20 years’ worth of Tom’s cruising tips for skippers and crew have been
distilled into this pocket-sized book, published by Fernhurst Books, at £11.99SKIPPER’S TIPS
APRIL 2016 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com 31Flummoxed by salty jargon?
Email [email protected]
and we’ll explain it in print‘ Whisker’
‘ Whisker
pole’
For fuss-free booming-out
of a small headsail you can’t
beat a whisker pole. It’s easily
rigged, with no topping lift
or special gear. A different
kettle of fi sh altogether from
a spinnaker pole, but useful
nonetheless. I made this
one from a length of hefty
bamboo and it served me
well for years.A whisker, if it’s not on an
alley-cat, is a spreader which
improves the angle of a
gaffer’s bowsprit shrouds.
Where a bowsprit is offset to
one side of the stem head,
the shroud on that side often
has so shallow an angle that
it hardly works. A single
whisker spreads it out and
makes all the difference. Look
from dead ahead at a gaffer
with a centre bowsprit and
a pair of whiskers and you’ll
see how they got their name.‘Hey, Bert! Bow spring fi rst’
‘Red right
returning’
Whisker poleWhiskerI’d skippered for a lifetime before
this simple truth dawned on
me. Don’t just give an order to a
bunch of folks at the other end of
the boat. You might get lucky, but
it’s just as likely they’ll all jump to
it and it’ll be a case of ‘After you,
Sunshine,’ while the yacht piles
into the woodwork.
The best plan is to choose the
most suitable person for the job
and give the name before the
order. ‘Fred, fend off. Bert, throw
that guy a spring line!’ removes
any chance of confusion. You
don’t have to bark like a sergeant
major; just quietly
make yourself clear.As in many conventions, the
United States does buoyage
differently from the rest of
us. Their shapes (pointy and
fl at-topped) are the same, but
the colours are opposite. Thus,
entering New York Harbour, reds
(known often as ‘nuns’ because
of their conical hats) are kept to
starboard and greens to port. This
has given rise to the mnemonic
‘Red right returning’, so long as
you remember that ‘returning’
refers to coming home to port.Tacking a cutter
The biggest downside of the modern cutter
rig is tacking. Unlike the traditional gaff
cutter with a long bowsprit and a high-
cut, narrow jib, most of today’s versions
are really masthead sloops with an inner
forestay to take the staysail.
This means there is a smaller gap
between the stays. Since the masthead
stay usually carries a full genoa, the big
sail gets caught up with the inner forestay
as the boat passes through the wind. On
passage this isn’t much of an issue since the
boat doesn’t tack every fi ve minutes and
the genny can always be rolled up a little
to help it through. If the tacks are short,
the best answer I have found is to leave
the staysail aback until the genoa has been
tacked. The big sail slides across the backed
staysail without trouble. Once it has been
sheeted in, the staysail is let draw with ease.
It helps when you’re short-handed, too.We are not Americans, but
we can use their aide-memoire
upside down. Returning to the
sea, our boats’ natural home,
after goodness only knows whatshenanigans ashore, we keep
reds on our right hand, thus,
‘red right returning’ (to the sea)
can help a befuddled mind steer
clear of trouble.The American mnemonic
can be used if we think of
the sea as our boats’ homeAPRILmake yourself clear.With a large on board, it helps to
allocate each task to each personNo staysail set, genoa
falls into the ‘wrong
hole’ on tacking. Unfurl
staysail and leave it
aback - happiness!