Sea Trial

Today I sailed Pachuca for the first time since last December. About two weeks ago Ron Uryga suggested a sea trial to give him a chance to check out the rigging under sail and today was the day.

About an hour before the appointed time I check out the engine oil level, belt tensions, hoses, etc then fired it up with no problem at all. I was pleased to see that the engine was putting out a healthy amount of cooling water. By the time the crew arrived the boat was ready for sail. On board were Ron, his sailing friend Lynn, a Kiwi with lots of sailing experience; Jeff, who has given me so much help with the installation of the Monitor self steering, my communications systems and other things; and Paul, from the boat in the slip next to mine.

We backed out of the pen, rounded into the wind and hoisted the mainsail in the harbor, then motored out the channel. The conditions were perfect for our purposes: 15-knot wind over a relatively calm sea. We put up the full sails and did some tacking while Ron checked the rigging and declared that he would tighten the new headstay which had stretched, and put two more turns in the backstay. The shrouds were fine. We then rolled in some headsail and were still over canvassed and traveling at about 6.5 knots.

The Jeff suggested that we try out the Monitor self steering. Gulp! I hadn't planned on it but agreed to do it, bracing myself for any disappointment from the attempt. We put up the light weather air vane, dropped the paddle in, Jeff set up the control lines and just like that the boat was steering itself barely yawing from side to side. Jeff turned the airvane to have the pendelum change the direction of the boat while Ron and Lynn adusted the sails. The Monitor worked well up wind, down wind and on a beam reach, even though it had to deal with a weather helm due to too much sail. Jeff seemed impressed and commented that the boat seemed very suited to the Monitor self steering.

I agree with Jeff's comment that he made it look easy because he has been sailing with a Monitor for 10 years, and that it will take me months to get really proficient with it. However, the important thing is that I have seen what the Monitor can do and that it is up to me to get the best out of it.

Afterwards we had cold beers in the cockpit and traded sailing yarns while Lynn made corrections and improvements to my mainsheet and reefing setups.

This was a big day for me and Pachuca, the outcome was very good, and we've taken one more step in our preparations for departure.