Spring is coming

It was a beautiful day today, but mighty cold first thing.  I had wild vague plans that I would get up early and go sailing, but the alarm went off and I rolled over and went back to sleep for a couple more hours.  But when I took Oz for a walk, it looked so nice out there that when we got back we hitched up the boat and headed back down.

Anne came along, which makes it much more of an occasion.  We had a thermos and sandwiches while we burbled along about 3 knots, the best lunch venue imaginable. My new seat add in makes a good tea tray as well.

There was a bit of bad behaviour at the ramp coming in, one boat speeding to get in front of us, some guy with his boat half on and half off his trailer blocking two ramps, another guy taking an interminable time moving while he took photos of his kid with his mobile phone.  But luckily we were totally relaxed, and let it all wash over us.  I haven't taken the Core Sound out for a couple of months, so it was good to get it back in the water, and everything went pretty smoothly.  Although I did forget to take a bed or mat for Oz, and he was not too happy, as he gets very sleepy and he wants somewhere comfortable to take a nap.  I will put a mat on the check list.

Beaufort indicator

Anne needed the car, so Oz and I walked down to the yacht club and extracted the Sabre from its rack, rigged up and went out for an hour. 

It was a Northerly today, gusting up around 15 knots.  This was Ozzie's first go in the Sabre, and there is plenty of room for him but he needs to swap sides when when we tack and get out of the way of the tiller.   I noticed that he is a living Beaufort indicator - when the wind is round 10 knots he is stretches out, yawns, snoozes, and his ears are pricked up.  When it gets around 15 knots, his ears go down, body hunches up, and he gives me lots of reproachful looks. I still think he would rather come along than get left behind at home.

The whole exercise went pretty well today.  The new rudder blade seems to work well, and I managed to extract the boat from its rack, rig, launch, sail, derig and pack away all without any major dramas.  I am sure I will get more efficient at the whole thing. 

I am looking forward to sailing season.

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.