A late Winter's day sail

It was a rare day of mild wind and sunshine on Saturday, in the middle of what seems like a very long streak of grey cold windy weather.  I have been itching to get back out on the water.

None of the usual suspects could get out, so Ozzie and I headed out by ourselves.

I have improved my rigging time with the spinnaker, and it took about 35 minutes this time.

We were on the water by 11, and sailed in one long tack over towards Sandringham, across the shipping channel.  The winds were light, and on this leg we were making about 3 knots.  I got to a point about 3 miles from Sandringham after 2 hours, but I realised that if I continued I would be packing up in the dark and the cold if I was lucky, or worse, still sailing.  I should put a torch on the Mirror just in case that ever happens.

• On the way back, as we approached the shipping lane, I could see way over near the mouth of the Yarra a freighter emerging.  I thought we'd have plenty of time, as I was approaching at right angles at about 3.8 knots.  Of course the wind died, and the freighter was barreling down towards us.  I nearly broke out the oars for a bit of evasive action, but the wind kicked up again, and we made it across with a reasonable margin of comfort.  

I broke out the spinnaker as the wind tended to a very broad reach/run, and we rolled home very pleasantly.  I am enjoying the spinnaker much more than I expected, it is proving to be a good addition for cruising.  My kind of sailing weather, and I am very glad I got out!

Teardropping along

Anne booked in for a writers retreat near Avoca in NSW, so we agreed to drive up with the Teardrop, and Oz and I would knock about for a week then pick her up and drive to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

After a foggy night in Kangaroo Valley I headed down to the coast, and stayed at Husskinsons on Jervis Bay, Sussex Inlet and Kioloa.  I particularly liked Sussex Inlet, a very watery place, which would be fantastic to explore with the Core Sound.  Oz and I made do with the inflatable canoe.

Kioloa had more Kangaroos than Ozzie had ever seen in his life. They were very relaxed and eventually he got used to them.   It was a nice spot, and we camped right on the edge of that National park close to the beach.

After I picked Anne up we drove to Leura. Luckily Anne had booked accommodation for it snowed two of the three mornings we were there.

We drove home via Bathurst and Lithgow, and all the high plains were covered in snow. We stopped at the Japanese Garden in Corowa, which was well worth the stop.

And we stayed the last night at Wagga Wagga, which probably wasn't worth the stop.  It was super cold, -2 at least, probably colder near the river where we were camped.  The camping ground got our award for the most cheerless spot we have camped ever.

All in all, it was a great trip.  We have both come back energised.  The car has developed an ominous sound from some of those brutal mountain passes, but we are philosophical as it is coming up to 300k.

Spinnaker trial

At last we have a spell of settled, sunny days. It was cold early when I took Oz to Agility school, and the grass was wet with dew. So too were my boots and socks ater a while. But the day warmed up, and I pulled the Mirror on its beach trolley down to the yacht club, a good work out. I tell Anne people pay money to gyms to get a similar sort of exercise.

I have set up a flyaway pole and rigged the spinnaker so I can launch and drop it single handed. This took lots of googling, head scratching, assorted blocks and bits of bungey cord and line. Sunday forecast was for less than 10 knots, perfect for a first tryout of what for me is a relatively complicated and unknown system.

Daniel came along in his Mirror as well. We set a new record for time taken to rig up, but it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and very social as numerous people wanted to stop and chat about the boats, the dog, and life in general.

But we did get out eventually, and to my surprise, the spinnaker system worked quite well. In light airs, it seemed to add about .5 knot. And it is very colorful!

Here is Oz keeping a sharp lookout behind while I fiddle with the guy and sheet.

Cool Boat

It was a lovely mild day today, definitely the best day we have had for weeks, and a perfect day to try the new boat.

Paul, who sails a Sabre down at AYC, very kindly came down to give me a hand rigging up for the first time. It was just as well, as my memory of how to rig was faulty, and I got a couple of lines muddled.

Out on the water, the wind was variable, shifting around from Northerly to West, with patches of dead calm, but also some nice pressure.  A perfect day for a first sail.

The boat feels light and is more comfortable with its curved side decks than the Mirror.  The Venturi bailer leaks a bit, about a cup full every 15 minutes.  I will have to research that. And there are some things to get used to, like the noise the sail makes when tacking, as if it is turning itself inside out - I guess it is the battens flicking over from one curve to the opposite.  And I do miss the Huntingford Helm Impeder.  There were a couple of unintended 360's when I let go of the tiller to do something. 

It took me about an hour to de-rig, wash, pack up and get the boat back on its rack, but it was very pleasant in the sun.  A teenage girl with a friendly Alsatian walked past while I was packing up.  "Cool boat" she said.   I had to agree.

New blade

Yesterday I laminated some bits of ply for a new rudder blade.

Today I gave it an initial shaping. I collected the rigging and inspected a couple of professionally made rudder blades (which cost more than half what I paid for the whole boat). They are much finer than my attempt, especially the leading edge. I will try again tomorrow to see if I can get a thinner profile. I need to take at least 1 or 2 mm off the thickness to allow for paint and epoxy coats as well.

The good news is the centre board meets the measurement requirements so I don't need to replace that.

Foiled again

I read through the Sabre dinghy construction and fitting out notes, and realised that the rudder blade on my boat is distictly non standard. The notes specify essentially a rectangular shape. Mine slopes back from the leading edge. I asked Jim at the Dinghy Shop about it when I left standing rigging there for replacement. He said I could get away with it, as long as I didn't start winning. Not much chance of that, but I  will replace it anyhow.

 Just as well I discovered this  before I put too much effort into patching the old blade up. I have been researching NACA 00-- foils, not that I have much confidence I have understood much, and I am laminating up some ply to the requisite thickness. Tomorrow with the help of some templates I will see if I can make a passable rudder blade that could pass class measurement.

I wonder about the centreboard though. I will have to retrieve it and measure. I bought some closed cell foam for the trolley, and new lettering for transom on order, so with luck we might be ready to go soon.

Looks like Friday might be a possible sailing day weather wise - and I have plenty of boats to choose from.

Enough boats

I bought another boat on Friday, a Sabre dinghy. Faced with any decision point it is always possible to find some maxim or quotation that supports whatever you wanted to do in the first place. Didn't Wallis Simpson say you can never be too rich or have too many boats? And William Blake wisely observed that you never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough. I suspect with this boat I am getting close to enough.

A small fleet of Sabres sails out of AYC on Saturdays during the season. Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch and learn something. Even if I only hold onto the boat for a few seasons it should be worth it.

Bob, the previous owner, very kindly delivered the boat yesterday and showed me how to rig it, which was just as well as it would have been a major iq test otherwise. The boat was modesstly priced and seems in not bad nick. I bought it with money received from selling my sea kayak, so arguably the number of boats has stayed constant.

The colour scheme is not one I would have chosen, but it is growing on me, and it will be easy for the recue boat to spot.

After lunch I walked the boat on its beach trolley down to the club and after a lot of fiddling I managed to get it onto the upper level rack. Hopefully I can obtain a middle level or ground level spot before too long.

I will replace the sidestays and forestay, sand and repaint the foils, and get the trolley some new closed cell foam for the bunks. Luckily the weather is atrocious for the coming week so with luck I should have it in shape and ready to go when some nice sailing weather comes around.

Ozzie doesn't seem too unhappy to be snugged up on the bed rather than heading out sailing.