Back on the water

Just coming to the end of a project to replace the luff sleeve arrangement on the Core Sound 17's two masts. This project turned out to be much longer and more expensive than I anticipated, but it is almost finished.

Although the luff sleeve arrangement had the great virtue of simplicity - it was quick to set up and visually uncluttered - I found it had several downsides.  I mostly sail with just me and Ozzie the dog, and when the wind kicked up I found keeping the Core Sound sailing flat challenging.  And I really like being able to just drop the sails completely and motor into the boat harbour, without 115 square feet of windage producing sail cloth waiting to push me in some unexpected direction.

I am still refining the set up, and it is certainly taking me a lot longer than it used to, but I can keep practicing and experimenting with leaving as much in place as I can.

Yesterday was a splendid sailing day, despite a rather gloomy forecast.  Andrew who has been a regular at our midweek sailing days came out with me and we pottered around for a couple of hours.  I dropped him back at the beach in front of the yacht club, then headed back out for a bit more tweaking and attaching fittings.  Andrew took a great photo of me heading back out to Kirsty Ann.  You can see me carrying Oz in the extreme left of the picture.

I have a few more projects lined up for the boat.  Next in queue is to make a platform so Oz has a more comfortable space to spread out and sleep. If we are to make some longer voyages, the crew have to be comfortable.