Monday 22 August 2011

East Head meander..

Beautiful sunny day yesterday though still with a strong breeze - another reefed sail, though this time I thought I'd see if I could get away with a smaller one only reefing down to the first sail clip (usually go to the second). It worked quite well, though I think I needed just a little bit more as the gusts were fairly frantic!

I need to do some calculations to find out what the ballast ratio is for a Fantasie - she's always been a fairly happy to sail at an angle of 45' in any kind of breeze, but is easily over pressed - some of the boats out yesterday of my size didn't seem to have the same issues - I think it may be down to two things, one the size of the mast/rig (which I think is pretty big for a boat this size - the mast is 22', the boat is only 19'..!), and two that I sail solo - not so much weight to move about and balance her (though I'm not "small"). One of the jobs I want to do this winter is fit a tiller extension - just a short one - to allow me to sit further forward for balance, but which would also allow me sit on the coming in gusty conditions...

Either way it was a lovely day, and as the track showed, I really did meander!

Distance: 11.95 miles (cumulative total in the tab at the top of the page - this trip takes me past my 2010 mileage!)
Wind: WSW to SW - Force 4, gusting 5...
Speed: Max speed was 4.8 knots which would have been under sail, average speed was 3.5 knots.

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