Roo-Tugs

You may wonder, what the hell is a Roo-Tug?? Well, my dog Roo loves to play tug-of-war. So, I can measure the force of the wind by comparing the tug on the jib or spinnaker sheet with the force that Roo gives when playing. Sure, it sounds kind of weird, but so does horsepower.

So, use this type of scale for comparison: 

1 Rootug =~10 kts. of wind.
2 Rootugs =~ 15 kts. of wind.
3+ Rootugs = HOLD ON!!!
Of course, this also depends on other factors, such as spinnaker reaching tends to greatly increase the number of Rootugs.

Also, I've found that this tug-of-war playing is very good exercise for both me and Roo. It's good for me because the tug action is very similar to what you find when sailing, sometimes the pull is steady, and sometimes, the pull can be very hard and varies quite a lot.

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Last Updated: June 5, 2003

Mike "Lew" Lamar -