The Home Run - 8th May
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Mon 8 May 2017 23:59
By comparison with other boats, activity in our sail changing department seems pretty dilatory. Partly because we have fewer sails to choose from and partly because our new genoa has been cut to have two reefing points that maintain a good sail shape. Our old genoa became progressively shapeless and inefficient the more it was reefed so rather than reef it we would put up the staysail on the inner forestay. Now we hardly ever use the staysail but I suppose we could goosewing it with the poled out genoa at night rather than the mainsail. Actually we might try that as the mainsail is not good on a run because it slats from side to side in a swell with light wind. Alternatively it might be better to pole out the staysail.......
Other boats seem to have a selection of asymmetric sails and in the case of the cats a spinnaker as well. A "code zero" seems popular and is apparently like a large lightweight genoa made by North. Anyway our choice is mainly between the cruising chute and the genoa plus mainsail.
Today it is breezy with rain squalls. Between squalls the wind is 15kts but in the squalls it blows up to 25kts. Also the wind has veered from east to east south east. This means that we can steer a direct course to the Marquesas and with reefed main and genoa romp along at over five knots, up to eight in the squalls. We hit 9kts at one point. At times like these I love ocean passagemaking and the daily routine this entails. The motion of the boat is steadier in these conditions which means we sleep better. As a result even Annie is now enjoying the trip. Partly of course because the end is in sight and with 570 miles to go we could, if we can keep this speed up, be there in four days.
Notwithstanding our limited sail selection it is a joy getting the best out of what we have. To work at its best the Hydrovane needs the sail trim and rudder to be in balance. All boats have a tendency to round up into the wind in gusts and the mainsail is critical to controlling this. In a dinghy or any kind of racing boat you might let out the mainsail and steer more downwind in the gusts. The Hydrovane can only steer to the wind direction so it is important to balance the trim of mainsail and genoa to reduce any tendency to round up in the gusts. Today a combination of this and a more coarse setting on the Hydrovane (more rudder as the vane is deflected than on the medium or fine settings) is coping well with the squalls and keeping us securely on course. It reminds me of the time we were looking at having a Bristol Channel Pilot cutter built. When I asked the builder what kind of self steering equipment he would recommend he laughed and handed me a short length of line. "This" he said "is all you need". Sailing a pilot cutter in Scotland we found that with a balanced sail setting all you needed to do was tie a length of line from the tiller to the windward side of the cockpit and the boat would happily sail itself.
One thing we must do is decide upon our overnight sail-plan and put it in place earlier. We like to eat supper while it is still light but usually we are sitting in the cockpit playing scrabble or admiring the sunset when hunger and fading light spur us into action. Last night by the time we had poled out the genoa and set the mainsail with a preventer on the boom it was dark, at which point the wind started to change direction. We concentrated on our chilli and wonderful fresh baked bread before taking the pole down again in the moonlight. All the practice is making us slicker though.
Regards
Hugh