{"id":151824,"date":"2024-05-30T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=151824"},"modified":"2024-06-04T11:52:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T10:52:31","slug":"5-expert-tips-jack-bouttell-on-repairing-your-boat-mid-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/expert-sailing-techniques\/5-expert-tips-jack-bouttell-on-repairing-your-boat-mid-ocean-151824","title":{"rendered":"5 expert tips: Jack Bouttell on repairing your boat mid-ocean"},"content":"Across 45,000 miles of steering around the world on the Clipper Race<\/a>, sailing upwind safely in survival conditions becomes routine.\r\n\r\nBut it\u2019s something never to be taken for granted, and there are systems and routines to keep the risk of breakage and injury to a minimum.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn a long offshore race, think at least three hours ahead \u2013 ideally more \u2013 so you can plan for what\u2019s about to hit you. Getting things in place, with the rig set-up, the sail selection, the crew preparation, all those things are much easier to organise ahead of time before the big conditions arrive,\u201d says Brooks.\r\n\r\nHere are his five top tips for sailing upwind safely and quickly in big upwind conditions.\r\n

Keep to deep water<\/h2>\r\nIt's important to stay in deep water wherever possible and be careful of hazardous areas, such as sand bars or any kind of shallow water.\r\n\r\nSoon after the start of the last Fastnet Race<\/a>, for example, as we were exiting the Solent we went offshore as soon as we could, which I think worked well.\r\n\r\nThe wave height in shallower water is similar to that in deeper water. However, the shorter wavelength makes the shallower water more choppy and potentially boat-breaking. These conditions are also extremely uncomfortable for the crew.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n

Stow everything<\/h2>\r\nWhen you're sailing upwind in heinous conditions, it's essential to have a clean boat. This practice includes secure stowage of all the kits on board.\r\n\r\nMake sure all your lockers close properly and stay closed. Anything that\u2019s heavy, anything that can bounce around, needs strapping down to prevent damage or injury.\r\n\r\nWhile sailing upwind offshore in heavy airs, you must consider the worst-case scenario and its potential knock-on effects.\r\n\r\nWhat if we turned the boat over right now? What problems could it create and how can we make sure everything is as secure as possible?\r\n

Eat early, rest early<\/h2>\r\nIf you\u2019re on a long distance race and thinking about feeding the crew, make sure everyone\u2019s ready for it and start eating early, before the big weather strikes.\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...<\/em>\r\n\r\n[collection]\r\n\r\nEven if you\u2019re all seasoned sailors, even if you don\u2019t tend to get seasick, you may well feel like you\u2019re not hungry.\r\n\r\nWe want to get lots of high energy food inside the crew before they get to a point where they either can\u2019t eat, or they don\u2019t have time to eat because they\u2019re busy doing other things.\r\n\r\nThe same applies for being well rested and getting sleep in the bank while you can.\r\n\r\nQuite often you might get as much as three days notice before a big low pressure is coming in, and certainly 24 hours in advance. Use that preparation time wisely.\r\n

Set up the rig<\/h2>\r\nFor big winds we\u2019re going to want more mast rake and more prebend in the rig to help flatten the mainsail.\r\n\r\nOn bigger yachts you tend to have a mast jack which makes it easy to tighten the rig, which helps reduce forestay sag and keep the jib flatter.\r\n\r\nBut on a typical 40-footer or smaller, you\u2019re probably going to have to rely on tightening the forestay and the backstay to induce the higher rig tensions you\u2019re looking for.\r\n\r\nThe other thing to bear in mind, though, is higher rig tensions will put more stress on the mast, rigging, and the whole boat generally.\r\n\r\nRacing around the world, we tended to set up with quite soft rigs. It wasn\u2019t about getting the last drop of performance out of the boat, it\u2019s about maintaining the longevity of the rig.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_143611\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Reefed down in the windy conditions. Photo: Richard Langdon\/Ocean Images[\/caption]\r\n

Reefs trump changes<\/h2>\r\nIn any boat you\u2019re always aiming for a balanced helm. It is ideal to choose a setup that requires minimum effort and input from the helmsman.\r\n\r\nSo, setting up the mainsail and headsail to achieve that balance is high on your list of priorities. This can be particular to each boat, so having a rule of thumb is hard. However, there are some safety considerations.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s important not to leave a headsail change until a time that may become too dangerous or difficult for the crew.\r\n\r\nOnce it\u2019s clear we\u2019re going to experience tough conditions, the logical next step is to put in one mainsail reef and then change to the smallest headsail.\r\n\r\nThis practice means we have somewhere to go when the wind increases without sending people forward and dealing with a loose sail that must be put away.\r\n\r\nStoring this sail means opening hatches on the foredeck, which increases the chance of water ingress. The crew will become exposed and potentially submerged at times.\r\n\r\nA sail can\u2019t be tied forward in those conditions as the force of the water will either break the sail bag or the stanchions. Reefing the mainsail is a much more palatable option.\r\n\r\n
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In the 50-year history of The Ocean Race (ex-Whitbread\/Volvo), Leg 3 of the 2023 edition from Cape Town, South Africa through the Southern Ocean to Itaja\u00ed, Brazil, was the longest ever. Jack Bouttell was crew on Charlie Enright\u2019s 11th Hour Racing Team, and became chief boat fixer over 14,840 miles as the IMOCA suffered a series of breakdowns. Broken battens in the mainsail, two damaged rudders, damaged foil downlines, as well as a huge rip in the mainsail… time and time again the team had to dig deep for creative solutions to make repairs while keeping on racing. Many times the team wondered if the breakage would mean retirement from the leg but through ingenuity and sheer determination they worked their way through every problem. Here are Jack\u2019s five best tips for keeping the wheels on your wagon when things start breaking. 1. Use checklists I\u2019m a big fan of checklists. If you\u2019re building up a spares list from scratch, then note down each department of the boat \u2013 sails, navigation, electronics, hydraulics, engine, and so on \u2013 and what you think could go wrong. At the end of every leg of The Ocean Race we\u2019d debrief not just what happened on our boat but if there have been breakages on the other boats in the fleet. Then we\u2019ll make sure we cover off those areas too, and do our best to have a solution for our rivals\u2019 problems as well as the ones we experienced. 2. Safety priority It\u2019s important to divide every kind of breakage into two categories: safety or performance. Safety is always the priority and your spares and tool kit needs to have solutions to address all the potential problems that could put the safety of the crew at risk. Once you\u2019ve got those priorities covered, you can think about the performance priorities and build your spares list to cover some of those areas. For dealing with breakages at sea it\u2019s the same mindset, a safety issue for the yacht or crew must be dealt with immediately and you have to forget about performance. For a smaller breakage ask yourself: can we finish the race without a repair? What is the most opportune time to repair, to lose the least distance, and can we last until then without repairing the problem? Article continues below… 3. Tailor your spares list The longer you sail with your particular boat, the better the experience you have for knowing what\u2019s important to keep in your tool and repair kit. If you know what typically tends to break, you can build up a spares kit that\u2019s very specific to your boat. As you gain experience you also learn what you can afford to leave behind, to save space and weight on board. Our spares kit got smaller throughout the last Ocean Race, but then we had a very different list for different legs of the course. Headed into the Southern Ocean you\u2019ll need a lot more contingency and spares than a …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5203,"featured_media":151828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[975],"tags":[934,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151824"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151830,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151824\/revisions\/151830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151824"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=151824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}