When we bought our trailer sailer about a year ago there was little information available on the internet about her sister ships. Pretty much all I could gather was what I heard from people at the sailing club, and I wasn’t sure I could trust half of what I heard. Someone even told me she had sailed in the Sydney to Hobart in the 70’s! After some more digging I have been able to ascertain some facts about the boat and to make it easier for others looking for the same thing I am writing this article to bring it all together. If you have more information please do post a comment.

Design and build
The Red Jackets were designed and built in Perth in the 70’s. They were designed for racing on the Swan River with a mast height that would be able to clear the bridges. The manufacturer of the Red Jacket was Ken & Hill Cameron of 103 Archdeacon Road, Nedlands, Perth. Apparently the manufacturing process was so smooth that it only took one week from them receiving the order for “Golden Screw” until it was on the water sailing!

The Red Jackets were the first of a series of small Yachts built by the Cameron’s. The Red Witch, Red Baron and Red Eagle are later developments from the same people.

Specifications
The information I have on her specifications are lacking but I can share with you the measurements I have taken my self.

* LOA 17.6ft (Length OverAll)
* Width 5.5ft
* Draft 2.5ft
* Mast height 6m
* Main; Luff 5.30m Foot 2.70m

Known boats
There are still a lot of Red Jackets scattered around Australia. I know of at least 5 in Melbourne, two of which are actively sailed. Below I intend to keep a running list of known boats. Who knows, perhaps we might end up organising a RJ Rendezvous on Port Phillip Bay.

* Carbon Offset, EG 605, Navy, Valberg Larusson, Williamstown Sailing Club
* –, GK 648, Orange, –, Williamstown Sailing Club
* –, –, Yellow, –, Williamstown Sailing Club

Web References
* http://en.allexperts.com/q/Yachting-2264/f/info-red-jacket-sloop.htm

Publications
Some of the best knowledge I have found so far is contained between the pages of published material, notably the Seacraft Magazine from 1970 and 1971. Below is a republication of an article published in the October 1971 edition of Seacraft Magazine.

Sea Safety For Trailer Sailors

Seacraft October 1971, page 50

I have watched trailer sailers in most States and have spoken to some 60 to 70 families, questioning them on various aspects of safety. “How far did they intend to go? What safety precautions had they taken? How long were they going for?” At the time I was conducting my own personal survey to see if I could improve on my own list of precautions.

The answers in general were: “Safety precautions? Hell mate, I’m having enough trouble sailing the thing … Don’t need them, I’m not going far … Well, I’ve got some life jackets, a compass, torch and some Band Aids”.

So much for the average trailer sailor’s answers on sea safety. It became clear to me that many of those who enjoy the pleasures of the type are woefully short on equipment and commonsense and that those who are interested in safety often don’t know where to start.

If you own a trailer sailer and if the yen to do some limited sailing offshore gets you, the time WILL come when you and your boat will have to handle some heavy weather. (See SEACRAFT, Self-Righting Trailer Sailer, December, 1970.) I thought the author of that article had an interesting story to tell and I wrote through SEA- CRAFT to find just what safety precautions he had taken.

His reply was far more than a list of safety precautions it is almost the story of his TS and although some yachts-men may not believe it all, I feel’ obliged to quote it in full because it is the very essence of this article and the story can be proved.

He wrote: “In reply to your recent letter about safety measures I have taken on my yacht Golden Screw, let me say by way of introduction that I am an army officer who loves ocean cruising. To be able to indulge in this I had to have a boat that could be taken with me as I am posted from place to place. The obvious answer was a TS.

“I needed one which could be towed behind the average six cylinder family sedan and that would be capable of surviving heavy weather with the necessary equipment. After inspecting many types I settled on a Red Jacket built by K. Hill, of 103 Archdeacon Road, Nedlands, Perth.

“After long discussions with Ken Hill and remembering that a yacht at sea spends most of its time going to windward, I decided to give the boat a masthead rig. Further details such as sails, rigging, fittings and an additional ’shoe’ on the solid cast iron keel to compensate for the extra rig were decided upon.

“Before committing myself I had to go to Sydney for more than two weeks and ordered the yacht the day after returning to the West. She went into the mould the next day and eight days later was sailing to Bunbury. Just over one week was needed to manufacture the boat, rig it, fit it with most of the safety ideas I wanted and be on our way to Bunbury. Remarkable!

“While in Sydney, the Crows Nest Shipchandlery team spent many hours with me deciding oh the best gear to use and the best way to fit out the boat.

“To give you some idea of the Golden Screw’s potential, we started 2.5 hours after the Bunbury Race fleet, stopped in Bunbury 90 minutes for a meal and we were home exactly 4.5 hours after the last boat finished the race. This last yacht was a. 24-footer and had won the 1969 event on corrected time.

“Conditions on the return trip from Bunbury proved the worth of the extra shoe on the keel. With Fremantle almost exactly down¬wind we were running under spinnaker only. Surfing was the ‘in’ thing for many miles. Suddenly, a wave crest lifted us, we broached to, and all on board thought we were about to become statistics. We were able to let the spinnaker sheet go and after two waves had swept over us, the boat came upright shaking like a wet dog. We hauled in the spinnaker sheet and pressed on.

“On the standard rigged Red Jacket, the spinnaker is 150 sq ft. My medium spinnaker is 250 sq ft and looking back it’s no wonder we broached as the wind was 40 knots from- the southeast. The problem could have been avoided if I had used my 100 footer but then perhaps we would not have surfed as we did. Incidentally, we ran 50 miles in six hours, 10 minutes.

“That trip to Bunbury proved the worth of several of my ideas. With a little additional cost and lots of work other trailer sailer men could do the same.

“Any centreplate TS could have two shaped pieces of lead or steel attached to the keel with through bolts with only a little decrease in performance and a huge increase in safety. This would mean of course that the plate could not be hauled right up for trailing and that the draft would be increased by about five inches. A small modification to the trailer would also be needed.
“Pulpits, stanchions and life lines are law for ocean racers. If a TS owner is prepared to buy, cut, shape and finally hold his material for a welder or argon welder then the costs will be quite low. I used 1.5in. aluminium tubing at a cost of $12 and the argon arcing cost $49. Anodising took another $9 and my life lines cost me $30.

“An inner forestay added as an afterthought was, I believe, the reason why we were not dismasted when we broached. It has caused some minor problems when tacking in light winds because of my huge fore triangles but has more than proved its worth in heavy weather.

“Most TSs have non-skid decks but as an additional help I glued many strips of non skid tape in strategic parts of the boat. I placed these strips on the fore deck, cabin top, and the sides of the cockpit well about three inches below seat level. This safeguard has proved its worth when winching in the genoa in a stiff breeze.

“We found that the removable mast support as supplied was not strong enough. This had been discussed before launching but we felt that it might be good enough. This small but important item taught me a lesson that is often forgotten in boats. If in doubt about strength, double the size. It is only when rigging is altered or enlarged that this problem occurs.

“For safety reasons I had twin backstays and masthead and hound shrouds fitted. If any reader is interested in increasing his yacht’s performance by increasing sail area, he will definitely have to use more stays. If adding more stays the following tips will help.

“Make sure that both places of attachment of “both ends of each stay are sufficiently strong or reinforced so that fittings don’t pull out. Don’t think that because there is an increase in stays and shrouds that the size of wire can be lessened. It CAN be but an increase in design area puts tremendous increase in pressure on so many parts that it is not worth the risk.

“An increase in this equipment on a TS will mean less room to move around and stays can cut badly when you are in a hurry, so cover the bottom five or six feet of them with plastic tubing. Twin forestays are not, in my opinion, necessary for support but they greatly increase the speed with which I can change foresails.

“My cruise to Bunbury resulted in various happenings. One of my crew said that he would never again sail with me and I was dubbed The Mad Captain. I later applied for an invitation to enter the inaugural Fremantle-Koombana Bay race. Three or four days before the race the invitation was recalled by the club as the committee felt that ‘my yacht was not big enough for a race of such magnitude’.,

“I was disappointed, but on reflection it was a wise decision as the fleet was not escorted. I notified the club that I would be cruising after the fleet and that I would at no time interfere with the race.

“The race started in the evening with sou’east winds at around 12 to 15 knots which lasted until mid-night. At 2 am Golden Screw’s bottom rudder post fitting carried away and I realised that these must have been the only bolts in the boat without lock nuts. The spare parts box came to the rescue and the problem was fixed in less than 15 minutes.

“The rest of the race was a drifter and uneventful and caused me to think of a larger genoa. I decided on one that goes from masthead to bow to six inches short of the stern and which sheets home outside the safety rail. It is used in winds up to eight knots and I do not use a main with it. Light weather performance has improved greatly. I had, however, to change the position of my side lights as they were being blanketed. They are now well forward.

“This lighting problem must plague other TS if they have lights.

Many do not have any lights at all and this is a poor sort of attitude as you never know when you’ll be out at night. Without lights, you give the bigger craft little chance of missing you.

“During Easter 1969 I sailed from Perth to Rottnest Island with seven adults and four children aboard. The passengers slept ashore while I stayed on the boat overnight. A strong nor’easter struck during the night. Some local loss of life was caused by the big wind and some yachts were severely damaged. The Golden Screw was lucky not to be damaged as the wind caused her anchor to drag and again I was grateful for the precaution of carrying an extra anchor. The two anchors held with two fathoms of linked chain backing the pick.

“I have had some troubles with toe rails and despite the fact that I have life lines installed, they are not sufficient support when on the foredeck in a sea. Fitting toe rails on glass fibre can be difficult but I believe I have found the best solution. An inch by inch timber strip dowelled to the deck solves the problem. The help of another pair of hands makes the job easier but make sure that the dowel holes are sealed or you will have a mystery leak.

“Three further things are very important. In some States TS builders are required by law to supply flotation which is usually in the form of buoyancy tanks. This can be a real trap. Are the tanks air tight? Are they filled with some sort of flotation foam? There is only one answer to the first question.

“Fill the boat with water until the tanks are covered. Check for any air bubbles. That’s the only way to be really sure. As to the second question, you’ll have to take the builder’s word, but . . . there is only one way to make sure: swamp her and see if she floats!

“Place sufficient weight inside the cabin (bricks, rocks etc) to equal normal gear carried, and FILL THE BOAT WITH WATER. If she floats you’ve proved your point. If she doesn’t then this is a better time to find out than when out in a storm. While it caused me no end of trouble drying the boat out, I have actually carried out this procedure. My boat does float when swamped and laden. It’s a great morale booster in a blow to know that your ‘ground’ is not about to disappear from under you.

“When I bought my ‘certified’ safety harness, I felt that I had little to worry about. However, I decided to trial the gear just to make sure. The first thing that I found was that the lead was not long enough, the second was that at the time I had no points strong enough to attach the lead to. The third and most disturbing point was that the clip could and did come unstuck when most needed.

“Looking at advertisements for trailer sailers I noted that one of the most common extras quoted was roller reefing. The prospective buyer is led to believe that he is buying a trailer sailer with roller reefing capabilities. There is nothing false in this or in the buyer’s expectations, but again just one question. Can you reef your main by yourself? If you can’t, and you need two people for the task, who will steer?

“There are several effective systems of roller reefing, some good and some not so good. Basing my experience on a standard crew of two, I find the most effective system must include a mainsail halyard winch, preferably mast mounted which will also include a spring loaded pull out and return gooseneck. This allows the operator to wrap himself around the mast, unwind the winch a few notches and then pull out and turn the boom until the required amount of sail is reefed. It is slow but it ensures that your halyard, boom, mainsheet and sail are under control at all times. This allows you to judge more accurately by the motion of the boat, the amount of required reefing.

“I admit that I have been lucky in some blows. But I choose to believe that it was not all luck as I have tested EVERY system before it became needed.

“My TS has handled 40 knot winds and 25 foot waves off the continental shelf of WA and has taken a 65 knot southerly funnelling down Pittwater in Sydney. A 50 knot following wind 100 miles north of Gabo on the way from Melbourne to Sydney tested the boat solidly.

“One final thing that helps my boat greatly. I have a marine five ply half door which I insert in place whenever I leave protected waters. It is not waterproof and frequently a pint or two of sea gets past it but it keeps out the odd greenie taken over the stern or quarter.”

Well, there you are trailer sailer and would be JOGies. That is the story of one man’s effort to make his boat really seaworthy. Have you used all or some of these ideas? Or are you heading for disaster?

Here is a summary of Golden Screw’s safety features:
EXTERNAL
Keel 325 lb plus 125 lb shoe,
buoyancy tanks,
pulpits fore and aft,
life lines both sides,
side and mast lights,
twin forestays,
inner forestays,
masthead and hound shrouds,
twin backstays,
non skid strips in many places,
port and starboard jib sheet runner tracks,
port and starboard jib sheeting blocks,
port and starboard genoa and spinnaker runner tracks,
port and starboard genoa and spinnaker blocks,
port and starboard spinnaker brace blocks,
port and starboard sheeting winches,
additional alloy cleats,
compass and support,
stern light,
two anchors,
and tackles for AYF safety rules.
Ronstan cabin windows,
Kenyon Morse Speedo,
internal halyards for main and foresails,
roller reefing at gooseneck,
three genoas,
one jib plus storm jib main and storm main,
three kites 345, 250 and 100 sq ft,
spinnaker pole,
sheets for all foretriangles,
cabin top main sheeting,
inflatable dinghies (2),
cockpit awning,
cut down cross trees,
two lifebuoys,
Dan buoy,
floating marker buoy,
packet of dye marker,
safety harness for each member of crew,
mast head wind indicator,
spray jackets,
outboard motor.

Internal
Removable mast support,
light switches on mast support and wiring,
bunk cushions,
12 volt heavy duty battery,
fire-extinguishers,
Hand bearing compass.

If you can add all or part of this to your regular rig you will have improved your boat and will be that much better equipped for trouble if and when it comes. If you don’t carry any safety gear, keep her on the trailer but watch the tide!

This Sunday the sailing season formally opens at my sailing club, the Williamstown Sailing Club, and this year I am doing my bit to contribute to the running of the club. Today we launched a brand new website for the club witch we hope will bring people together online. The new website is: http://www.williamstownsailingclub.org.au/. Do take a look at the website and then come join us on Sunday for a social sail and BBQ at the club.

Another reason for looking into this was that I don’t tend to follow what’s happening in the hardware world that closely and every now and then you need to upgrade your knowledge in that arena. The main reason for my antipathy is probably that desktops are not that sexy any more. The clunky workhorse, sitting on or under your desktop is just a bulky, noisy, wire infested box that you cant seem to get rid of. Despite 20 years of exciting hardware development, when it comes to the crunch, the cheapest way to get good computing grunt into your hands, is to buy one of these boxes.

And so the saga continues. Every three years or so you upgrade the big black box to get the power processing happening. Not that you really need it or even give it any heavy work to do that often, but you still just have to have it available, or else risk your general interest in the geeky side of life.

At any rate, after looking at some reviews and prices I came up with the following combo:

• Intel Core i7-860 with P55 Express Chipset; $375-
• Gygabyte GA-P55-UD4, $219
• Patriot 4GB 1600, $175

This would come to $774 and its probably not a bad combo. But to be honest, I think I’m going to wait for a bit and buy new sails for my boat rather than do an upgrade at this time.

+ ARS Technica, the guide http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/04/ars-technica-system-guide-april-2009-edition.ars
+ My supplier http://www.cpl.net.au/
+ The CPU http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/p55/p55-overview.htm
+ The mobo http://www.gigabyte.com.au/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3161

It is only fair to give credit where credit is due. Recently I came a cross this elegant tutorial to create a slideshow using jQuery which I found very usefull during my current web project. The author, Jacob Gube deserves praise for the effort he’s put into writing the code for this slideshow and its presentation on the Six Revisions website. There are lots of people who provide assistance like that to others and sometimes I feel guilty that I dont do more of it my self. At any rate, thank you Jacob and Six Revisions for your great articles and tutorials.

Recently I found out that the fourth computer in the world to be built was designed and built in Australia. In 1949 a young scientist at CISRO proposed and got funding for a project to build a computer. The project was successful and the computer was built. It took about a year and soon after it was complete it was donated to Melbourne University where it was used to execute programs and calculations for about a decade. The computer is now at the Museum of Melbourne where it can be seen in its reassembled state. As I walked through the room hosting the computer I could not help but think back to Reiknistofnun and the old geeks I used to work with over there. They would have fitted perfectly in these settings as young men, with hair. There are even pictures at Reiknistofnun where it looks like they are in that very room. In fact, I think that might be Maríus’s chair in the picture!

This weekend we went to see the exhibition ‘A day in Pompei’ at the Melbourne Museum. Suzy was very impressed with the whole exhibition and I enjoyed parts of it. The casts of the people who died are surely the most powerful part of the exhibition, they really take you back to the very moment when the blast hit the city and people were engulfed by the ash. It is very moving to see the people in the very position they were in when it all happened. The other parts of the exhibit showed items from the city of Pompei recovered by archaeologists. It struck me how their implements are much like ours. I should have found that amazing but I just found it boring; 2000 year old household items that look just like what you see at any old market today. Suzy was a bit more sensible though and enjoyed how the exhibition brought live in the city right before your very eyes. The exhibition also depicted the story and timeline of the actual event but there were such a huge crowd that we could not really be bothered discovering more than we already knew about the event. The 3D animation was probably pretty good though.

It keeps taking us by surprise how quickly the seasons can change here in Melbourne. Two days ago I took a look at the tree outside our window to see if there were any signs of new leafs but there were none. Spring officially starts on September the 1st and admittedly we have had some nice warm days since then, but nothing like yesterday. The temp rose to 29 degrees and when I looked back at the trees this morning there were new leafs already forming. It only took one warm spring day to trigger the trees into action. The weather is still not consistently warm but each day the temperature is slowly rising towards summertime.

Happy birthday Auðunn, this one is for you.

Some time ago now we were doing voice recordings for an email system with a personal email notification. My mother gave us a few goes but this one was a winner:

Winter in Melbourne

It is now winter in Melbourne. Leaves are falling off the trees and the sun hangs low in the sky. Temperatures which a few months ago were in their upper 30’s have now plummeted to single digits and strong winds sweep the streets. This is no time to go sailing but I am hoping that this weekend the promised 20 degrees will provide a reasonable day on the water. For the last few months our boat has been sitting in the water providing a platform for seagulls to meet and greet and seaweed to hang out. But no longer; the scrub is coming out and the boat will be cleaned. The best thing about Melbourne winter is winter food. Warm casseroles, stews and red wine. This winter we are having Winter Christmas at our house with friends. I think we might even bring out the Christmas carols along with some traditional Icelandic Christmas food; roasted lamb, rauðkál, caramelized potatoes, home made ice cream and hopefully Malt og appelsín.

It has now been almost three months since my last confession, erhm blog I mean. Lots has happened in that space of time, our daughter Sóley was born on December the 20th and hence began our family saga. Sóley is doing really well and growing fast. I will be putting up a page with pictures and video for family and friends so watch that space. Currently I am upgrading the Wordpress blog system and making a few changes. The old look and feel will be back but right now the templates need amending.