Pirate Petes Seagull race boat tips

Ahoy there me hearties. I have been meaning to set up a site of Seagull racing tips.

So here it is. All care and no responsibility. The opinions of the author are just that and everybody knows there is more than one way to skin a cat. So use your common sense and remember most Seagull racing are marathon. A good mantra is: "to finish first, first you must finish". Indeed finishing should be your prime goal and a satisfactory outcome. Winning will be a bonus.

What is British seagull outboard racing? Well it is right up there with wacky racers, lawn mower racing and other eccentric activities. The Great Waikato Easter Seagull race and the Bermuda RISR (Round the Island Seagull Race) are challenges on many levels and quite possibly the greatest of nautical feats. Navigating a vintage outboard powered boat 88 nautical miles down the Waikato River (over two days) or around Bermuda in one day is always going to be a marathon effort.

An attraction to British Seagull outboard racing has to be that it is a relatively cheap introduction to motor racing having all the elements of any motor sport: design, preparation, testing, fuel management, speed, tactics, nautical skills, navigation, endurance, sledging [off putting remarks like "I have a secret weapon", I had to throttle back because the boat goes too fast" etc, etc..]. you name it, most of the drama of your average formula 1 racing is there waiting for you to experience...

Below is a picassa site that sort of sums up what it is about. Check it out before you go any further:

https://picasaweb.google.com/piratepetester/SeagullRace2011Webphotos#

Fuel

At full noise a standard seagull fuel tank will last about 40 minutes. If you have a moderately fast boat, each leg of the Great Easter Seagull race or RISR is going to take you about 7 hours. That means it might be possible that you could run out of fuel about 10 times.

This is what happens when you run out of fuel during race conditions. The motor and boat are roaring along, your focus is torn between the scenery and the nearest rivals that might have gotten away on you at the start, but you are starting to 'wind them back in'. The motor coughs a couple of times and just stops. You say the 'f' word a few times and realise that you have run out of fuel. Your competition takes back all the hard won ground and draws away into the distance. You fumble around in a haze of undoing the cap to the auxiliary tank that the seagull god provided. Then you fumble with your jerry can and leaning precariously over the stern you pour petrol more or less into the tank. A rainbow of fuel oil encircles the boat and you start to get nervous about Harbour Masters and eco-footpints. Time ticks on. Seagull fuel cap on. Fuel container secured. Wind the starting cord around the fly wheel, pull ... whirrrrrr, but no ting ting ting [full throated roar of a seagull motor starting up]. Crap, you wonder that maybe the motor must be hot. Re-wind the starter rope around the flywheel and pull again. Hmmmmm, usually starts on the first pull - what is going on?

Then it dawns on you that the motor ran out of fuel. It will take a full Seagull start up basic procedure to get her going. Check, the fuel vent is open - tick. Check the fuel tap is on - tick. Prime the carb (because you just ran it dry it is empty and in your haste to get back underway you forgot that) - tick. Check the throttle setting = half throttle - tick. Wind the cord around the fly wheel and pull. Instantly rewarded by the hearty ting ting ting roar of a Seagull motor doing its thing. Throttle up and you are on your way and already trying to make up that lost ground.

If you are quick about it, that rigmarole might have taken you 5 minutes. Now let me see? ... 10 run out of fuel situations x 5 = close to an hour of frustration, lost time and opportunities.

The answer

Get some sort of fuel transfer system to top up your auxiliary tank.

The answer is to modify a spare fuel cap to take a fuel line. The little squeeze bulbs from your standard outboard remote tank is enough to top up the auxiliary tank with about 15-30 squeezes about every 20 minutes. You will probably push the limit, forget or otherwise miss-judge things and still run out of fuel. But you won't do it nearly as often as 10 times.

Why a spare fuel cap - well you will be needing the original fuel cap to stop fuel leaking all over your boot when the race is done and you sling your poor old motor into the car boot.

Pirate Petes fuel transfer version

I modified a spare fuel cap by re-tapping a thread to accommodate a standard outboard fuel bayonet fitting. This has worked for about 12 years of Seagull racing on the Waikato river. But it is not the best. The vibrating motor loosens the cap and it is best to have the fuel line pointing away to the side of the motor (to clear the whizzing fly wheel, immediately in front of the tank). I found that draping the fuel line on the inside of the tiller, that it stopped the cap undoing. Also because the bayonet fitting finishes at the fuel cap - a fair of fuel blows back out when I am transferring fuel. In the ideal world there would be an extension at the bottom [I did tight-press-fit a pipe on the bottom for the 2011 race and that worked beautifully].

Finally, you have no idea level the fuel is in the auxiliary tank.

A float an a piece of wire can be a handy guide, but cork can disintegrate and contaminate your fuel. Having a piece of wire to make a useful marker weighs quite a bit and that needs a bigger float. In the end it all got too complicated for me and I just try to remember to keep the fuel bulb squeezes to a regular beat with a few extra now and then for good measure. Hint it pays to keep an eye on the modified filler cap to ensure you haven't overfilled. during the 2011 Waikato Race, I noticed that fuel bubbled out of the breather indicating that the header tank was full enough.

Below is the underside of the my race fuel cap. I have ensured there is a sizeable breather hole - this facilitates venting of the incoming fuel. I still get a fair bit of blow back and maybe the hole should be bigger. But I fear that if the hole is much bigger, there is a chance of flying spray and rain contaminating my fuel, so that is a big as I dare.

I think the ideal fuel cap modification would be a simple press fit tube of a suitable size to accommodate your fuel hose. If it pipe is about half and half and half through the cap you are probably going to solve some of the blow back problems that I had. Also the upright pipe is going to help keep your hose clear of that whizzing, whirring fly wheel. So the photo above of the blue boat at the start line, even though it isn't very clear, is probably a good option. Note that the hose is fed on the inside of the tiller - something I discovered helps stop the fuel cap undoing itself with motor vibration. A classic example.

Intriguing variations on the theme

My spy camera has captured a few variations on the theme - there are some clever buggers out there:

The system above utilizes a pressure system based on a weed spraying unit. However, you would have to be a bit nervous of fuel under pressure. Now what could go wrong with this picture??? Seagull motors have been known to catch fire on occasions. A faulty spark plug lead can provide the ignition point, and well, you would be kidding yourself if the old seagull motor with its auxiliary tank sitting above the spark plug, leaks and general oily-ness of the thing wasn't providing an adequate fuel source. [note again, the trick of running the fuel line on the inside of the tiller ... stops the cap unwinding]

This ingenious system demonstrates something of a gravity feed system and portrays a fine quadrant steering system which brings me to steering.

STEERING

A good course is a straight course. Anything less is going to mean you are traveling further than you need to ... and snaking all over the place makes it difficult for other people to judge what your intentions are and take evasive action accordingly.

The Easter Waikato race has a few gentle turns and lots of long straight runs. Good maneuvering ability is handy at the starts and for doubling back across/against the current to gain a safe beach to make emergency repairs.

Keep your steering as simple as possible, the more ropes and pulleys = the more that could go wrong.

The simplest approach is to have no steering at all. with my minimax, I discovered that it 'chine-steered' with me shifting my enormous weight to the side. This carved a gentle turn with almost no loss of speed. The minimax is a very small boat and the throttle and tiller are within a short reach, and I do 'swing on the tiller' when I have slowed down and need to wend my way too and from the shore. So that 'no steering' system works well for me.

Photo by Alan Doak

A tiller extension - a piece of wood or just the right sized piece of aluminium that slots into the tiller will enable you to trim the boat with your weight forward and still be able to steer. This is the most common steering modification. Variations on the theme include extending the throttle cable so you have the throttle 'at hand'. But remember you are supposed to be racing and there really ought to only be that one throttle setting: FULL THROTTLE. In Seagull terms if something goes to custard, you will have plenty of time to throttle back.

Bruce Lorhan and Lucy from Bermuda demonstrates the classic tiller extension and the traditional standing up conning pose - from this position you can see obstructions and sandbars much more clearly. However, it requires a sober disposition and steady legs - ideal if you were a surfer in your younger days.

If you really must have a steering wheel to swing on, any steering yoke needs to be centered on the pivot point of the motor. Otherwise the motor will steer ok straight ahead, but at some point of a turn the lines will cross and your motor will slam into a irreversible full throttle 90 degree turn. Believe you me, even at seagull speeds doing donuts in the middle of the Waikato river is a scary thing and the g-forces don't facilitate an easy recovery.

Not a really clear picture, but you can see the steering collar on the motor is perfectly in-line with the turning point. Attaching a bar to the back of the tank, while tempting, results in some sort of cam effects that results in the irretrievable full lock jam as described above. Note that cable tension is a fine thing and can impact on your motor tilt. To combat this, some sort of spring in the system is desirable. Finally, winding of the steering wheel requires some thought and cunning, otherwise you are likely to result with a left turn when you swing the wheel right. Not a great outcome.

On very close inspection, this cunning steering system has a cord attached to the front of the tiller ... that could work. Since this boat won the Bermuda Class 2010 it has been sea tested.

A tiller steering system ... the photo is not clear about what is happening at the motor, but then we don't want to give away too many secrets?

Just another photo of a tiller extension and the boat maybe slightly over trimmed. The wake around the Seagull gearbox suggests that the motor could come up a little higher, but then again that would be giving away too many secrets.

Some sort of packer or adjustable collar like this could help lift the gearbox higher in the water. The theory is that there is less drag and the motor can 'respire' most efficiently and that gives you more revs. But keep an eye on cavitation when the prop catches too much air. If your revs are up, but your speed isn't, try lowering the motor. Having the motor too deep in the water puts too much back pressure on the exhaust and the ol' seagull won't run very well.

Some sort of home made cavitation plate helps the water flow over the propeller. Without one, you can feel the blade biting and slipping when you go through rapids. This will put undue stress on you prop spring, and the less prop springs that get broken, the better. The cavitation plate above probably doesn't need to extend quite so far forward of the drive shaft. One curious feature of the Waikato race is that no matter how early March or late April the race is, there are always heaps of autumn leaves in the water column. The seagull outboard leg catches these leaves and they are held onto the leg/cavitation plate like glue. At best they cause the blade to cavitate and you slow down. At worst an average sized oak leaf can block up you water intakes and cook your motor.

The only way of resolving the problem is to stop your motor, lift the leg out of the water and restart. This might happen several times during the race. In the 2011 race I would have done the motor shut down/tilt the motor at least 3 times on each day. I could have saved myself a particularly long and slow leaf encrusted trip from Ngaruawahia and Huntly with more diligent attention to my telemetry (gps and rev counter) and being familiar with my boats performance. And always keep a 'weather eye' on your tell tale.

GPS

We are well into the 21 st century. GPS technology is available for about $220 NZ. It can be a handy piece of equipment providing you with over the ground speed information. You can interpet whether you are getting a push from the current or whether you are pushing a counter current. You can plot in "go to" positions to orientate yourself. This can be handy particularly for the complex run into Hood Landing.

A few stories about my own GPS experience: I have owned a string of GPS units that have all died in horrible circumstances. My first GPS died one day when I was sailing on Wellington Harbour. The winds were strong and race conditions were becoming fierce. So fearing for the GPS I instructed my crew to secure the GPS down below. The well meaning crewmate threw the little GPS into the Chilly Bin. That would have been a safe and secure place, except for the ice melt. That unit died a miserable cold drowning death and no amount of resuscitation could bring it back to life = R.I.P.

GPS unit number 2 was a bit fancier and showed a little snail trail of where you had been. You could even trace out underwater features by motoring around them and then use that to assist your fishing. Unfortunately it came with Velcro tape and encouraged owners to Velcro the unit to the top of the fore mentioned race yacht. Unfortunately I managed to dislodge the unit when I leapt onto the cabin to raise sail. GPS unit number 2 got dislodged and had a choice of falling into the cockpit and carrying on a useful and meaningful life ... or ... falling over the side into 100 m of irretrievable sea water. It chose option B. = R.I.P. x2

A fisherman heard all these sad tails of woe, misery and unspeakable loss and shouted me GPS unit number 3. This was a fine unit and lasted a couple of seagull races. It came with a useful mount. I attached this to the ama of my very successful twin hull world champion displacement catamaran (two apteryx multisport kayaks lashed together). The displacement catamaran went very well and did about 9 knots. Unfortunately the fine spray kicked forward by the leg going through the water at that speed, eventually soaked the 'mostly' water resistant unit. On day two of the Easter Seagull race, the screen started breaking up, the unit started turning itself off and generally playing up. No amount of CPR in the form of hot water cupboards etc etc could bring that one to life either = R.I.P. x3

I sulked for several years and eventually contacted the makers about getting it fixed. They directed me to the agents in Auckland. Unbelievably they reckoned that the unit was probably F%^&*ked, but if I sent it up, they would examine it and there was an option to buy a restored unit for half price. That became GPS unit number 4 and is still going with minor Bermuda related hiccups to this very day.

As I just mentioned my GPS disasters weren't over though. I took GPS unit number 4 to Bermuda and used it to good effect to tune and test our race boat, "Legless", for the RISR Round the Island Seagull Race. Then on Race day, it helped navigate the shoals, bommies and seamonsters of the best part of the Bermuda Triangle. The GPS worked well and I was spared any Bermuda Triangle nautical disasters. Or so I thought. However, when I got back to New Zealand and used GPS #4 during the next Easter British Seagull Race the GPS unit started playing up: indicating at one stage, that I was doing 70 knots through the rapids and then loosing all its satellites, sulked and shut down.

Oh boy. Things weren't looking good and maybe the Bermuda Triangle Gremlins had got the better of it. It was like its little internal clock had fried itself. A cold start up procedure had to be used each time I tried to use it: set the clock, set the nearest country (Auckland New Zealand) and wait. GPS unit number 4 would start finding satellites. 1, then 2, then 3 .... all the way up to 7 satellites that ought to be feeding back position and time to the unit. But then it would loose all the satellites one by one. Checking the unit would indicate that time had gone ahead (in some sort of Dr Who Time Paradox) by about a day. Happy to say that GPS unit number 4 eventually responded well to a full reboot (pull the batteries out and leave it for more than a month). That seemed to do the trick and like I said it is still alive to this day.

Moral of the story. GPS aren't as waterproof as the say they are. Also if they are water proof, they don't float too well (remember the watery grave fate of GPS unit number 2?). So getting some sort of waterproof bag is essential.

Also GPS are desirable electronics and units have been stolen from boats left overnight at Rangiriri. So keep your little GPS friend close to your heart at all times.

GPS will give your speed over the ground and will almost instantly give you feedback on adjustments you are making during testing. Did the speed increase when you raised the motor? What happens when you trim the boat nose down. Where do you sit to get your best speed? Did the extended transom modifications help or actually slow you down?

GPS will also give you a ball park indication of where you are at in terms of race preparation. For example Leg one of the Waikato River is 56 land miles = about 47 Nautical miles. If you are going at 3-4 knots you are going to be looking at a stunning, mind numbing 12 plus hours and in real danger of death by boredom or alchohol poisoning. 4-5 knots should be easily achievable and that means you are looking at a much more reasonable 10 hours - still a marathon, but tolerable. At 5-6 knots you have your boat pretty well tuned and your eta is going to be in the vicinity of 8 hours. There was a time when 6 knots would have won you the dinghy class, but not these days.

Initial seatrials of my minimax with a standard 1975 Silver Century indicated a speed of 5.8 - 6.2 knots. That wasn't bad, but by extending the transom, adjusting the height and trim of the motor, changing fuel mix and trim I managed to gain another knot. 7 knots was respectable and I thought might have been enough to be competitive. During the 2011 Easter Seagull Race I was eclipsed by seagull racer #66 and Ross Leger who was doing a phenomenal 11 knots. Still, 7 knots wasn't too bad, the race legs didn't take too long and I came 4th in the dinghy class.

Tiny Tach Rev counter

In time I will add a section on wild and wacky racers ... and their merits or otherwise.

Pete