Some more, and even less

Some more humble pie was served to be eaten. This time by a freak bike accident, fracturing something in right hand.

About a month before Webb broke a rib I summersaulted over the front wheel of my bike. My right hand absorbed most of the impact, miraculously not exploding. Nursing it for some weeks and feeling small recovery steps daily I hoped that full function of the hand would return some day.

However the mind and soul work in mysterious ways; somewhere a reservation appeared in my thoughts. One that prepared me for the possibility of never being able to handle a sailboat alone anymore. It would not be safe not having the full use of my right hand available...

A few days ago was the first time i could do a plank without much pain and having to change hand position. We are now at 90% of handfunction. The body healed itself nearly completely in about 2,5 months. I now expect 100% recovery soon. Even less pain is in the future.

 I can now think about sailing again. So today I read all Webb's and Steve's posts since i stopped reading anything related to boats, sails, ocean and journeys because of the self induced block..

It is said that people dont change because they see the Light but because they feel the heat. I now see the Light because the heat of pain has left. Change happens. I wonder how much is self induced and how much is not.

Next post will be with sailing pics.

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.

Good wind

Wind looks good for sailing tomorrow pm 22 with 30 gusts:

Expect some pics here soon...

Volts

Besides working with wind and water energy, Vanessa will be equipped to deal with electrical energy. Basic electrical backbone (battery, bus, distribution panel, with appropriate fusing along the way) and the first application of fixed VHF radio with antenna is still in engineering and financial approval phase.
The process of learning about electrification and marine comms is half the fun.

Epoxy old?

Drilling holes in deck for water flow to cockpit so it can be pumped out was a dreadful thing. But after putting it off too long I finally did it. Followed by treating the bare ply with epoxy for waterproofing. But the epoxy mix did not get hard after one day. Usually it goes off in one or two hours and hardens in about 12. But after two days of waiting and testing it seems to have hardened. Phew...  Now the plugs and hoses can be fitted.

Boom fittings

Testing out the camera's timer function as a big exception I pose here at Vanessa how she is being worked on in my garage. Note the mailsail on the floor so I can take measurements for the work on the boom. Also note the cleat with the roller furling line for the jib on the port side, what seems to be the standard. I like following standards. Just have to learn them first. 

 A rare view of the shop in total disarray. But this is how it looks like now. Note the speakers which I installed today. They come from the outside shop where Vanessa was built. I am organizing  all the stuff, believe me. I like the process of cleaning up and organizing.

Some actual work was done on the boom today. This is the attachment for the boomvang, now necessary with the new gooseneck arrangement.

This is the cunningham itself. The clamcleat is temporarily put there to see how things work in practice.

The boom was outfitted with reefing hardware. Taken from Joel's setup I just setup the first reefing line. The second reefing line makes the sail a postage stamp. We should be ok with being able to quickly get the sail sized smaller to the first line. Again, testing it will give better insight and improvement possibilities. This pic is of the forward section of the boom. Same setup aft on the boom. The reefing will be done by lowering mainsail and pulling in the reefing lines forward and aft and setting in clam cleat.

Next is the lazy jack eyes on boom.

Refits

After some time of radio silence, I decided to start blogging again. This mostly to log stuff for myself. Very private. Besides some (sailing) friends nobody will be able to view this blog.

The idea to change the mainsail boom to a gooseneck fitted to the mast instead of using the original sprit boom setup started a few small changes. 
1. Cut the boom shorter
2. Make and fit wooden plug with hole to take the gooseneck pin
3. Install boomvang
4. Install lazyjack system
5. setup 1 line reefing on boom for easy reefing under sail

 

More small things are being done to the boat.Safety issues like replacing weak blocks and adding wires to safeguard pins on various places:

 

I like to sit on the deck with hard wind, but needed something to keep me from falling overboard:

 

 
There are some more projects ongoing on Vanessa. Biggest one is an electrical system. A simple one, still in engineering phase, but will probably have one or some of the following features:
1. fixed radio
2. music
3. auto bilge pump
4. nav lights and
5. onboard lights for camping
The electrification of Vanessa is a major step forward and I hesitate to do it because it may complicate matters more than I like. But I also like the learning associated with engineering and installing it. The latter will probably win.

There is also a soft or hard sprayhood/dodger in Vanessa's future. Ocean sailing necessitates some kine of cover from spray. The boat gets very wet and that is not good for longer sailing passages.

Lastly, a drainage system from the foredeck (in case of a wave coming in) needs to quickly get the water back to the cockpit.