Ah the lure of sailing has me tightly in its grasp.
Well I thought that this morning when the sun briefly peeked out of the dull grey clouds.
I didnt make it to the mooring. My little woman already had my day planned. I have to clean the paperwork away from the office table. (failed)
that one.
Clean the kitchen...
failed that too. Am at present looking out the office window at the ocean off Bronte Beach. Another rain front with fog is rolling in. Doing any drilling for electrical wiring work on my boat wont happen today. Im consoling myself with some home made split pea and Ham soup. The ham is a smoked Hock that has aphrodisiac like qualities that almost wants me to do the shopping..shopping.
... that was another task my little lady has set me.
Oh well I'll have to play hookey on Weds before the race starts...to do the jobs I cant/want to do today.
Well I have had the rigging done anew 2 years ago. I couldnt sail for a year because of feet & Knee problems, but now Im back and Helming is my role. The crew do the rest. I sometimes go fo'rd to deal with a problem or to instruct how to do it in future.
Every week we independantly trawl the net for sailing tips. I was given a link to US keelboat sailing website. Man it has everything a newbie like myself needs. My first taste of sailing was from below or at sea level. Depends how you look at it if your a MOB...we all know what those 3 letters mean & Im not a MOB member.
That was 5 years ago and as a crew member after that day on the Dubios 28' with running backstays I have always had to think as a crew member. Now Im the Helmsman
I to others seem to do the unconventional...like being on the low side.
Its sometimes simpler being there. Im already in position for a jybe if we have to do one unexpectantly...then the crew stay low.. the lighter crewman goes high to spot for other yachts & I stay low to maintain the heel & race speed.
Thank you all for your various insights.
Yes the halyard does go up easily especially if the backstay is let off.
And the thought that the cunningham taking up the slack especially as a class role has its points too.
But my crew and I arnt as nimble as before. Ideally I will look into bringing that halyard back to the cockpit via an organiser to a jammer block.
4 Weeks ago we were in Sydney Harbor near the heads. We had to head a beat to the harb bridge.
30 plus knts blowing from the SW..
I had up a #1.5 Jib. The Jibb drive the boat. The main accelerates it and brakes the boat speed.
We had to drop the main and I mean drop the main. There is no main topping lift on my boat.
The boom dropped into cockpit plus the mainsail.
I had to leave the helm in another sailboat owners hands thankfully while I dealt with the mainsail with another inexperienced crewman.
Finally I isolated the boom from the mainsail which we dropped into the cabin uncerimoniusly and attached the boom to its wire tether off the Main mast backstay.
It took approx 30-40 jibes to claw back home. A distance of maybe 2 NMiles. It took us nearly 3 hours.
If I had the control over the halyard from the cockpit, having a 130Kg man amidships in that blow which was dangerous for me and the situation.
The upshot of that day trip was that I know what the boat handles like.
We barely got wet except for spray the wind collected and dumped down MY neck and the guy at the helm when I handed it to him...well he wants to sail with me more regularly.
He has a 40' yacht setup for cruising sleeping 6 with a big steering wheel. He revelled at being on the tiller again.
Ah sailing is a mistress I want to caress. Its starting to clear up since I last looked writing this epic tale. I'll quickly shuffle papers, do the shopping, scoot down to the clubhouse...maybe evn row out to my mooring.
"Ya gots to do what ya gots to do"....Did Popeye the sailor mans say that to Olive Oiol?
regards,
Michael
I hope you've all had a laugh.
Connect with Facebook
