An afternoon’s sail

On Friday afternoon, I sailed away from the mooring – a first for me.

Moored fore and aft in a trot line, with boats either side, this is restricted water – only wind on the beam or quarter will suffice. The forecast was north west 3-4 but it was more north east 2 on this stretch of the river at that moment, the tide was slackening and it seemed easy enough for me to chance it.

I chose the No.1 jib alone and inevitably the wind began to die as I inched my way along the line of boats. I had the engine ticking over but didn’t need it until the wind died completely as I prepared to raise the mainsail – and then only briefly as the tide began to take the boat.

The wind strengthened just enough and then it was dinghy sailing – tacking back and forth across the Cattewater in the flooky wind until there was a clear course passed Queen Anne’s Battery. It headed me again adjacent to the entrance to Sutton Harbour and took Blue Mistress close enough to the end of Mount Batten Pier (and the fisherman), before we could ease off into the Sound.

Then it was ‘dodge the warships’, followed by a long, glorious, close-hauled stretch in the sunshine with the promised northwest 3-4 blowing true and steady – across Plymouth Sound, out through the Western Channel,

to seaward of the Draystone Ledge buoy with Penlee Point in the background and

on to my waymark due of south of Rame Head – (in the image, we have some way to go).

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Time to work with the Autohelm, make several sail adjustments, reflect on why I didn’t choose the genoa to start with, work out that there are ways to leave the mooring under sail in most winds (but I would need the practice), check my gps against compass bearings, keep a lookout and get away from the continuing flow of depressing news.

On the way back there was a time when, from Jennycliff to Cawsand and from the Breakwater to Plymouth Hoe, Blue Mistress was the only boat moving. Not totally surprising as it was getting late and the tide was strongly against us.

I picked the wrong side of the trot to approach, and went round the boats again to pick up the mooring with a fierce following tide, running along the line of boats slow enough to find out how much stern throttle would be needed to stop the boat in the water to give me time to pick up the aft warp. I have said this before: these are the times when I really appreciate the long keel.

I picked up the mooring a few hours older, slightly wiser, very happy – and late for tea.

Leeway

I’ve just watched the videos on the Avida website prior to the Vendee Globe on 9th November. Great pictures.

Now for the contrast  –  yesterday I took Blue Mistress out into the Sound.

24 hour forecast: Northwest 4 or 5, backing west 3 or less. Slight or moderate. Showers in west. Good.

It had backed to south of west 3 or less by the time we got there – so it was the genoa and a gentle 2-3 knot sail across the Sound towards Cawsand, then out through the Western Channel, a broad reach along the outside of the Breakwater and back in through the Eastern Channel – (one mackerel later).  This whole trip would be a ten minute stroll for an Open 60. It took me the whole afternoon.

Plymouth Breakwater – west – looking into the sun, early yesterday afternoon

One of the delights of sailing a long keeled boat is the minimal leeway compared to other boats. In a steady light breeze, not enough to produce any significant heeling, we chuckled through the water. On the first leg, using crab pot buoys as markers and a cottage in Cawsand as guide, we easily cleared the marks upwind, while two newer boats that had set off after us dropped to leeward – and behind.

Now, Blue Mistress is no racing boat, and it not my intention to race her, but I reckon that, on some points of sailing, she could go faster – if only I wasn’t holding her back.

So, in later posts, I hope to tackle this – starting with rudder design.

Plymouth Breakwater – east – late in the afternoon

Shackles

Like last year, Blue Mistress will probably stay in the water through the winter.

She is moored fore and aft in a line of boats, (trot moorings).

Most of the boats will be hauled out in the next month, so Blue Mistress will face the winter storms with a line of buoys stretching out behind.

On Saturday, in the sunshine, I checked the mooring.

The  stern warps are on the left of the picture, the bow rope of the boat behind is on the right.

The top two shackles hold the mooring warps, the bottom shackle the trot rope – (the rope that holds the buoys in line when there is no boat on the mooring).

So far so good – but I used a nylon cable tie to mouse the middle shackle when I originally attached it. It seemed a quick and easy solution and plenty of other people do this.

However, the cable tie has rubbed against the other shackles and broken. The pin is loose and will fall out as the various shackles, eyes and ropes constantly work against each other.

How do I know? Because I used cable ties on all three shackles and twice this summer I have come back to the boat to find a warp detached from the buoy. (That’s one of those moments when you hope no one else has noticed but know for sure that someone will have :-D, and it’s also one of those moments when you’re pleased to have put two warps out).

The two other shackles were remoused with mouse wire. I had not got round to changing this one. After an entertaining few minutes leaning over the side of the dinghy trying to thread wire through a moving pin hole, I have now.

For the origin of this series: here.

Lazy jacks – Tiller Trimmer

Not last Friday – (Northwest 6 to gale 8 decreasing 4, then backing southwest and increasing 5 or 6 later. Moderate or rough, occasionally very rough in west. Squally showers. Moderate or good.) – but the Friday before.

Solo, I motored out past Mount Batten pier and tucked in, out of the way, towards Jennycliff, to set the mainsail.

Problem: unless we are head to wind, the slides jam and the mainsail won’t run up the mast; and, when we are head to wind, the head of the sail flaps as it runs up the mast and the battens catch in the lazy jacks.

I haven’t cracked this yet, and suspect that I will always be juggling with the problem.

Head-to-wind isn’t the main problem, getting caught in the lazy jacks is.

Keeping head to wind does require some work when single-handed.

It works best to set the mainsail before the foresail – the bow is blown off the wind less quickly.

Blue Mistress, with her long keel, holds a course fairly well so coming into the wind, releasing the tiller and hauling quickly will work – provided the battens don’t get caught in the lazy jacks.

The Tiller Trimmer works well with the engine in slow revs.

The Autohelm is even better, keeping the boat moving directly into the wind on the engine. But using the Autohelm means setting it up just for this job, and then dismantling it because, following that blissful moment when the engine is killed, I usually don’t want it.

I nearly got it right that Friday – (only had to half lower the sail once : -)). You can see from the image that I needed to tighten up the main halyard which I did later.

And the lazy jacks? They need to be tight when raising the sail – loose, as in the image below (taken last February), guarantees the battens getting caught.

And then they have to be loosened once the sail is up, (first the topping lift, then the lazy jacks), otherwise they interfere with the curve of the sail as above.

The Tiller Trimmer has been a great help. You can see the brake on the tiller behind Pete, with the control line leading back to cleats either side.

That Friday, I put up the main, bore away to take the wind on the beam and set the tiller.

I had time to loosen the topping lift, go forward, shackle on the foresail halyard – (I don’t like it swinging uselessly when we are under power), release the four ties holding the jib to the lifelines, loosen the lazy jacks, look across to the anchorage under Jennycliff which was full of boats, and then go aft and raise the jib.

Blue Mistress was still sailing well, I guess her bow had dropped off 5-10 degrees. My working on the foredeck would have altered the balance. Normally, I wouldn’t be so slow, but I wanted to see what would happen if I took longer.

When we’re sailing, I release the control line on the Tiller Mate entirely, only setting it up if I am going to use it. However, loose the control knob, the feed pulley acts as a brake and I prefer the tiller to be completely free when at the helm.

I have some issues about the tiller and rudder on the Folksong which I will raise in a later post.

For the origin of this series: here.

By the way, yes, it was February in the image above and, yes, that is someone water skiing in Devon.