More Sail Work

Yesterday afternoon the wind moderated enough to tempt me into going ashore. I returned with more provisions for the cruise and some perishables for more immediate consumption.

Instead of coming back with beef for dinner - which I love to eat but leaves me feeling bloated and terrible the next day - I was a "good boy" and purchased a half kilo of fish fillets ("medio kilo, por favor") along with broccoli and carrots. In order to keep the fish and vegetables cool I felt duty bound to purchase a set of 8 cans of cold Pacifico beer. I had a disgustingly healthy meal of rice with onion, carrots and broccoli with fish fried in a minimum amount of olive oil. For desert I had raisins.

This morning I catalogued and stowed the latest lot of supplies and concluded that Pachuca is essentially victualed and ready for sea. I am holding off reloading my gas cylinder until the last minute, and will soon have an empty container for oil-mixed outboard motor fuel which will be a good time for visiting the gas station to top up my mixed and unmixed outboard motor gasoline reserves. Other than that it is a matter of procuring last-minute perishables such as fruit, vegetables, and meat that I will keep refrigerated for the first few days of sailing. I would use some of the meat for the pressure cooker for the preparation of three good meals.

I used the singular but actually I will try to have both of my gas cylinders recharged: the big USA one that I got in Hawaii and the smaller Australian one that the US firms would not recharge. Recharging the Aussie cylinder would be a big win because it would give me a switch-over capability that I do not have now.

Earlier this morning there was practically no wind so I got cracking with more sail work. I dug out the storm trysail from the locker and hoisted it in a slow, methodical step-by-step fashion. As I mentioned yesterday my current situation seems very conducive to clear observation and thinking about about boating matters. I began by digging out two old jib sheets to use with the trysail but when I opened the bag I saw that tied to the clew were two beautiful sheets that I had set up earlier. A line to hold down the tack was also already in place. Out of the exercise came a step-by-step procedure for hoisting the storm trysail. The procedure includes important items that dumb me had not considered before. For example, where you take the sheets is very important because it is imperative that equal strain be put on the leech and the foot of the sail. The answer: take the sheets to the spinnaker blocks at the stern corners of the boat, then forward to the spinnaker winches. (Side effect: the spinnaker winches are normally used for the running backstays, which will be required for a storm trysail - storm jib combination. Fortunately I've got jam cleats to take the load of these running backstays and installed cleats on the coaming where I can tie them off.) Also, I noted that I should place the boat on a starboard tack before hoitsing the trysail because its track is on the port side of the mast. And I think that I have figured out how to deal with the slides getting stuck at that slightly off center join of the two sections of the trysail track. Instead of going up the mast to free the slides I grab the sail with one hand, the halyard with the other, then run the sail up and down until the slide clears the join.

The sail has its own track so that it can be raised independently of the mainsail. So I have two choices: (1) Leave the mainsail on the boom, zipped up tightly in its cover (2) remove the mainsail altogether. Removing the mainsail has advantages: (1) reduces unwanted windage (2) it is much easier to raise and lower the storm trysail if the mainsail is not on the boom (3) I would be able to hoist the trysail a full 900 mm (3 ft) lower, which would correspondingly lower the center of effort.

However, for a 24-hour high wind event it would not be worth the time and effort to remove the mainsail. After all, that's why a separate track was installed. However, if I knew that there was a survival storm on the way I would remove the mainsail (and spray dodger and possible even the jib) .

I took the opportunity to measure the storm trysail. Luff: 4.61m (15' 2"), Leech 5.81m (19' 1"), Foot 2.91m (9' 6.5"), yielding an area of 6.7 sq meters (72 sq ft).

After this effort the wind was still calm so I hoisted the mainsail in order to determine where to cut the two new reefing lines, which were much too long. I have concluded that 70% of my mainsail hoisting problems are associated with the fact that the halyard is directed to the cockpit. I found that "jumping" the halyard at the mast was extremely easy. In fact, I used my hands to jump the halyard until the mainsail was within 1 meter off the top. It is possible that one day I will put a winch on the mast and completely raise the mainsail at the mast. In the meantime, unless the weather is really foul, I'll try jumping the halyard at the mast, cleating off when near the top, then going to the cockpit at taking up the slack at the winch. I'll then uncleat at the mast and use the winch to raise the sail the last few feet.

The first photo shows the view of the storm trysail from the steering station. The boom is centered and (will be) lashed.

The second photo shows the gap that could be eliminated by removing the mainsail altogether. (The foot looks lose because I missed putting into the track the lowest slide at the tack.)

The lower photo attempts to show trysail and mainsail on separate tracks.