Making the Most of a Minimal Budget. Contact me at: skintsailor@yahoo.co.uk or on Twitter: @skintsailor

Sunday 4 October 2015

Simple Saturday Sail

Yesterday the weather was fine, with a light breeze from the West. Ideal for sailing up Langstone harbour and back.

Just a few pictures from in the harbour:





I had a good couple of hours playing with the jib, seeing if I could make it work any better. I thought it was about time I payed attention to the telltales fitted to it. So I sailed up the harbour and back seeing what different positions of the jib track and the sheet did to the efficiency of the sail.

I did notice the top telltales flew quite easily, but the sail was harder to position to get the middle and lower telltales flying. I'm not sure if that's because there's more wind higher up or its the shape of the sail. But I only got the middle ones flying occasionally.More work needed until I can work out how to get it right.

Not much to write about I know, but I'm just happy to grab another couple of hours on board.

Today was about babysitting and I just had time get aboard, have a coffee and chill out.

Over the past couple of days there have been a few changes down at Eastney. Merganser, a boat that has been left on the beach for years has been taken away and Mashooka, the old red wooden boat has had someone working on it.

8 comments:

  1. I am not sure whether I want tell tales on my jib or not, I would probably get so concentrated on them I would run into something!
    Merganser and Mashooka sound interesting names - Mashooka sounds like a boat named by an Eskimo or an Alaskan.

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  2. The telltales were already on the jib when I got Sprite 2, It's just that I've never bothered to pay any attention to them until now. Just one of those idle thoughts you have... lets have a play and see if they do make any difference... :-)
    I think since I lifted the jib sail up to clear the pulpit rail the jib sheet position is a bit wrong and still needs a some work to sort. Its a job that can go on the back burner, but it'll be interesting to see if it makes any difference in the end.
    Mashooka is an old boat, the rumour is she's a Dunkirk veteran. An old Thames yacht. Its nice to see someone taking an interest in her, although she may take a bit of money to put right being an old wooden boat. Merganser was a Leisure 23 I think. No mast, no deck fittings, just a shell, but someone has taken her away to sort her out. The only unloved boat on the beach it seems is the dismasted westerly 22 that got washed to the top of the beach in last year's storms.

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  3. Regarding the jib sheet position, it can be a bit of a mission if you don't have a jib track to alter the sheeting angle.

    The growing tsunami of old boats in need of lots of restoration money is a problem. Sad that some wonderful nautical heritage gets lost in all of that.

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  4. The Seawych does have a track but its not very long, probably only about 18 inches.

    I think the critical thing I'm missing is getting the initial position of the jib sheet right so adjustments work. Its just something to work on.

    I agre about old boats, it is sad. But the expense of saving them is beyond the wallet of the average person. I few boats have been saved by rich individuals but the boat has to be exceptional to warrant the outlay. Sad to say there are a lot of unexceptional boats out there rotting away.

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  5. Yes the cost of renovation (unless you do the work yourself) is horrendous. In the September Classic Boat mag there is an article about the restoration of 'Nausikaa' a 32 foot Gauntlet. She looks fabulous restored. She was bought for 10 thousand pounds, 65 thousand was spent restoring her and she is now on the market for 140 thousand. By my calculations the present owner is looking for a 100% profit on his spend, which proves the old adage that the rich only get richer, while the poor just keep dreaming (But maybe he's dreaming about such a high price, time will tell).

    If all of this was calculated into New Zealand dollars where I live, the current exchange rate would mean I would have to sell my grandmother several times over to buy the boat...... Here's looking to realistic priced renovations coming onto the market sometime soon!

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  6. That chap sounds a bit cheeky. Like a nautical property developer.

    This year in the UK has been pretty rubbish weather wise. Consequently boat prices are about 10 to 20 percent lower than last year.

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  7. Mark - sounds like a pretty good day to me.. nothing but nothing beats mucking about on the water when it isn't raining... jib sheets - I always work on the 90' rule - if you draw an imaginary line extending the jib sheet angle to the luff of the sail it should be roughly 90'... on Sparrow my track isn't long enough for the "big bastard"/genoa but I live with it... :o))

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  8. Hi Steve. It probably was 90 degrees until I lifted the jib clear of the pulpit rail. I've put a block on the jib track slider to raise the jib sheet by the same amount but I'm not convinced it all works like it should. Maybe I should try it when there is better wind and see if I can get a decent shape into it and get those lower tell tales to fly.

    But you're right about the mucking about. I just like the fact there is always something to play with, something new to learn. You can read all you want on t'internet but nothing beats actually getting out and playing with stuff to see what happens.

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