Bertha and aftermath...

Getting a bit jumpy as I want to get out again, last weekend was kiboshed by a lady called Bertha - this was my tide window (high was at 12) - steady force 6 gusting 7 for all of it...  wind direction was interesting (not that it made a difference as I wasn't going out for love nor money!) - it swung almost 110' in 6 hours, so from S to NW...

...so I had planned for an all day-er this Sunday to make up for it as the tides are 0500 and 1700 and would be perfect. It's not to be though, the short range forecast is firming up and shows the following - not the nicest of conditions even without the wind!

May have to take a crafty day off next week...!

HISC drag race

Bit breezy today... 😨

A contrast to last weekend where there had been very little wind; when I got to the boat today it was blowing force 4 with occasional wicked gusts coming through.. took the decision early to reef the main so put in two rolls. Reefs in, and it had been so long since I've had to do this (September last year according to my logs) that I made a schoolboy error, more of which later...

I was early but managed to get off the mooring by about three hours before high tide..

With a WSW it was a good direction and having motored up wind off the mooring I hoisted main as I approached the bridge (and the new main halyard, ex-topping lift, was an improvement..) and the engine went off almost immediately as I turned, for a fast run down the channel; averaging 2 and 3 knots down wind and against a strong tide..  the gusts were the issue and I noticed that some of the sail slides were out of the track, yes that was the schoolboy error...  when I reefed on the mooring I'd hoisted the sail, removed the clip that holds the slides in the track when the sail is down, reefed, and then dropped the sail but had forgotten to put in the clip so three or four had dropped from the track... didn't matter as I had too much main anyway, so I need another reef.

For the first time in Sparrow I hove to (successfully..  most chuffed!), dropped the main slightly so as to put the slides back in, rolled in another reef, replaced the clip (!) and off we went...  brilliant, was very pleased with myself.. 💪

That was largely it..   a quick trip as I only had two or three hours; I managed to get to HISC, against a big tide, inside of an hour and a half superb conditions, an easy beat all the way down the harbour... the wind was the perfect direction.

Just off HISC I turned for home and the wind direction then became a broad'ish reach...  with the last legs of the tide under me I clocked 7.3 knots over the ground, she was flying...  most of the way she didn't drop under 6...

Bore up as I entered Northney channel for a beat to Sweare Deep, and then engine on for a return to the mooring as the wind continued to rise..  brilliant afternoon.

Log:

Distance: 9.47 miles (cumulative total in the 2014 mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: WSW Force 4, later force 5 gusting 6..
Sail Plan: Reefed main and genoa - engine for manoeuvring....
Speed: GPS track says max speed was 6.5 knots (that was under sail, and I saw 7.2/7.3 under sail a couple of times) - average speed 3.4 knots

Mid season make do and mend...

An afternoon off for some some mid-season bodging...  err..  fixing..  and just for once everything on the list was completed..

First on the list was the launch trolley (for my tender) which has been used and abused for at  least three or four years now without me having done anything to it...   for shame..  I have two issues  (well three), one of the support struts holding the flat bar that the tender usually sits on has rusted away completely meaning that the tender can cause the bar to press down on the wheel like a brake - that's a job for winter as I need to find someone in the club with some welding gear to weld in a short piece of metal bar (or I'll bolt in some metal plate more likely). Less of an issue is the wooden supports on the metal bar which are the wrong shape for the profile of the tender so I just need to add some bits - not urgent.. On the list today was the wheels which had begun to seize...  the purchase this week of some Valvoline waterproof spray grease (left)  was the solution...  the wheels are the simple solid type on a solid axle with a washer and clip holding them on and I thought I'd have to take them off completely, but in the end the spray nozzle was just the wrong size to get in the gaps and that soon saw them turning again..  I'll be more careful with maintenance in future...

Next on the list was the tiller which had started to split along the length and needed seeing too before it got worse... the tiller on Sparrow has always been low, and the end points slightly down - normally that isn't an issue but if I want to do some helming from the back of the cockpit the tiller doesn't clear my knees so I have a tendency to lever it up a little - the problem is that the bolt through the head stock where the tiller swivels was stiff, so the pressure was on the actual tiller joint..  which resulted in the following....

I knew exactly what I wanted to do - through bolt it with a penny washer on each side - the bolts were a little long (they are stainless though, and came from the spares box) but I used an off cut of plastic breadboard to spread the load and also provide a bit of height to the tiller fixing the original issue..

The tiller head is clamped to the rudder stock with a long bolt which also supports the tiller - it's a bit of a bodge to be honest - I think I'll replace that long bolt with a shorter one this winter as the strain of the tiller pressing down on it's full length might cause it to snap... either way, the fix is good 'un - bolts were bedded in butyl tape at both ends to stop water ingress..

Last job was the hatch slider  screws which I had replaced temporarily a few years ago and then forgot about ..  all I'd had at the time were some coated soft metal screws from my spares box and not surprisingly they had rusted (following)...

I reckon I got this job just in time as some of them were a right bu**er to get out, soft screws, rust, equals no head to get a grip on...  some of them I had to get out with the help of needle nose pliers, one I had to use a hammer on (as an impact driver) just to get it moving...  eventually all out though and a new set of stainless ones in their place, all these are also bedded in butyl  tape so as to stop any water ingress via the screw holes into the coaming the slide rail sits on (I've seen other boats where water ingress via these screw holes has freezed over winter causing the glass/gel to crack...)

Job done!

 

A final spray of the waterproof grease in the rail and the hatch is sliding better than it ever has...  time for the kettle to go on and a cup of coffee...

Last item was to swap over the halyards I am using for main and topping lift..  I've noticed that the main halyard doesn't run in the best direction at the top of the mast and it rubs again the topping lift (next to the pulley at the top of the mast)...   Looking at them the topping lift looks to have a better more direct run for the main so I've swapped them over to see if it's better...  hope to test that on Sunday!