1) You have purchased a new piece of electronic gear for your boat and need to install and wire it. According to Nigel Calder which of the following do you need to be concerned about in selecting the proper gauge of wire for your installation: The maximum current draw in amps of the electronic gear and any other appliances on the circuit. The total length of the wire in the circuit The acceptable voltage drop at the electronic gear All of the above The correct answer is All of the above. With 1398 test results in, 90% of test takers got this correct. Nigel Calder says all of the three issues mentioned are important for wire gauge selection. He says you can get away with a ten percent voltage drop for lights, but to plan for no more than 3 % for electronic gear or motors. Source is Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. 2) According to Don Guillette, you should ease the outhaul when you want to: Increase mainsail draft on the bottom 2/3 of the sail and increase power Spill wind from the top of the sail Reduce weather helm None of the above The correct answer is to Increase mainsail draft on the bottom 2/3 of the sail and increase power. 67% got this right. Easing the outhaul would have little if any effect on the top of the sail, and would increase weather helm by making the main more powerful. Source is Sail Trim Forum Expert Don Guillette's book The Sail Trim User's Guide. 3) You are stopped by the Coast Guard for a vessel safety inspection. According to the statistics, you have a one in four chance of failing. Based on the averages your failure is most likely to relate to: Marine Sanitation Devices Proper Display of Numbers Fire Extinguishers Visual Distress Signals The correct answer is Visual Distress Signals. 58% got this right. There was a question raised in the discussion about the importance of knowing this statistic. To me, knowing where others fail frequently is a reminder to check things on my own boat. Do you have all of the types that are required AND are they still within their expiration dates? Source is the Coast Guard web site. 4) You are motorsailing and on a converging course with a power boat. The power boat is approaching you from starboard at a ninety degree angle. You should: Maintain course and speed Alter course to pass astern of the other boat Speed up to squeeze in front of the other boat Not enough information to reach a conclusion The correct answer is to Alter course to pass astern of the other boat. 74% got this right. When you are motorsailing, you are considered a powerboat under the Collregs. When two power boats are approaching each other at right angles, the boat to starboard is the stand on vessel and the boat to port is the give way vessel. Source is the Collregs. 5) You are preparing to sail through a narrow channel marked with range lights. The chart says the proper course to be lined up with the range lights is 270 True. Your two year old chart says the compass variation in this area is 15 degrees east. Assuming no deviation in your compass, approximately which course should it read to safely sail through the channel: 270 255 285 240 The correct answer is 255. 52% got this right. As others have said in the discussion, in converting from true to magnetic, subtract an east variation and add a west variation. Variation changes in very small amounts from year to year, normally something in the range of one minute per year, and the change in variation from information published on a two year old chart can be safely ignored for most applications. Source is Coastal Navigation published by the American Sailing Association and confirmed with other sources. 6) It would be appropriate to increase tension on a leech cord: To flatten the main on a beat To add depth to the sail on a reach or a run To spill wind from the top of the sail To strangle the critters if they bite you when youÕve been swimming The correct answer is To add depth to the sail on a reach or a run. Don Guillette says "When reaching or running, the leech cord is used to bend the battens, thus giving the mainsail more camber (shape/depth). By tightening the leech cord, you prevent the top batten from twisting off since the leech cord holds the batten in line with the boom." In Sail Like A Champion, Dennis Connor says "If the sail has a leech cord, you might want to pull on it to increase the pressure on the sail. (This is in a section entitled Reaching and Running with the Main). This bends the battens and gives the sail a bit more camber, that is shape or depth, which is good when reaching or running." To John Farnsworth's point in the discussion, my opinion is Don's and Dennis' advice applies in spades to a run and certainly also on a broad reach. Closer to the wind than that you probably want to be careful not to stall the flow of the wind by overtrimming the leech cord. A special note to H 356 owners who have been grousing about fluttering leeches--tensioning the leech cord is a good way to stop the flutter on a beat as well. 7) You are caught out on the water in a storm and decide to heave-to in order to ride it out. Which of the following is possibly a significant risk in using this strategy: Pitchpoling Crew fatigue Running out of sea room Getting pooped The correct answer is Running out of sea room. 60% got this right. In a hove to position, you would be slowly drifting downwind potentially onto a lee shore. This is one of the reasons that it is recommended that if you can't make it into a harbor before a storm hits, get further out to sea. With your bow 40 degrees or so off the wind, neither pitchpoling or getting pooped is likely to happen. As heaving to is a passive technique, the crew can rest (as much as conditions allow) below deck. 8) You are caught out in a storm and decide to lie ahull in order to ride it out. Which of the following is a significant risk in using this strategy. Lying beam-to a breaking wave and getting capsized Crew fatigue Pitchpoling None of the above The correct answer is lying beam to a breaking wave and getting capsized. 87% got this right. This is the major problem with lying ahull and is the major argument for using some sort of parachute type sea anchor off the bow. 9) You are caught out in a storm and decide to run before the storm. Which of the following is a significant risk in using this strategy. Crew fatigue Pitchpoling Running out of sea room All of the above The correct answer is all of the above. Running before the wind can result in high speed surfing down the front of waves. If you get going too fast, the bow can be driven into the water and the stern lifted by the wave which can result in a pitchpole. This is the big argument for using warps or drogues off the stern to slow you down. This technique is very demanding on the helmsperson. Since you would be sailing downwind at a considerable speed, adequate sea room is very important. The source for questions 7-9, is Peter Bruce's updated edition of Adlard Coles Heavy Weather Sailing. 10) You are approaching another boat from a distance. Over time the bearing to the other boat is not changing based on your visual observation or the EBL line on your radar. This means: The other boat will pass astern of you You will pass astern of the other boat Unless something changes you are on a collision course Impossible to tell from this information The correct answer is Unless something changes you are on a collision course. 84% got this right. If your bearing to another boat doesn't change as you come together, you are on a collision course. Alter course to pass astern if you're the give way vessel. Maintain course and speed but be prepared to take evasive action if you're the stand on vessel. Test scores were up a bunch for this quiz. I must have gone easy on you. (Grin). Hope you had fun and maybe learned something. Gary Wyngarden S/V Shibumi H335