The end is not near.
- Thread starter Skipper
- Start date
The BEGINNING is here!!! We've been waiting all summer for this month to come. The "end" comes in June, everybody knows that! 
We had our last race of the season Saturday. 45 degrees, 6-16kts with it mostly in the 12-14 range, cloudy but hell, we were sailing. The pic below is from yesterday, there were 5 sailboats out on the lake. A nice leisurely sail in about 6kts of breeze. Lots of fall sail left in Minnesota.
Wholeheartedly agree! It may soon be cool enough for me to finish all the other below-deck projects that did not get done last winter. It has just been too hot for woodwork and refinishing. Varnish doesn't react well to sweat drops, and doesn't dry well in the steam sauna my cabin becomes all summer. I'm going to try to change out my alternator to an 80amp one night this week. When it gets a little cooler down in the 70°s, I will start on the woodwork.The BEGINNING is here!!! We've been waiting all summer for this month to come. The "end" comes in June, everybody knows that!
The end came yesterday . Finding no crew, I had to finish the season on my own but what a day to end the season! I've been wanting to use my whisker pole on my 150 genny and the morning was a perfect opportunity with about 10 to 12 knots apparent behind me when I started by run to the north. At first, I wasn't going to bother (being alone with nobody to steer), but as the ride was nice and stable and the wheel under control by bungie, I went forward and rigged it up. At first, I was sailing a broad reach, following the west shoreline of Barnegat Bay past the inlet. As the wind built, I realized the reach was taking me too close to shore, so I veered slightly northeast toward the middle of the bay and gybed the main over to run wing and wing. Boat speed was gradually increasing from around 6 knots to 6.5 knots (the formula which says that theoretical hull speed is 6.3 knots for 22' WL just has no validity IMO) as the wind was building.
Having too much fun to feel any anxiety, I paid little attention to the whitecaps building behind me, or the apparent wind speed increasing to 15 knots or better. By this time, I was about 10 miles from my starting point, in the middle of the bay, and the boat was blasting along at over 7 knots on the GPS, topping off at about 7.5 knots. Knowing that eventually the fun needed to end and I had long slog upwind with an early sunset, I started to plan my exit strategy. The first problem was getting the pole off the genny, and I realized it may not be so easy. I gybed again so the main blanketed the genny. Fortunately the boat had been plowing forward on a stable course with my bungie autopilot, so I looked for a lull when I could get forward to the mast. I got there but couldn't un-clip the clew ... it seemed to be stuck! I had to get back to the helm (getting too nervous about the lack of control, mostly) and I was trying to think of an alternative when I noticed the clew had been set free and the pole was just hanging by the topping lift (and still attached to the mast, of course). Breathing a sigh of relief, I went forward again and detached the pole - but lost my grip on the topping lift shackle. Luckily, it didn't go up the mast, it just swung away from my reach. I didn't have time to fret about that.
Next step was to swing the bow into the wind. After some initial set-up, I turned the bow into the wind quickly, thinking that if I was too slow, a broach could be a possibility. It worked well and I got thru the wind without incident. My problem was that I didn't want a 150 genny up and full mainsail in wind that was now about 20 to 25 knots on the nose. I got the genny tacked down tight and drove her into the wind just enough to keep minimal flogging and I had the main loose to wind vane. My first step was to drop the main to the 1st reef and I was able to get that done quickly and without any drama. Luckily, the topping lift was now within reach, so I got to secure that problem.
Getting the genoa down was a bigger problem (hank-on sails). I had to release the halyard and get the boat stabilized by driving the main with the traveler all the way down. It worked as the boat plodded along nice and slowly, in control and not rounding up. Then I had to leap forward and pull the genoa down (no downhaul rigged of course), bundle the sail and get off the bow as quickly as possible. I was on hands and knees with at least one handhold at all times conscious about the lack of tether.
After catching my breath, I needed to reverse the process and get the smaller jib up (hank-on, of course). Completing that, sailing upwind was actually feasible, except I still had too much mainsail up. Putting the second reef in was only complicated by the fact that I didn't have the line ready for the 2nd clew. With a little difficulty, I got that in place. After that ordeal, which probably took about 30 minutes from removing the pole to completing the 2nd reef, sailing upwind was actually not bad. Beating into the waves, trying to make homeward progress, I was topping out at 6 knots on the GPS. When I got back home, I turned off on a beam reach for more fun and was reaching 6.8 to 7 knots with the 110 jib and the 2nd reef still in the mainsail. Later, I anchored to get the boat organized as the sun was going down and the wind dropped off to a nice gentle breeze.
This was about the best season-ending sail that I can remember. Next time we see her, S/V Thunderbird will be on stands.
. Finding no crew, I had to finish the season on my own but what a day to end the season! I've been wanting to use my whisker pole on my 150 genny and the morning was a perfect opportunity with about 10 to 12 knots apparent behind me when I started by run to the north. At first, I wasn't going to bother (being alone with nobody to steer), but as the ride was nice and stable and the wheel under control by bungie, I went forward and rigged it up. At first, I was sailing a broad reach, following the west shoreline of Barnegat Bay past the inlet. As the wind built, I realized the reach was taking me too close to shore, so I veered slightly northeast toward the middle of the bay and gybed the main over to run wing and wing. Boat speed was gradually increasing from around 6 knots to 6.5 knots (the formula which says that theoretical hull speed is 6.3 knots for 22' WL just has no validity IMO) as the wind was building.Having too much fun to feel any anxiety, I paid little attention to the whitecaps building behind me, or the apparent wind speed increasing to 15 knots or better. By this time, I was about 10 miles from my starting point, in the middle of the bay, and the boat was blasting along at over 7 knots on the GPS, topping off at about 7.5 knots. Knowing that eventually the fun needed to end and I had long slog upwind with an early sunset, I started to plan my exit strategy. The first problem was getting the pole off the genny, and I realized it may not be so easy. I gybed again so the main blanketed the genny. Fortunately the boat had been plowing forward on a stable course with my bungie autopilot, so I looked for a lull when I could get forward to the mast. I got there but couldn't un-clip the clew ... it seemed to be stuck! I had to get back to the helm (getting too nervous about the lack of control, mostly) and I was trying to think of an alternative when I noticed the clew had been set free and the pole was just hanging by the topping lift (and still attached to the mast, of course). Breathing a sigh of relief, I went forward again and detached the pole - but lost my grip on the topping lift shackle. Luckily, it didn't go up the mast, it just swung away from my reach. I didn't have time to fret about that.
Next step was to swing the bow into the wind. After some initial set-up, I turned the bow into the wind quickly, thinking that if I was too slow, a broach could be a possibility. It worked well and I got thru the wind without incident. My problem was that I didn't want a 150 genny up and full mainsail in wind that was now about 20 to 25 knots on the nose. I got the genny tacked down tight and drove her into the wind just enough to keep minimal flogging and I had the main loose to wind vane. My first step was to drop the main to the 1st reef and I was able to get that done quickly and without any drama. Luckily, the topping lift was now within reach, so I got to secure that problem.
Getting the genoa down was a bigger problem (hank-on sails). I had to release the halyard and get the boat stabilized by driving the main with the traveler all the way down. It worked as the boat plodded along nice and slowly, in control and not rounding up. Then I had to leap forward and pull the genoa down (no downhaul rigged of course), bundle the sail and get off the bow as quickly as possible. I was on hands and knees with at least one handhold at all times conscious about the lack of tether.
After catching my breath, I needed to reverse the process and get the smaller jib up (hank-on, of course). Completing that, sailing upwind was actually feasible, except I still had too much mainsail up. Putting the second reef in was only complicated by the fact that I didn't have the line ready for the 2nd clew. With a little difficulty, I got that in place. After that ordeal, which probably took about 30 minutes from removing the pole to completing the 2nd reef, sailing upwind was actually not bad. Beating into the waves, trying to make homeward progress, I was topping out at 6 knots on the GPS. When I got back home, I turned off on a beam reach for more fun and was reaching 6.8 to 7 knots with the 110 jib and the 2nd reef still in the mainsail. Later, I anchored to get the boat organized as the sun was going down and the wind dropped off to a nice gentle breeze.
This was about the best season-ending sail that I can remember. Next time we see her, S/V Thunderbird will be on stands.
Ward, I talked with Kim yesterday morning and she said Thunderbird was still at the slip ... dang, I was tempted to run down there! 70 degrees and south wind in November? Are you kidding me? Sails are back home in my garage, otherwise I just might have.
I hear that! If I had know we would have this warm of a fall I would have pushed back my haul out and sailed another couple of weeks. But getting into a busy season at work. Won't get back down to cover my boat until T-Day now.