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Ideas Locker is your forum to share tips that make cruising easier, safer, or more fun.
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Sydney 2001. Photos should be clear close-ups of the item described – if electronic; jpgs
of at least 250KB. For more cruising ideas check out Petrea’s Cruise Under Sail Facebook page.49
http://www.mysailing.com.auWIN THE PERFECT CUPPA
This month’s prize will go to Mike King.
Thanks to the Australian Madura Tea
company for supplying one of these boxes.
http://www.maduratea.com.auTEA BOX WINNER
PICK OF THE MONTH
EASY SAVE FOR NON-STICK FRYPANS
Jan Connah found that the non-stick frypans
on her cat Tahlai Tiger had been damaged by
rubbing together, so she replaced them. To
prevent a recurrence, she made soft cloth
bags for protection and stores them upside
down on top of each other.BELOW: A simple remedy for scratched
cookware surfaces.ZZZERDWFUDIWFRPDXVKRS
)RUERDWEXLOGLQJDQGERDWUHSDLUVXSSOLHV
WIND STRENGTH WITHOUT THE GADGETS
I recently heard a discussion where someone
claimed to have seen a 42.6 knot gust in a
thunderstorm. Although this level of accuracy
is obviously excessive, most participants did
not question it.
When someone else mentioned he had
only had about 20 knots a few miles away,
he was ridiculed, especially as he lacked the
apparently obligatory photographic evidence.
Once he admitted to not having any wind
instruments, his claims were dismissed.
Two issues surface here. One is that wind
strengths in a storm can vary enormously at
different locations. If you choose a location exposed
to a predicted storm, you are likely to experience
stronger winds than people who take shelter.
The other is that many people have no
idea that we have an internationally agreedsystem of estimating wind strength visually.
The ubiquitous electronic wind instrument
and its hand-held counterpart have been
around so long that many newcomers are
unaware of the Beaufort scale.
This observation-based scale was
developed in the early 1800s to ensure
conformity in the reporting of wind strengths
in varying places. Previously, this was a highly
subjective area, as it is to this day among
inexperienced recreational sailors. Comparing
the sea state descriptions of the Beaufort
scale to present conditions gives a fairly
accurate indication of wind speeds, without
the need of any electronics.More information: http://www.bom.gov.au/
lam/glossary/beaufort.shtmlABOVE: Wind strength
can be estimated visually,
however rain can flatten the
seas, as shown in these two
images taken at anchor in
the same blow.
LEFT: Beaufort scale relates
visual clues to wind speed.