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Nice! I got the same results flying twin jibs dead down wind with 20 knot winds and following 10 foot seas from Pillar Point to Monterey, surfing on crests for minutes at a time. I wish I'd captured that on video. It's a thing of beauty when a crest approaches from astern, reaches the bow, and then just stops as the boat catches up and follows.

I routinely do 6 knots with peaks over 7 on a close reach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdYXAuzh6ZQ

I can't imagine sailing without the thrill of ocean swells.

Carl Alberg designs are legendary for their steering instability while motoring slowly astern. Will it go port or starboard? Toss a coin!

One of the great features of having an outboard in a well is the ability to rotate it for steerage while motoring astern at very low speed. Tightening the rotation friction on the engine to prevent it from wandering around while motoring forward prevents rotation in reverse. So, if you use this friction adjustment, you must reset it constantly. And at least with my engine, the friction can't be set tightly enough to stop wandering while underway.

If grease from the rotation housing ever contaminates the friction adjustment, the adjustment becomes completely ineffective.

Here's photo of how I solved the problem.

I've posted a short video on youtube here: https://youtu.be/pYpakA-FN6I

The beauty of this method is, you can sail on any point by allowing the windward jib to lay against the lee jib, and then when heading downwind simply open up both jibs to the wind. All this can be accomplished without ever leaving the cockpit.

When sailing directly downwind, it is important to take in the main - which would otherwise just interfere with the natural balance. I can sail +/- 20 degrees of directly downwind by varying the jib sheet settings, and +/- 40 degrees using a whisker pole. For whisker poles, I use hollow fiberglass tubing (cheap!) that will intentionally break if poked into the seas. I carry two.

I had a sailmaker (Leading Edge in San Mateo) make a two jibs with staggered hanks. I use a downhaul for striking the jibs.

I sailed west out of Pillar Point until I was directly upwind of Monterey, and then just turned downwind for a long 40 mile leg to the harbor. Surfing on 8 foot following seas, I averaged 7 knots with top speeds-over-ground of 10 knots (according to my GPS).

Sorry about the messy cockpit. Sailing single-handed, I'm usually not expecting any guests.

Thanks Ebb. But no matter how hard I try, I could never fill in the blanks to express in words the mysterium tremendum of being at sea.

I don't flirt with storms once they've developed, but I will take a push from one while it's still spinning up. Timing is everything.

The conditions were quite benign: the wind waves had laid down entirely in the lull, winds were 8 knots (apparent) out of the south, and a long period southerly swell astern allowed me to surf all the way home. Eight hours later, the conditions would have been very unpleasant.

I'm commercial pilot and fly gliders. I trust my eye for reading the clouds -- the "sign posts in the sky." Without that experience, I wouldn't advise beginning a voyage with a storm in the forecast. We have the advantage here on the West Coast that storms seldom develop quickly -- and I still had my eye on ducking into Santa Cruz or Año Nuevo anchorage as a Plan B. The most critical part of the passage is crossing Pigeon Point and Año Nuevo. If you see what looks like fog ahead - when conditions don't call for fog - then that's spume thrown up by the chruning washing machine sea state often found between those two points brought on by cross seas. I've seen waves arriving there out of both the north and south, slamming together to produce great triangular-shaped swells with sharp sides that lofted my boat in the air. This voyage - it was as smooth as concrete.

I trailed my Hamilton-Ferris hydrogenerator prop to prevent surfing faster than my comfort level (and to generate 10 amps for my batteries). You can see the trailing line in the photo below.  The drag on the line is progressive, with nearly none (only parasite drag) below 4 knots, and about 100 pounds of induced drag at 8 knots.

One thing I always do that I'd recommend to anyone who can read weather charts, is to review the Pacific Briefing Package (http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/P_brief.shtml) before embarking. It gives a big-picture view of synoptic winds and sea states that you can't get from the Coastal Waters Forecast. Grib charts are nice (albeit often inaccurate), but they don't show the underlying dynamics or sea states.

I also monitor the Automated Weather Observation Service (AWOS) for an airport up ahead with my aviation band radio, or by cell phone (when it works) to answer the question: "does it get better or worse up ahead?" Half Moon Bay is 127.275 MHz (650-728-5649), and Monterey is 119.25 MHz (831-642-0241).

Riding on the storm!

Here's a pic of the developing storm offshore with a well-defined eye at the center of the low. Timing is critical. Enter too late, and the seas will chew you!

I had my sailmaker (Leading Edge) make a jib identical to one I had, with the hanks staggered. He did such a good job that even the luff tensions are identical when the twins are hoisted. I've only once seen that accomplished with a roller furler: the owner had two light jibs that would roll up together, so when fully unfurled you had the equivalent of twin jibs. It was 30 years ago, and my memory is foggy on how he did that.

The small air gap between the luff edges at the forestay seems to improve stability, much like the apex vent in a parachute reduces oscillation. The temptation is to seal it somehow, but I believe it's beneficial and has little effect on efficiency. At any rate, I was surfing along well above hull speed, my hand off the tiller, with the boat not rolling and standing straight up, so I can't complain.

I sailed from Pillar Point Harbor to Monterey round-trip over Thanksgiving weekend. Just thought I'd report that Ad Astra handles perfectly under twin jibs sailing downwind. When sailing within 30 degrees either side of dead downwind, jib poles were unnecessary, and steerage can be accomplished by adjusting each jib sheet's tension. I had a separate jib sheet attached to each clew.

The twin jib configuration naturally resists deviations from a downwind heading. When the following seas would kick the stern to the side, one jib would be taken aback, causing the boat to yaw back to a downwind heading. The real beauty of the twin configuration is the ability to sail up into the wind on a close reach while allowing the windward jib to lay against the lee jib, and then easily turn back to downwind with both jibs inflated -- while never leaving my seat in the cockpit.

There's really nothing new about this - old salts have been sailing twin jibs across oceans, but I haven't seen described the real flexibility of "sailing on any point" using the setup. Try doing that with a spinnacker! And since the twins can't swing out athwart, there's no danger of a "roll of death" oscillation developing. In fact, there's very little rolling at all.

I had following seas both ways: northbound and southbound, because I timed the return while a low was developing into a storm offshore, giving me southerly wind and seas for my return.

I was able to surf on the following seas and achieve a speed over ground of 8.6 knots with 15 knots relative wind. Exciting! I'm attaching the track and speed plot from marinetraffic.com.

You can follow Ad Astra on marinetraffic.com here: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:444883/zoom:14

I am thinking of making a couple of modifications to my rudder this winter. I would like to open up the aperture a bit so I can install a feathering prop and adding a little more surface area (10% of so) to the trailing edge. After removing the corrector weight from the boat I have a little more weather helm than I would like. Any thoughts?

Presuming you are not a fanatical racer who has cut the handle off your toothbrush to reduce laden weight, have you considered adding ballast to compensate? I added 150 pounds of leadshot in 25 pound bags (#8 buckshot purchased at a gun shop for $2 per pound).   After much experimentation, I placed the leadshot ballast in the bilge under the forward inspection hatch. Leadshot bags conform nicely to the shape of their surroundings, with no pressure points. Your situation, and location of ballast, will be different of course. But adjusting the longitudinal center of gravity by adding ballast seems to be a far simpler approach to making fine adjustments in trim than modifying the rudder. Just an idea...

I only ran the motor twice after the carb was serviced and I ran it dry.   I disconnected the fuel line and tank and put them down below on the cabin sole in case water was permeating the line or something.   I've been running 100LL in my scooter for about a month, I'll pull the plug and see what it looks like.  Quite honestly if 100LL cut the life of my motor by 30% I'd never notice it.  I seems like it would last a real long time never running which is the present situation.   A plug would be easy to change, carb, not so much.   I did think of keeping an extra carb on board though as its a real pain in the butt to load that motor into a dinghy from my mooring and row it to the beach.

I installed a "Racor SNAPP One-Piece Snap-In Fuel Filter Water Separator - Filter Assembly w/ Bracket & Drain - 2 Micron" between the fuel tank and the engine two years ago. It has a clear bowl that allows you to see if any water has accumulated. Pilots will know this device as a "gasculator." They're common on most airplanes. I have yet to see one drop of water in the inspection bowl. But it made me feel good to install it.

The engine problems I had were:

1) I failed to recognize that after the engine is shut down while bouncing around in swells that the fuel would run down hill out of the carb bowl back to the tank - making me pull the cord about 10 times before the fuel pump would refill the bowl. Solution: squeeze the primer bulb until it's "stiff" before restarting the engine.
2) Since my fuel tank is slightly below the carb bowl, fuel doesn't feed the carb by gravity. The fuel pump MUST be able to draw against a partial vacuum to be effective, and... I wasn't getting an air tight seal where the fuel line connects to the tank. Solution: clean the connection at the fuel tank regularly with a wire (bronze) brush.
3) The fuel cap was a fancy CARB (California) approved type that required a partial vacuum in the tank before the air vent would open. That vacuum was too great to allow fuel to flow. Apparently, California thinks a few fuel molecules evaporating out of the tank is a major source of pollution. I discovered this after the engine died about a dozen times -- always obeying Murphy's Law by failing at the harbor entrance, near rocks, while crossing in front of big boats, or on final approach to my slip, -- and I finally saw the sides of the plastic tank pop out when I removed the fuel cap - along with a loud whooshing sound when air rushed into the tank. Temporary solution: screw the cap on very loosely. Permanent Solution: Find an old-style cap that fits the tank that has a simple non-pressure controlled vent (please don't report me to the CARB).

I have about 300 hours on my engine, using 90 octane / 10% ethanol fuel (it does seem to like 90 more than 87 octane - but that might be my imagination), and I've had no problems yet besides the problems above that someone smarter than me would've spotted sooner. I always let the engine run out of fuel at idle throttle at the end of every sail.

Above was in reference to the the question some time ago about the zinc.   In a more general review of the Tohatsu/Nissan/Merc 6 HP I will say that they seem to have really small jets and I am having trouble keeping the motor running more than 4 weeks.   I started the season with new gas after having had the engine serviced for trouble last season.  I treated with Stabil Marine and within 4 weeks the carb was clogged with white mush.   I cleaned it a few times and used Sea Foam.  It started running again but 4 weeks later it was so clogged that I took it to a marina along with the line and the tank.   They pronounced my gas fine, cleaned the carb and now 4 weeks later the carb bowl has white mush in it again and the motor wan't run.  The marina talked me out of using aviation 100 low lead saying it would clog the rings but if I get that thing going I'm switching to ave gas and if that fails I'll sell that and move on.  Which which other motors fit because I've had enough of this one?  I didn't have much time to use it so basically this ruined the season.   I've had guests waiting on board the last few times which we aborted when the motor wouldn't run.   Basically we can't make a motor on its third season run more than occasionally.  I'm going to take the carb off the old tohatsu with the ruined lower unit and try to make it to the marina to pull out for the season.  AAAGH!

Be sure to disconnect the fuel tank line from the engine at the end of the day and allow the engine to run until the bowl is emptied and the engines stops from fuel starvation. The owner's manual actually recommends this. The procedure accomplishes two things: it allows the engine some cool-down time to reduce thermal shock and -- more importantly, it empties the carb bowl so the fuel doesn't evaporate in the bowl every time you run the engine and eventually develop a residue.

100 "low lead" ("100LL") av gas should really be called: 100 lots of lead. It has more lead than leaded car gas once had. It will foul your plug. Yes, 10% ethanol gas will absorb water, but I doubt the water content is causing the fouling.

I've got new twin jibs. Here's a vid of the first hoist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnYSFIngsYk

And just a random vid exceeding hull speed off Pillar Point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdYXAuzh6ZQ

Hi Bill,

I may have to work on that weekend. If so, I'd be happy to arrange an open house some weekend for anyone who'd like to see my setup.

I measured the waterline relative to what it was before loading, so the exact draft is unknown. I measured the freeboard at the aft lower shroud chainplate, from the top of the toe rail to the water. Before: 2 feet 2 inches. After: 1 foot, 11 inches. That's the average of both port and starboard measurements, since there was an inch or so variance depending on port/starboard balance.

On board for the shakedown cruise was:

• Batteries: 300 pounds (358 A/H)
• Gasoline generator: 40 pounds
• Full sail inventory: 60 pounds
• Life raft: 65 pounds
• Unconsumed food, water, (simulated by 200 lbs of lead shot) and spares including 2 anchors with a total of 400 feet of rode and 35 feet of chain (the race rules require an anchor and I'd have to anchor after arriving): 300 pounds
• Fuel for generator (6 gallons): 36 pounds
• Myself: 200 pounds
• Total: 1,001 pounds

Add to that cargo another 65 pounds for the outboard.

The boat was a slug with all that weight and pitched down  3 to 5 degrees underway (I installed a pitch inclinometer). It was in a pitch-level attitude at the slip. In 11 knots average wind, 60 degrees off the bow (my best point of sail), there was no pitch oscillation ("hobby horsing"), but the bow buried and plowed through swells and I averaged 3.9 knots over 130 miles (both tacks). That translates to 24.6 days to Hawaii - the race cutoff is 21 days. Even factoring for 0.5 knots of assistive current and following seas, it's doubtful I'd make it within 21 days. The ride in moderate swells was "normal" (that is to say - mostly terrible), if not a little subdued. I had to run a jackline along the overhead to stand up. I resorted to that after I fell and broke the starboard side seat back. Sleeping on the port side berth was OK, in fact quite comfortable, except for a few moments of near weightlessness in swells. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone susceptible to seasickness (which I'm not).

You can see my comments here that I posted along the track: https://share.delorme.com/AdAstra. You have to zoom into the track for all of the comments to appear. I used the Delorme satellite tracker texting capability as my log.

At no time was the boat unstable. It seldom heeled past 15 degrees (with all that weight below).

After considering all the factors, including the possibility of water in the keel, I withdrew.

At least now I have a fully upgraded boat ready for serious coastal cruising: with a life raft, properly installed manual bilge pump (Whale Titan), new standing rigging, backup AIS display and chartplotter, an extra downwind sail for flying twin jibs, and the knowledge that adding 1,000 pounds to an Ariel is a bit too much...

I completed a shakedown cruise earlier this week. I discovered my Ariel doesn't perform well with 1,000 pounds of cargo, most of which is required by the Race Rules. Details of the cruise are here: http://sfbaysss.org/forum/showthread.php?1660-Late-Pacs&p=14646#post14646. The course sailed is here: http://aprs.fi/#!mt=hybrid&z=11&ts=1463961600&te=1464599000&call=a%2FN8QH-9