Loading the Boat

Now that winter is over I'm moving equipment from the garage back to Pachuca.

We decided to store the reliable Bombard inflatable tender in the garage and try out the Zodiac 2.4 m inflatable which I purchased in Jan 2005 for Angie for $1600 and have used twice. The Zodiac is slightly bigger than the Bombard, sturdier-built, has a seat, and has a bag which will invaluable for storage. I've attached a photo of the Zodiac loaded in the SUV.... Storage is a problem. On of our tasks is to figure out where to store it on Pachuca. We've been storing the Bombard in one of the quarter berths but we cannot afford to sacrifice any of that prime real estate for the inflatable tender.

Three sails are going back to Pachuca. On the left in the attached photo is one of the spinnakers, in a dowsing sock or snuffer, which is over 12 meters in length. The blue bag contains the spare mainsail. The purple bag at the right contains another spinnaker. I'm not clear in my head which spinnaker is which. I believe that the long one in the sock is an MPS (multi-purpose spinnaker), and probably asymmetric for better reaching. That makes the other one a more traditional symmetric spinnaker for downwind running. I'll have to speak with Steve Hartley of Taskers on this.

The sails in the photo are in very good shape. Steve said that one of the spinnakers has never been used and the other one hardly used. The mainsail is in very good shape and I probably could have gotten away with using it but Steve couldn't guarantee it 100% for a circumnavigation.

So Pachuca's sail inventory looks like:

- Fully battened mainsail in stack pack, new 2005
- Spare mainsail in good shape
- Two spinnakers, near new
- Two jibs for the roller furler in good condition, one heavy, one light.
- Storm jib that wraps around the furled jib, near new
- Staysail for the inner forestay, in good condition and apparently excellent for winds of 35 knots across the deck
- Storm try sail (being made by Tasker)

Back to the spinnakers, they look daunting. However, we'll have to learn to set them up (in very light winds) because there are times when you have a choice of wallowing around uncomfortably for hours or clipping along comfortably at 2 knots. (2 knots? One guy told me that they ran all night to Shark Bay in an S&S 39 doing 17 knots, complete with spinnaker jibe in the early hours. Gulp!)