[PUP] In praise of paravanes

[Truelove39@aol.com]

Despite Milt's kind appreciation of good support, Naiad  stabilizers seem to 
be the bane of passage makers. Great support does not  come anywhere close to 
making up for dependable operation, IMO. It's  disheartening to hear that 
Bluewater has one fin out of commission so early in  their crossing, but after 
similar problems experienced by the first rally  fleet, we're not surprised. 
Fortunately, Milt had the foresight and good sense  to have paravanes fitted as 
well as fins; certain that if we had both  we'd happily flick a switch rather 
than deploy and retrieve the birds.  It would be interesting to hear a 
comparison of the effectiveness of the two  systems in stabilizing Bluewater, but I 
hope that circumstance isn't necessary. 


 
We love our paravane gear, and have modified the original rigging so  that we 
can now retrieve them (300s) safely and easily, single-handed, and  without 
winches, in less than 10 minutes. Like most things born of decades  of 
experience in the Pacific fishery, our particular setup is robust, simple,  and 
requires only no power. Passagemaker owners we've spoken with, some of which  have 
paravanes and some with powered fins, report identical experience with  speed 
loss, i.e. about half a knot with either system in use, and that mirrors  our 
experience. Most importantly, owners of boats with paravanes continue  to use 
and praise them while owners of powered fin systems speak  of breakdowns. And 
these paravane-equipped boats, with a couple of  exceptions (both Nordhavn 46s) 
are not the current generation of "trawlers"  but Beebe-type passagemakers 
such as Mona-Mona, Teka III, and Chartwell, tried  and true boats some of which 
have crossed oceans regularly for  decades. Had the paravanes not worked out, 
these boats would surely  have been retrofitted with fins or retired from 
passage making. 
 
We hope that the Trac stabilizers on Milt's consorts will prove better than  
the Naiads, but large form-factor ship technology, when applied to  small 
boats, is often lacking. Time will tell.
 
Regards,
 
John
"Seahorse"
  
 
> A trip like this is a series of ups and downs.  Yesterday was one  of 
the down days.  Not only did we lose our port stabilizer, but our  
speed was down.  Whether that's due to the starboard fin working  
harder, a current on the nose, or something else I cannot tell, but 
our  noon-to-noon run was a depressing 133 NM, and I'm feeling bad 
about holding  up our two buddy boats who have the fuel to make more 
speed to Horta but who  are hanging in with Bluewater.

I spoke with Vic Kuzmovich at Naiad  Florida minutes ago, and he is 
making arrangements to ship the vital  replacement stabilizer part to 
us in care of our agent in Horta, Marco  Quadros.  Marco is the most 
organized man in Horta, and he has provided  detailed instructions on 
how to ship the part so it will be waiting for us  when we arrive. 
Vic promises to include detailed instructions for  installation, and 
he's confident that it's within my capabilities-"piece of  cake, 
Milt," he says.  Braun Jones, who has gone through this  particular 
replacement twice aboard Grey Pearl, also e-mailed me and said,  "You 
can do it."  Vic says that if we have problems, he will put a  
technician on an airplane to Horta to sort it out for us.  What  
terrific support!

I noted yesterday that a single fin is reported  about 80% as 
effective as two, and it's time to modify that!  In the  3-5 to 4-6 
foot quartering seas Bluewater has had since our problem  yesterday 
and our sub-six-knot speed, we've had a good opportunity to  observe 
the difference between two working fins and one.  My own take  based 
on this single experience is that we're getting about 2/3 of the  
stabilization we normally get.  It's a LOT better than nothing, but  
noticeably rollier than with two working  fins.





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