Launched!

Towing dinghy

Originally uploaded by rick_barr

Dragonfly was launched on July 3rd. Once again, this was about four weeks later than I would have liked, but I had let poor weather discourage me from getting the boat ready in the spring.

Today I rowed out to Dragonfly to set up the running rigging and attach the mainsail. I also installed the boom attachment for the new vang. Then I motored down the Warren River and around Rumstick Point to my mooring. I have included photographic evidence of an outboard that is actually working (!) and my new dinghy.

Mainsheet system

Mainsheet_crop

Originally uploaded by rick_barr

I had posted previously about my new mainsheet system, but the boat was still in my yard at that time. I couldn’t post a photo of the completed project until Dragonfly was launched and had the mast and boom installed.

Well, better late than never, I guess. I took this picture today. I have been very pleased with the result. It makes me realize how HORRIBLE it was to have no way to cleat the mainsheet with the old system.

Nice sail today. Coudy with rain threatening all a round, but never arriving. Wind was out of the northeast and blowing 4 to 10 knots. I went up the Providence River to a point just short of Bullock’s Point, then back to the mooring.

Outboard check and quick sail

It had occurred to me that I hadn’t tried to start the outboard since Brian and I had been out on Dragonfly back in June.  So I went paddled out last Friday to try it out.  The motor started right up and I was able to keep it at fast idle by playing with the warm-up lever.  Unfortunately, I would not idle when I depressed the warm-up lever.  I need to figure out how to adjust the idle – it is probably some screw or something on the carburetor.

However, it was clear that I could have put it in gear and we would have gone forward – which is what the motor is for, right?  The wind down at the beach has been very reliable and I have been sailing off the mooring all summer – so I’m sure the next time I use the motor will be the day we take Dragonfly up the river for haul-out.

I took a 30-minute sail before heading back to shore.  Nice.

Solo sailing

Wind:  Northwest @ 12 knots, gusts to 18 knots

I went out for about 2 hours by myself last Saturday.  It was terrific.   Dragonfly is a great boat.   Sure, there is still plenty to do to make her better, but she is good enough for messing around.  We even took on the wake of the Newport – Providence ferry with no hull slapping and no water in the cockpit.

I’m also more comfortable handling her myself.  As long as the wind isn’t too unpredictable, it’s no problem.   I can let go of the tiller for short periods of time to handle the lines for the jib without coming to a complete stop, which means I feel in control.  It’s  a great feeling.

Here’s a plug for the wind data from the NOAA’s Narragansett Bay PORTS system.  I always check the wind before I head down to the mooring, and after my sail I can check the data for wind direction and speed.  I can even get live data from Conimicut Light on my cell phone on this page.

The power of the jib

Wind: South, 12 knots.  Gusts 18 knots.

Another sail yesterday, this time with by brother-in-law Q.   The southerly breeze really kicks up the chop down at the beach and we got rather wet paddling out to Dragonfly.  We started with main only, thinking that we’d raise the jib once we were safely away from shore.  Once we got going, I was a little nervous about raising the jib at all, because the wind felt pretty strong.

But tacking turned out to be rather difficult with just the mainsail.  We couldn’t point well at all.  The decision was made for us when the jib went over the side and started dragging in the water.  I figured we should raise it and leave it rather loose, letting it shake off the water, then I was going to lower it and put it away.

But lo and behold, the boat started behaving much more predictably with the jib up.  Once we had boat speed the ride was much smoother, and we were able to tack much more effectively.

What followed was some broad tacks down towards Colt State Park in Bristol, then over to a spot south of Conimicut Light, and finally a run back to the mooring.   It was a great day: good wind, nothing went wrong, and I learned something about the power of the jib.

It would be nice to have a standard jib for those days when the breeze is really brisk.  I don’t think I could single-hand with my current jib in winds above 15 knots.  I haven’t taken time to figure it out yet, but I probably have a 130% genoa as my only foresail.  It’s probably the most versatile foresail to have, but on breezy day the smaller jib would be welcome.  Particularly when kids are on board.

Father/son sailing

Wind: North, 13 knots.  Gusts to 18 knots.

I took my son out for a sail last Sunday.  We had nice wind out of the north.  An northerly breeze makes it very easy to get off the mooring.  I pull the mooring line down the length of the boat to get Dragonfly moving, then just push out the boom and start running downwind, which is directly away from the beach.

My son took the tiller while I raised the jib.  Unfortunately we caught a gust before I got back to the cockpit and we heeled quite a bit.  That scared him a little and he never quite relaxed for the rest of the sail.

So it looks like I’ll need to be more careful the next time we go out together.  In a decent wind, we may need to leave the jib down below.  Anybody have any good ideas to help a young sailor regain his confidence?  Leave a comment!

Sails up!

0629071123.jpg

Originally uploaded by rick_barr
Brian and I went sailing for about 3.5 hours today. We didn’t have great wind, but we managed to get off the mooring, up past Conimicut Light and about even w/ Bullock’s Point in Riverside before turning back. Once again the outboard gave us trouble – it kept dying at idle. Brian thinks the idle speed is set too low. Unfortunately, we need an hex key to adjust it and we didn’t have one aboard.

Still, it was a good day. I tacked a lot on my own while Brian was working on the motor. The new mainsheet system works quite well. Dragonfly is very comfortable and settles right down after crossing wakes, etc.

Brian took this picture w/ my new phone.

In the water

Dragonfly was launched last week. She spent a week in the Warren River before my son and I found time to move her to the mooring at Barrington Beach. We cheated and used the motor the whole way – but hey, the motor works now so why not!

Last sail of 2006

The boat is getting hauled sometime this week. Yesterday, Brian helped me sail her from the beach to a mooring in the Barrington River. From there, King Marine is going to unstep the mast, put her on a trailer and bring her to my yard.

The voyage started out on a frustrating note: we couldn’t get the motor to run for any length of time. It would crank and it would race at high rpm, but it wouldn’t idle. Eventually, it wouldn’t even fire. Brian suspects we may have fouled the sparkplugs with all those start attempts. So that another winter project….

However, since the breeze was steady from the south we decided to try sailing up the river. We headed well out into the bay before tacking around to clear Rumstick Point. From there, we commenced our slow run up the river. At times the wind was dead astern and we sailed “wing-and-wing” with the jib and mainsail on opposite sides of the boat.

People have always warned me that the Barrington River is tricky, with strong currents and a twisty channel. But several things were in our favor. First, the southerly breeze pushed us right up the river. Second, it was almost exactly high tide, which meant that there wasn’t much current. Finally, it is late in the season and there was very little traffic. We had one small fishing skiff following us and passed one large powerboat going the other way. That was it.

We grabbed the mooring on the first try, then set to stowing the sails and the boom. All in all, it was a great day and I felt quite a sense of accomplishment for successfully sailing up the river.

Next up: pictures of Dragonfly high n’ dry in the side yard!

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.