Commissioning Weekend - Day 3

The day dawned, once again, clear and bright if a little chilly. Bacon butties were the the order of breakfast after which, given the light airs from the West, we hoisted the main and unfurled the genoa

Not a great photo I'm afraid but the sun was from the wrong direction plus I couldn't really see what I was aiming at on the screen! Sails look nice though!

Furling the genoa away, we set about sorting out the reefing on the main. We rapidly decided that painstakingly, and painfully, undoing the double overhand stopper knots on the reefing points on the old main was savage amusement so popped down to Burnham for some string.

Whilst there, I grabbed a gooseneck reefing hook fitting to solve, if only for the short term, the problems with our current quirky reefing arrangements. We also grabbed a new, sensibly sized, bucket. Lucky really to escape with a bill for less than fifty quid.

Back on board, we re-hoisted the main and set about tying in reefing points and lines. Five minutes after I'd fitted the reefing hooks, the boom fitting to which it, and the tack of the mainsail, attach parted company from the boom. On examination, the only surprise is that the fitting hadn't already jumped overboard. It left us with little option but to lash the tack of the sail to the boom until something can be done by way of a more permanent and elegant job.

It also left us with the continuing problem of hauling the tack reefing points down and making them fast. The solution, again probably short term, we found was to tie in lines long enough to reach a handy cleat on the mast. The position of the cleat and the resultant angle of pull shouldn't cause any problems with the arc of swing of the boom (I hope!).

Having successfully, if messily, succeeded in putting both reefs in the mainsail (and they are quite deep reefs - if we ever need the second reef I hate to think what the conditions would be like!) we put the mainsail away. A combination of forgetting to re-attach the clew outhaul and put some tension in the foot of the sail and not quite getting the start right meant we didn't get a terribly good stow on the sail. That's three attempts and only one decent job of it. Foolishly, we decided to deal with it later but that would not be an option when we came to it because later the wind had picked up to F5/6 and re-hoisting the sail to sort out the mess wouldn't be a viable option.

By now, it was early afternoon and we were clemmed with hunger so we popped up to the pub for a baguette and a pint. Boy were they busy but although the initial pessimistic estimate was "up to an hour" for the grub, it arrived in less than 25 minutes. 

Back on board, it was time to test the engine. It would have started first pull I reckon if I'd remembered to turn the fuel on! No problems there, she starts, she runs, she pushes and she pulls. That'll do for me

Into the final lap, we started at the bows and worked aft tidying up and offloading anything and everything with no rightful place on board. At the end of the exercise, apart from loading up with fuel and stores, she's as ready to go a-voyaging as she can be.

Lastly, before departing, we put out some additional fenders and added springs to the mooring lines as the wind was definitely getting up and we were leaving her on the pontoon overnight for the yard to put on her buoy, which is lacking buoy tails at the moment, on the morrow

To our surprise, on easing our aching limbs into the car, we discovered it was ten past seven already! A sib-2hr blast back home was a definite bonus!

A couple of additional pics ...

The new standing block for the cruising chute tack can, just, be seen aft of the genoa furling drum

The new cockpit floor in all it's, I suspect brief, glory

All in all it's been a reasonably successful weekend in that, despite a number of niggles and issues, she is ready to go sailing. How well she'll sail is another matter! The rig tension certainly needs attention asap for one thing. It was, though, very noticeable just how keen the new sails seemed to be to set and drive! Get 'em up, let the wind get at 'em and telltales would start a-flying and mooring lines a-creaking. I've never seen all the leech telltales stream on the old main, not once, have now on the new one and we were still tied to the pontoon!!!

Roll on the South Coast ...