Lachlan passed away in January 2010. As a memorial, this site remains as he left it.
Therefore the information on this site may not be current or accurate and should not be relied upon.
For more information follow this link
Welcome to Lachlan Cranswick's Personal Homepage in Melbourne, Australia
Getting to and things to do in the Deep River (GPS: N46°06.064' ; W77°29.188'), Upper Ottawa Valley, Ontario, Canada area
'Does the Job' Albacore 6781 Sailing Dinghy using a Firefly main sail for high wind conditions - 3rd September 2007
(Restored to sailing condition using various parts from
Valley Marine (Ottawa), The Chandlery (Ottawa),
Fogh Marine (Toronto) and
Annapolis Performance Sailing, Annapolis (Eastport), Maryland, USA - excellent website to navigate)
Lachlan's Homepage is at http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/
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As per a query on rigging a 1967 Texas Tornado 16.5 dinghy (Sun, 25
Sep 2005) : Clarification on the Rigging of the Mainsheet on the 'Does
the Job' Albacore 6781 Sailing Dinghy
I have attached a schematic drawing (pictured above) of how my Albacore is rigged. It is
very simple and I just copied the rigging from another Albacore in the
marina. I already had 3 of the blocks when I bought the boat 2nd hand -
so did not want to do anything fancy - just get it going. Plus this
rigging method does not take up a lot of space compared to other rigging
methods I have seen on Albacores.
I have shortened the tiller (replaced the original Aluminium tiller with a
home-made wooden tiller) so I can be further back in the boat without
having to do acrobatics during a tack or jibe. On the tiller, I have installed both an
Auto Releasing Cleat
and an extra V cleat in case the Auto Releasing Cleat
stops working reliably. (I also have this style of backup with
the centerboard Auto Releasing Cleat -
by having another ClamCleat using Shock-Cord)
If you have a swing keel/center board - and a kick up rudder - you might
like to look into getting
Auto Releasing Cleats. They are absolutely
wonderful and limits the risk of giving your crew and boat injuries if
you hit some shallows. The Ottawa river is quite a few feet lower than
usual this Fall and we have been hitting sand and rocks quite a bit over
the last few weeks. But due to the
auto releasing cleats, there is no
big drama.
Re the jib and my single handling setup: The reason for jib cleats near
the main sheet is that I can release the jib without having to let go of
the mainsheet: as letting go of the mainsheet while setting the jib is
an easy cause of turtling the boat. This did not work as there was too
much friction. And have changed to swivel cleats on the port and
starboard sides.
For single handling, I just use a main sail, no jib. For heavier winds,
I use the smaller firefly sail.
For social and comfort sailing (2006 season), have purchased a Crew
Saver 40 liter Mast Float to stop/limit turtling: on two occassions when
capsize occured, the Albacore did not turtle due to the mast float. To
minimize tangling on setup, the main sail is raised first, then the Mast
Float, then the jib.
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Image
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Description
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- Albacore with CrewSaver Mast Float (always hoisted irrespective of wind strength), and Firefly main sail for high wind conditions
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- Big bucket with safety gear - all tethered. Big bucket needed for bailing if Alabcore capsizes. But also needs to be tethered that is does not float or sink away during a capsize.
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- Albacore with CrewSaver Mast Float (always hoisted irrespective of wind strength), and Firefly main sail for high wind conditions
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- Albacore with CrewSaver Mast Float (always hoisted irrespective of wind strength), and Firefly main sail for high wind conditions
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- CrewSaver 40 litre mast float hoisted on top of the Albacore Mast
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- Inside of Albacore, tethered big bucket with safety gear not present as bucket was being used to bail someone else's Albacore on the beach
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- 360 degree swivel cleat and clam cleat with fairlead. In high winds, crew prefers to use the clam cleat as it is easier to quickly uncleat.
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- Home made tiller (shortened, for easy tacks and jibes when sitting near the rear of the boat), with Davis Tiller Tamer, CL257 Auto-release Racing Mini Clamcleat and backup V-cleat on the tiller.
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- Port recovery line: installed in case of capsize or turtling.
- Starboard recovery line: installed in case of capsize or turtling.
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- Mastfloat hoist cleats and cunningham cleat
- Mast retainer
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- Paddle tethered and stored
- Praddle (one-armed paddle for the helmsman) - tethered
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- Floating safety line ready for use
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- Home made tiller (shortened, for easy tacks and jibes when sitting near the rear of the boat), with Davis Tiller Tamer, CL257 Auto-release Racing Mini Clamcleat and backup V-cleat on the tiller.
- Flow-Max Ball Scuppers (large) instead of the horrible default Albacore 'flaps'. Attachment for hiking straps.
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- Home made tiller (shortened, for easy tacks and jibes when sitting near the rear of the boat), with Davis Tiller Tamer, Holt-Allen tiller extension and CL257 Auto-release Racing Mini Clamcleat and backup V-cleat on the tiller.
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- Centerboard has a CL257 Auto-release Racing Mini Clamcleat with dinghy braid, as well as a backup Clamcleat with Shockcord
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- Albacore with CrewSaver Mast Float (always hoisted irrespective of wind strength), and Firefly main sail for high wind conditions
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- Albacore with CrewSaver Mast Float (always hoisted irrespective of wind strength), and Firefly main sail for high wind conditions
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- Albacore on dolly ready to launch
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- Inside of Albacore, tethered big bucket with safety gear not present as bucket was being used to bail someone else's Albacore on the beach
- Simple outhaul for boom
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- Garden hose over stay for easy handling by crew.
- Jib downhaul and garden hose over stay for easy handling by crew.
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- Jib Halyard / wire-Rope Halyard on the port-side, and rigged main halyard on the starboard side using CL218MK1 Port Side Entry Clamcleat. Main halyard block has extra shackle so halyard does not wear down the CL218MK1 Port Side Entry Clamcleat when raising the Main sail
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- Front wheels installed in 2007 for Seitech launching dolly, safety line also secures the dolly to the boat when on the beach.
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- Inside the Albacore, with big bucket with safety gear - all tethered.
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"Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day"
(Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966))
Calmly we walk through this April's day,
Metropolitan poetry here and there,
In the park sit pauper and rentier,
The screaming children, the motor-car
Fugitive about us, running away,
Between the worker and the millionaire
Number provides all distances,
It is Nineteen Thirty-Seven now,
Many great dears are taken away,
What will become of you and me
(This is the school in which we learn...)
Besides the photo and the memory?
(...that time is the fire in which we burn.)
(This is the school in which we learn...)
What is the self amid this blaze?
What am I now that I was then
Which I shall suffer and act again,
The theodicy I wrote in my high school days
Restored all life from infancy,
The children shouting are bright as they run
(This is the school in which they learn . . .)
Ravished entirely in their passing play!
(...that time is the fire in which they burn.)
Avid its rush, that reeling blaze!
Where is my father and Eleanor?
Not where are they now, dead seven years,
But what they were then?
No more? No more?
From Nineteen-Fourteen to the present day,
Bert Spira and Rhoda consume, consume
Not where they are now (where are they now?)
But what they were then, both beautiful;
Each minute bursts in the burning room,
The great globe reels in the solar fire,
Spinning the trivial and unique away.
(How all things flash! How all things flare!)
What am I now that I was then?
May memory restore again and again
The smallest color of the smallest day:
Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn.
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[Intro - CranClan] . .
[Happening Things] . .
[The Daresbury Laboratory Web Ring of Life] . .
[NCS - Non-Competitive Scrabble] . .
[Garden Gnomes of Daresbury Laboratory] . .
[Nature and Local UK Things] . .
[USA 2001 and LDEO Columbia University] . .
[Historical Literature/Poetry] . .
[Music] . .
[Misc Things] . .
[DL SRS Status] . .
[Conference and Travel Things] . .
[The Wonders of Team Building] . .
[Other People's Homepages] . .
[Crystallographic Internet Front] . .
[While in Melbourne] . .
[Semi Relevant Links]
If you are feeling sociable, my new E-mail address is
[address now invalid] (replace the *at* with an @ ) . Old E-mail
addresses might be giving forwarding or reliability problems. Please
use clear titles in any Email - otherwise messages might accidentally
get put in the SPAM list due to large amount of junk Email being
received. So, if you don't get an expected reply to any messages, please
try again.
