Catching up

It’s been a couple of weeks without a post so here’s what’s been happening:

1. Went sailing with my son. The plan was to run the motor for a bit, just to make sure everything was okay. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to start. Not even close. Sounded like a dead battery. Winds were light and manageable for us so we decided not to waste a trip out to the mooring. We raised the mainsail only and took a leisurely reach out towards Nayatt Point and back. In retrospect, we could have raised the jib as well.

2. It’s time to be thinking about hauling the boat for the winter. I’ve ordered boat stands from the mooring guy so we can store the boat in my side yard. (There is much to do and I’m more likely to do it if I see the boat every day!)

3. Battery again: I went out last weekend in a bit of chop to get the battery so I could have it charged. Unfortunately, I couldn’t release one of the wires. The nut and bolt are seized with rust. I’m going to try again this weekend with some WD-40 and a couple of bigger wrenches. Before I remove it, however, I’m going to sand the contacts on the other connection to try to improve the conductivity. It could be that the battery isn’t dead at all and that I just had a poor connection last time.

Great sailing

My friends Brian and Korrin joined me for a fantastic sail today. Though the wind was light when we set out at mid-day, we ended up with a great breeze driving us back and forth for two hours in front of Barrington Beach. The outboard was never needed. Brian was back in a sailboat for the first time in about 10 years and was doing his best to bury the leeward rail during his turn at the tiller. Wheeee!

We had two rather exciting moments. 1) When Brian popped the top right off the broken winch. Fortunately, all the parts stayed inboard. Lesson learned – until it’s fixed, NEVER PULL UP ON THE WINCH! 2) When a shackle holding the tack of the jib let go. Brian was able to go forward and use the shackle that probably supposed to be used for a secondary headsail.

One of the things I learned is that the boat is just not set up for single-handing in any sort of breeze. I’m sure I could be out with Kellan with a dying evening breeze, but 10-12 knot winds in the middle of the afternoon would be more than the two of us could handle. The main reasons are an inability to cleat the main sheet, and the lack of cam cleats for the jib sheets. When one hand is required for the main it leaves only one hand for the jib and that’s not enough when it’s blowing.

All in all, a great day. The boat was very stable and comfortable for the three of us. I think four adults would be the sensible limit.

Finally, a real day of sailing. Thanks guys!