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Ben Crawshaw’s having fun chasing maximum speeds with his GPS
While we’re living with the wettest and windiest winter weather I can remember, Ben Crawshaw has dressed up warm and is having a riot sailing and rowing his Light Trow down in Spain. One thing that’s driven him on lately is using a GPS, which has led to some astonishing maximum speeds and to the discovery that sheeting in both sails and using his rudder gets the best possible speed from his boat.
Of course I’m hugely impressed by the speeds he’s logging. In reality I suspect some of these are peaks due to currents, wave action and the odd GPS artifact, but there seems to be every reason for thinking the boat is performing pretty well nevertheless.
For more on the Light Trow, click here.
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You're right of course, Gav. The maximum speeds are peaks, I scored the impressive 7.4 knots on a wave. The average overall speeds are usually about half the max. But yes it is a riot and I'm lucky to be getting so much sailing done at this time of year.
Round here, if we go out at all at this time of year, we normally sail for an hour and then need a hot shower just to get the feeling in our hands and feet back.
This year, though we've had a few really warm days caused by blocks of warm and moist tropical air coming up from the south – but of course it condenses and rains like hell, and the result has been flooding.
Living in Marden is interesting, not least because there are days when several of the routes out of the village are blocked. Suddenly a tall 4-wheel drive vehicle fitted with a snorkel seems an attractive proposition!
Gav
Sounds like fun. We have a similar problem here with a new tunnel that's been built under the main road. Whenever there's a rain storm it floods and we have to take an impossibly circuitous route to the village.
Once I turned up with my windsurfing kit but those responsible for pumping out the water wouldn't let me sail through. One day I'll try with OB and that will definitely be worth a photo!
Ben