More often than not both bloopers and staysails seemed to add a quarter knot going up and a quarter knot coming down.
One of the best uses of a blooper I experienced early on was during the windy 1977 Transpac. The C&C 39 I was on still had the original short, low aspect ratio rudder and small diameter steering wheel. In typical trade wind conditions, sailing as close to DDW as possible, the blooper helped balance the sail plan pulling the bow back down when the boat was thinking of taking a hard swing to weather. Those short C&C 39 rudders embarrassed more that a few helmsmen. Here in the PNW, back in the late 70’s there was 4 or 5 C&C 39’s actively racing and competitive. A local sailmaker and rockstar helmsman named Scott Rohrer (an acquaintance of mine still) was at the helm of a 39 a few boat lengths behind us. We all had spinnakers up but the conditions were deteriorating. As the 39 Scott was driving began performing the death roll, we could hear Scott yelling “I got it, I got it..” just before his boat spun hard to weather in a full broach. For a long time we called Scott “Rodeo Rohrer” as in “going to the rodeo for a roundup”. PNW C&C 39s with the short rudder got a reputation as “broach coaches” until they received the rudder upgrade. Martin DeYoung Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Port Ludlow/Seattle Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows From: Fred Hazzard via CnC-List<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2021 4:52 PM To: Stus-List<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: Fred Hazzard<mailto:fshazz...@gmail.com> Subject: Stus-List Re: C&C to race - cold weather discussion topic That all sounds good except the blooper. My recollection of using the blooper on my one tonner was, we went a quarter knot faster when we put it up and quarter knot faster when we took it down. The best thing about it was that it kept the crew ingaged trying to keep it full and out of the water. 😁 Fred Hazzard S/V Fury C&C 44 Portland Or Sent from my iPhone On Dec 11, 2021, at 3:43 PM, Ronald B. Frerker via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: Martin, do I remember correctly; wasn't your boat originally Esta Es from Lake Michigan? Ron Wild Cheri C&C 30-1 STL On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, 01:51:01 AM CST, Martin DeYoung via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: I would go back to a C&C 39, tall rig, deep rudder and the light weight Atomic 4 aux engine. Prep it to be fully optimized for its PNW PHRF rating but include a “penalty pole” and blooper for those long DDW legs. I would also want the upgraded winch package that included the Barient titanium drum 3 speed primary winches. Back in the late 70’s the 39s did well in the typical light air races that were long enough to experience several changes of current that could keep a crew of 6 out for 24 to 36 hours in relative comfort. If the wind came up it could still go upwind without the whole neighborhood camped out on the rail. Martin DeYoung Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Port Ludlow/Seattle Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
