I have recently purchased a tired Taipan 005 as a step up from my Tiger Shark, PT and Windrush and am enjoying redeveloping it...and learning how to drive it.
This forum has been fantastic for that.
I have several cats and am used to storing them mast up on the beach for easy use.
Last month a nasty storm came through and was in the middle of attempting some serious damage to the Taipan when I rescued the situation as best I could.
I had the boat tied down from four points but with the very big gusts
the mast started ocellating wildly, the boat shuddered violently and lifed off and a little damage was done. The locals all aggreed it was the worst blow for twenty years...but still I am hoping to get some ideas to keep the mast up but not destroy the boat.
Also, the boat came with a slight bend at the hounds in the mast. To some degree the person before me has corrected this with diamond tension.
I would like to correct this bend. The local spar maker has said place it between two saw horses and push down with padding at the bend point. I have a fear the type of alluminium used will not be very forgiving of rough treatment or have a sudden catosrophic failure.
Any advise greatly appreciated as I have no sailors of this style of craft near me.

Lester

For tieing down, use bigger ties !

Seriously, if you are tieing down on the sandy beach (and the Bay area is sooo nice - Went to your fantastic country for honeymoon some years ago) you need to make it more secure.

If you have an area which is well above the spring tides where you can tie down, fill 4 tyres with concreate (with a chain thru them) and dig 4 deep holes in the beach (4 feet ish if you can, more if possible) and drop the tyres in and refill the holes with sand/gravel keeping the chains above ground. You now have 4 deep buried points to tie the boat down to.

I would suggest either one tie under the mast, one under the back beam and one each side so you can down the Front and rear beams and then also Port stbd too.

Or one each side at the back bean and one each side at the front beam.

As for the mast, if there is damage to the mast wall I would just throw it away and get another mast section and transfer all the fittings over. If it is just bent then the diamond's might be able to correct it agian.

I actually did a wrote up on securing the mast a while back, try a search on the forum. By now we have 7002 postings and I don't exactly remember when I wrote it down.

But in summary. The mast on the Taipan is not a stiff pole by any stretch of the imagination. You'll need to secure it very well for it to survive any harsh winds. Problem is not strength but resonance. Even a mild wind with the right exiting frequency can seriously vibrated that mast.

However I found that some very simple mods can make your mast totally resistant to anything the wind and weather can throw at it. I've tested it for many months out here on the beach at my local club and we had a few storms since then. Of course the platform needs to be tied down very well and rather tight, absolutely no slack may be in the tying down. The platform is only 55 kg and if it has room to move about then it will dig itself into more room and finally escape.

The mast when supported with only the three stays has a resonance frequency that is very common in normal wind patterns. Very bad for mast up storage. However if you use your mainsail halyard and spi halyard to stabilize the top of your mast in addition to using your mast rotation and boom to stabilize the rotation then you mast will stand straigh and still as a telegraph pole. By stiffening up your mast like this the resonance frequency has been place well outside the range that are encountered in wind of any type.

Roughtly

-1- tie teh start of your mainsail halyard off on the mast; the other end (which goes up and through the small block at the top) you tie off to the end of the boom near the outhaul line. Use the outhaul line to prevent the halyard from sliding along the boom towards the mast.

-2- Now use your mainsail traveller control line to pull the boom down. You do this but graping a loop (between the cleat and the car) and throwing this over the end of the boom. Now pull the traveller line tight and cleat it. Your mainsail halyard is now tight and pulls the top of the mast slightly backward. Also the boom and car are now centred and can't move to either side.

-3- Now pull in your rotation limiter towards the boom thus securing the mast in the way of rotation as the boom is well secured by the mainsail traveller line and cleat

-4- If you have a spinnaker setup then. Tie both ends of the spi halyard off to one another and pull the halyard through its cleat till the spi hayard is tight and its acts like a second foresay. This will go all the way up to the spi gate on the mast. Now the mast is completely secured in the fore and aft plane and the fixed rotation will prevent oscilations over its minor axis (side to side)



When things get really dicy then use the trapeze line to secure the whole boat to the ground in addition to the ties on the platform itself. If the mast can't move than the the platform can't either. I have adjustable trapeze line with a jam cleat and I use them to put some tension on the trapeze lines so the boat has absolutely no play anywhere.

I only use two tie downs for my platform. Coming up next to the hulls and I tie them off to my side stays. I then pull a peice of tough foam underneath the lines to get some real tension in them and to prevent the lines from rubbing on my hulls and layer of paint.

In the past I used to stabilize my spreaders with an extra line as well but found that that really wasn't necessary.

So my advice =

- 2 ties on the sidestays.
- Main halyard, boom, mainsail traveller line, mast rotation and spi halyard triangles to further secure the mast
- when required additional tie down using the 2 or 4 trapeze lines to fixed points on the ground neary

Fixed points in the ground must be really secure as the wind can pull out alot of simple stakes or poles. Easiest and best is just a planck or pole that is burried horinzontally at say 2 to 3 feet deep. Tie a line to the middle of it and use that as a secure point.

Good luck,

Wouter

Many thanks so far.
Yes, I am lucky to live in a fabulous sailing area but most sailers here are cruisers.
I had tied down to four heavy pins from the bridle eyes to stop the front lifting and to stop fore and aft movement. Also tied down to the side stays to two more heaveier pins.
The movement was so violent that it broke a chain plate. The mast stayed standing but was no longer attached to the boat on the port side!
My intention now was to tie down to the bolt each side of the front beam instead of the stays and also jam tyres under the aft section to forbid any rocking motion at all.
There is also another area I might put the boat where the mast would push back into trees which would feather the wind.
I have no spinny set up and intend to run the boat as a super sloop/uni for ease and fun. No cloned competition here so can do what I like in that regard.
I am not in the habit of leaving the boom on the boat. Would your system work with a small reduction unit strait to the traveler using the main haliard and with the Jib haliard instead of the spinny?
Also, most of the wind is from the front of the boat but the other 30% of stroinger gusts run along the beach and would hit the secured mast from the side. I had left it to spin free thinking it would simply turn into the win and not "freak out".
I am very excited you are in the habit of having the boat stored mast up and that I can work with this problem.


Also. The mast has only the slightest bend. Not evident from anywhere but under the mast looking strait up the line of it.
When the diamonds are released it bends a little more but there is no dent or line or crease of any sort. The boat seems to sail well but I want to have it as original as possible. Just getting a new mast section is not really in my budget as I know of no other Taipans in NZ (while ther might be) and the boat only owes me $2,000 with new jib blocks, main system, boom, and sheeting in that amount.
If I spend I would rather get new sails.

Lester

Dear Lester,

The problem is very easy to solve. You have to do 2 things.
The first thing is to put 1 rope from the mast controler to the side stay on one side and 1 rope from the mast controler
to the other side to fix the rotating movement.
Th seceond thing you must do is to throw a rope over the diamond spreaders around the mast and then tie this down to the rearbeam with a little tension. The rope (5 mm) is now changing the frequence everytime the mast starts occelating.
I am using a carbon mast on my boat and use this trick for almost 6 to 7 years now and it works perfectly.

Thanks,

Klokkie
Ned-7 / Blade F16 distributor

Frequence....so it's a musical thing.....I am a happy camper, thanks for your experience,
Lester T4.9 #005

Holding the mast rigid will definitely help the natural frequency problem but there may be an alternative. The problem may also be prevented by wrapping your main halyard around your mast a couple of times reasonably tightly. This will disturb the flow of air around the mast so as to prevent the oscillations.

Look at a tall, slender industrial chimney sometime and you will notice that most have a spiral running around them. It is there to stop the oscillation...and they don't use stays either.

I haven't tried it myself because I've only recently bought a boat with a mast that is tall enough to worry about and I don't usually leave the mast up, however I have heard of it being used by other sailors.

Lester,

Hans is right, his methode works well also. I used his methode for while before I moved on to my own.

There are indeed only two steps to that methode, in that respect it is very simple, however the fun part to throw a line over the spreaders, twice ! (From back to front and front to back). You do get handy at it after a while but still.

Anyway I had personally all those other lines to tie away anyway, like mainsail halyard and spi halyard, that I moved on to using those to stabilize the mast. And that worked as well, saving me the "line over spreaders' thing.

Note however that if you don't have a mainsail halyard (as in push up miansai) that then Hans methode is the only one you can use !

Wouter

Personal experience:

My Taipan was secured with deep sand screw anchors on a beach with the mast up; the mast was also tethered to prevent rotation and clanking of the rigging. A microburst storm came through and threw the boat 20 feet onto its side. The anchors may as well not have been there. Thanks to the Taipan's robust contruction, the only damage was a bent spreader. I don't chance it anymore. The mast occillates too readily and it has too much "sail area" to be left unattended. I have had to hold the boat down from flying a hull on the beach with mast alone. So, for me the mast comes down if any wind greater than 20 is expected or if I'm not going to be around.

So anyone ever leave the boat unattended on the beach with the sail still up?

I often do that BUT it did flip over a few times. (actually I'm never further away then 200-300 mtr, in the club house with a few on the beach)

Now I only do that when the winds are light AND stable in the direction it is blowing.

In other conditions just leave everything on the boat and pull the boat over and have it rest on its mast. It is quite stable that way.

If you do leave the boat upright in some wind then at teh very least unhook your mainsail. Rememner the platform is only 60 kg or so and that is a 15 sq. mtr. mainsail on a 8.5 mtr mast. If the boom is prevent to weathervane than only a small change in wind direction can be enough to flip the boat over.

Wouter

Well what about pulling the boat over and having it rest on its mast for mast up storage. Provided you have the space, would that be problematic?

Here is a trick I learned from A-Class sailors. Secure the mast so it won't rotate. Tie a long line to a trapeze wire. Take the line well out from the side of the boat and tie it to something secure (tree, post, fence, ground anchor). Do the same thing with another trapeze wire/line extension on the other side of the boat. The boat won't go anywhere.

We did that with the Taipan 5.7 in our yard to secure it for Hurricane Wilma, which had gusts in the 100-mph range. The boat hopped up and down a bit on its cushions, but probably only due to the lines not being tight enough.

This probably is not a good option as a permanent storage solution, though, as somebody could walk past the boat and not see the taut wire and behead himself. (I suppose you could put ribbons on the wire to warn people it is there.)

Now, I don't understand WHY this works, except that it has something do with a fulcrum. But I'm sure that all you engineers out there understand the principle.

P.S.
I'm not sure, but I think that after one boat is anchored down in this way, that boat can, in turn, become the anchor point for a boat on each side of it -- like if you have a row of boats close together and need to get them all anchored down quickly.

Actually I use this trick when I story me boat for the night when I'm at an away regatta. Often there is another clubmember of mine there and we park our trailers such that our two boats just fit in between them. We then use our trapeze line to secure our boats left and right to the trailers. I then only secure the rotation limiter and everything is fine.

Wouter

Wouter, by "unhook you mainsail" do you mean to unhook the clew from the outhaul and let it flag or do you mean to actually lower the sail? I've seen considerable wear on sails left to flag with clew free where the batten pockets rub on the shrouds. Also, I would think you risk breaking some battens that way...

Jerry

On the F16's you can't really unhook the mainsail clew from the boom, you can however unhook the mainsheet from the boom/clew loop. So in effect the boom stays fully attached the foot of the mainsail. If the outhaul on the boom is not too loose then this setup will not allow the mainsail to flap about. That is unless the winds are strong. In most cases the boom and mainsail will just weathervane with the wind. I often pop halve the battens to the other side, getting a nice S curve in my sail from top to bottom, This seems to really calm the mainsail down as well. And the downhaul must not be tight so slacken that as well. If you have done all these tricks then the mainsail should be really calm and just hang there all the way up to 15 knots. No damage or rubbing against the sidestays. Of course you must put the boat head to winds and move it when the wind directions changes significantly

Wouter

I am used to heavy boats and have found this discussion enlightening. I'll have to change some of my ways when the new boat comes. This is what I've learned so far:

1. Trailer should have four cradles (old Nacra trailer had front cradles and rollers in the rear) to better distribute weight.
2. Tie downs on trailer and beach are a must. Old Nacra didn't need many tie downs, its weight was sufficient (for weekends, b/w races, etc.).
3. Mast must be secured, once again never did this with the Nacra and standard mast design

Besides these points, what more should I pay closer attention to? Most of these differences are due to weight and/or upgraded components?

Does anyone have a handle on a Blade boat cover? I have local resources, but it would require them to create the pattern from scratch.

NEVER with a Taipan or other F16...TheMightyHobie18 no problem

I think you have got it covered pretty much, with one exception.

When the boat feel uncontrollable in stronger winds (flighty, up and down) remember to pull everything tight. Meaning :

-1- Reduce the mast rotation in till it points to your sterns
-2- crank on the downhaul
-3- Despite angst, pull in the mainsheet and pull it really tight.
-4- then crank some more on the downhaul.

After a few tries you will find that the boat falls into a groove and you'll make lots of speed with a very docile feel to the hole boat.

Just remember to let of a significant amount of downhaul before you fully release the mainsheet. In some instances you can rip your mainsail in two when the downhaul is still fully on and you completely slacken the mainsheet. This can, however, only happen when you did point -4-

In my experience these boats do take a lot of beating and abuse, but you must be careful in being careless with them. They are so light that micro-bursts etc will pick them up and throw them about. The wind under the trampoline while driving can really lift the platform of your trailer etc.

The bloody things just want to move and fly away. That is great on the water but you'll have to keep an eye on them when parking.

The issue with the mast is that is an aerodynamically active foil. It is quite important in the high performance of the boat on the water but these good characteristic require extra attention when storing the boat.

Another thing when starting out on these boats is to keep you hand steady on the tiller. Don't bang it about as on a Hobie 16. They boat will be able to take that, but you are a crew won't.

One time I made quite a rapid bear away while I was in the trapeze. The boat cornered like a jet fighter, leaving me waterskying along side the boat at about 4 feet away. These things can happen. I got back alright after the gust when I was able to steer the boat back up again, waterskying back to the luff hull placing my feet on it and finishing the race.

Wouter

Regarding mast up storage - OK, you're parking the boat head to wind and tying off the mast rotation; since the superwing mast is a foil, are you specifically tying off the mast rotator to "stall the mast"? Granted, the direction of the wind may change and there's no one position to do that but in many locations the predominant heavy wind direction is somewhat constant.

Another option might be to store the mast "mostly down" when the boat is to be parked on a beach for one to several days or more. In this case, ie, on a trailer, you might leave the mast base attached to the ball and lower the mast to somewhere between horizontal and say 15 degrees (using a cushion on the rear beam or rear mast support on the trailer; in addition I've seen short "clamp on" rear beam mast supports used for trailering). I would imaging this would dramatically reduce the "tipping moment" and you could raise the mast again very quickly when ready to use the boat. You'd still need to tie off the mast on the rear support and also tie down the boat. Anybody try this? Sounds like it might work and be faster than actually removing the whole mast.

I'm also curious how many of you store your platform indoors vs outdoors? And if indoors, anybody store inside disassembled? I'd like to know how long it takes to disassemble an F16 for the winter (and re-asessmle in spring). Taking the mast down and beams off (once the tramp was off) would be fairly fast. I would think the time consuming part would be taking the tramp on and off. However, some tramps install faster than others - I think the 3 piece tramps may be the slowest? So on the new modern F16's like the Blade, how fast can you take it apart and put it back together? Or would that be just not adviseable or not worth the trouble? One benefit is that you'd be forced to inspect everything during the process and it would be easy to replace worn items at that time. In my case it's either store it outside (mast down) or store it inside (disassembled) since I have no where to put it inside assembled ...

Jerry