Yesterday, coming out of the inlet the winds were 5mph more than forecasted. And from the Northeast that meant reaching to the Northwest, to nowhere and back to be comfortable.
To the east of the inlet there is Lewes Beach, that is delightful to follow with your eyes and continuing in that direction for another 5 miles around the point is the ocean. The preferred direction to sail.
I had read about Heaving to and had done it once so I showed it to my wife - I told her many do this for the peace of cooking below without worrying about a gust or whatever. It gave us time to think, we were luffing or heeling to excess otherwise.
Then I thought, "Rob you just rigged all the reef lines - Use Them!" so I released the halyard and stood on the two bunks and reached up and pulled the main down to the second reef. I tied off the reefs - the first, most forward of which, should be aft of the boom kicker mount which would have taken a vertical kink out of the now small main. It wasn't very pretty but was delightful. I also furled about a foot of the foresail and off we went for the next 3.5 hours, just like it was blowing 6 to 12 mph when in fact it was 15 to 22! Pointing was bliss and my guesstamate is we were making 4 to 5 knots.
Question, what knot would you use to tie off the reefs at the bottom of the boom? I was working on a square but with all the movement and only one eye it was tough so I ended up with two half hitches and then did a figure eight at the bottom so the hitches wouldn't slide off.
Fun and games. It is nice not to be too limited by the weather!
Rob
To the east of the inlet there is Lewes Beach, that is delightful to follow with your eyes and continuing in that direction for another 5 miles around the point is the ocean. The preferred direction to sail.
I had read about Heaving to and had done it once so I showed it to my wife - I told her many do this for the peace of cooking below without worrying about a gust or whatever. It gave us time to think, we were luffing or heeling to excess otherwise.
Then I thought, "Rob you just rigged all the reef lines - Use Them!" so I released the halyard and stood on the two bunks and reached up and pulled the main down to the second reef. I tied off the reefs - the first, most forward of which, should be aft of the boom kicker mount which would have taken a vertical kink out of the now small main. It wasn't very pretty but was delightful. I also furled about a foot of the foresail and off we went for the next 3.5 hours, just like it was blowing 6 to 12 mph when in fact it was 15 to 22! Pointing was bliss and my guesstamate is we were making 4 to 5 knots.
Question, what knot would you use to tie off the reefs at the bottom of the boom? I was working on a square but with all the movement and only one eye it was tough so I ended up with two half hitches and then did a figure eight at the bottom so the hitches wouldn't slide off.
Fun and games. It is nice not to be too limited by the weather!
Rob