like the Far Reach have a headstay and a forestay. The forestay is sometimes referred to as the inner-stay but it is correctly called the forestay as it supports the fore stays’l.
A challenge for cutter rigged boats is tacking with both stays rigged. If the slot between the two stays is narrow, and sometimes even if it is not particularly narrow, the jib can get “hung up” on the forestay as it passes through the slot from one tack to the other. When short-tacking (tacking a number of times in rapid succession) up a narrow channel you can get into trouble if your jib fails to pass through the slot between the stays. Occasional tacks should not be a concern and every sailor should be able to tack their cutter reliably with only the occasional hiccup.
14 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
I am in the process of developing a new web address for this BLOG site. It may be a few days before activated. If you are a subscriber and your link no longer works, do a google search or check our website http://www.farreachvoyages.com. On the menu tab there is a link to the blog. I’ll put the new address there when we determine what will be the new address.
18 Wednesday May 2016
Posted in Modifications, Uncategorized
18 May 2016–The Far Reach, Anchored, in the Lagoon, St Maarten.
A couple days ago I completed the installation of the halyard diverter.
The halyard diverted is installed. It should keep the halyard lined up with the sheave and eliminate the chafe.
The day before the installation, I pulled both jib halyards out of the mast replacing them with messenger lines on. I did not want the halyards to get covered with metal shaving from the drilling at the top of the mast.
The next morning I got an early start and went up the mast to install the part and the headstay was in the way of the drill–couldn’t fit the drill between mast and headstay. I should have seen that earlier but I just looked right past it. Anyway, I hauled up a spectra line and tied it to the spinnaker bail then went down the mast and slacked the headstay and back stay and bob stay. Tied the block and tackle on the the spectra line and hauled it tight. Went back up the mast and removed the headstay at the tang and lowered it a couple feet on a line and tied it off to the top of the cap shroud. Then installed the part. I used some double sided carpet tape to hold the part in place, drilled and tapped five holes which did not take long–maybe 20-25 minutes, ran the fasters home with tef-gel, and “Bob’s your uncle.” The part lined up perfectly.
