I began follow g you. I was the Columbia Gas man who came to your dads house on Saturday for safety checks. He told me about your page and I love the water too. Thought to watch your journey. I used to live in hawaii for years and now back in the old black hole we call Toledo. Best of luck and wish you both the best at doing something so amazing.
Great story Eddie! I'm glad you guys were able to find the gas leaks! That is super awesome that you lived in Hawaii. Did you do any sailing or surfing by chance? Thanks for following along and hope to hear from you again.
@@SailingSweetRuca we surfed all the time. Paddle boarding for hours and hours at a time. I never sailed but I had a boat on Oahu for 4+ years. Absolutely loved being in the water. While I was in the Marine Corps we also had water crafts and loved the big jet skis in huge surf with town ins, rescues and navigating heavy surf. I miss that the most I think. I was the guy who restored your dads service and enjoyed talking to him a bit. Gorgeous place on the water (for Ohio) Hahahha.
@@eddiemyers3206 Haha thanks for the story! Curtis is right there with you as a jet skier! We've always been on the water ourselves. Maybe there will be a Nor'easter and Lake Erie will build up some good surf waves :)
I've watched a lot of people sailing around the world, you guys are the best sailors I've ever seen. No matter what the weather conditions are you seem to be the best at your craft. Love your episodes. Keep on sailing and stay safe.
Wow thanks Roy! That is the highest of compliments! We are certainly humbled. We are lucky to have sailing backgrounds and we have certainly fallen in love with the open ocean. Thanks again for the wonderful comment and hope to see you again!
@@SailingSweetRuca One of the best sailing crews on TH-cam. Always on task, no wasted movements! You folks sail a fast safe boat. Inspirational. Thanks.
@@davidlarson6504 Agree they really seem to know what they're doing and work very weal as a team. I think their probably formidable racing experience has a lot to do with that.
really fun and helpful video!...it's great to hear you two discuss your sailing safety and performance decisions...constant systems monitoring comments, sail selection and trim etc, thanks for showing "real" life on passage!
You are right regarding the spinnaker vs the wing on wing. But i think that the fact your 2 are pros help a lot. Regular sailors would tear the spi or code-0 in a crossing. Just this year, about half of the people doing the Alizé route tore their spi .
You 2 are a great team. Very hard to find a match like it seems that you have. Love watching your show. Learning so much from you. Not many would fly that sail at night
Thanks for sharing... So many sailing channels do everything but sail. I love the condition up date, and sail changes... Explanations and all. I've yet to sail by myself but I've been on a sailboat and hope to own one someday. For now, I live vicariously. 👍
Thanks for following along mymortonisms! We are lucky that we can share our experiences and knowledge with you! Thank you for sharing your dream and goal with us and thanks for the nice comment 😊 Fair winds!
@mymortonisms A really great way to start sailing is to join a local sailing club and take sailing lessons there. Memberships often include use of the boats too, which is a great way to sail without the significant expense of owning a boat. There are sailing clubs nearly everywhere, even far away from oceans in places like Colorado, Nebraska, etc.
Have you tried poling out the genoa to leeward when sailing with apparent wind angles between about 100 and 145 degrees? You may find that much more pleasant in light to medium breeze than wing-on-wing sailing deep. In strong breeze when you don't want to set a kite, sailing deep apparent wind angles of about 150 to 170 degrees wing-on-wing with a partially furled genoa may work better for you than in light to medium breeze. It will probably be less rolly for you wing-on-wing in strong beeeze if you keep the leaches tight and the genoa furled so that about 1/3 of your sail area is the genoa and about 2/3 with the mainsail, which is particularly easy to do with fractional rigs. So there is a useful place for these setups when for various reasons you don't want to set a kite or risk problems in unsettled conditions in remote areas. One of the cool things about sailing is that there are always new things to learn and gears to find in a boat!
We have tried the jib poled to leeward in stronger breeze, but usually if the wind range and forecast fits a kite we just go right too it, will have to try it in lighter air sometime. Check out a few episodes ago when we left Tenerife. We did find the main only pretty relaxing, and when not needing to make miles we can just float-on with it. Like you said, always learning and trying new things is what sailing is about.
Hey guys, I saw the drone accident video. To avoid injury I heard some vloggers use their fishing net to catch the drone. Once the blades hit the net webbing, the blades stop. You may want to check with the drone company. Good luck and stay safe. P.S. It looks like you two actually love the art of sailing more than any other channel.
Another great video. You two are amazing people. Kate always has a smile on her face. Curtis explains things very well. Kate explains things just as well when Curtis is busy. Video editing is amazing. Congratulations on last week's anniversary. Yall keep having fun and stay safe.
Real life sailing Curtis love's it fast and efficient and as always safety first ! Alway hoping when a new video from Sailing Sweet Ruca pop up ! You two coming from the midwest of america are really ment to be on the sea fly in the wind ! Living the dream ! Thank you !
Haha what a cool comment Neal! Thanks for the positivity! Glad to have you following along and glad you are enjoying the content. 😊 Hope to see you again. Fair winds from the Midwest and beyond!
Absolutely agreed!!!! I love how you both discuss your sailing maneuvers, very helpful. Your videos definitely show you both are very talented Sailors! Learning so much just everyday picking up things about Liveaboard life in your videos. Awesomely! Keep up the great sailing!!!! This is a fabulous video!
I am with you guys when it comes to poling out a headsail. It sometimes works on my cutter when I drop the mail and have the staysail on one side and pole out the genoa on the other. The only time I have seen it work well is on a boat with twin groves in the headsail foil with sails poled out on each side. We were dead down with no main and were pulled along like we were on a dog sled. Speed was okay, but the big thing is there was almost no rolling. I much rather fly an asym even if I have to jibe on my lines to take advantage of speed vs distance. BTW, this was one of my favorite vids you guys have put out.....great work!
Interesting points you've made, what do you think the reason for lack of rolling with twin foil headsails is?. I'm just trying to understand the dynamics that I might not be aware of ?
Hey Tim! We appreciate your your feedback with that sail set up! Sounds like we are right on par. What model is your boat? Sounds like you know her and sail her very well. Thanks again for the comment and we are very happy you enjoyed this episode!!! 😊
@@SailingSweetRuca I have a 1977 Alden 44 cutter (hull #1) with keel and centerboard. The displacement is nearly 12 tons. I far cry from the Sydney 38 I raced on in Chicago. The boat is currently out of the water going through a major refit. I tossed out the original teak decks, re-cored the decks and replaced 2 bulkheads. Over the next 12 months I plan to paint the boat from keel to cabin top, re-wire the electrical system, replace the plumbing, new fuel tanks, new ports and hatches, new standing rigging and sails. Oh, did I mention the hydraulic system broke and dumped all the fluid in the bilge? That was such a fun clean up job I am completely rebuilding that as well. About the only thing that is not being replaced or rebuilt is the steering wheel. LOL!! I keep it in Duluth, MN and hope to have it back in the water in 2023.
Hey Tim! Your boat sounds awesome! The Aldens are georgous, we have to ask, what color is she! Sounds like you are re-doing her properly! A Sydney 38? Wondering if we have ever been on a racecourse together. Back in the day we used to race with our friends sometimes aboard the Section 3 stalwart St. Francis. Sounds like the weather is warming up on Lake Michigan, enjoy! Cheers!
@@SailingSweetRuca Currently the hull color on my boat is black. It was repainted once before I bought it, but they did a terrible job. I am pulling it back to the original gelcoat and we are going to paint it dark navy blue. The 38 I raced on was Painkiller 4. It was hard to miss because it had a hot pink carbon fiber wheel. I also spent a some time on a Sydney 41 named Scout. It was owned by Dorsey Ruley and the boat was notorious for spending a lot time in the Protest room. I remember seeing St. Francis out racing quite often. I am sure that we shared the race course as well as rubbing elbows at the bar at Chicago YC or on the upper deck at Columbia. Makes me thirsty just thinking about a Mount Gay and Tonic. Cheers!
Wing n wing depends on the boat. For boats capable of higher speeds downwind, it doesn't work well until it's blowing hard so the sails stay pressed up. On slower boats, wing n wing pays off at lower TWS because the apparent wind is stronger. Ex my old heavy boat will not surf at any more than maybe 9 kts. So wing in wing works when true wind speed gets in the low teens- apparent wind is enough to keep the sails pressed. Polars say so too- above 16 true ws, my running vmg is just as fast with poled out jib as with a spin.
Ahh! Makes sense with the apparent wind downwind. Great point! We love talking about polars, really cool reading this in the comments :-) Flat water with less speed variation might be a good place for the pole/jib combo as well.
Great bidirectional video of the autopilot fail- can't believe that you had (2) cameras catching it. Thankfully, the breeze was modest, cuz the boom barely swung. Curtis looked like he was moving in slow motion.... Whew- it could've been soooo much worse! Yay that is was sunny & blowing a moderate 12 -14 knots! I've always been really impressed with the pedigree of the J/46, but her ability to sail on the mainland just blows me away. She's getting around Itajai so well- can't wait until the videos catch up, guys!
This is my kind of competitive ocean cruising lol. Love it. You guys are having a ball. Good to be cautious as you say not much support in that part of the world but good to push it enough to make it interesting. Be safe and fair winds. Looking forward to you arriving in Argentina.
Thanks for the well thought out comment bodywood! We are definitely having a ball out there! Being on the ocean is our favorite. Thanks again for following along. 😊
Did you find what caused the autopilot to get a wrong reading on the wind instrument? I have noticed that depending on how your wind instrument is set up in the mast in relation to your sails it can get a funny reading time to time as the wind sometimes goes up the sail and makes the instrument go nuts for few seconds. The worst place in a mast head rig is in the side of the mast or straight up from the mast. The best place seams to be in front of the mast. This by experience that I have noticed in my mast head riggeb boat.
I don't know but I think the flying fish would be great bait because of the wings. Probably best during bright days. Calm seas on your bow, great winds at your stern, and fair adventures in your futures.👍👍✌️🍺🍺
Hello Richard! Thanks for the comment! We have used flying fish as bait before and they do indeed work awesome. You can see that in some previous episodes. Thanks for following along. Fair winds!
Great video, love the drone footage. The boom brake saved the day, that could have been broken boom or gooseneck fitting I guess. You've got a very powerful boat, that spinnaker certainly has you flying along, great footage. Your diagnosis of the cause of the gybe, caused by the of the intermittent wind angle fault was smart, good lesson for others and me there.
Thanks Graham! Glad you enjoyed the video and we appreciate the feedback. There will be more about the autopilot in future episodes! We were very lucky in this episode to have no serious damage and to catch it all on film. Thanks for following along and for the positivity! Fair winds!
Fabulous sailing, balancing comfort, speed and safety. A boom preventer is vital. Love the drone footage. Perhaps the wind was too light for poling out the genoa. Now I wonder if the new J45 would track so smoothly.
Hi Dan! To this day we still do not know what we struck, and may never know. As far as the damage goes, the boat required a haul out to fix and if you look on the AIS tracker on our website you will see she is on the land, but we have to let this play out in the videos as it did for us. There are detailed pics of the repairs on Patreon.
I find that a pole is more useful on a Spinnaker than on a smaller working type sail. On boats other than mine I've helped on, the pole helped keep the Spinnaker working at more wind angles than without. With that awesome Boom Brake you've got gybes are more manageable than without I am sure. I have a little second hand 13 dollar Boom Brake that uses rope friction, an old "Captain Don", but it mostly works. Hopefully there will be a day that I can get a Wlader type brake with a larger boat. Maybe an older J boat might be affordable enough, I have sort of retired and have a few rentals to support my sailing habit with passive income.
Good morning Allyn :-) We should try the pole on the asym one day, just to see how it works? Capt. Don is probably a good compromise, the Walder is good, but can also be hindering on some manuevers (for example we remove it to go racing). Sounds like you have it figured out! Lots of great boats out there to cherry pick.
Kate you are marvelous! Was wondering if you could get Curtis in a speedo............. EDIT: Wing on wing requires way too much time spent watching to make sure you do not gybe. I have found by adjusting my course 20-25 degrees to port or starboard, have the main pulled part way to the side, pole out the genny, set the auto pilot and go.....tack every 12 hours or so if needed. Be happy, be safe
Great question! When we go far offshore or have a forecast for large waves we place it on the deck, as it can easily be filled or damaged by large waves on the davits. We also like to keep the aft platform open for fishing and rescue.
i like your video's. we are hoping to do the three most challenging caps on our no frills circumnavigation coming up in the somewhat near future... what's your average daily distance accomplishments on your race boat? we have a production blue water boat.... (not necessarily slow...) i forgot: curious, why no self steering windvane? what region of michigan? I am from western/northern MI half an hour from ludington...
Hi non. Thanks! It sounds like you have an awesome journey ahead, glad to hear this! We haven't really tracked an average, but for trip planning a 7 knot average or about 170 miles is a good number for us. We've gone as little as 100 and as much as 200. It's not so much about the boat speed, but about sleep, weather, gear preservation, and fuel on longer routes. Regarding the windvane, we just invested in 2 electronic autopilots. We should go for a sail on a boat with one some day to try it out. Our hailing YC is Bayview in Detroit.
Hi Lonnie :-) We do fish while offshore, we are not exactly good at it though. We usually seem to catch Mahi Mahi, which taste great. We do show cooking here and there, we will try to share more at sea meals for you! Cheers!!!
Great episode. Sweet sailing on Sweet Ruca😊 Did you work out why the auto pilot malfunctioned? We had something similar happen sailing in heavy conditions. Could it be a glitch in the B&G software? Gives you a fright and now not so relax under autopilot.
Hey Peter, we will be covering this in quote a few future episodes so we will keep it under wraps for now. Yes, it's definitely not a feeling of comfort, but luckily we had no issues when sailing in heading mode.
Sail plan , for sailing deep the cruiser racer, racer cruiser has the swept back spreader issue as you know , Let it out the sails wearing out on the rig , flatter spreaders and running backstage? On some boats putting in a reef enables you to let the boom out further. I know you think its not manly to reef , lol
Hi David!!! Right on! Don't give Curtis ideas about running backs! :-) Our late reefing is left over from the racing mindset, hard to get rid of. We are used to flattening and twisting off the sails rather than reducing area. We are learning that this boat sails really well with a reefed main :-) We do like the swept spreaders though, gives a lot of safety margin. An accidental gybe with runners can end the fun quickly.
@@SailingSweetRuca I can see it's like he'll to use those reef lines , I came from the same school of sailing , Full main watch the auto helm, then reef , and watch it work less , it's along way to hand steer, I did a Atlantic crossing , hand steering 9 days , Evan with 3 it's not fun, Esp when you had to go fix stuff between watches , headsail is your best downwind sail , there isn't anybody to race out there only you . Nice vids , reeeeeef Cutter rig next , inner forstay
Hey Arthur. That is an interesting thought. Unfortunately these spikes kept happening over time, which would be a lot of bird landings! We just happen to catch one serious consequence on film! There will be more on this in upcoming episodes! Keep a look out 😊
@@SailingSweetRuca I hear ya! Will have to research some more. Hard to beat the oven as a Faraday Cage however! Thanks for the reply. Keep on sailing fast!
@@SailingSweetRuca Look guys your impecable sailors and I was just asking because of power savings and other advantages with regards to sea states. Love your content & so, so look forward to a real sailing channel every week.
Thanks Earl. We would surely go out on a boat and try one. It would be a huge power savings, but has some drawbacks which pushed us to the electronic camp: mainly expense, weight, and requirement of drilling lots of holes in the transom.
We have a short article along with a bunch more goodies on our website here: sweetruca.com/whats-in-the-name/#:~:text=So%2C%20in%20short%2C%20the%20name,If%20it%20fits%2C%20it%20ships!
Hi Jim. Surely less chance for a wipe out. We have never tried twin headsails. We thought about it on this trip, as we have 2 foil tracks, but we figured by the time we set it up, the conditions would likely change. Maybe we will get a chance to in the Pacific trades?
Friends don’t let friends sail wing on wing 😂 I’ve never liked the whisker pole, it feels artificial and desperate and as you note it’s a noisy, flappy, kind of experience for no real gain. By comparison the spinnaker is elegant and simple, and to be preferred by all cultured sailors 😎 I’ll put in another plug for Hydrovane and solutions like it as a viable alternative to the autopilot 😎
Haha good point! An episode without Roxy is like a hotdog without ketchup and mustard. 😆 That's funny about your dogs nickname! Yes of course it's a joke..... Roxy goes by "vacuum cleaner" and "dish washer". Not quite emergency meal. 😆
@@SailingSweetRuca you guys inspire the heck outta me!...love the content, you two are truly a great team, I've got the cash to buy a boat, just need to Shanghai a good gal!!..lol..
Oh i just saw the end of your video. Wrapping your cellular phone or electronics in just tinfoil will only help your device get destroyed faster. That provides more surface area like an antenna. You have to put it in a sealed plastic bag or something that will insulate it first....like a ziplock. You can test this by wrapping your phone in foil, and then call it. It will ring. then put it in a ziplock, then foil.. Then call it. If you did it right it won't ring. I usually do two layers of each....so bag, foil, bag, foil. The foil has to be tight too.
When I served in 70's and 80's as a Sonar Tech/Operator aboard two US Navy Knox Class Frigates, there were no females or bikinis allowed on Warships. Trust me, it would have been more exciting! The C.O. of my first ship, the USS Brewton (FF-1086) did allow white T's, shorts and strapped sandals as 'Uniform Of The Day' because of the heat in the Tropics while at sea on our West Pacific/ Indian Ocean Deployment. Big thrill? Not! The truly amazing part of this story is both ships (circa1970) survive today in the Taiwanese R.O.C. Navy, tracking Chinese subs in the South China Sea...
It's the old saying: "shift happens". And an old sailor's saying: "a boat is as seaworthy as its crew". It seems to me this boat is extremely seaworthy. Some make the claim, you have the fame: no bs just sailing.
Windvane steering doesn't have electrical and/or software issues. Something to be said for it we think. We have never sailed with one, would be good to go out on a boat with one and see how it would perform for us.
![REAL Sailing in Storms & Squalls on Day 8 Offshore [Ep. 70]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lhWHuLkMWbQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![REAL Sailing in Storms & Squalls on Day 8 Offshore [Ep. 70]](/img/tr.png)
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I began follow g you. I was the Columbia Gas man who came to your dads house on Saturday for safety checks. He told me about your page and I love the water too. Thought to watch your journey. I used to live in hawaii for years and now back in the old black hole we call Toledo. Best of luck and wish you both the best at doing something so amazing.
Great story Eddie! I'm glad you guys were able to find the gas leaks! That is super awesome that you lived in Hawaii. Did you do any sailing or surfing by chance? Thanks for following along and hope to hear from you again.
@@SailingSweetRuca we surfed all the time. Paddle boarding for hours and hours at a time. I never sailed but I had a boat on Oahu for 4+ years. Absolutely loved being in the water.
While I was in the Marine Corps we also had water crafts and loved the big jet skis in huge surf with town ins, rescues and navigating heavy surf. I miss that the most I think.
I was the guy who restored your dads service and enjoyed talking to him a bit. Gorgeous place on the water (for Ohio) Hahahha.
@@eddiemyers3206 Haha thanks for the story! Curtis is right there with you as a jet skier! We've always been on the water ourselves. Maybe there will be a Nor'easter and Lake Erie will build up some good surf waves :)
I've watched a lot of people sailing around the world, you guys are the best sailors I've ever seen. No matter what the weather conditions are you seem to be the best at your craft. Love your episodes. Keep on sailing and stay safe.
Wow thanks Roy! That is the highest of compliments! We are certainly humbled. We are lucky to have sailing backgrounds and we have certainly fallen in love with the open ocean. Thanks again for the wonderful comment and hope to see you again!
@@SailingSweetRuca One of the best sailing crews on TH-cam. Always on task, no wasted movements! You folks sail a fast safe boat. Inspirational. Thanks.
@@davidlarson6504 Awesome! Thanks David. Glad you are enjoying the content :) Thanks again for the positive feedback!
@@davidlarson6504 Agree they really seem to know what they're doing and work very weal as a team. I think their probably formidable racing experience has a lot to do with that.
No doubt they are sailors. No T&A show here. Love the focus.
really fun and helpful video!...it's great to hear you two discuss your sailing safety and performance decisions...constant systems monitoring comments, sail selection and trim etc, thanks for showing "real" life on passage!
Thanks D D! We are glad you like the content. Thanks for following along as we plan to bring you us much about real sailing as we can!
You are right regarding the spinnaker vs the wing on wing. But i think that the fact your 2 are pros help a lot. Regular sailors would tear the spi or code-0 in a crossing. Just this year, about half of the people doing the Alizé route tore their spi .
Pros? That's quite the compliment! We consider ourselves experienced. :) Unfortunate that people have torn sails, but good for the sailmakers I guess!
What a shot! The horizon at 60 some odd feet has to be approaching 100 miles ... with absolutely no-one else around.
Indeed an incredible feeling! Glad we could get the shot. Thanks for the comment and happy you enjoyed!
You 2 are a great team. Very hard to find a match like it seems that you have.
Love watching your show.
Learning so much from you.
Not many would fly that sail at night
Thank you so much Chase! We are both stoked to hear you are enjoying the show :-)
Congratulations on another wonder video, getting along together like a well-oiled machine. Cape Horn is calling.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing... So many sailing channels do everything but sail. I love the condition up date, and sail changes... Explanations and all. I've yet to sail by myself but I've been on a sailboat and hope to own one someday. For now, I live vicariously. 👍
Thanks for following along mymortonisms! We are lucky that we can share our experiences and knowledge with you! Thank you for sharing your dream and goal with us and thanks for the nice comment 😊 Fair winds!
@mymortonisms A really great way to start sailing is to join a local sailing club and take sailing lessons there. Memberships often include use of the boats too, which is a great way to sail without the significant expense of owning a boat. There are sailing clubs nearly everywhere, even far away from oceans in places like Colorado, Nebraska, etc.
Love that you all do pure sailing.
Thanks Bob :-) Cheers!
Being vulnerable is the compelling experience of sailing.
What an interesting thought. We like it 😀
Have you tried poling out the genoa to leeward when sailing with apparent wind angles between about 100 and 145 degrees? You may find that much more pleasant in light to medium breeze than wing-on-wing sailing deep. In strong breeze when you don't want to set a kite, sailing deep apparent wind angles of about 150 to 170 degrees wing-on-wing with a partially furled genoa may work better for you than in light to medium breeze. It will probably be less rolly for you wing-on-wing in strong beeeze if you keep the leaches tight and the genoa furled so that about 1/3 of your sail area is the genoa and about 2/3 with the mainsail, which is particularly easy to do with fractional rigs. So there is a useful place for these setups when for various reasons you don't want to set a kite or risk problems in unsettled conditions in remote areas. One of the cool things about sailing is that there are always new things to learn and gears to find in a boat!
We have tried the jib poled to leeward in stronger breeze, but usually if the wind range and forecast fits a kite we just go right too it, will have to try it in lighter air sometime. Check out a few episodes ago when we left Tenerife. We did find the main only pretty relaxing, and when not needing to make miles we can just float-on with it. Like you said, always learning and trying new things is what sailing is about.
Really like that “sock”. Saves a lot of hassle pulling in the spinnaker.
Allows us to safely have a lot of fun
Beautiful drone videos thanks for sharing your adventure stay safe
Glad to have the opportunity to share it William! Fair winds :)
Lovely sailing video and drone footage is so nice too . Love your singing Kate 😊. Hopefully ye can solve the autopilot problem .
Best wishes
Peter 😊⛵️
Thanks Peter! Always great to hear from you! Singing is such great entertainment 😆 see you out on the water soon!
Awesome 👏 we’ll done guy’s, great to be able to join you ,
Glad to have you along!
Hey guys, I saw the drone accident video. To avoid injury I heard some vloggers use their fishing net to catch the drone. Once the blades hit the net webbing, the blades stop. You may want to check with the drone company. Good luck and stay safe. P.S. It looks like you two actually love the art of sailing more than any other channel.
Hey Claude! Not a bad idea. Could give us a longer "reach" also? We will have to research this :-) Thanks!!!
Another great video. You two are amazing people. Kate always has a smile on her face. Curtis explains things very well. Kate explains things just as well when Curtis is busy. Video editing is amazing. Congratulations on last week's anniversary. Yall keep having fun and stay safe.
Wow thanks Stubby. You always find the nicest things to say! We always look forward to your comments. Thanks for following along with us!
Real life sailing Curtis love's it fast and efficient and as always safety first ! Alway hoping when a new video from Sailing Sweet Ruca pop up ! You two coming from the midwest of america are really ment to be on the sea fly in the wind ! Living the dream ! Thank you !
Haha what a cool comment Neal! Thanks for the positivity! Glad to have you following along and glad you are enjoying the content. 😊 Hope to see you again. Fair winds from the Midwest and beyond!
Glad to have found your video. Fair winds!
We are glad you found us, too Jim! Thanks for coming along. 😊
Absolutely agreed!!!! I love how you both discuss your sailing maneuvers, very helpful. Your videos definitely show you both are very talented Sailors! Learning so much just everyday picking up things about Liveaboard life in your videos. Awesomely! Keep up the great sailing!!!! This is a fabulous video!
Aww thanks Cathy! Glad we can be of help. We are hoping it's entertaining and insightful. Thanks for the nice comment 😊
Your storytelling and editing is as awesome as your Sweet Rucca Sailing. Love your channel!
Thanks so much Scott! We are glad you are liking them!
Your comparison of poled out genoe vs just main was really interesting .
I am with you guys when it comes to poling out a headsail. It sometimes works on my cutter when I drop the mail and have the staysail on one side and pole out the genoa on the other. The only time I have seen it work well is on a boat with twin groves in the headsail foil with sails poled out on each side. We were dead down with no main and were pulled along like we were on a dog sled. Speed was okay, but the big thing is there was almost no rolling. I much rather fly an asym even if I have to jibe on my lines to take advantage of speed vs distance. BTW, this was one of my favorite vids you guys have put out.....great work!
Interesting points you've made, what do you think the reason for lack of rolling with twin foil headsails is?. I'm just trying to understand the dynamics that I might not be aware of ?
Hey Tim! We appreciate your your feedback with that sail set up! Sounds like we are right on par. What model is your boat? Sounds like you know her and sail her very well.
Thanks again for the comment and we are very happy you enjoyed this episode!!! 😊
@@SailingSweetRuca I have a 1977 Alden 44 cutter (hull #1) with keel and centerboard. The displacement is nearly 12 tons. I far cry from the Sydney 38 I raced on in Chicago. The boat is currently out of the water going through a major refit. I tossed out the original teak decks, re-cored the decks and replaced 2 bulkheads. Over the next 12 months I plan to paint the boat from keel to cabin top, re-wire the electrical system, replace the plumbing, new fuel tanks, new ports and hatches, new standing rigging and sails. Oh, did I mention the hydraulic system broke and dumped all the fluid in the bilge? That was such a fun clean up job I am completely rebuilding that as well. About the only thing that is not being replaced or rebuilt is the steering wheel. LOL!! I keep it in Duluth, MN and hope to have it back in the water in 2023.
Hey Tim! Your boat sounds awesome! The Aldens are georgous, we have to ask, what color is she! Sounds like you are re-doing her properly! A Sydney 38? Wondering if we have ever been on a racecourse together. Back in the day we used to race with our friends sometimes aboard the Section 3 stalwart St. Francis. Sounds like the weather is warming up on Lake Michigan, enjoy! Cheers!
@@SailingSweetRuca Currently the hull color on my boat is black. It was repainted once before I bought it, but they did a terrible job. I am pulling it back to the original gelcoat and we are going to paint it dark navy blue.
The 38 I raced on was Painkiller 4. It was hard to miss because it had a hot pink carbon fiber wheel. I also spent a some time on a Sydney 41 named Scout. It was owned by Dorsey Ruley and the boat was notorious for spending a lot time in the Protest room. I remember seeing St. Francis out racing quite often. I am sure that we shared the race course as well as rubbing elbows at the bar at Chicago YC or on the upper deck at Columbia. Makes me thirsty just thinking about a Mount Gay and Tonic. Cheers!
Great, Thanks for sharing with us. This first video made me your fan ❤❤😀😀.
Welcome aboard @Walk around Sweden! Sounds like you may have some cool videos to check out as well ;-)
@@SailingSweetRuca Thank you Ruca. Ya I do walking videos all around Sweden. Feel free to watch if you have extra time ;-)
Another very enjoyable video. You guys are looking great. Thanks
Thanks Brad! Appreciate you taking the time to leave a nice comment!
Wing n wing depends on the boat. For boats capable of higher speeds downwind, it doesn't work well until it's blowing hard so the sails stay pressed up. On slower boats, wing n wing pays off at lower TWS because the apparent wind is stronger. Ex my old heavy boat will not surf at any more than maybe 9 kts. So wing in wing works when true wind speed gets in the low teens- apparent wind is enough to keep the sails pressed. Polars say so too- above 16 true ws, my running vmg is just as fast with poled out jib as with a spin.
Ahh! Makes sense with the apparent wind downwind. Great point! We love talking about polars, really cool reading this in the comments :-) Flat water with less speed variation might be a good place for the pole/jib combo as well.
Another great video and always helpful.
Glad we could be helpful Aquatic! Cheers!
Great video, Thankyou!
Glad you enjoyed it Michael!
16:30 nice editing.... 🙂
Nice commenting... 😁
New subs here from Davao phils. have a safe sailing...
Thanks Hendrix. Glad to have you along :) Fair winds!
Awesome sailing and drone footage. I think you should name your autohelm since it's an extra set of hands. Great job
Currently going by the name of "Jeeves". Maybe we need a new one 🤷♀️
Great bidirectional video of the autopilot fail- can't believe that you had (2) cameras catching it. Thankfully, the breeze was modest, cuz the boom barely swung. Curtis looked like he was moving in slow motion.... Whew- it could've been soooo much worse! Yay that is was sunny & blowing a moderate 12 -14 knots! I've always been really impressed with the pedigree of the J/46, but her ability to sail on the mainland just blows me away. She's getting around Itajai so well- can't wait until the videos catch up, guys!
Thanks David! We we're lucky to have two cameras just recording at this time, too! We usually try to conserve battery.. thanks for following along!
This is my kind of competitive ocean cruising lol. Love it. You guys are having a ball. Good to be cautious as you say not much support in that part of the world but good to push it enough to make it interesting. Be safe and fair winds. Looking forward to you arriving in Argentina.
Thanks for the well thought out comment bodywood! We are definitely having a ball out there! Being on the ocean is our favorite. Thanks again for following along. 😊
Once again I have to thank you for a sailing video about sailing! Thank you!
You're welcome Richard! We do what we can 😊 thanks for following along! Spread the word!
What a great video !!
What a great comment! Thanks for the positivity 😊
awesome night sailing. Thank you for the great footage.
Thanks Karen! Glad you enjoyed it! Definitely a fun trip before the storm came 😊 It really does feel like we're suspended in space sometimes at night!
Did you find what caused the autopilot to get a wrong reading on the wind instrument? I have noticed that depending on how your wind instrument is set up in the mast in relation to your sails it can get a funny reading time to time as the wind sometimes goes up the sail and makes the instrument go nuts for few seconds. The worst place in a mast head rig is in the side of the mast or straight up from the mast. The best place seams to be in front of the mast. This by experience that I have noticed in my mast head riggeb boat.
Good videos guys !
Thanks JanHB! Fair winds! 😁👍⛵
I don't know but I think the flying fish would be great bait because of the wings. Probably best during bright days. Calm seas on your bow, great winds at your stern, and fair adventures in your futures.👍👍✌️🍺🍺
Hello Richard! Thanks for the comment! We have used flying fish as bait before and they do indeed work awesome. You can see that in some previous episodes. Thanks for following along. Fair winds!
Missed you guys last week. Good to see another great video. Thanks for posting. Stay safe.
Hello Albertt! Thanks for the comment and positive feedback. Glad to have you following along! 😁
Great video, love the drone footage. The boom brake saved the day, that could have been broken boom or gooseneck fitting I guess. You've got a very powerful boat, that spinnaker certainly has you flying along, great footage. Your diagnosis of the cause of the gybe, caused by the of the intermittent wind angle fault was smart, good lesson for others and me there.
Thanks Graham! Glad you enjoyed the video and we appreciate the feedback. There will be more about the autopilot in future episodes! We were very lucky in this episode to have no serious damage and to catch it all on film. Thanks for following along and for the positivity! Fair winds!
Excellent video content on an epic sail! Your years of experience make it look easy.
Thanks for sailing along with us today Steve, happy to hear you enjoyed :-)
Hi guys How are you go? I see you from Argentina right now 20:30 GMT GOD bless to you
Hi Noberto! We are well! Hope you are well, too 🙏
Fabulous sailing, balancing comfort, speed and safety. A boom preventer is vital. Love the drone footage. Perhaps the wind was too light for poling out the genoa. Now I wonder if the new J45 would track so smoothly.
We wonder the same thing! Thanks B M. Glad you enjoyed it! Always a balance for sure
Have you guys ever posted what hit or the damage report to the hull or rudder of the boat?
Hi Dan! To this day we still do not know what we struck, and may never know. As far as the damage goes, the boat required a haul out to fix and if you look on the AIS tracker on our website you will see she is on the land, but we have to let this play out in the videos as it did for us. There are detailed pics of the repairs on Patreon.
I find that a pole is more useful on a Spinnaker than on a smaller working type sail. On boats other than mine I've helped on, the pole helped keep the Spinnaker working at more wind angles than without. With that awesome Boom Brake you've got gybes are more manageable than without I am sure. I have a little second hand 13 dollar Boom Brake that uses rope friction, an old "Captain Don", but it mostly works. Hopefully there will be a day that I can get a Wlader type brake with a larger boat. Maybe an older J boat might be affordable enough, I have sort of retired and have a few rentals to support my sailing habit with passive income.
Good morning Allyn :-) We should try the pole on the asym one day, just to see how it works? Capt. Don is probably a good compromise, the Walder is good, but can also be hindering on some manuevers (for example we remove it to go racing). Sounds like you have it figured out! Lots of great boats out there to cherry pick.
@@SailingSweetRuca My favorite spinnaker pole instructional video: th-cam.com/video/PzKeugdbtac/w-d-xo.html&t
Kate you are marvelous! Was wondering if you could get Curtis in a speedo.............
EDIT: Wing on wing requires way too much time spent watching to make sure you do not gybe. I have found by adjusting my course 20-25 degrees to port or starboard, have the main pulled part way to the side, pole out the genny, set the auto pilot and go.....tack every 12 hours or so if needed. Be happy, be safe
Be careful what you wish for Larry ;-) Haha! Good call on the course adjustment! Cheers!
why do you have the dinghy on deck VS on the davits?
Great question! When we go far offshore or have a forecast for large waves we place it on the deck, as it can easily be filled or damaged by large waves on the davits. We also like to keep the aft platform open for fishing and rescue.
i like your video's. we are hoping to do the three most challenging caps on our no frills circumnavigation coming up in the somewhat near future...
what's your average daily distance accomplishments on your race boat?
we have a production blue water boat.... (not necessarily slow...)
i forgot: curious, why no self steering windvane?
what region of michigan?
I am from western/northern MI half an hour from ludington...
Hi non. Thanks! It sounds like you have an awesome journey ahead, glad to hear this! We haven't really tracked an average, but for trip planning a 7 knot average or about 170 miles is a good number for us. We've gone as little as 100 and as much as 200. It's not so much about the boat speed, but about sleep, weather, gear preservation, and fuel on longer routes.
Regarding the windvane, we just invested in 2 electronic autopilots. We should go for a sail on a boat with one some day to try it out.
Our hailing YC is Bayview in Detroit.
Do you guys fish while sailing? Maybe show some cooking and how you prepare your food.......
Hi Lonnie :-) We do fish while offshore, we are not exactly good at it though. We usually seem to catch Mahi Mahi, which taste great. We do show cooking here and there, we will try to share more at sea meals for you! Cheers!!!
Great episode. Sweet sailing on Sweet Ruca😊 Did you work out why the auto pilot malfunctioned? We had something similar happen sailing in heavy conditions. Could it be a glitch in the B&G software? Gives you a fright and now not so relax under autopilot.
Hey Peter, we will be covering this in quote a few future episodes so we will keep it under wraps for now. Yes, it's definitely not a feeling of comfort, but luckily we had no issues when sailing in heading mode.
Sail plan , for sailing deep the cruiser racer, racer cruiser has the swept back spreader issue as you know ,
Let it out the sails wearing out on the rig , flatter spreaders and running backstage?
On some boats putting in a reef enables you to let the boom out further.
I know you think its not manly to reef , lol
Hi David!!! Right on! Don't give Curtis ideas about running backs! :-) Our late reefing is left over from the racing mindset, hard to get rid of. We are used to flattening and twisting off the sails rather than reducing area. We are learning that this boat sails really well with a reefed main :-) We do like the swept spreaders though, gives a lot of safety margin. An accidental gybe with runners can end the fun quickly.
@@SailingSweetRuca I can see it's like he'll to use those reef lines , I came from the same school of sailing ,
Full main watch the auto helm, then reef , and watch it work less , it's along way to hand steer, I did a Atlantic crossing , hand steering 9 days , Evan with 3 it's not fun,
Esp when you had to go fix stuff between watches , headsail is your best downwind sail , there isn't anybody to race out there only you . Nice vids , reeeeeef
Cutter rig next , inner forstay
Could a bird landing on the wind sensor and holding it to one side cause the autopilot to act as it did? Just thinking
Hey Arthur. That is an interesting thought. Unfortunately these spikes kept happening over time, which would be a lot of bird landings! We just happen to catch one serious consequence on film! There will be more on this in upcoming episodes! Keep a look out 😊
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Do you find tin foil works better than placing everything into the oven?
Haven't had the displeasure of finding out, but others have suggested wrapping in layers of plastic zip locks and tin foil 🤷♀️ Couldn't hurt to try
@@SailingSweetRuca I hear ya! Will have to research some more. Hard to beat the oven as a Faraday Cage however! Thanks for the reply. Keep on sailing fast!
Should I ask why you don't have a wind vein. I see some cruisers using them side by side.
You need to talk to our patrons Ron and Kevin about this ;-) They have been on us about this :-)
@@SailingSweetRuca Look guys your impecable sailors and I was just asking because of power savings and other advantages with regards to sea states.
Love your content & so, so look forward to a real sailing channel every week.
Thanks Earl. We would surely go out on a boat and try one. It would be a huge power savings, but has some drawbacks which pushed us to the electronic camp: mainly expense, weight, and requirement of drilling lots of holes in the transom.
What's the origin of the boat's name Sweet Ruca?
We have a short article along with a bunch more goodies on our website here: sweetruca.com/whats-in-the-name/#:~:text=So%2C%20in%20short%2C%20the%20name,If%20it%20fits%2C%20it%20ships!
@@SailingSweetRuca so it's a racy name for a racy cruising boat. I like it.
@@allmomomosthomebus3895 glad you enjoy our sense of humor! :)
2 equally sized jibs only, flown together without any gaps would be good. Without the main it is safer, you can sleep etc at leisure. Night sailing!!!
We've never tried it as normally we are sailing polars unless we are really tired. Maybe someday we could try a #2 and a #3 together sometime.
Probably safer in rough sea big wind than spinnaker. Two head sails might be the answer.
Hi Jim. Surely less chance for a wipe out. We have never tried twin headsails. We thought about it on this trip, as we have 2 foil tracks, but we figured by the time we set it up, the conditions would likely change. Maybe we will get a chance to in the Pacific trades?
How’s the dog (Roxy, right?) after so many days?
Hi Philippos. :-) Roxy was just lounging around downstairs for this episode, she doesn't seem to mind and adjusted well.
Friends don’t let friends sail wing on wing 😂
I’ve never liked the whisker pole, it feels artificial and desperate and as you note it’s a noisy, flappy, kind of experience for no real gain. By comparison the spinnaker is elegant and simple, and to be preferred by all cultured sailors 😎
I’ll put in another plug for Hydrovane and solutions like it as a viable alternative to the autopilot 😎
Hahahahaha! You cracked us both up with this comment. Well played Kevin :-)
So what happened to the pup..you didn't eat her did you..my dogs nick name is emergency food supply...but it's just a joke..
Haha good point! An episode without Roxy is like a hotdog without ketchup and mustard. 😆
That's funny about your dogs nickname! Yes of course it's a joke.....
Roxy goes by "vacuum cleaner" and "dish washer". Not quite emergency meal. 😆
No people, absolute nirvana
You nailed it!!!!! :-)
@@SailingSweetRuca you guys inspire the heck outta me!...love the content, you two are truly a great team, I've got the cash to buy a boat, just need to Shanghai a good gal!!..lol..
The hardest part is leaving the dock! (And finding that Cinderella boat😆) Thanks for the nice comment!
Oh i just saw the end of your video. Wrapping your cellular phone or electronics in just tinfoil will only help your device get destroyed faster. That provides more surface area like an antenna. You have to put it in a sealed plastic bag or something that will insulate it first....like a ziplock. You can test this by wrapping your phone in foil, and then call it. It will ring. then put it in a ziplock, then foil.. Then call it. If you did it right it won't ring. I usually do two layers of each....so bag, foil, bag, foil. The foil has to be tight too.
Awesome tip Allyn. We will have to try this!!!!
What piece of gear can’t a cruiser live without? Self steering! Get one, your autopilot is going to fail for sure. Ben S/V DAWN
You are right, self steering is super important!
When I served in 70's and 80's as a Sonar Tech/Operator aboard two US Navy Knox Class Frigates, there were no females or bikinis allowed on Warships. Trust me, it would have been more exciting! The C.O. of my first ship, the USS Brewton (FF-1086) did allow white T's, shorts and strapped sandals as 'Uniform Of The Day' because of the heat in the Tropics while at sea on our West Pacific/ Indian Ocean Deployment. Big thrill? Not! The truly amazing part of this story is both ships (circa1970) survive today in the Taiwanese R.O.C. Navy, tracking Chinese subs in the South China Sea...
Hi Derek, what a wonderful story and some hilarious visuals!!! :-) So glad to have you sailing along with us! Thank you for your service.
@@SailingSweetRuca I served when there were no active wars... a peacetime 'Cold War' Sailor. Not married at the time, I saw the World, had a blast!
It's the old saying: "shift happens". And an old sailor's saying: "a boat is as seaworthy as its crew". It seems to me this boat is extremely seaworthy. Some make the claim, you have the fame: no bs just sailing.
Fun with autopilots. Here comes the windvane propagandists!
Windvane steering doesn't have electrical and/or software issues. Something to be said for it we think. We have never sailed with one, would be good to go out on a boat with one and see how it would perform for us.
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