THAT RINGS A BELL

As any avid Cruising World reader, I wait anxiously for every new issue coming to my door. They are always full with information for seasoned and new sailors, beautiful illustrated articles about destinations, and all sort of other tips and advice for cruisers and landlubbers alike. The article “Islands Fit for a Queen” by Bill Barton (March 2019) is a great example of a well-written, very descriptive and balanced piece, like most of the ones portrayed in the magazine. I believe my heart missed a beat when I saw the bell at the Convento de San Francisco in Trinidad on the first page of the article. It turns out that particular bell, among many others, was cast by Jose Giroud, born in 1781 in France. He migrated to Cuba around 1827 when he was already established in Trinidad. He was my great-great-grandfather, and I am one of his many Cuba-born direct descendants. It was a double pleasure that I experienced seeing his name cast in the bell and then reading an excellent article. — Francisco J. Bango, Miami, FL MOVE IT OR… I think there’s a mistake in Alvah Simon’s “My Favorite Disasters” (December 2018) when discussing balancing the boat by moving ballast forward and back: “Move ballast forward to reduce weather helm, aft to increase it.” I believe the opposite is true. If I have my Lightning sailing along perfectly balanced and I move my weight forward, I’m creating weather helm and the boat will head up since I’m creating more lateral resistance forward (bow is deeper) and less aft. Move aft and the stern settles in, the bow rises, and the boat heads off.

Bill Parke Via email

Alvah Simon replies: In theory, when the center of effort (that is the force on the sails) lies aft of the center of lateral resistance, weather helm will occur. You are correct that moving weight forward will also move the center of lateral resistance forward, but only slightly because the bow sections have little resistance while most of the resisting surface lies well aft in the deeper part of the keel, skeg and rudder. However, because the center of effort lies so much higher above the pivot point than the center of lateral resistance, a few inches of movement at deck level will result in a substantial move forward of that center of effort.

However, I mainly based my opinion on the 14 years I lived onboard my 31-foot Golden Hind which had a wicked weather helm. There was no question that moving ballast forward helped in reducing that. Perhaps it comes down to individual boats with different waterline lengths, beams, mast and gooseneck heights, and a plethora of smaller but accumulative differences.

CORRECTION

In the Tartan 395 review, “American Made” (March 2019), the water tankage should read 380 liters and fuel tankage is 150 liters.