Yesterday, Gascan and I went out sailing with USS Constitution and HMS Victory. There was much swashbuckling, adventure, and derring-do. There were also lessons learned and experience gained. We sailed on the larger of two ponds on base. I call it Charlie's Pond for the alligator, Charlie, that sometimes lives there. Winds were zephyrs only, so we set all sail and hoped for steady wind. We carefully searched the pond for Charlie, then, once certain our ships and our selves weren't in danger, proceeded to launch. No more than 5 minutes had passed before the chase was on: I, in HMS Victory, in hot pursuit of Gascan in USS Constitution. We tacked back and forth several times, then I stole the weather guage and soon I stole the wind from his sails, too. The two warships shouted "bang" at each other many times at ranges between 12 and 2 inches, before our sides touched, and Victory sent over a boarding party. We discovered that square-riggers with only functional rigging can easily come into beam-to-beam contact without getting entangled, and can break apart again easily, as well. This was also our first rock-paper-scissors "boarding action". Gascan won after five ties, with a rock to my scissors. Then the two ships pulled apart once more, and the battle was on again. This time, Gascan sailed the Constitution into a region of strange winds. I think it was some sort of reflection off the steep slope of the downwind side of the pond. Whatever it was, the wind was almost exactly opposite what it was elsewhere, and weaker too. There was a clear line between the normal pond, with 1/2" to 1" waves heading downwind, and the strange region with no waves whatsoever. Even Constitution's wake seemed to disappear unusually fast. The border between those two regions formed a barrier that Gascan could not cross on his own. Finally I sailed in there with him and, with the help of a gust, lead him back out into the open pond. Then he braced Constitution's yards and pointed her bow upwind again. The chase was long and wracked with wind shifts, taking both ships aback every minute or so and spinning them about. After getting forced onto a different tack by wind shifts several times, I decided to try something different. The next time I found Victory getting spun about, I braced the foremast yards around to the other tack. This made the ship spin away from the wind rather than across it, keeping Victory on the same tack and still pointing towards her prey, USS Constitution. I tried this trick several times, closing the gap between the two ships until at last we stood two feet away. Gascan turned the Constitution to engage, hoping to cross Victory's stern or at least pull alongside upwind of Victory, for better gunnery. What followed was several minutes of intense maneuvering and lots of "bang"s, with neither side gaining a clear advantage as we both drifted downwind. Then as we neared the border of the strange region, Gascan pointed Constitution's bow upwind again, and the chase began anew. The third round was another long chase. Victory followed almost exactly in Constitution's wake, slowly closing the range from 12 feet to 8 feet to 6 feet to 4. Then Gascan screwed up a tack, and I took the weather guage. He recovered quickly, and prepared to flee downwind. I expected this, and wore ship to pull alongside from upwind of his position. Alas, he saw an opportunity and turned upwind to try and shoot Victory's stern gallery. Then he got taken aback and stopped cold, messing up my careful maneuver. Instead of pulling alongside his ship at a 6-inch range as intended, I was set to ram him amidships. I threw the rudder and sails around to avoid the collision, and ended up with Victory's bowsprit crossing Constitution's bowsprit between the inner and outer jibs. I backed all sails to try and reverse out of it, but the wind was coming directly from Victory's beam and pushed her alongside Constitution, firmly locking the two ships together. We tried for a couple minutes to disentangle the two ships, but gave up and started walking to the leeward shore to recover them. Then I remembered the boarding-action rules again, and sent another boarding party after Gascan's ship. The fight this time was much faster, with Gascan putting a paper over my rock on the 2nd attempt. After that, we again tried to separate the ships. However Victory's main course yard got stuck on Constitution's, and one of Victory's rigging lines parted. After that I only had partial control over the main and mizzen sails. As the two ships neared shore, the wind died down and the the strain between them eased. Then, slowly, Victory drifted back, away from Constitution, separating the two ships. The wind returned a minute later so we sailed them both to shore and called it a day. Lessons learned: 1) sailing with partially free-swinging sails due to a parted rigging line is a fascinating and challenging experience, but not one I want to repeat any time soon. 2) when the wind suddenly backs or spins around, you can reverse your foremast sails to stay on the same tack. The ship will still turn out-of-control, sometimes more than 90 degrees, but you'll be able to recover faster and resume your original course. 3) make sure you have some kind of tensioning/servo saver/spring mechanism for your sail controls. If Victory had had such a system, her rigging lines would likely not have parted. I will install such a mechanism over the next few weeks and evaluate its performance. 4) In the two chases, we spent between 10 and 15 minutes with no broadside guns bearing on each other. In contrast, I had Victory's bow pointed directly at Constitution's stern, from 8 feet away or less, for at least half that time. This really highlights the importance of chase guns. I don't think I would arm two chase guns with 50 rounds each, I'd prefer to have one barrel with 100 rounds, since most of the shots are going to be at relatively long range,, and relatively difficult shots. A single cannon with more ammo would be easier to arm and operate than a pair of cannons, and give you more shots for the chase. 5) Gascan also got more practice at sailing, and learned that the wind you feel standing on shore and the wind the ship experiences 30 feet away in the middle of the pond are not always the same. The Constitution and Victory have been repaired now, and we're going back out tomorrow. More tales of swashbuckling adventure to follow. If I can find a third person, hopefully there will be photos and video to follow, as well.
And 6) rock paper scissors with your identical twin can take a few tries. Thanks for the great recap!
Thanks so much for the detail! This really helps plan out what me and my boys can expect after months and months. What are you thinking for a recovery system?? I'm placing 5 different lines screwed into my keel, coiled in some pvc pipe, and then attached to a little barrel through the deck. My issue is all five of those floats getting tangled in the rigging and my lovely sleeping in the mud for an extended time. You see these modern ships doing different death rolls and nose dives etc. and it all looks bleak for a sail ship. Also, would you score points for a successful boarding??
