Round the Island Mirror cruise

In August I sailed my Mirror round the Isle of Wight, a 60 mile cruise. I used the outboard for part of the way. Video clip at the following URL, on my Youtube Channel "Mirror Cruising".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJ9QSuUT3c
David
"Curlew" M37755

What was the silver thing on your port shroud? How did you keep the horizon steady while the Mirror in which you were in was moving from side to side. Great video and a neat adventure. Thanks for posting it.

Pete

Kelly's picture

Hi David - Great Video. Looked a little "hairy" there in a few spots with the weather! How did you find sailing with the new spray dodger?
Kelly
M14364

curlew's picture

Hi Pete and Kelly
The silver thing is a home made radar reflector. It is a bit bigger than my last one, which broke. Maybe a bit too clumsy. I keep the camera steady by holding it close to me, and I find the body stays referenced to the horizon. I also have some GoPro footage.
The weather was bit severe at times and at St Catherine's Point I did not know how bad the waves would get. Later on I had a wind at the top of F5, and I think if you reduce sail sufficiently it will always be OK. I found that reefed mainsail alone was very easy to use. The spray dodger was really useful when motoring to windward and also to less extent when sailing into a rough sea. You can partly dodge the water buckets coming over and it keeps your body a bit warmer and protected. There is not much effect on the sailing. It is really great for having a picnic at anchor.
David

sail_and_oar's picture

I know you'd been toying with the idea of this trip a while David. I'm very pleased it went well.
For anybody else with similar plans I think it is appropriate to mention some factors which need to be addressed before going too far down this road.

Sail reduction, local knowledge, integrity of the vessel, and bilge water management are far more important than being able to sail a boat really well but by far the most vital is the ability to hold one's nerve when cold and exhausted. this is something money can't buy and only with experience (thousands of hours) can we learn how. Things like arriving in harbour to find the sleeping bag soaking wet drive me to dispair. In these situations we have to find the least horrible alternative and try to smile.

Communications is a tricky one. There reaches a point when it simply becomes unfair to scream for help. Once that point is passed you're on your own. Sail or die, it's OK to anchor for a while. There may be some shelter east of St Catherine's. Depends on the wind direction.

I discussed this trip with David last year as I rather like the area south of the island and have enjoyed these waters in a much larger boat. It was only because I knew he was really good that I was willing to talk about it.

I think that prior to undertaking such a trip one should first try Calshot to Christchurch Harbour dead to windward in a force 4 without stopping. I did this a few years ago and the way in which I gradually fell to pieces along the way was quite a surprise. 10 hours of beating virtually wiped me out.

So would I do it?

Well maybe, working my way west along the Solent as a shakedown to stop for a rest in Keyhaven. I would need to be really happy with;

The boat
provisioning
forecast
sea state
rest and good feeding

Unless of course there were other dinghy cruisers planning the same in which case we just egg each other on and it all gets a bit dangerous.

This is one tough trip. Only a very few people should contemplate undertaking it.

Cliff

I still can't watch the video at the moment as my internet service provider has stolen a gigabyte and a half of a very tight data allowance off me this month, leaving me struggling to maintain Web access for the next two weeks. Hopefully I'll eventually be able to see it next month. Cliff's advice is spot on. Would be good to do it with a fleet of Mirrors, but with a couple of support boats too with the capacity to rescue everyone if there's a freak squall that doesn't let up (like the one that hit the GP14s in Ireland the other week).

curlew's picture

I recently made a little spray hood for the Mirror, using copper tubing, painted. I sewed the fabric using the Speedy Sticher tool. I have uploaded a video to Youtube at the following URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cs-scAnGzY
David

Kelly's picture

Hi David - it's been about minus 20 degrees here this week (Canada) and so I'm thinking about projects I can do that aren't reliant on warmer weather...Any chance you have any measurements of your Spray Hood - fabric and/or tubing? How did you bend the tubing to shape? Are you able to row with the hood up? I think this type of spray hood may be good to help extend the season here a bit.
Thanks for any info you can provide!
Kelly
M14364

curlew's picture

Hi Kelly. I do not have detailed drawings as I made it up by trial and error. The tubing is 15mm dia copper heating pipe. You can buy a spring for bending it, or use a bending machine. I wasted a lot of tubing trying to get the bends in the right place. The sides of the hood lean inwards a little - this improves the appearance greatly.
The front edge of the bottom frame is a few inches above the deck, so oars can go underneath. The top tube must not hit the boom. The bottom tube must not hit the mast. The tubes must not hit the kicker when completely up. The tubes must nest reasonably.
The fabric is attached to the tube using a Velcro strip all the way along, and with Velcro straps to the other tubes.
The front edge of the fabric and the side wings are attached to the boat using popper studs, stainless steel. In my case I already have a wooden strip across the foredeck, used as a water barrier, into which the studs are screwed.
Copper need a "special metals primer", which in the UK is made by Hammerite. The fabric is acrylic canvas, which can be seen at the UK company website http://www.cjmarine.co.uk/p/13/acrylic-canvas and is 18 GBP a yard, 1,5m wide. Of course, it will be available in N America. I think I bought two yards. The hood is attached to the boat with painted aluminium plates, shaped to give a forward/aft and vertical flat surface. The fabric is cut in panels, stapled together then sewn using two rows of 1cm stitches using a Speedystitcher. I used the thick lacing twine for stitching. Mark the position for every stitch hole using a pen. On completion, a little clear adhesive can be applied to seal the stitch holes.
The window material is first sewn in place, then the hole is cut.
I am worried about trying to give exact measurements in case it does not quite work, so I suggest making a frame with thick fence wire as a test.
I think the N America company to look at for materials is Sail-rite - they sent me a very nice email.
I would mention that the hood can be entirely removed from the boat by one Nyloc nut each side. The use of a lower front tube means that the design is universal for any boat, as the front fixings are non critical.
The hood can be dropped by undoing just one popper on each side wing, and this is advised when rowing.
Good sailing
David

Kelly's picture

Hello David
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide all the detail!
It will be very helpful - saving me hours of my own trial and error.

Much appreciated
Kelly

curlew's picture

Hi Kelly
A typo crept in with one of the sentences, which should read, "The fabric is attached to the TOP tube using a Velcro strip all the way along, and with Velcro straps to the other tubes."
David

Kelly's picture

Thanks for the clarification David
K