Ripper day today. So good to be back on Pittwater and to be able to poke the nose of the boat offshore towards cape 3 points. 2 reefs in the main and the jib were enough to have us rocketing along in the Norwesterly with my first time helming non sailor mate leaving a drunken s-bend wake but enjoying himself.

julesmoto said..
8:30 a.m. and already got a light Southwester blowing me out of Pittwater; full but fresh sun. Place to myself, everything right with the boat. Standing on the swim platform taking pictures loving retirement! Do we live in the best country or what?

I'm quite envious of you, lovely boat. Enjoy your retirement, it's a few years away for me.

Spent the night anchored behind St Helena Isl, left Manly Harbour in miserable weather but woke up to a beautiful day



Then sailed over to Moreton Isl, mainly to drop anchor again and clean all the St Helena mud off the chain, also jumped in to check on my anodes, then a fantastic sail back, beam reach the whole way with two head sails and a full main in 12 -15knts. The boat was beautifully balanced and slipping along nicely at 7-8knts

Yesterday morning I headed out to my old work area. Passed astern of "Maluka" as she was heading North near the main hump of the Sir John Banks.

Note the sealant on the teak cockpit seats. I'm real happy with this stuff.

2bish said..
Nice one Ramona. What sealant did you end up using on the teak?

www.starbrite.com/item/tropical-teak-oilsealer-light

dialdan said..

Antifoul out of the way for another 18 mths

Ramona said..
Heading into Geroa yesterday. Check out the colour of the sea!

Yes sea colour was also terrible yesterday in Pittwater and offshore for at least 7 miles which is about as far as I went. Lots of large sticks/small logs floating around and quite confused seas so I was afraid that my inflatable dinghy would spear a stick. Should have left the dingy on the mooring. Lesson for next time after it has rained heaps.

Spent the weekend at Tangalooma, watched all the Surf to City boats go by, looked to be fast race, most of the offshore fleet were round Cape Moreton and in the bay before sunset.

Stepped out for a coffee.

This was last Monday. Heading home across the Banks with a fair bit of current pushing down.

garymalmgren said..
Hit 8 degrees yesterday.
Water temp still 5.9 though.
First sail outside for the year.
Hit a record of 7 knots just before putting a reef in.
Can smell spring in the air.

5.9 would be unpleasant! Off NSW at the moment we have between 24 and 27 degrees C.

Impressive and good effort on your own..Thats in a sock? Any change out of $1,500? I had a quote from Rolly Tasker ( 3 yrs ago) for the same for my Duncanson 29 and it was $1,030...But I found a suitable used one, not in a sock for $300.. For ease of use, I would like a custom made one.

julesmoto said..
Picked up my new custom-made assy from sailexchange yesterday ..

Looks good! How do you have it tacked down - to the bow roller?

Making something like this is something I've been meaning to try: atninc.com/atn-tacker-sailing-equipment.shtml

sydchris said..

julesmoto said..
Picked up my new custom-made assy from sailexchange yesterday ..

Looks good! How do you have it tacked down - to the bow roller?

Making something like this is something I've been meaning to try: atninc.com/atn-tacker-sailing-equipment.shtml

I usually plan on running it from a block on the end of my pole lain (and secured) flat on the deck and protruding 700 in front of the bow roller (it's a beefy 85mm diameter pole) but today I hastily (since there was no wind when I got to the boat) put it up on my sheltered mooring with just a rope under the bow roller to a forward cleat just to check if the sock worked well while there was no wind. Finished the test raising and lowering the sock and the wind sprung up and changed to a different but ideal direction so I thought screw the pole I'll just leave it on the short rope to the tack so swapped the sheet to the opposite side dropped the mooring, motored past a couple of moored boats and pulled it up again. Worked fine. Breeze increased a bit more after a couple of miles and I became a little worried about getting it down so pulled it down with no problem.
Day turned out great and did another 20 miles off shore and back. Didn't put it up again although I could have used it on the way back for 9 miles.

I considered those ATN tackers but wanted an extra metre or more of luff plus more forward projection and they sit fairly high and back from bow.

Not that it is ever likely to happen because I only bought a light sail and only plan to use it in light breezes but I also worry about bending my foil using one of those if I get caught out in a heavier breeze.

Ohh Julesmoto...Thanks for the great photo..I will read your comments..
Cheers