Our Code zero sail was specifically built for light wind sailing, and as such it falls within the family of genoas and asymmetrical spinnakers. On this passage, we were thrilled to watch it flying out in front of Esper.
As soon as we began the three-day sail across the Flores Sea we hit the south-east trade winds. Dropping south from Benteng, and sailing parallel to Indonesia’s famous holiday islands, we could just make out Flores and Komodo to the south. Somewhere in front of us, lost in the haze, lay Bali and Java.
Our Code Zero Sail Setup
We hoist our Code Zero to the top of the main mast and run it on a furler, which we clip to the bow. This is particularly useful for us because Esper is rigged with a high-cut yankee and doesn’t perform well in light winds. The Kraken does.
Once hoisted, we control it with a single, infinity furling line, and a single sheet.
In episode 337 on our YouTube channel, we get into more detail of the setup and about how, when and why we use our code zero.
Stratovolcano looming out of the haze
As we headed east towards Lombok, we watched the tip of Mt Tambora appear on the horizon. It’s big, dominating the horizon, because it is a stratovolcano and they are the biggest in the world. This one is on the northern coast of Sumbawa island, but it isn’t any old volcano. In 1815 it caused the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history.
The eruption sent tsunamis across the Java and Flores Seas, where geologists and historians estimate that 10,000 people were annihilated. In 1816, the world fell into a gloomy winter which came to be known as “the year without a summer”.
Mt Tambora is still active today, and that gave us pause for thought as we came closer. After a couple of smaller eruptions (in 1880 and 1967) it has increased its seismic activity once more, exploding in 2011, 2012, and 2013…
Check out the full story in episode 337 on our YouTube channel:
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Hey guys I love your channel because it is such a great mix between travel and sailing techniques. I was very interested in your Code 0 episode. In the video you mentioned that it is not a downwind sail but is more suited for sailing on a reach. In looking at the sail and setup, you seemed to only sail it on a port tack. If the tack of the Code 0 is clipped in to the bow sprit and you control it with one starboard side sheet, then how do you tack the boat? Can you? Do you clip the new tack and rig a new sheet (to the old tack) to bring the sail over to a starboard tack? Or do you bring the sheet and sail around and sail the Code 0 backwards? Thanks so much in advance — I am shopping for my own staysail ketch rig now and hope to be out there soon, and I obviously have no experience with a Code 0 setup. Mark from Marblehead MA
We manually move it round and sail it ‘backwards’. We only really use it for long sails when we don’t expect to tack. Cheers. Liz
Hi, Jamie and Liz. Your Discord link seems to have expired. Can you send/post a new one? Looking forward to joining the discussion.
Yves. .
Sorry about that, Yves. I did set it to ‘not expire’ but it didn’t save. Anyway, try this: https://discord.gg/H9jmztupTx