First you have to detect that you have kelp. Is your performance as competitive as it should be? Does the boat feel good. You probably don’t have kelp.

Did you just go close by kelp, a buoy or the breakwater? Upwind, has the helm feel changed, or the boat no longer able to point? Is the rudder fluttering? Sounds like it might be worth a peek.

Run downstairs and look in the kelp window. In the 3" diameter windows off to the side of the keel you won’t see most of the kelp you have. Three kelp pieces out of four will be too high up the keel to see in that style of window. You only see the lower keel, say 8 to 12" down from the top. Sadly, most kelp is on the top couple inches of the keel. That is why you need the little window right in front of the keel. In that window, you can see whole leading edge. To tell the difference between kelp and grass and to see plastic bags, the window must be really clear. There is a discussion of window clearing at the end.

Ignore eelgrass unless there is a lot of it. Say, 6 strands or more. If you aren’t sure that it is eelgrass, it has to go.

Eelgrass is thin, about the size of angel hair pasta, and either green or brown. Bigger? It could be a kelp stem complete with leaves and bulbs, but often, all you see is a bit of the stem between leaves.

OK, lets get the kelp off the keel. How fast are you going? Between 3 and 6.5 kts? Good, the rope or stick will work. More than 6.5 kts, the stick will break.

Less than 3, you have to back down, because there usually isn’t enough water pressure for stick or rope.

Ok, you are on the deck with the stick in your hand. Lay it on the surface of the water next to the hull. The water will move it under the boat and up against the keel in an eye blink. Now pry the stick against the bottom and scrape the kelp down and off the keel. With a good stick and proper placement, one pass should do it.

While you and your crew are practicing on the trailer, note where your hand has to go to get the stick as high up the keel as you can. It is out, away from the hull, rather than deeper into the water, as you might expect. I’ll discuss the stick design later. If you have both windows, when you can see the kelp in the big window, you should be able to reach it with the stick.

This is a one person job! You hold only one end of the line.

The concept is that you bring the rope to the top of the keel and then make it slide down to the bottom, pushing the kelp as it goes. Sometimes, it will peel the kelp off the side of the keel without pushing it down. Don’t count on that. Sounds easy, and it is. I’ll discuss the rope later. 

Start by getting the rope ready to go. Coil it to throw before you leave the rail. Put a wrap around your hand so you don’t lose it.. You are going to want toss it so is lies on the water fully extended along side the boat. Tangles do not help.

Ready? Then go to the bow. Toss the rope out to leeward and wait till it is fully extended along and behind the boat. Yes, you have to wait. Now, kneel down and just barely get the rope under the knuckle at the bow. Keep your hand forward. This causes the rope to swoop over to the top of the keel. First step complete! If you hurry, the rope will end up on the keel below the kelp and won’t do any good.

Now work your way aft, "tea bagging" the rope. Raise it a foot then lower your hand and wait for a 2 or 3 count. You are working a loop into it. As you "tea bag" your way aft, the rope moves down the keel. Start by having a friend look at it through the window for you. Keep raising the rope a foot and then lowering as you work aft. By the time you make it to the cabin break, the rope usually slides off the bottom of the keel, taking the kelp with it. If someone is looking aft from the rail, they usually see the kelp get left behind when it comes off. Stubborn kelp may take several passes. If the kelp is moving down too slowly, remember that when you can reach it with the stick, one pass usually gets rid of it. Switch tools when it makes sense.

Backing down. The trick to this is learning to sail backwards. Start with just a main up in smooth water and light air. Hanging out by the starting line while the committee waits for wind is a good time to play with this. You probably can get a coach to help you then.

Sail directly down wind with someone holding the boom out. Now, begin a sharp turn (really a hard over pivot) away from the boom (heading up). As the stern begins to slip sideways, keep rotating the rudder so it stays pointing down wind. Lift the tiller straight up as the rudder snaps into reverse and then put it down to steer backwards. You want to guide the rudder into reverse, not fight or force it. This is easy when you get the feel for it.

Now, keep steering the boat downwind, but in reverse. You won’t have lost much speed. In a second, the kelp will be ripped clear of the keel. Now all you have to do is pivot forward again. Turn away from the boom again and reverse the rudder to keep the leading edge going down wind. A few pumps on the sheets help to get moving. The key is that you are leading the stern around the stalled keel with the rudder, not making a turn.

The chute up!?? Yeah, let the pole to the head stay and over trim it as you pivot. Don’t over stretch the foot. The chute will end up plastered to the rig and seems not to get hurt. When you pivot back to down wind, pump the chute sheet to help it fill then work the pole back.

This whole drill should cost about 2 boat lengths when it is done right.

If you were sailing upwind, it is harder to get going again afterwards. The basics are the same. Start a hard turn to weather and pivot the rudder to suck the stern into reverse. The boat’s mass should not change direction much. Half a boat length in reverse is usually far enough. Getting going again is up to you. Ease sheets, steer with sails and stay calm. I usually reserve upwind back downs for very light air, when the rope and stick won’t work anyway. Another reason for an upwind back down is when you hit a kelp island big enough for condos and come to a complete stop. Of course, that never happens to me.

Occasionally, the kelp is so long that it wraps when you pivot to back down. Then it won’t come off. It may not wrap if you pivot the other way, but you are into the twilight zone at this point. Good luck!

How bout the rudder? First, lean way out and look at the bottom of the rudder. Then look down into the water directly astern. Between the two peeks, you should be able to tell. Most often you can just grab it behind the boat and pull it off the rudder. If not, use the stick. The rope or backing down won’t clear the rudder.

The MacLube people claim that it makes the keel and rudder slippery so kelp won’t stick. After Cal Cup I am sure that it won’t prevent kelp on a Martin, but it may make it easier to get off. I have it on Patience and the rope seems to work really well of late.

Ah, the stick design discussion. Back in 1990 when I first got Blarney, I tried a lot of different kelp removal gadgets. I was looking for something that worked without hurting the leading edge of my keel. The best sticks I found were square, so they had a scraper that did not slide or roll over the kelp. Bamboo and round ones just passed over the kelp. Initially, I used ¾" square Pine about 9’ long. They worked well, but broke at 4 kts or so. Moving to Oak, I got them to stand about 5+ kts, but they were hard on the keel. When I taper the tip down to 5/16 or so, they will take 6.5 kts, perhaps a bit more. The tapered ones also hit the keel softer and do less damage. I think the length is down to 8’ too. You have to have them custom made or do it yourself. Think power planer or joiner after you have a square stick.

Today, I carry the stick but I seldom use it when we are moving fast out of respect for my keel’s leading edge. And besides, most kelp is too high for it anyway. It is easiest to use upwind cause the heel keeps you dryer and reduces drag. Downwind, I usually pivot and sail backwards for a second or two.

The best rope I’ve tried is cheap 3/16" double braid. 35 feet is long enough for a Martin and easy to manage. Skinnier lines seem not to have enough drag in reasonable lengths, although they work if they are long enough. At 12 kts, 100 feet of 1/8" halyard tracer had too much drag! It left marks on the keel too. But, it was not on a Martin.

Floating lines are easy to get to the top of the keel, but seem not to move down. They don’t work. Larger lines often just slide over the kelp.

There has been a lot of discussion about fuzzy line vs. smooth. I like the cheapest Dacron double braid that West Marine carries, which is not particularly fuzzy or smooth.

If there is just some clouding, polishing or cleaning is all you need. Scratches or a coat of bottom dwellers? Try 600 grit, used wet, first. Use a sanding pad so you don’t make a lens (curved shape or ripples). You have to size the pad to the bottom contour. If you need sandpaper, use a degree of coarseness appropriate to the amount of material you need to remove. I don’t hesitate to use 220, but 600 grit is usually enough on an existing window.

Once you have the worst scratches out, begin the polishing process. Working wet, use 1000 grit and then 2000 grit to bring up the shine that the 600 removed. (if you don’t have 1000 and 2000, you can use rubbing compound) Then all it takes is a paper towel or soft cloth and plastic polish. West Marine carries Maguire’s #10. Follow the directions.

Window clarity:

Polish it to get rid of scratches, accumulated contamination and junk. Both sides! It is amazing how much munge you will find on the inside.

Replacing a window:

You drill the old one out with a hole saw, rough up a piece of Acrylic rod and glue it into the clean dry hole in your bottom with Marine Tex. Leave about 1/32" sticking out to sand flush with the hull. Hold it in place with masking tape till it cures (overnight). Then sand it flush with the hull and flat on the top.

To clean and dry the hole, sand or rasp out any big lumps so the rod will go in. Then wipe the hole out with alcohol or acetone and let it dry. I believe Jim likes to taper the rod and hole so it has to be pushed in from the bottom. I’ve done it successfully with and without the taper.

Pick your hole saw to match the Acrylic rod you use. Pick the Acrylic rod to fill the hole created by the old window, plus any extra you need to get the window aligned with the keels leading edge. Be sure you visualize the drill motor’s position while you are drilling up from the bottom. You can ding your keel if you aren’t careful. You probably will have to drill down from inside too. Some hole saws are too short for a thick bottom.

If you use a 1" rod, use a 1" hole saw. By the time you rough up the sides of the rod and rasp the bumps out of your hole, you will have created about 1/16" of slop that the epoxy will fill if you are careful. Make sure there are no voids to let water in.

Don’t worry about getting epoxy on the window surfaces. It will be sanded off when you sand the window flush with the hull. Depending on how much material you need to remove, you can start with a hand saw, grinder or 80 grit. As you get closer to the hull and keel, be increasingly careful. Masking tape on the front of the keel is cheap insurance.

If you don’t already have a window, you have to locate where it belongs. Using a long 3/16" bit, drill up through the bottom in front of the keel from outside. Be careful, this is the pilot hole, which locates the aft edge of the window. The center of the pilot hole must be precisely ½ the rod diameter (plus 1/32") forward of the top of the keel. Drill straight up on a Martin.

I did this on a Schock 35 and it worked great, except the diver has to clean the window so it gets cloudy. The diver can use 2000 grit to bring back the shine every so often. The plastic polish works under water, but it gets diluted pretty fast. Have your diver take a pre loaded cloth down in a plastic bag.