5.01- Windex installation

Captain Robbie descending after installing a Windex on top of the mast
(Click on image to enlarge)

Sailing season preparations continue... Today Capt. Robbie installed a Windex on his Catalina 25, "Coriolanus."

For my non-sailing readers, the Windex is the weather-vane looking contraption on top of the mast... I lets you know the direction of the wind (the apparent wind, anyway) and the two little tabs on either side of the arrow thingy let you know where the "no-sail zone" is at any given moment... See, you can't sail a sailboat directly towards where the wind is coming from, and can only sail so-many-degrees (varies by boat and other conditions) "close to the wind"... If you sail too directly into the wind, the sails will not be able to create the high/low pressure differential that is the basis of sail power... and you then find yourself within...the "No-Sail Zone"

If the "Coriolanus" were sailing and the Windex was as appears in the picture, she would be sailing on a "starboard tack, close reach," meaning sailing nearly as much towards the wind as she can, and with the wind coming over the right-hand side of the boat (as you face forward on the boat).

Capt. Robbie ascended the mast in a bosun's chair, drilled holes, mounted the hardware, and eventually was lowered down.

I dropped by to lend my assistance... luckily for Capt. Robbie there were four of us down on the boat and the pier, splicing main-braces in the beating sun, and giving Capt. Robbie as much helpful advice on how to install the thing as he could possibly wish for (and maybe even a little extra on top of that.)

-30-