Boat Balls 2

How to get an 80' rig through the 65' bridges of the Intracoastal Waterway using two tons of water. The balls get swung out with an initial turn to port or stbd. The tendency then is for the roll to continue by itself, but is controlled by letting the bags out slowly with a line made off to each bag and running through necessary tackle to a cockpit winch.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Boat
• balls
• boatballs
• intracoastal
• sailboat

[ToTirDeKK]

nice.. music ?

[hunterparrot]

@ToTirDeKK  Waltz from Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky. Perfect for this, eh?

[bmonroe1992]

Funny, how one hangs lower than the other.

[hunterparrot]

@terrulian

that's not the VHF antenna, it's a length of stainless tubing, called a "crane," that's used to hold the masthead flag halyard away from the mast so it doesn't get hung up on other rigging when being hoisted or lowered.

And yes, math was absolutely part of it. The 1st attempt was successful, much slower, and actually involved the spinnaker pole to hold the balls in place. As it turns out, gravity does a fine job on it's own!

[tryptyx2]

@malow87 Heels that deep are routine under sail in heavy wind conditions. Washing the rails isn't all that uncommon. With the weight of the keel hanging below, even at that heel it's pretty stable. That said, you wouldn't want to do that in a heavy swell. :)

[1975EATON1]

Is this safe?

[prankmasta123]

What the hell is this...... No effense but this video sucks more than your mother :)

[jcmik]

that is some ghetto-assed yachting, chap. carry on!

[KanzlerM]

Using water also makes it safe so you can't capsize unless someone pulls the halyards too far.

[bobbylockes]

@Icemeister9734 yes. its not a co-incidence that the bag is touching the water (and the other one is out of the way). That's his back up to make sure the assumptions he used in his calculations were correct before reaching the bridge ie the length of the line+bag+mast top must be less than 65'. so many other unknowns eg trim, salinity of water, wind, waves, current, true length of hypothenuse (80ft airdraught doesnt mean the hyptoenuse at 35.5 degrees is 80ft) and draught of expensive boat.

[Icemeister9734]

@bobbylockes Right.

90 degrees - 54.5 degrees = angle of heel= 35.5 deg. My boat's inclinometer indicates angle of heel. It's a useful instrument in racing; some try to maintain a constant angle of heel in an attempt to maximize speed. Any boat captain knows for sure his boat's draft to the inch.

Crude trial-and-error is extremely unlikely; being so un-seamanlike. Nobody would be seen trying this with multiple iterations, especially a captain with such a seaworthy boat.

[bobbylockes]

@bobbylockes ... maybe there is a wise old sea dog selling bags and his expertise in order to get the rich yacht owners under the bridge.