friends of deining

Ecume de mer Successful Meeting Naarden June 3rd and 4th 2011

2011-06-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

We Ecume de mer fanatics held our second Meeting to date this week-end in Naarden, Netherlands. Again a success and the weather on Saturday was grand!

We have three new members and had an unespected visit from German Ecume de mer (1974) from Stavoren (eastern Ijsselmeer): Seete Deern. Must add the good captain and his wife are 80 years old! This says something about them - just as it says a lot about our so cherished écume de mer!

To watch this video, enter the password: Deining

Dutch Ecume de mer Meeting June 2011 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

By the way I have found older pictures long lost (photo negatives) about the Osmosis prevention treament realised (with the help of a expert prefessional) on Deining during 2004-2005, see below.

Osmosis preventive treatment

https://picasaweb.google.com/Jerominus77/EcumeDeMerDEININGOsmosisPreventiveTreatment2004

Which resin system works best for Osmose prevention?
http://visualcuriosity.blogs.com/yachtdesign/2004/09/epoxy_polyester.html
(user name: Deining, Password: Deining)

The sea as seen from below

2011-05-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

No word for this - only the 'écume'.

Ecume de Mer Meeting 2011: June 3rd-4th Holland

2011-05-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

ANWB Watersport | Ecume de Mer eigenaren bijeen

Un jour clair d'octobre 2010

2010-10-23T04:02:00.000-07:00

Le Mont Blanc, 15 octobre 2010.

Smile Please.

Stevie Wonder 1974.

A smiling face is an earth like star

A frown can't bring out the beauty that you are

Love within and you'll begin smiling

There're brighter days ahead...

Don't mess your face up with bitter tears

'Cause life is gonna be what it is

It's okay, please don't delay from smiling...

There're brighter days ahead...

Bum

Bum bum di ti bum

Di ti bum

Bum bum di ti bum

A smiling face you don't have to see

'Cause it's as joyful as a Christmas tree

Love wihin and you'll begin smiling...

There're brighter days ahead...

Love's not competing it's on your side

You're in life's picture so why must you cry

So for a friend please begin to smile - Please...

There're brighter days ahead

Bum

Bum bum di ti bum

Please smile for me

Bum

Bum bum di ti bum

Please smile for me

Bum - Smile

Bum

Bum bum di ti bum

Bum bum di ti bum

Smile please, from Stevie Wonder 's album 'Fulfillingness First Finale' (1974)

Fulfillingness' First Finale

Studio album by Stevie Wonder
Released	July 22, 1974
Recorded	Record Plant Studios, L.A., Media Sound, N.Y., Westalke Audio, L.A., Electric Lady, N.Y.
Genre	Soul, Funk
Length	42:33
Label	Tamla
Producer	Stevie Wonder, Robert Margouleffand Malcolm Cecil

Sail 2010 Amsterdam: from Deining!

2010-08-21T04:11:00.000-07:00

For videos use the exact Password: Sail2010

Sail 2010 impression from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

For videos use the exact Password: Sail2010

MOV08963 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

MOV08958 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

MOV08940 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Staysail and storm jibs: preparing for heavy weather

2010-07-26T02:37:00.001-07:00

Very clear thoughts from experienced sailors Larry and Lin Pardley.
Food for thought before installing a stay sail (with or without stay?) trysail, a storm jib or new sails in general.

by: sailing 5:07 minutes

How to Select Sails for Heavy Weather

Open Virtual 470 World Event with Sail Simulator 5 in Scheveningen (Holland)

2010-07-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

This week the 470 world cup competition takes place in Scheveningen (Holland). Stentec will be demonstrating it's new beta version of Sail Simulator 5 in the Brunotti Beach House this weekend.

Next week's wednesday and thursday (July 21 and 22) the world cup organisation, InPortRace and Stentec organised the Open Virtual 470 Worlds. This competition can be entered by anyone.

More information can be found on www.470worlds2010.com/game.asp. You can submit through the Entry Form.

More information at: http://sailsimulator.com

First ever Ecume de mer Meeting in Holland !

2010-06-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

Ecume de mer Dutch fanatics meet in Naarden harbour on 12-13 juni 2010.

It was great to get to know such enthousiatic boat owners - all with their very special Ecume de mer with so many tips and tricks.

We sailed out for a round around Pampus island (right in front of Amsterdam) with a nice little brise force 4 to 5 (WNW).

Splendid sailing afternoon in the sun with small boat enthousiasts or shall we say, partners in crime?

One thing is certain: we will meet again!

Ecume de mer Meeting Naarden 12062010 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Many thanks to Martin van Beusichem (écume de mer Merengue) and Hylke Steensma (écume de mer Pura Vida) who both had the initiative and the spirit to power this great meeting!

Download de foto's hier.

Ecume de Mer Meeting Naarden June 12th 2010 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Geef hieronder je commentaar op de eerste Meeting van de Ecume de Mer (EdM) Nederland!

Fear of the Sea is just good practice...

2010-05-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Some claim that Fear of God will keep them on the right track in life and on the right side of the road. Isn't that conveniently one of the basic moral and practical safeguards against the depths of insanity and chaos?

My simple adage at sea has always been Fear the Sea (Awe, not the shivering, not being afraid but rather the big Angst, the deepest respect). This devise will keep me from doing all the plain stupid things I fancy improvising (as in: overly dangerous actions with a next to certain negative outcome). Mariner common sense and seaworthiness Best Practices are my best safeguard against premature mental decay.

But of course, risk-taking is just so much fun. As Joseph Conrad puts it: " Everything can be found at sea according to the spirit of your quest."

Much inspiration in sailing as in life comes from books. After having read Hemingway as a kid, I was struck by this book written by the Hays (father David and son Daniel): My Old Man and the Sea.
In the best seller, they describe their journey of personal rediscovery while sailing around Cape Horn on a very small boat they had even built together.
Daniel Hays's own second best seller (depicting his endeavors on an island up Nova Scotia) gives a witty must-read for those who think of ever leaving the world at all and settle forever somewhere remote.

Daniel Hays's fine and funny book:
On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave

Closer to home, we had a plan for a short sail trip over a cold and wet long week-end of May. Destination: the Wadden islands (Vlieland) from the Port of IJmuiden (Amsterdam Seaport in Holland). So far so good.

We had done some Waddenzee sailing (Wadden Sea) together before and we knew basically what to expect as a two-team at Sea. The boat was nearly perfectly prepared (and this blog revolves of course about the wording: 'nearly').

In retrospect, small factors have led to the plan's failure (not that it had any serious consequence). The end is not dramatic - but for me, just very illustrative of the sea's complete mastering power.

Factor 1: I had a small split in the Genua not repaired before we left to sea. This detail - as it turned - nailed us down after a two hours rack north west into the north sea. The most shameful I am about the fact I knew this was not OK and needed repair before sailing out (any long time sailing amateur knows a spilt or a small rip in the sail will quickly turn into a major tear). So, deep down I did expect a revenge from below - just didn't know when.

"The Sea at all risks, come on, a little split in the sail won't hurt that much..." I knew the drill from a few bad seas but nevertheless did nothing in due time. Here she was, in full ornate, the mother of all shipwrecks - overconfidence in its most stupid form.

Compas Deining Ijmuiden mei2010 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

The recollections and pictures below follow the moments in time when that first grand error of judgment (or rather discipline) was made, and the assumptions that follow could easily have turned the cruise into a not amusing nightmare, was it not for that one mantra (or rule of thumb) in the back of my mind that weighted heavier than sheer stupidity and kept me from the abyss of mental indulgence with a secret irony - "Fear the Sea".

I've learned over the years that it is not so much the amount (of fear) that counts, but the Angst itself, the quality of awe and reverence or submission (another word for Spirituality?) - the kind that can only be experienced in the face of real adversity.

Once at sea, all books, theories and stories just vanish like dreams of a lost youth, anything can happen and will happen to reestablish the balance of nature against the meanders of the mind.

The human mind usually lacks the most simple insight and is not the stronghold you'd hoped for. The best and last resort is then to acknowledge this very fact (again with what is left of your sensibility) and understand ounce and for all who the boss really is.

So, with a little but well established north wind of 4 Beaufort, sailing North was a ridiculous idea in the first place. One of these desktop sailing plans you tend to make during dark winter days when you have no wind in the face and sit dry. Just too good an image to hold the practical truth.

But obviousley, flirting with risk is and was an appealing thing to do for this year's first trip out...

This is the second factor, factor 2 (that fuels up the speed toward failure): wrong route planning. I had followed the weather evolution for a few weeks and was actually planning the anti-clockwise trip (so inland IJsselmeer going North, after the Dam toward Waddenzee, the west round north holland) as a matter of common sense. But no, I had to try something new and more exciting.

At the last moment I decided to take the more risky option...for whatever reason available.

There is indeed so much joy in taking risks. One even tends to relish the part where one comes to work out and resolve all possible details before departure. Minimizing risks, rationalizing in fact anticipating any statistics that could arise at any moment - a mental sport - keeps you away from the right and only decision.

The Sea will prevail whatever you do to guarantee your safety, your well being or mental comfort. Insanity is watching you at each wave waiting for the right moment to strike you hard with no warning.

This is the fun part.

One creates a virtual equilibrium between action and acceptance, thought and patience. Meanwhile, nature just waits for you to add up mistakes.

The idea that one could actually befriend the Sea is an illusion - in fact, dangerous at its core. Your mindset - when inappropriate - will force a decisive, negative outcome from the start. One learns from bad, or much better, worse experiences - but those cannot be avoided mentally. This is where the best marine literature bring some descriptions of personal (real life) catastrophies, loosing of one's mind, wrecking the crew and the boat, and eventually loss of life. A nice recall of this type I read years ago in that beautiful book about Donald Crowhurst's last sailing voyage around the globe (The Sailor's Classics, 1970 by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall) : THE STRANGE LAST VOYAGE OF DONALD CROWHURST

The simple equation "The Sea will prevail" is quite useful to keep in mind from the start. This is a joy for adventurers.

So, get wounded and get punished for your overconfidence. Be taught by nature itself. There is no peace for the Wicked, no escape but in pure respect for the Sea - even in mental breakdown or in death.

More factors adding at a fast pace now...

Our trip starts joyfully at a rendez-vous in Amsterdam harbor, just behind the Central Station. All went just clockwork perfect! The night arrival at IJmuiden gave us a sense of direction and liberation as the air transports its salty harvest at every closing mile: we're sailing towards the sun at last!

Unfortunately my left ribs remain painstaking from a small stupid accident that morning just before leaving (factor 3), and I cannot sleep more than 2 hours straight that night (just before taking the morning tide of 6 o'clock). There you go: another negative point (factor 4) to add to a growing list of aggravating factors that alone seem harmless.

Loss of complete control was just lurking: the list was still short and everything looked all right, but even a moron saw that the pattern set out to grow much earlier and exponentially. It is the sum of all little things at a given moment of inattention that makes the Sea take over - radically with no sorriy. Just wait and see.

Two hours later, sailing north west with a little force 4, my Genua showed some shredding when I just got an automatic glimpse over the horizon. My ribs were still sore and I figured that we still had a 12 to 15 hours sailing effort to do toward first the first port Den Helder, tacking 100 times against the cold wind. This is when the trip ended: I decided to sail back right away (instead of waiting more dead time), heading south to IJmuiden but of course now against 4 knots of tidal current.

Well, the Sea decided, not me. For which I a ever grateful.

We spent the rest of this trip sailing around the Markermeer, north of Amsterdam (no wind at all!). Laid back, with no ambition. We had plenty of time left to reflect on the good things in life, like the complete, sudden loss of control that is quite liberating even to Free minds like ours, and ponder about some other life trivialities that matter more.

Ecume de Mer Meeting June 12th in Naarden, The Netherlands

2010-05-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

This is a call to all Ecume de Mer captains, owners and fanatics: come at the meeting in Naarden (Close to Amsterdam) on June 12th and 13th !

More about the meeting of the Ecume de Mer (Dutch):

http://www.clubracer.be/2010/5/3/eerste-nederlandse-ecume-mer-meeting

Thoughts on damage control aboard ship

2010-04-13T00:14:00.001-07:00

Fibreglass Boats and Damage Control
by Hugo du Plessis

http://www.caribbeancompass.com/damagecont.htm

Are fibreglass boats safe to go to sea? Such a question, daring to cast a doubt about fibreglass boats, will I am sure bring heaps of abuse on my head and indignant denials from every builder, as well as endless reports from owners of fibreglass boats who have crossed oceans, as I have myself, and sailed round the world. So I add hastily, before being burnt at the stake as a heretic (not for the first time! I was the first to dare to suggest that fibreglass boats needed maintenance), that it does not apply to fibreglass boats in general, or indeed to fibreglass as a material. The principle problem is the way most fibreglass cruising boats are designed and built, in particular regarding the difficulty, even the impossibility, of damage control - a very important factor when far from land and help.

My comments are based on 50 years of experience of fibreglass boats as a professional surveyor, builder, charter operator, and owner of over a dozen. I am widely considered to know more about fibreglass boats than most people. My book Fibreglass Boats [Adlard Coles Nautical, ISBN 0-7136-6209-3] has been a standard book on the subject since 1962 and is now in the 15th impression and five languages, frequently revised, updated and rewritten. The latest was in 2002 and I am already working on the next. I was one of those over?enthusiastic pioneers way back in the 195Os and well remember the days when many people could not say anything bad enough about fibreglass and they certainly tried pretty hard. Admittedly in some cases it was justified. Fibreglass boats have been my life's work. So you might think I should be the last person to make such a sweeping condemnation. However I have also had nearly 60 years experience of cruising, including 20 as a liveaboard, and am one of the most senior members of the Royal Cruising Club. Maybe I know a bit about cruising, too.

Not Designed with Damage in Mind
Damage control is an essential feature of big ship design, whether naval or commercial. There are endless rules and regulations. But with yachts, "damage" is not a word in the boatbuilder's vocabulary. Blame the owner's carelessness! No concern of the builder's if the boat sinks. What is insurance for? The surprising thing is that insurers stand for it. Their attitude is to increase premiums for everybody instead of encouraging the design of sensible, safe, easily repaired boats. That is safer policy than risking legal action in this profitably litigious age for suggesting a make of boat is less safe by increasing the premium or refusing insurance.
I sometimes wonder if builders know that boats are meant to leave a snug, safe marina and venture on the sea, a place of storms, rocks and other vessels, mostly of vastly greater size. The sea is a dangerous place, always has been and always will be. Man is a land animal. The sea is not his natural element. Nowadays there has grown up a popular misconception that when you get into trouble, all you have to do is send a Mayday, take to the obligatory "liferaft", which is the limit of the bureaucratic mind, and immediately a lifeboat or helicopter will come dashing to the rescue like the US Cavalry. Gone is the old idea of seamanship and saving yourself and crew by your own efforts. Yet it is still as true as ever that when you leave harbour you are on your own and you and your crew will live or die by your own skill and seamanship. Or as a former Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club once told me "When you go to sea you must be prepared to die like a gentleman".

Sinking has ever been the sailor's great fear. With fibreglass boats there are no seams to leak and no rot or worms or rust to destroy the bottom. So on the face of it, fibreglass boats should be safer to go to sea. Yet there are still many dangers, even in the open ocean, which can sink a boat: containers with sharp steel corners, wreckage, logs, crates with protruding six-inch nails. Boats have been attacked by killer whales and great white sharks, run down by ships and fishing boats, and cannot be detected by a submarine. Structural failure due to overloading a light boat not built to carry the amount of stores and equipment needed to cross an ocean can lead to sudden catastrophe. Failure of some underwater part of the elaborate domestic services now considered so essential is quite common.
There is seldom time to analyse the cause when the boat has a dangerous leak and is sinking. You are out of range of a lifeboat or helicopter, and in any case it would take too long to reach you. The radio is also damaged so a Mayday is impossible. The situation is desperate. The damage has got to be controlled and fast.

Access is Essential
There are many ways to stop a leak given ingenuity and resourcefulness, abilities for which sailors have always been renowned. But above all, survival will depend on access to apply this. That is where the design of fibreglass boats is critical and often dangerously deficient because without access to get at the damaged section of the hull, flooding cannot be controlled and sinking is inevitable.
Given access to the inside face of the hull it may be possible to stuff a sock in the hole or rig pads and shores or whatever ingenuity suggests. But this is not possible with the common one-piece pan moulding forming large parts of the accommodation and which prevents access to the inside of the hull. The crew will be faced with a sinking leak from somewhere unknown, emerging from under the pan moulding, spurting through holes and ducts for wiring and pipes, and probably through splits caused by an impact. How to get at the damage to plug it before the boat sinks is literally a life or death struggle. Builders assume repairs will always be done on land with the boat steady, plenty of time to plan discreet cuts with power tools - power is of course available - good lighting and professional skills, and the certainty of an inflated payment from the insurers.
It will be very, very different for a crew working knee-deep in fast-rising water, by the light of a dim torch, with few tools, seasick, wet, cold and frightened. Ordinary tools like saws and drills - even assuming there are any on board - would be too slow and difficult to use due to the motion. The situation calls for ruthless, brutal butchery. But what with? How many boats carry an axe these days, let alone a prybar or wrecking bar? In any case fibreglass is tough and springy, not at all easy to smash.

That is why I question whether many fibreglass boats are safe to go to sea. It is a question of design and access. This problem seems to have escaped the notice of all classification societies and authorities interested in safety. The bureaucratic attitude is to list safety equipment which must be carried for when the boat sinks. Do they not realise that the boat would be safer if it did not sink - if it could be kept afloat?
Accommodation, whether made in separate pieces or a large one-piece pan moulding, must allow full and easy access to all of the inside of the hull. Lockers should be cut out, not formed integrally with the moulding. Linings should be easy to tear away. There should be no closed compartments. All parts of the bilges should be accessible.
Wooden accommodation should also provide easy access. Modern practice is to glue not screw, yet even if wooden accomodation has to be destroyed it is much easier to repair than an elaborate fibreglass moulding.
Lockers, of course, are meant to contain things and - as I know from trying to survey bluewater liveaboard cruising yachts, as well as living on one for 20 years - are invariably stuffed full. There is never enough stowage space. Yet it is surprising how quickly a locker can be emptied in an emergency and no one is worrying about the clean contents getting wet and dirty.

Stopping the Flood
The first essential is to stop or reduce the inflow of water so that the danger of immediate sinking is averted and there is time to contrive something better. There are various ingenious devices such as a sort of folding umbrella, but damage can take so many forms it is impossible to generalise about best methods or materials. There are, however, certain basic principles. The first is that the water will be coming in under pressure and will wash away anything not well supported or strong enough, and in particular anything that relies on bonding or takes time to set. An external repair, if strong enough to avoid being sucked in, will at least contain the pressure. A polythene bag would do, but probably needs something to strengthen it. Old waterproof trousers have also been suggested. To attach an external repair, it is likely to need somebody going overboard and that can be dangerous if it is rough (as the ocean usually is) and cold. Exhaustion and hypothermia have sunk as many boats as hull damage.
Damage to a fibreglass hull will rarely be a neat hole as is usually assumed in theory; it is nearly always a split with jagged sides. This makes it more difficult to stuff in a sock, or push through an umbrella-type leak stopper. As a rule, only repeated impact, such as pounding on a rock, will produce the multiple cracks to form a hole. That is unlikely at sea where any impact will be a single wallop.
Once the flow of water has been controlled, a stronger repair can be contrived. Forget the fibreglass repair kit you were persuaded to buy. It will not stick to a wet surface. That is for when ashore. Some epoxies and putties will set underwater, but that does not mean that they will bond. Water has to be displaced from the surface and very few adhesives can do that. All take time to set and that is too long.
The old seaman's collision mat using a sail will take time to rig. Also there are practical difficulties. How do you rig a collision mat on a keel boat? A sail needs something to hold it tight against the hull, otherwise it will just act as a scoop. A mattress or foam plastic is better.

Making a Boat Unsinkable
Fibreglass does not float, an early objection - but the same was said of the first iron ships. If flooded, few wooden yachts with ballast and an engine will float either. So making a boat unsinkable is a problem to be tackled at the design stage. The structural requirements would make it very difficult to achieve later. There are two fundamental principles:
1) Even the lightest buoyancy material, air, requires space: for one ton of buoyancy you need one cubic metre (roughly 35 cubic feet) of air - the equivalent volume of five big oil drums. For the average 35- to 40-foot ocean cruiser weighing ten tons, there would have to be room for the equivalent of 50 oil drums! Moreover the paper displacement figure is just for the bare boat. To this must be added the two or three tons of stores, equipment and possessions - and for any ocean cruiser we really are talking about tons, and probably underestimating. The more stores and equipment, all absolutely essential, the less room for buoyancy, and conversely the more buoyancy the less room for essentials. There has to be room to work the boat and live in reasonable comfort when in harbour where the boat will spend a lot more time than at sea. Therefore the sheer space required for using trapped air as a buoyancy material rules out anything except emergency air bags, and once those are operated, on purpose or accidentally, the boat becomes unliveable and "unsailable".
2) It is not sufficient just to keep the boat afloat, decks awash. Sheer survival requires a degree of shelter, habitability and perhaps "sailability". The widow maker is exposure and hypothermia. This means the boat must float high enough for the crew to remain reasonably dry, sheltered from wind and water, able to cook, and have electrical power to operate a radio and lights. Perhaps also to run an engine, especially if a power boat, and ideally to sail after a fashion. Morale too is very important. It is far better to stick with the boat, if possible, than take to a "liferaft". However in practical terms this amount of buoyancy is almost impossible to achieve with a ballasted, well-equipped cruising monohull, although feasible with a catamaran.

Sadlers', for example, have built unsinkable boats by use of double skinned, foam-injected hulls, but even so still have to steal essential storage space. Both skins are fairly light construction and do not allow for the tons of extra weight essential for ocean cruising. Double skinned hulls like this and foam-filled spaces can only be done while the boat is being moulded, and are therefore design features. It is claimed that damage is limited with this type of construction. This may be so with minor damage. But the foam filling must be weak, or it becomes too heavy, and would not prevent a serious impact from damaging the inner skin too. Foamed compartments can become waterlogged and are then almost impossible to dry. Even closed-cell foam will disintegrate when wet, and then flotation is lost.
Aiming at unsinkability, ships have watertight doors and bulkheads. This is not practicable on a yacht. The interference with habitability would be unacceptable on anything but the most dedicated, large, ocean-going racer. The average yacht bulkhead is not strong enough; the sheer pressure of, say, a forecabin full of water would be formidable, even without surging. Most bulkheads, being designed for inward compression only, are secured by weak angles, sometimes none at all, and would be torn adrift. Possibly the hull or deck would burst too. The weight would also affect the stability.

Well meaning bureaucrats specify collision bulkheads. Sadly they know little about boats and their thinking is based on fast, wide-fronted cars on narrow roads where head-on collisions are the rule. With boats, free to move in any direction, head-on collisions between two pointed end shapes are very unusual, rather like two spears meeting in mid-air. Most impacts are glancing blows and if between two boats, the victim is usually hit on the forward topsides or amidships where it is weak. The victim sinks and the attacker, with its strong stem taking the impact, escapes relatively unscathed. Even a hard-sailed dinghy can sink a much larger boat. Because it interferes with the accommodation, a collision bulkhead is usually placed well forward. With the usual overhang this is above the waterline and is therefore just a token, the collision bulkhead commonly being the aft end of the chain locker. Most boats have an overhang forward and fast power boats in particular sail with a pronounced bows-high trim so that any impact with rocks or debris will be well aft of any collision bulkhead. In all my years as a surveyor I remember only one case of a dangerous leak due to impact on the waterline. This was when a Moody hit a heavy mooring buoy, and it was well aft of the mandatory collision bulkhead. I have seen a few crumpled bows from hitting dock walls or lock gates, most often just resulting in bent pulpits. But I have seen plenty of underwater damage from rocks. Because any dangerous impact will be at or below the waterline, it makes more sense to have a double bottom.

The Watertight Lockers Option
One idea seldom mentioned, and more in the way of damage control than unsinkability, is to have numerous small watertight compartments. This is copying ship practice, where each watertight section is small enough that flooding it does not affect the integrity of the ship. However, on a yacht it is not practicable to divide the boat with watertight bulkheads, and even if it was, the spaces would much too large. But almost every cruising boat has dozens of lockers which could be made watertight fairly easily. This is not the same as filling them with buoyancy, as is done with "unsinkable" boats. By making the lockers watertight and fitting watertight lids, such as large dinghy hatches, they would provide some limited buoyancy yet still remain useable, just as a ship cannot afford to lose the payload of a hold.
As well as providing buoyancy, making lockers watertight would have the even more important function of containing a serious leak. With good planning the boat could virtually have a double skin over the entire underwater area. (If a pan moulding was used it would need to be stronger and better attached than usual because, being considered just accommodation, most are lightly moulded and weakly bonded. They generally break away and split if the hull is damaged.) One or more such watertight lockers could flood without unduly affecting stability and, most important, would prevent the rest of the boat filling and sinking. Essential systems like batteries and engines could be in their own watertight compartments so that the boat remains operational.

Another important factor is that having many small, watertight compartments would prevent surging, which alone can cause damage and seriously upset the stability of a flooded boat, even if nominally unsinkable. Moreover, a lot of this work could be retrospective and done in preparation for an ocean cruise.
Buoyancy and unsinkability sound like nice safety features. But do your sums. Work out the weight of the boat - plus everything you have or intend to stuff inside it. To be on the safe side double this at least; it is invariably underestimated. On the first haul-out after an Atlantic crossing every crew finds they have to raise the waterline several inches! On my 31-foot-waterline boat the rate of waterline change is roughly two inches per ton, a fairly typical figure.

So is it safe to go to sea in a fibreglass boat? Well thousands of us do. But they could be designed and built to be a lot safer. The trouble is that builders do not go to sea often enough - they certainly do not have the time for long-term liveaboard ocean cruising - and some have one-track minds based on racing. Speed sells boats, and to many designers the idea that anyone may not want to go racing is unthinkable. Production is dominated by convenience more than practical seaworthiness. Moreover, whatever the designer may say or the owner want, the last word in boatbuilding today is that of the company accountant.
Hull shape is also important. A long keel boat will ride over an obstruction and the slack bilges will tend to slide past. They are also more strongly built. The modern straight stem, flat-bottomed, fin keel, lightly built boat is more vulnerable to impact. And, with no proper bilges, if flooded the water will rise to a critical level much faster and the weight will soon have a critical effect on stability.
Damage control should begin on the drawing board.

Adding Buoyancy & unsinkability

2010-04-13T00:09:00.000-07:00

Source: the Trotter-pandora website: http://pandorasailing.com/?page_id=167

Some leisure boat owners are questioning whether the money spent on liferafts couldn’t more usefully be employed in making the main boat unsinkable. After all, conventional boating wisdom has it that we should stay on board as long as possible in any emergency situation, with the possible exception of a fire. Abandoning to a liferaft is considered a retrograde step, and a last resort.

There is some logic in this thinking. Our boat has on and within it everything we need for survival in the long term. If we can protect the vital, life-sustaining elements from damage or loss, we will have a much better chance of living to fight (or float) another day!

Thus, many leisure boat enthusiasts have explored the concept of unsinkability. Some modern designs, yachts and powerboats, embrace unsinkability and incorporate buoyancy mechanisms, usually foams, within the structure. But for the most part, boat owners have to find a way of adding sufficient buoyancy as a retro-fit in order to make their boats unsinkable.

Now, we need to look at some terms and agree some definitions. ‘Unsinkable’ might mean that if the boat is holed or swamped, such that it is totally flooded, it will remain at or above the surface and will not sink. But would that really be of any use? Surely what we really need is for the boat to remain sufficiently high out of the water that we may be able to effect some repairs and bail out the flood. So we might need more than just unsinkability in its’ strict sense; we may need some form of positive buoyancy that will ensure that the boat is habitable (and hopefully repairable) if it is totally flooded.

OK, but how do we achieve buoyancy? Well, in order to keep an object buoyant, the overall density must be less than the density of water, which is 1000Kg/m3. Therefore, to make an item float that would normally sink, we need to increase its’ relative volume so that it becomes less dense than water. Air is ideal, if we can find a way to trap it in the places where we need buoyancy.

Think of it this way. Your boat is basically a saucer. While it is empty, the saucer will float because the inside is filled with air, and its’ total density is less than that of water.. If it is flooded, the air is displaced by water and the saucer will sink. If we could ensure that the inside of the saucer was filled with something much lighter than water, which would take the place of any flooding, the saucer may not sink. In your boat are many spaces filled with air, which help the boat to remain buoyant. However, if that air is replaced by water, that buoyancy is lost and the boat will sink.

The question is, how can we trap air inside the boat in such a way that it cannot be replaced by water in the event of flooding? And, how much air do we need to trap?

To answer the second question first, we need only calculate the total mass of the boat fully laden. That is, with everything that is likely to be on board at any time, including people, stores, equipment, engine etc. For example, let’s say our boat weighs 1.5 tonnes empty. Then we add 4 people at 85Kg each, an engine at 40Kg, stores at 30Kg, food and water at 30Kg, odds and ends at 20Kg. The total mass is 1.96 tonnes, say 2 tonnes. In order to calculate the amount of buoyancy we need to add, we need to know the density of the trapped air. Let’s assume it is trapped in low-density closed-cell foam, which has a density of 15Kg/m3, the calculation is as follows:

Buoyancy per cubic metre of foam = Water density - Foam density

= 1000 - 15

= 985Kg

Foam required to support boat = Boat mass / Buoyancy per m3 of foam

= 2000 / 985

= 2.03m3

Therefore, around 2m3 of foam with a density of 15Kg/m3 will provide sufficient buoyancy to stop our 2 tonnes of boat sinking. The more foam we are able to add, the higher the boat will sit when flooded. The calculations for this are more complex, and require us to work out the volume of the boat to determine its’ inherent density, but it can be done.

Foam is not the only way to add buoyancy. Air bladders are available which can be inflated by compressed air when required, but this tends to be a very expensive option, and usually requires the addition of some foam.

Foam itself is available in preformed slabs, for cutting and fitting, or as a liquid for foam-in-place application. The latter is the cheapest method by far, but once the foam is in place it is extremely difficult to remove.

Another consideration is that whichever buoyancy method is used, it has to be balanced throughout the boat, for obvious reasons. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the space available and its’ location is essential, to ensure that buoyancy is evenly distributed throughout the boat.

For further information on liquid foam-in-place, visit www.cfsnet.co.uk

For preformed slabs, visit Sherlock Foams (Plastazote) at www.sherlockfoams.co.uk

For air bladders, visit www.turtlepac.com

Ralft. 06/09

Rondje Noord-Holland (2009)

2010-02-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

My first round Holland (2009) with Deining was nice and warm with a SW wind 3 to 4 beaufort (max 14 knots wind) an easy swell and friendly sun! With partner-in-crime Pieter who sleeps out in the sun..

MOV03881 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Perfect warm weather in the north sea from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Landing at Ijmuiden from Den Helder.

Ijmuiden landing from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Wait for cargo to pass.. I was just too impatient here!

Caiman in Portugal (2003)

2010-02-21T04:43:00.000-08:00

Great 42 ft Doug Peterson Admiral's Cup design. A true Caiman!

MVI 0701 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Sailing to Spain, climb on the mast - wow no sea but the top moves like hell!

MVI 0840 from Jerome Bertrand on Vimeo.

Seraïna at Belle Île (South Bretagne, 1976)

2010-02-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

This beautiful French design, aluminium 'Romanée' (10,50 meter, Philippe Harle architect, Chantier Pouvreau La Rochelle France) was our castle for a cruising trip from La Rochelle to Auray (Morbihan) that year of 1976.

Boy did we need to learn about the tides and passage times and spinnaker sailing.. Our Mediterranean long-life sailing experience helped but a few miles out here! Everything was new.

I also remember cooking a great Sole Menière on board anchored in a Belle Ile bay - to touch-ground at around 1:00 AM and leave the place in a hurry by night...to reach The Morbihan passage to Auray slaloming between the sand banks and against the current.

All this to be a good preparation for my Écume de mer (1975), Jean-marie Finot, architect. The Écume de mer was Finot's first boat after working at Philippe Harle's.

Entre le Romanée et l'Écume de mer: un petit air de famille.