We went for a short sail yesterday with our friend Laurie, who used to sail on Shazza (i550). So we were able to compare experiences and performance between the old and new. We had around 8 to 10 knots which was good for testing two of our three spinnakers which we hadn't used before. One of our old spinnakers had been retired (pink & green little one) and another I had thrown out because it was just shot (our mid range spinnaker).
The new kites went well and one will stay as is while the other will be re-cut to make it bigger which will be our mid conditions kite (10-20knots of breeze). Everything else on the boat performed well as usual.
Today was an interesting day to say the least. For starters we had wind against tide. The breeze was a reasonable 12-15knots when we left the club pontoon blowing in the opposite direction to the tide going out. The creek we have to get out of gets very short and large waves in these conditions and we had a lot of very noisy slamming off the back of the waves, not very pleasant. Once out of the creek the waves where a little better but not much so it was not a lot of fun so we kept the sail short.
Before leaving the dock I had put a reef in the main for the first time and because it was only the two of us I thought today would be a good time to try it out and see what needed to be done to get it raised. All went well and it was quite easy to raise and looked very nice when we sailed with it. I also kept the jib on the deck because I just wanted Donna to feel comfortable with the reef in the main and see that we could sail two-up in some not so pleasant waves and wind and feel safe and under control.
Mission accomplished, we were in no hurry so there was no point in putting up the jib and getting more powered up. So after only an hour or so and some bigger wind gusts we headed for home with the jib still on the deck and no kite, slow but effective for a casual sail.
Heading for the channel markers to the creek entrance I decided to keep the main sail up and not start the engine because I was unsure of how much fuel was left in the tank. I didn't want to be running out of fuel with steep little following waves, exposed sand banks on one side, and rocks on the other. The decision ended up being well made because when I had a look after we finally docked there would definitely not been enough fuel for the job.
The highlight of todays' sail however was Donna's test of her brand new Christmas present, her very good off-shore auto-inflating lifejacket.
We were sailing into the creek and about 50 metres short of where we were going to tie up at the dock to get the main-sail down. I was on one gybe and a round-up to the dock would be all we needed. Unfortunately sometimes in the creek the breeze can get shifty because of mangrove forests on one side and houses and fig trees and all sorts on the other side.
Well we (I) gybed with no warning one way heeling the boat quite a lot then immediately back to the original gybe.
Donna was sitting on the foredeck with the bow-line ready for a nice easy docking-----Donna was unceremoniously deposited into the water only 20 odd metres from the dock and I was forced to sail back out away from the dock and her.
I was happy to watch that by the time Donna was at the back of the boat, while I sailed away, the new lifejacket had fully inflated and she was in no danger and she was unhurt. By the time I had tacked and gybed back to her again she was at the dock and a couple of sailors were helping her up.
The new kites went well and one will stay as is while the other will be re-cut to make it bigger which will be our mid conditions kite (10-20knots of breeze). Everything else on the boat performed well as usual.
Today was an interesting day to say the least. For starters we had wind against tide. The breeze was a reasonable 12-15knots when we left the club pontoon blowing in the opposite direction to the tide going out. The creek we have to get out of gets very short and large waves in these conditions and we had a lot of very noisy slamming off the back of the waves, not very pleasant. Once out of the creek the waves where a little better but not much so it was not a lot of fun so we kept the sail short.
The reefed main looked very good.
Before leaving the dock I had put a reef in the main for the first time and because it was only the two of us I thought today would be a good time to try it out and see what needed to be done to get it raised. All went well and it was quite easy to raise and looked very nice when we sailed with it. I also kept the jib on the deck because I just wanted Donna to feel comfortable with the reef in the main and see that we could sail two-up in some not so pleasant waves and wind and feel safe and under control.
Not very exciting, just the way I wanted it today.
Heading for the channel markers to the creek entrance I decided to keep the main sail up and not start the engine because I was unsure of how much fuel was left in the tank. I didn't want to be running out of fuel with steep little following waves, exposed sand banks on one side, and rocks on the other. The decision ended up being well made because when I had a look after we finally docked there would definitely not been enough fuel for the job.
The highlight of todays' sail however was Donna's test of her brand new Christmas present, her very good off-shore auto-inflating lifejacket.
We were sailing into the creek and about 50 metres short of where we were going to tie up at the dock to get the main-sail down. I was on one gybe and a round-up to the dock would be all we needed. Unfortunately sometimes in the creek the breeze can get shifty because of mangrove forests on one side and houses and fig trees and all sorts on the other side.
Well we (I) gybed with no warning one way heeling the boat quite a lot then immediately back to the original gybe.
Donna was sitting on the foredeck with the bow-line ready for a nice easy docking-----Donna was unceremoniously deposited into the water only 20 odd metres from the dock and I was forced to sail back out away from the dock and her.
I was happy to watch that by the time Donna was at the back of the boat, while I sailed away, the new lifejacket had fully inflated and she was in no danger and she was unhurt. By the time I had tacked and gybed back to her again she was at the dock and a couple of sailors were helping her up.
I think it's good for her confidence in her new life-jacket that she got to test the auto-inflation under calm pleasant conditions within a little backstroke distance of a dock.
It was all very amusing for all concerned. This is not the first time Donna has fallen off the foredeck of one of our boats. Although unlike previous swims this one was not totally her fault and this one will cost a little pocket money to 're-gas' her auto-inflator on the lifejacket. But that's all good, pocket money for piece of mind is very much alright with me.
Donna was definitely not stressed by her unintended swimming lesson.
The new jack had so much buoyancy.
So tomorrow we head back out again for a bit of a blast with another friend and 'Charlene' will then be rested until the end of the month and her first race on the 24th of January.
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