Our friend Simon came all the way from Geelong to sail with us and we turned on great weather but everything else that could go wrong.....
Saturday I arrived at the boat (which we put in the water Friday night), nice and early to get everything rigged and ready for the race start at 11am. Unfortunately my wife and friend did a rock-star entrance by arriving at 10.15 so we had time to get out, hoist the sails, do a few tacks and start the boat --spinnaker start !
First the spinnaker went over the side and we 'trawled' the spinnaker, then the sheets were 'outside' of the kite so the sheet had to be re-run, spinnaker flogs and the boat goes well over on it side. Next the spinnaker is 'trawled' again on the drop.
Next spinnaker run we are way too shy and I have to 'run' the tack twice and 'trawl' twice more. I finally just get the big spinnaker down and tie on a smaller one. I try to hoist the small kite and no one tells me the spinnaker halyard has wrapped itself around the 'gaff' batten on the mainsail.
So now I have to drop the main about half way to get the spinnaker halyard off the mainsail. Done, now to get the main back up---I over tighten the halyard and pull the block out of the base of the mast......Time to say Enough ! and I turned her for home, Day one done.
Sunday, repair mast base mainsail halyard block. Next, break it again. Next swap halyards with the jib. Main is up, jib is up but has no tension because it can only be raised my hand. Out we go early for a bit of a test and tune. We race for three on hours, no impressed with our performance at all. Then within sight of the finish the masthead spinnaker pulley breaks away and the only thing holding our big kite up is the wall of the carbon mast, the halyard exits about two odd foot from the mast tip through a hole drilled in the wall of the mast.......Get the spinnaker down in a Hurry !
Back to the boat ramp to get the boat out of the water and de-rig........Trailer bearing disintegrates in the car park and the wheel is only staying on through gravity as it wobbles along on about a 30deg toe out.....Off Donna goes for a two odd hour road drive to get a new bearing at 6pm on a Sunday night...I had one at home which she couldn't find and she ends up grabbing one from a friend who just happened to have one.
So a less than successful regatta. The good points were; the new very expensive mainsail is very good. The boat performed better with the new main, but is still slow as far as my expectations are concerned. The boat was treated poorly and tried very hard to stay upright so the new ballast has done the trick and has made her more stable (but less responsive to puffs).
Next, mast repairs, a bit more cruising I think and then Surf to City in January with Jon from Montana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_sc4YyYG9c
First the spinnaker went over the side and we 'trawled' the spinnaker, then the sheets were 'outside' of the kite so the sheet had to be re-run, spinnaker flogs and the boat goes well over on it side. Next the spinnaker is 'trawled' again on the drop.
So now I have to drop the main about half way to get the spinnaker halyard off the mainsail. Done, now to get the main back up---I over tighten the halyard and pull the block out of the base of the mast......Time to say Enough ! and I turned her for home, Day one done.
Sunday, repair mast base mainsail halyard block. Next, break it again. Next swap halyards with the jib. Main is up, jib is up but has no tension because it can only be raised my hand. Out we go early for a bit of a test and tune. We race for three on hours, no impressed with our performance at all. Then within sight of the finish the masthead spinnaker pulley breaks away and the only thing holding our big kite up is the wall of the carbon mast, the halyard exits about two odd foot from the mast tip through a hole drilled in the wall of the mast.......Get the spinnaker down in a Hurry !
Back to the boat ramp to get the boat out of the water and de-rig........Trailer bearing disintegrates in the car park and the wheel is only staying on through gravity as it wobbles along on about a 30deg toe out.....Off Donna goes for a two odd hour road drive to get a new bearing at 6pm on a Sunday night...I had one at home which she couldn't find and she ends up grabbing one from a friend who just happened to have one.
So a less than successful regatta. The good points were; the new very expensive mainsail is very good. The boat performed better with the new main, but is still slow as far as my expectations are concerned. The boat was treated poorly and tried very hard to stay upright so the new ballast has done the trick and has made her more stable (but less responsive to puffs).
Next, mast repairs, a bit more cruising I think and then Surf to City in January with Jon from Montana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_sc4YyYG9c
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