the gaff doesn't take charge

[John B]

So in this little counterpoint to’ the gaff takes charge’ , we see one that doesn’t. Sorceress is a Dyarchy of course. A sister to her and she’s about #5 ( or was it 9?)off the plans IIRC. Peter built her sometime in the 80’s and he’s lived on her off and on, dabbled with charter and generally sailed all over the place since then.
In this manouvre, he’s coming down with the wind but against the tide. Its pretty light as you can see but he did do a pristine job of picking up that mooring .
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid200/p321afb5cfc181760f58a4da60fd831f2/f05ec7b5.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid200/p4ef2793c3dfb926f597ca83bfb6e093e/f05ec7ac.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid200/p3863d6d63bcbffb54f94240022c0eb77/f05ec78f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid200/p034941c2ee87cc5bf883e9494509da20/f05ec781.jpg

I didn’t include the last shot but he drifted up and secured it very nicely

Neat boat anyway eh.

[ 02-06-2006, 10:10 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[Ian Marchuk]

Sigh..... LOVELY..... Thank you

[Billy Bones]

As in Laurent Giles Dyarchy? ahhhhhhhhhh, pitty-pat, pitty-pat goes the old ticker. Thanks John.

[John B]

Giles it is. I was thinking he needed to go further past our bow and turn up at a right angle more into the wind but well.. he knows his boat and she just stopped very nicely no fuss.

she's no marina queen.

[John B]

actually, tell you a story. You know how just some pictures stay in your mind. the 2 that I always recall are Adix emerging out of a rainsquall in 40 knots with all lowers set and sailing like a witch. The other is that boat Sorceress. I remember her leaving Coromandel in a 30 knotter. We were running down and she was sailing out from between the islands and heading back across the Firth into it. I saw Peter after that and made the comment to him" I thought to myself... what a guy, heading off into that". He laughed and replied that yeah it was great except about 5 minutes later ( just out of my sight behind an island) he blew his main and had to turn around and shelter.
LOL.

[J. Dillon]

John B. , just in time. Interested in the topping lift and lazy jack arrangement on her . The images answer some of my curiosities. Have ya got any more details ? Finishing up a gaffer model and want to incorporate a topping lift and lazy jack that Dyarchy seems to have.

I see the side lights but what does her stern light look like ? It's not clear in the last image.

Thanks

JD

[John B]

Hi Jack, ... not sure about the stern light. Just a proprietry unit to stbd of the rudder I think.
slightly better shot of the lazy jack setup
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid200/pca8c68f608937678023dc023a044a6e8/f0416611.jpg
I can email you larger versions of any of those Jack . Just let me know ,and if you have broadband or not( or approximate file size you want.
She's only a 3.2 camera though so the images aren't that great.

[ 02-07-2006, 02:46 AM: Message edited by: John B ]

[John B]

another simpler lazy jack set up FYI
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid29/p4a32d66fc9769c89702c8bd4aa3c4b42/fd588859.jpg

that chopped off sentence says 'tied off for adjustment'

[ 02-07-2006, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Nice series of photos, showing how to do it properly! ;)

One interesting point is that he is coming down under staysail with the jib rolled.

"Classically" one would drop the staysail and keep the jib, so as to clear the foredeck for working and allow a good view with the jib to balance the main. I can think of two reasons why this very capable owner is not doing that - one is that the Dyarchy class are very well balanced, and the other and more important one is that the jib is roller reefing not roller furling, so it would take longer to douse it than to drop the staysail.

Those lazy jacks have given me an idea. She's fitted with roller reefing (note mainsheet fitting at end of boom!) so the lazy jacks pass to a footrope under the boom.

I've never seen a roller reefing main with lazyjacks before, and I am tempted to experiment and see if I can copy this.

[George.]

Originally posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett:
"Classically" one would drop the staysail and keep the jib...We used to drop the jib and keep the staysail, because the jib would have to be secured to the bowsprit, which meant someone going out - took more time. The staysail could just be left on deck till the maneuver was done.

Now, with roller furling, we do the opposite - drop the staysail, and furl the jib at the last minute. I find the jib easier to fine-tune to correct an approach, especially in light shifting winds.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I entirely agree. But roller furling is very quick, whilst roller reefing can take for ever and a day.

Since I don't entirely trust it, I keep the jib on a traveller, so it can be dumped anyway, and more important the sail can be stowed below when we are not on board.

[Tristan]

Lovely photos. Dyarchy stole my heart years ago.

[J. Dillon]

Thanks John B. The drawings and photo's help. I'm going to make a variation of what you show. The model only represents a 24' gaff sloop so it doesn't have to be too elaborate. When the sail is down and the boom on the crutch or gallows , are the topping lifts usually slacked off ?

JD

[John B]

Jack,I slack em a fraction so there's less chafe and to fit the cover ,but enough on so that in the event of the boom coming free it doesn't destroy anything.(hopefully)

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

John has the "scissors" type boom crutches - and likes 'em, whilst generations of yachtsmen have abominated them, and fitted the permanent, rigid "gallows" fitting that "Sorceress" has (and so does "Mirelle").

With the scissors type there is always a risk of them coming adrift if the boat rolls a good deal on the mooring, so I agree with John B that with this type you should leave some tension on the topping lift(s).

With a rigid gallows, this really should be impossible, so it's best to slack the lift(s) right away.

[Alan D. Hyde]

Someone really ought to start a Dyarchy thread in the design section.

She is one of those happy vessels in which beauty of form and excellence of function seem almost perfectly joined.

I would think she is one of the top ten widely admired cruising yacht designs of all time, and Vertue is another. Along perhaps with Finisterre and Ticonderoga and Marco Polo... and some others that aren't coming so readily to mind.

Alan

[ 02-08-2006, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]

[John B]

Horses( LOL) for courses though Andrew.
You wouldn't fit a permanent gallows on Brittania or Reliance, or a 30 sq m or a metre boat ... Now would you. Not one thats either original or in period
whereas a cruiser/ sea boat... different story.
I'd prefer a permanent gallows but our boom is too low sailing and if you have to raise the height of the gallows when you're stopped... well, defeats the purpose.

we have it down to an acceptable inconvenience. Toppers on ,drop sail , 2 gaskets at the span, use the peak to take some more top into the boom . Then the boom fits into the crutch jaws,I sling the crutch in one side ( at the deck end)and push the boom sideways to lift the other side into its chocks.
What I would like is a system of crutch that lays flat on the deck and hinges up , but my particular mainsheet boom span configuration inteferes. One day perhaps.

[John B]

looking for s and s boats I found I still have this from about 2001.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid17/p7bd96a101a6db9778cdf625b764e3d3f/fdf6b747.jpg
edit: 2002 Mahurangi regatta.

[ 02-08-2006, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

No, John, I wouldn't! Nor would you, with your racer, have the sort of well steeved up boom that I have on my slow cruiser!

[John B]

Slow. I don't believe it for a second. ;)
... but we're back to horses for courses again in a wider sense aren't we Andrew. I'm slicking in reef after reef while you're rubbing your hands together.

My boy announced he's read 8 of the S and A books now. he had 3 with him over our cruise and I was constantly fielding " what's a cutter?" "what's a Pilot cutter?" " do we have Divers"( points at shag) "what's a Cormorant"( I point at shag) etc etc.
One morning after a squabble with his sister I threatened the hydro behavioural modification path ( That I'd chuck him in) and he buzzed off to the mast and free climbed up the throat halyard to the spreaders in about 20 seconds :rolleyes: :D

[Alan D. Hyde]

:D :D :D

No better place for children than a good boat...

Alan