Man, where did this year go??? Already almost August, and with our relocation and moving into our new house I've not even had the chance to pull my boat out of the garage.... although I DID recently manage to get to Lake Monroe (Indiana) to watch the next generation get their last race of the year in.... A little more wind would have been helpful, but they all had a blast!
Soooo, let's hear some sailing stories from this season! Hopefully a few of you out there had better luck getting out on the water then I did!
Anybody getting any sailing in??
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
I went out on my sailing canoe today. Hot as hell, but decent wind. Sailing is like sex, never regret doing it.well, at least married sex.
-
willoutlaw
- Posts:4
- Joined:Wed Jan 25, 2017 5:10 pm
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
After a spring spent repairing a hole in the hull, rebuilding the transom, installing new keel gaskets, rebuilding the rudder, rebuilding the companionway hatch, repairing a crack in the keel box and doing some emergency rebuilding of the keel itself I finally tucked Joisey Girl into a slip on Lake Pepin about six weeks ago.
As luck would have it, I immediately got busy at work and also noticed that her sails were in worse condition than I'd remembered when I tucked her away for the winter last year.
So, off came the sails and I dropped them off with Tim at Sailcrafters for an overhaul. So, I had a boat that no longer leaked, had a transom that was no longer rotted and even had a spiffy new paint job on her arse.... and no sails.
Between work, a quick vacation up north and more work.... well it wasn't until today that I finally got her out for only the second time this year.
It was a beautiful day, right up until the windward upper shroud let go on our first tack, which is an event that will get your attention in a hurry.
I pointed her into the wind, released the main sheet, tried not to think about what would happen if the mast came down and got to work.
Luckily it was only the clevis pin holding the shroud to the chain plate that had fallen out and was rolling around on deck. Apparently the retaining ring had either worked loose or corroded away and I hadn't noticed.
With my wife, and Joisey Girl's namesake, holding us into the wind I dove below for my spare parts box, grabbed a pin and a couple of retaining rings and had the shroud reattached in one of the longest minutes of my life.
Wifey did a fine job, especially considering she'd been on a sailboat exactly twice in her life and had helmed one for a grand total of about two minutes.
It is amazing how quickly you can find the parts you need, make a repair and move on when a Really Bad Thing is only a good puff of wind away.
After that we had a lovely sail on the lake, which we had more or less to ourselves. Although I kept casting stern glances at the other clevis pins just in case they were thinking of betraying us as well.
I'm off for a few more days so with luck I'll take her out a few more times before I have to go back to work for The Man. But not until I've inspected every inch of rigging I can find.
As luck would have it, I immediately got busy at work and also noticed that her sails were in worse condition than I'd remembered when I tucked her away for the winter last year.
So, off came the sails and I dropped them off with Tim at Sailcrafters for an overhaul. So, I had a boat that no longer leaked, had a transom that was no longer rotted and even had a spiffy new paint job on her arse.... and no sails.
Between work, a quick vacation up north and more work.... well it wasn't until today that I finally got her out for only the second time this year.
It was a beautiful day, right up until the windward upper shroud let go on our first tack, which is an event that will get your attention in a hurry.
I pointed her into the wind, released the main sheet, tried not to think about what would happen if the mast came down and got to work.
Luckily it was only the clevis pin holding the shroud to the chain plate that had fallen out and was rolling around on deck. Apparently the retaining ring had either worked loose or corroded away and I hadn't noticed.
With my wife, and Joisey Girl's namesake, holding us into the wind I dove below for my spare parts box, grabbed a pin and a couple of retaining rings and had the shroud reattached in one of the longest minutes of my life.
Wifey did a fine job, especially considering she'd been on a sailboat exactly twice in her life and had helmed one for a grand total of about two minutes.
It is amazing how quickly you can find the parts you need, make a repair and move on when a Really Bad Thing is only a good puff of wind away.
After that we had a lovely sail on the lake, which we had more or less to ourselves. Although I kept casting stern glances at the other clevis pins just in case they were thinking of betraying us as well.
I'm off for a few more days so with luck I'll take her out a few more times before I have to go back to work for The Man. But not until I've inspected every inch of rigging I can find.
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
Yup, sounds about right. Do that for a year and everything will be just right.
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
Yes. Plenty. I'm lucky to have the boat on a mooring at a lake 10 minutes from home so have been getting out about once a week or so.
Unlike Will, my boat was in reasonable shape when I got it but I have done some rebedding of deck hardware to ensure it stays that way. I got a few tears in my 40-year-old sails that I've patched up, but a new main is on the agenda for next year.
I did some upgrades think year to make it easier to single hand - slugs on mainsail, mast gate, tiller lock, jib downhaul. So I've been able to get out on my own on some less-windy evenings.
I took the boat out in some 15-20 knot winds and got to try putting in a reef. Exciting, but I still prefer more moderate conditions. I took the boat down to another lake for the annual "Newfie Regatta" and got to meet some other local sailors (they are few and far between up here) and even got to meet another sj21 owner.
I'm hoping to get out a few more times next month, but winter comes early up here so that will probably be about it.
Unlike Will, my boat was in reasonable shape when I got it but I have done some rebedding of deck hardware to ensure it stays that way. I got a few tears in my 40-year-old sails that I've patched up, but a new main is on the agenda for next year.
I did some upgrades think year to make it easier to single hand - slugs on mainsail, mast gate, tiller lock, jib downhaul. So I've been able to get out on my own on some less-windy evenings.
I took the boat out in some 15-20 knot winds and got to try putting in a reef. Exciting, but I still prefer more moderate conditions. I took the boat down to another lake for the annual "Newfie Regatta" and got to meet some other local sailors (they are few and far between up here) and even got to meet another sj21 owner.
I'm hoping to get out a few more times next month, but winter comes early up here so that will probably be about it.
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
Winter is the sailing season in Mississippi and I was going out almost every week until the end of February when my wife got hit in the head by the sideview mirror of a truck. Now I'm beached indefinitely. Eventually I started putting a day in every week rebedding the deck hardware. It took me a couple of weeks to build up enough courage to drill out the first hole in the deck, but now I guess I'm an old hand. Next I'll work on several places where there were voids behind the gelcoat when the deck was built. Anyone have any recommendations about mixing fairly small amounts of resin?
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
Just use one pump of harder and resin at a time and thicken it with colloidal silica. Try to ensure you have enough holes to use it all.
Re: Anybody getting any sailing in??
For very small amounts I use a digital scale and do it by weight. Your resin should give proportions by weight as well as volume. In the case of west system I believe it is the same. You can buy scales with 1/100 precision on Amazon for about $10, so you can mix up less than a gram at a time if you want. Like this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012LOQ ... B000O37TDO