Departed the shackles and chains of society on Monday 23rd good run 6 knots in 8 to 10 apparent wind.
Have landed 14 plump whiting in total , and 4 squid.
Tonight I have the bay to myself and around the corner there's around 10 pirate ships!

southace said..

Ramona said..

I get the feeling you miss this place as you disclose it every year. It's getting a lot of public attention lately with a book and the clean up of the old homestead. It's a bit of a bugger in a way as it's now starting to look like more a Qld / Nsw anchorage. Things will get messy if we get a strong northerly with gale WSW but I don't see that happening this years weather patten. I'm thinking around 30 boats by new years in the lagoon which is about 20 up from last year.

It's always been popular, just not so much with yachties till recently. The locals certainly appreciate the tourism dollars though and that's one of the reasons for the homestead clean up and tourist maps etc.

Ramona said..

southace said..

Ramona said..

I get the feeling you miss this place as you disclose it every year. It's getting a lot of public attention lately with a book and the clean up of the old homestead. It's a bit of a bugger in a way as it's now starting to look like more a Qld / Nsw anchorage. Things will get messy if we get a strong northerly with gale WSW but I don't see that happening this years weather patten. I'm thinking around 30 boats by new years in the lagoon which is about 20 up from last year.

It's always been popular, just not so much with yachties till recently. The locals certainly appreciate the tourism dollars though and that's one of the reasons for the homestead clean up and tourist maps etc.

Like I said things will get messy like 4am this morning when we received 50knot westerly onshore, 1 out of the 3 rivs ended up on the beach after dragging mooring and anchors. My Icons anchor didn't move a inch. Was glad to get out of there at first light.

Hi all

Yesterday we had a combined race with the boats from Cygnet from Port Huon to Cygnet Via Waterloo and Brooks Bay

The forecast was for around 10 building to around 15 but at the last leg of the race we were broad reaching in a 25 knots southerly

We had a good tussle with a Hereshoff ketch about twice our length swapping positions a couple of times until the last 3.5 nm leg where we were doing around 6 knots and she went past us going like a train and ended up finishing 6 minutes ahead of us

After the race it was a wet beat back up the cygnet stretch of of the river and then a nice run up the river back home to Port Huon

We ended up crossing the line 9th out of a fleet of 12 and 5th on handicap so all in all it was a good day

Regards Don

cisco said..
What a great day's sailing you had Don.

I especially like the tacking match with the big Hereschoff.

Hi Cisco

We had a great day on the water and Heritage is a impressive yacht when she is under full sail in a decent breeze

Regards Don

Ramona said..
The second photo looks like there is an anchor on a bow roller. Probably no different to racing with a bowsprit boat.

Hi Ramona
It looks like it but it is an optical illusion because the alloy toe rails stop a few inches short of the bow and there is only the double bow roller which overhangs the bow by a couple of inches
Regards Don

SV Wavesong said..

My daughter was so bored she actually came away with me for nearly a week.

No wonder she came with you Trace if you cook up a feed like that all the time!! Looks great.

Still can't get this right, anyway finally got a sail ion today!

Thanks again!

Short answer is that a trysail (as we have up) will be the wrong shape to use as a storm jib.
With a trysail there a few tricks to get them to work properly.

You need to think of this way.
The windward sheet is the main traveller used to pull the sail towards the centre line
you adjust the leach tension by pulling the sail up and down the mast.
For a tighter leach hoist it higher and for a open leach lower it down the mast.
This way you can take a trysail much more down range wind wise before changing back to a mainsail.

You can also sheet the trysail off the boom and use it an ordinary mainsail by just tying the clew to the boom.

Good storm sails are incredibly efficient as they produce heaps of lift with little drag.

Boat speed in the mid 7s uphill was the norm yesterday.
boat was not quite in balance in the lulls with the head diving away but in the pressure it was balanced fine.

It amazes me people do not use storm sails cruising more often.
There are so easy over 25 knots.

we were sailing just two up in over 20 knots but not 30 and wind against tide but we wanted an easy day.

Here its one for you, years ago in RYA yacht master exams the candidates would be asked to sail backwards and upwind out of a berth with no engine.
The answer is to hoist the storm jib up the backstay and sail upwind backwards until clear.

Lydia .
That is a very nicely flaked mainsail.
Lovely to sea seamanship like that.

gary

Gotta bit of a heel on those photos.

As you can see in the pics, light helm and good speed.
fun day out when many others stayed at home.
I think we saw 5 boats all day and it was sunny and a cracker sailing breeze.

Next time when it a bit fresh I urge everyone to try it , it will change your sailing

never used ours in anger but have tried in 15 and was surprised how well it worked .should give it a try sometime in 30