Humbling but good

Yesterday's test sail was humbling; it has been 11 months since Vanessa has touched the ocean. With the 25+ winds with gusts it took some time for me to get comfortable with her again. But as the first results of some of the modifications came in under jib and mizzen my anxious mood improved. After a sail with reefed main and mizzen things were enjoyable. Some points need further care which is a good thing. Sailing my own boat is a journey.

From Surfside beach I pushed Vanessa from the trailer into very low water, about 12 cm. The trailer has a hinge in the middle making this possible. It took more time than usual to rig her up. The boom has various lines attached now, all needing attention. The new gooseneck setup makes a single lazy jack possible. Very handy when all is fitted. Still need to fine tune that lazy jack attachment to boom so that the knots do not have to be undone to detach boom from mast. 

After an hour of getting ready I decided to raise anchor and take Vanessa for a spin with jib and mizzen set. The wind ripped and I was not comfortable initially with all the changes I had made...

Sailing close hauled into the lagoon close-by the start of the airport runway things were busy with tourists being hauled to and from our rock in the ocean. Dodging the jetplanes overhead and the subsequent additional gusts was a bit hairy. One gust was so strong it pushed the rail under. Vanessa did not tip of course but we did take in a bucket of seawater or two ... 

The new drain holes in the fore-deck took care of that in no time and all the water was in the cockpit quickly from there I pumped it out with the emergency bilge hand-pump. But now I really do have to install the manual bilge-pump I bought. I should do a faster job and require only one hand.

The cleat on the port side for the roller furling needs to have a small pulley so that the plastic cleat does not get sawed in half the next time I pull in the jib.  To have moved the furling sheet aft does make pulling in the job a lot easier when landing. I do not have to abandon my position at the helm for long to jump to the forward section of the boat with a head-swinging boom and loose mains'l sheets trying to respectively hit and trip me.

The two pulleys installed on the rudder stock to get and hold the rudder blade down worked flawlessly. Before them I had to hang over the transom and push down the blade. This works great.

Returning after a first short sail I needed a short break.  Hanging at the surfside beach I enjoyed looking at the stowed mainsail hanging in its lazy-jack...

Some rubber pulled from the bilge somewhere was test-rigged to the rudder so it could be used for future autohelming. But not today with this wind. Basically the two rubber "things" have slots in them so the helm can be fixed at any position. They can be quickly released from the cleat by sliding aft.

Just looking at the mains'l gave me the idea to sail with reefed main and mizzen. The first reefline was set, but I should have put in two lines. Chickening out often because going upwind things just get hairy sometimes and as you can see I do not dare to make the wind flow optimally.

The bulging is also caused by the loose and missing attachments to the mast of the mains'l.  Good seamanship takes courage.  I did not have it all the way.

I like sitting on the deck. A good view around and better balance of weight needed with this wind are good reasons.  Right now the coaming makes sitting on the deck a pain in the rear. So maybe the coaming needs some trimming. The footstrap installed in the cockpit is great. It gives me a safe feeling  because I cannot flip overboard.

Check out those palm trees... And the jumbled reefing lines bungling from the boom. That needs some fixing also. And the reefing lines should be fixed to cleats, not clams.

An impression taken between gusts:

After an upwind sail I anchored at the east of the Bucuti Yacht club South of the airport. The Sail school is where the cats lie on the floating dock.

The sun is blistering. I wish there was some shade...  hmm...  a cabin would provide that...

Nice lines. Missing a vertical one though.

This is the Aruban rescue vesselI never want to have to see.

The Bucuti Yacht club...

and the yachts we will be sailing with during at the Regatta in August. 

Down wind the boomvang was doing its job wonderfully. It will need repositioning in case of a dodger and or cabin.

7 - 7.5 knots... over ground.

Good sail. We need a shower.