SHIP'S LOG:
Well, HERMINE came and went without too much of a brouhaha and all of my careful preparations proved more than adequate for the problems she caused. Her effects hung around for a couple of days and thus delayed the restoration of ABISHAG to her normal state. That actually took more than two days as not only did I have to undo the preparations for the storm but I had to do new preparation for the Commodore's Trophy Race on the 11th!
While I have raced over the years, I haven't raced a boat of my own in about 15 years and it is a different thing altogether. Just getting crew is a bit of a chore as everyone is doing the same. I was able to secure two crew, Friend Fred and another club member, Matt. One or two more would have been very helpful as would have been some practice, but you can't have everything.
The race was wonderful and we spent the great majority of our time scudding along at between 7 and 10 knots which is really screaming for ABISHAG. We didn't finish last. She does not, however, have a racing hull and with two masts and a lot of sail area, we were "just a wee bit" over-powered a lot of the time. Then again, I just want to race. Winning would have been nice but it would have taken a lot of rum to really believe we could finish in the silver, so we settled for having a good time. Matt, in his first race, had a wonderful time. Fred was able to tweak and plot to his heart's content. Like I said, we didn't finish last and I am good with that.
I got out of racing because it gave rise to my inner Capt. Bligh. I could feel it rising on Sunday so I don't think I'll be racing again this year. Perhaps next year for one or two of the big races, but not every week. It can be a good way to loose friends.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Hermine Is on The Way!
SHIP'S LOG:
I spent 4 hours this morning getting ABISHAG ready for Tropical Storm (maybe Hurricane) HERMINE. It is a pain in the but to go through this procedure, but when you have no insurance, one does what one has to do. Having a boat that is 39 years old and counting, most marine insurance companies won't touch her. Even those who might consider it requires so many upgrades that completing them would cost more than the boat would be worth. So I simply prepare as best I can.
The anchors we removed from the bow of the boat and secured on deck. The way they sit on the bow could put them in contact with the mooring pennants if the surf causes her to hobby-horse and they would cut right through the lines (possibly). I also attached a second set of pennants to the mooring ball on the off chance that the primary ones let go. They are seven years old now and have held through IRENE and SANDY and numerous Nor'easters and will be replace in the spring. They are probably fine but you only know when they are not when they let go.
I removed the jib, tightened the main in its furling tube, and tied down the mizzen. I removed the bimini and brought it home. It is a perfect opportunity to repair the various hole, tears and weak spots. If I can do some more sweat equity at the loft over the winter, perhaps I will build a new one out of SUMBRELLA clothe instead of the vinyl of the current one. All of the cushions went below, out of the expected wind. And chaffing gear went on every line on deck.
Despite removing all items inside from high spots to low, the inside will look pretty much like a bomb went off in it if the winds get above 40mph. Locks on cupboards and lockers are never as strong as you would want them and things tend to shift a lot and are never happy with where they are and want to go someplace else.
Well, ABISHAG is as safe as I can make short of having her hauled out of the water someplace, but I don't have the coins for that. So now we wait. AH, the joy of boat ownership!
I spent 4 hours this morning getting ABISHAG ready for Tropical Storm (maybe Hurricane) HERMINE. It is a pain in the but to go through this procedure, but when you have no insurance, one does what one has to do. Having a boat that is 39 years old and counting, most marine insurance companies won't touch her. Even those who might consider it requires so many upgrades that completing them would cost more than the boat would be worth. So I simply prepare as best I can.
The anchors we removed from the bow of the boat and secured on deck. The way they sit on the bow could put them in contact with the mooring pennants if the surf causes her to hobby-horse and they would cut right through the lines (possibly). I also attached a second set of pennants to the mooring ball on the off chance that the primary ones let go. They are seven years old now and have held through IRENE and SANDY and numerous Nor'easters and will be replace in the spring. They are probably fine but you only know when they are not when they let go.
I removed the jib, tightened the main in its furling tube, and tied down the mizzen. I removed the bimini and brought it home. It is a perfect opportunity to repair the various hole, tears and weak spots. If I can do some more sweat equity at the loft over the winter, perhaps I will build a new one out of SUMBRELLA clothe instead of the vinyl of the current one. All of the cushions went below, out of the expected wind. And chaffing gear went on every line on deck.
Despite removing all items inside from high spots to low, the inside will look pretty much like a bomb went off in it if the winds get above 40mph. Locks on cupboards and lockers are never as strong as you would want them and things tend to shift a lot and are never happy with where they are and want to go someplace else.
Well, ABISHAG is as safe as I can make short of having her hauled out of the water someplace, but I don't have the coins for that. So now we wait. AH, the joy of boat ownership!
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Sailing! Sailing! Sailing!
SHIP'S LOG:
Went for a long sail on Saturday, over to Watch hill and back. It was a perfect day. The wind, once we got into Fishers Island Sound was perfect and we cruised along at 6.5 knots there and and back. The only down side was that once out of Fishers Island Sound the wind all bit disappeared, but what the heck, it was not like we were going anywhere or that we basically didn't have all the time in the world. It was a perfect day, not too hot, low humidity and a few puffy clouds. You couldn't ask for better. If tomorrow is as promised, I will be out again as the loft is closed for lack of work and I am not scheduled to drive the launch. Ah, too bad it is June instead of the cusp of September.
Went for a long sail on Saturday, over to Watch hill and back. It was a perfect day. The wind, once we got into Fishers Island Sound was perfect and we cruised along at 6.5 knots there and and back. The only down side was that once out of Fishers Island Sound the wind all bit disappeared, but what the heck, it was not like we were going anywhere or that we basically didn't have all the time in the world. It was a perfect day, not too hot, low humidity and a few puffy clouds. You couldn't ask for better. If tomorrow is as promised, I will be out again as the loft is closed for lack of work and I am not scheduled to drive the launch. Ah, too bad it is June instead of the cusp of September.
Friday, August 26, 2016
SHIP'S LOG:
Actually haven't had much of a chance to do much sailing as almost all of the other launch rivers are off on the club cruise and it means mucho extra hours driving the launch. Ah!, but tomorrow, I get a chance to go sailing and I am taking Friend Fred with as a small way of thanking him for all his help with ABISHAG. The weather looks good and anything short of snow will be fine!
Actually haven't had much of a chance to do much sailing as almost all of the other launch rivers are off on the club cruise and it means mucho extra hours driving the launch. Ah!, but tomorrow, I get a chance to go sailing and I am taking Friend Fred with as a small way of thanking him for all his help with ABISHAG. The weather looks good and anything short of snow will be fine!
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
It Was A Great Day For Sailing! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
Not a cloud in the sky and winds blowing a steady and solid 15 knots with gust to 20! It was ABISHAG's type of weather. Being an English built boat, designed for the English Channel and the North Sea, lots of waves and wind were just her cup of tea. It was rail down sailing even with a reef in! Usually in August, we get very light winds, but yesterday was certainly the exception. I saw only two other sailboats out enjoying the wind. Too bad. The wind of this strength undoubtedly caused other sailors to be concerned. It was work to keep her sailing well and I am sure that many others would not consider it a fund time, but it was great! And after almost 2 years, it was a joy! Ah, the fun, the real fun of boat ownership!!
Not a cloud in the sky and winds blowing a steady and solid 15 knots with gust to 20! It was ABISHAG's type of weather. Being an English built boat, designed for the English Channel and the North Sea, lots of waves and wind were just her cup of tea. It was rail down sailing even with a reef in! Usually in August, we get very light winds, but yesterday was certainly the exception. I saw only two other sailboats out enjoying the wind. Too bad. The wind of this strength undoubtedly caused other sailors to be concerned. It was work to keep her sailing well and I am sure that many others would not consider it a fund time, but it was great! And after almost 2 years, it was a joy! Ah, the fun, the real fun of boat ownership!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Well, That's Done!!
SHIP'S LOG:
Pounding in a new Head grommet, stitching in two head webbing pieces and then rolling up the bastard and stuffing it into a sail bag and the job was done! All told, it took about 15 hours to do the repair on my genoa and it was a long 15 hours. It is another 15 hours to work off in the sweat shop, ie. the sail loft, but it saved beau coup bucks that is for sure. Then I had to find out if all the work corrected the furling problem.
I went down to TYC and took the launch out to ABISHAG. It was funny being a customer rather than the driver.It took a good half hour to raise the jib in the 15 knots of wind that decided to blow this morning. One has to feed the luft tape into the foil that runs up the forestay. The wind did not make it an easy job, but eventually, after a lot of sweating and swearing it got hoisted. Then came the real moment of truth, would it furl correctly? And it did. It was perfect. But rather than take ABISHAG out for a real test sail, shake down, it was back to the loft. More sweat-equity was required.
Pounding in a new Head grommet, stitching in two head webbing pieces and then rolling up the bastard and stuffing it into a sail bag and the job was done! All told, it took about 15 hours to do the repair on my genoa and it was a long 15 hours. It is another 15 hours to work off in the sweat shop, ie. the sail loft, but it saved beau coup bucks that is for sure. Then I had to find out if all the work corrected the furling problem.
I went down to TYC and took the launch out to ABISHAG. It was funny being a customer rather than the driver.It took a good half hour to raise the jib in the 15 knots of wind that decided to blow this morning. One has to feed the luft tape into the foil that runs up the forestay. The wind did not make it an easy job, but eventually, after a lot of sweating and swearing it got hoisted. Then came the real moment of truth, would it furl correctly? And it did. It was perfect. But rather than take ABISHAG out for a real test sail, shake down, it was back to the loft. More sweat-equity was required.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Like Drillling A Hole In Your Boat!
SHIP'S LOG:
The new furling system on ABISHAG was not furling ie. rolling up the jib -correctly.Quite naturally I felt that the furling system was at fault However, Kevin from the Loft, who installed the system, came down to the boat and after a few tries announced that the problem was not the furling system but the sail. So off the sail came and off to the sail loft with it.
Kevin suspected that a repair that I had done to the sail was done incorrectly (No, Kevin didn't have anything to do with the repair.). Based on how the sail was furling, he described what was wrong with it and when we laid it out on the loft floor, what he predicted was exactly what we found. That was a relief and also a prelude to anxiety for to fix the mistake and then do the repair correctly, the luft (front edge) of the sail had to be taken apart. The luft tape, the patches and the padding all had to be removed . . . . by me. Seams had top be ripped, patches cut, padding removed, a process which took five (5) hours, during which time I was worrying that I would screw up, cut the wrong thing or create a bigger problem than I already had. But evidently everything went well. Then this morning, a real pain in the butt job, flattening the sail. Don't sound too bad, does it, but a sail is made of straight pieces of cloth that are curved to shape the sail. By nature, it doesn't want to lay flat, do the whole thing has to be laid out and then stretched and pinned in place with push pins. It was a small three hour job. Tomorrow, a new curve showing the new shape of the sail will be inscribed and the patches and padding glued and pre-sewn back in place. The the new curve will be cut (no place for mistakes then) and the luft tape pre-sewn onto the new luft, and voila, the sail will be ready to fly. Ah, the joy of boat ownership!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The new furling system on ABISHAG was not furling ie. rolling up the jib -correctly.Quite naturally I felt that the furling system was at fault However, Kevin from the Loft, who installed the system, came down to the boat and after a few tries announced that the problem was not the furling system but the sail. So off the sail came and off to the sail loft with it.
Kevin suspected that a repair that I had done to the sail was done incorrectly (No, Kevin didn't have anything to do with the repair.). Based on how the sail was furling, he described what was wrong with it and when we laid it out on the loft floor, what he predicted was exactly what we found. That was a relief and also a prelude to anxiety for to fix the mistake and then do the repair correctly, the luft (front edge) of the sail had to be taken apart. The luft tape, the patches and the padding all had to be removed . . . . by me. Seams had top be ripped, patches cut, padding removed, a process which took five (5) hours, during which time I was worrying that I would screw up, cut the wrong thing or create a bigger problem than I already had. But evidently everything went well. Then this morning, a real pain in the butt job, flattening the sail. Don't sound too bad, does it, but a sail is made of straight pieces of cloth that are curved to shape the sail. By nature, it doesn't want to lay flat, do the whole thing has to be laid out and then stretched and pinned in place with push pins. It was a small three hour job. Tomorrow, a new curve showing the new shape of the sail will be inscribed and the patches and padding glued and pre-sewn back in place. The the new curve will be cut (no place for mistakes then) and the luft tape pre-sewn onto the new luft, and voila, the sail will be ready to fly. Ah, the joy of boat ownership!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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