Sailing the Apocalypse by Scott B. Williams

Author:Scott B. Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: collapse of America apocalypse, contemporary fiction American, family adventure sailing, prepper fiction, live aboard sailboat
Publisher: Scott B. Williams
Published: 2015-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

Nine

WE STAYED AT INGRAM Bayou while working on the sails and sorting out the problems with the rigging. Terry had to climb both of the masts to change out some blocks at the top that the halyard lines ran through. He said they were getting in a bind when the sails were full of wind and that was part of the reason he’d had such a hard time getting the mainsail down when it was blowing so hard on Mobile Bay. We had to all help him when he climbed up there, because there were no steps or anything else to make it easy. The two masts were just round wooden poles cut down from the huge chunks of square timbers we had glued together from the old wood salvaged out of Mr. L.C. Pickens’ barn. When we were making them, Terry said James Wharram’s sail design was different than those used on most ships because the leading edges of the sails went around the masts like sleeves. It was an innovation designed to clean up the airflow and make the boat go faster. Terry said they were called Wharram wingsails and that they acted just like airplane wings. Janie said that was stupid and that a dumb, slow sailboat didn’t have a damned thing in common with an airplane.

“That’s where you’re completely wrong,” Terry had countered. “A sailboat is actually very much like an airplane and operates on the same principle. But instead of using the lift to get off the ground like an airplane wing, a well-trimmed sail uses it to go to windward. Figuring out how to harness the wind to sail to windward is one of mankind’s greatest achievements. Sailing ships that could go to windward changed history in every way you can think of!”

Terry admitted that while the Wharram wingsail design was efficient, the wrapping of the sail around the mast had some drawbacks. It meant that the masts had to be smooth and unobstructed, and certainly could not have the ladder-like steps to the top that many sailing vessels were equipped with. It also meant that there was sometimes a lot of friction with all that fabric in contact with the mast, and getting the sails to slide up and down properly was not easy. This was especially true in strong winds, when the pressure was increased. Terry was confident this wouldn’t be a problem once we were out to sea in the steady trade winds of the Pacific, because he said we wouldn’t have to be raising and lowering sails all the time. But regardless of the reason, climbing the rig to work on things aloft would never be easy.

To get up there, he had to sit on a flat board called a bosun’s chair with straps hooked to one of the halyards. We had to hoist him up using the big winch in the cockpit. This was slow, hard work, even with me and Janie and Mom taking turns. And because our boat was a schooner, he had two masts to climb, which meant double the work for us.

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