Finally REALLY sailed my boat

[Hermit Scott]

I finally finished everything for the furler and hoisted the jenny. The winds were up to 15 knots or so today on the bay. The head sail is a 150. It seems a bit more than I want for single handing or short handed sailing.
I didn't inspect the whole sail because it looks so new, I thought there wasn't anything wrong. It turns out there is a tear in the leech and the cord inside got hung on a spreader. I think it was already like that, when I first hoisted it I noticed the sunbrella was already loose there. Whatever the case I will have to repair it.
It was a lot of fun and not as tough as I thought, except getting the sheets and clew to clear all the spreaders while tacking. The head sail has tell tales so that was a lot of help. It was really fast. I was very happy with the speed.
In the pic of my wife sitting on the bow, that is an example of the beautiful Texas oil well heads. So majestic.

 

[Bad Obsession]

That is great. Glad you got out. I am hauling out soon and it will be mid-April before the new Admiral gets to try her sea legs on again. She has been out once and there wasn't a lot of sailing to be done as the wind was a bit light but it came up just enough to get some time under sail.

Keep the Admiral happy and your sailing life will be much easier! The Catalina 30 is an easy boat to sail and very forgiving. I single hand most of the time and I fly a 150. When you get above 13 knots or so you will want to put in a single reef. Much over 15 and you want to roll up some jib. That is based on my MKii Bow Sprit Tall rig though. I can't tell for sure what your configuration is.

Have fun

 

[sinnettc]

. . . I fly a 150. When you get above 13 knots or so you will want to put in a single reef. Much over 15 and you want to roll up some jib. That is based on my MKii Bow Sprit Tall rig though.

I find pretty much the same thing with my Capri 22 tall rig, though if i know it's going to be windy I'll use the blade instead of a genoa.

 

[jibes138]

great news scott. Greatest sound in the world is when you sut off the motor and the wind starts driving you. Send a pic of the tear in the leech. Should be easy to fix but whether you can do it with a home sewing machine will be the question. They do moke some sail repair tape but I've never used it since I have an industrial machine.
Getting the clew around the shrouds just takes some getting use to. Let the wind do the work, once you get a large enough angle on the opposite tack the wind should push the headsail through the slot. Don't try to force it by pulling on the leeward sheet, let the wind bring it through. But be fast on pulling in the sheet on the leeward side when the jennie does go through or you will be doing a lot of cranking. A little practice and you'll find you can tack pretty much without winch handles. But you will want them for fine adjustments.

 

[kloudie1]

Congrats, Scott !! Boat feels really fine when both the sails are full and pulling !!

 

[Ken Honeycutt]

Ain't nuttin like it!

 

[sailingdog]

Congrats...watch out for them oil rigs though...

 

[RECESS]

Congrats. Once you have that rush of flying both sails you do understand the final stage of assimilation are done and you will spend the rest of your life wanting to get out every possible chance, right? Resistance is futile.

I have no idea why I went Borg in this post?

 

[Scott T-Bird]

That looks fantastic!

I see a smiling face on the bow ... that is a great sign! I also succumbed to the desire for a large head sail with a low profile in the interest of performance. I find that it is a bit much to handle when a day of relaxation is all that is wanted. I also found that it is very effective in hiding objects that I need to see ... like other boats! Watch out for those oil rigs indeed! At least your profile is higher for the furling drum. It will help to see under the sail, but when you are healing, your visibility will be affected.

The head sail is your engine with a mast head rig. I'm glad to see that you got that together for the start of the season. But then your season probably doesn't have a beginning and end like ours. We seem to be having some early season warmth ... we're hoping to be in the water next weekend!

 

[All U Get]

Finally

I didn't inspect the whole sail because it looks so new, I thought there wasn't anything wrong. It turns out there is a tear in the leech and the cord inside got hung on a spreader. I think it was already like that, when I first hoisted it I noticed the sunbrella was already loose there. Whatever the case I will have to repair it.
It was a lot of fun and not as tough as I thought, except getting the sheets and clew to clear all the spreaders while tacking. The head sail has tell tales so that was a lot of help. It was really fast. I was very happy with the speed.

Hi Hermit,
The jenny I use was chafing on the spreader, too. This year I'm adding chafing wheels on the stays just above the spreaders. Got them from West Marine.
Glad to hear you're out there.
All U Get

 

[MoonSailer]

Sailing is about as good as it gets!!!! I've been sailing since 1974 and the joy has not faded. We were out in the gulf Tuesday and it was great. A bit lumpy but great. Enjoy!!!

 

[dscribner]

Scott,

Pour some MORE salt in the wound! Up here, it's about 35 degrees today, almost t-shirt weather and I won't be able to get her in the water for another month. As long as the water is above 50 I can launch. Last day out was November 14.

If you check with SailRite, they probably have whatever you need to fix the genoa. As far as the sewing, I bet a local upholsterer or costume shop would do that for not too much. It's proabably 15 minutes of stitching if you do the initial leg work.

I agree with T-Bird. Our first time out (and I mean FIRST time) the genoa was set too close to the barrel, not far enough up the foil, so it swept the deck. On our way back, there was a shudder and a bang. I looked to port to see an bright orange buoy, about the size of VW, clear the sail and continue down the toe rail. Ahh, the mistakes we made that day! I'm glad there's no tax on idiousy! (or poor spelling) My son was the skipper de l' heure so I never let him forget it.

So get out there! Sail and think of us poor saps in Maine who have precious few months to enjoy!

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

Way to go!

 

[MrBee]

Glad to hear some one is doing some sailing !
Are those rigs lighted and easy to see at night ? Hope so.

Bee

 

[Ross]

Oil rigs are like trees in the desert they attract moving objects. It is a big ocean but somehow we can run into the damnedest things.

 

[Hermit Scott]

We stayed an extra day, just to finish more work though. Yes I am assimilated. The difference between just using the main and boat sails is most apparent in the power the boat has to plow through chop. With just a main you can still feel the chop afffect the speed and it starts to rock more. With both sails it just shoots a wake out and plows on through.
All U Get- I will check into some solutions for the sail catching on the spreaders. I will solve that and make it easy if I have to mount a curved rail at the spreaders for the sail to slide over. That was the only part of sailing I didn't enjoy. I have some winches on the mast for the halyards, one obviously needs a little matainence. It spun backwards and cracked me in the eye. Whee, that was fun. But even that was more enjoyable than seeing my jenny have a cord pulled out of her:cry:.
I think I have my stays adjusted correctly. I had to reseal them all with 4200. When I paint the deck I am going to pull them and use butyl tape. Anyway, I went onto my neighbors boat that is comparable in size to mine and pulled on his stays. Then adjusted mine to feel like his.
I have an adjustable backstay. I didn't know if I was supposed to tension it or leave it slack when I adjust my shrouds. So I put it about in the middle of the adjsutment range and then tensioned the shrouds.
We spent most of today screwing around in the other town/marina where will be moving in 4 days. Corpus is affected by severe urban decay, and the marina is right down town. Port Aransas is like margaritaville. No one's wearing shoes and people have licensed golf carts for cars.
BTW is was 80 degrees today here, just to let the frozen chosen know in Maine

In that second pic, does that bail look to be facing the wrong way? To the left is toward the bow.

 

[sailingdog]

it depends, what line is that and do you have a wider photo to show the overall setup.

In that second pic, does that bail look to be facing the wrong way? To the left is toward the bow.

 

[Dalliance]

Looking back at the first post in this thread, I think there is such a photo and it appears to be the forward most of three mainsheet boom bails. If that is correct, then in relation to the the direction of the block, the bail is not at the angle I would expect. What's stranger to me is that it looks as if it is welded to a base plate and screwed to the boom in a fixed position. I'm not familiar with Catalinas, but I thought that boom bails are always thru-bolted to the boom so that they can pivot in the direction of the net load.

 

[Joe]

It was a lot of fun and not as tough as I thought, except getting the sheets and clew to clear all the spreaders while tacking. .

Quite a day for you guys.... congrats. See... I told you it would be more fun.

Just a quick comment on the tacking issue. Let the wind push the sail through the foretriangle. Avoid trying to pull or force it through with the sheet or it will get hung up on the shrouds. When you get ready to tack, ease the sheet a foot or so.. but wait for the wind to backwind the sail before casting the sheet off the winch. As the sail comes across, strip the slack from the new sheet by hand until the handle is needed. If you still have trouble, especially on light air days, station a crew member by the mast, inside the shrouds, to pull the clew across.

 

[BobM]

Congratulations on a battle hard fought!

My first boat had been "decommissioned" for a few years and I had to figure a lot out too. Fortunately I didn't have to remove a forest from the hull, rebuild the engine and replace the furler, as you did. It must have felt great to fly the genoa for the first time. Practice makes perfect. Cut yourself some slack for a year or two in the perfect department. You will get there.