Saturday morning started with a flat calm, not a drop of wind, the sun occasionally broke through the misty gray sky giving perfect conditions for checking out all the new gear. Graham came down to give me a hand on the first official sail on British Beagle after dismasting on 31st July last year: that is a long time ago! And, so many things have changed on the boat that i wasnt really sure I wanted to sail alone!
We hoisted the sails at the waiting pontoon of YAQ in Plymouth and the new sails looked great, as usual Brian at Quantum has done a terrific job, all the details we discussed were spot on and the dreaded moment when you hoist a sail for the first time and keep your fingers crossed hoping everything is fine passed without much of a thought. We had some fiddling to do with the new furler feeder but in the end all the sails were up.
The engine started at the first attempt, the autopilot calibration was smooth and you always wonder. The manuals are quite funny, they read something like press the Standby button for 2 seconds, then the +1 and -1 buttons together, then press the diplay button 4 times, scratch your left ear, press the Auto button, touch your nose with your eyes closed, press Auto button again, your system is now fully calibrated .
We then motored into Plymouth Sound for more autopilot calibration... you have to turn 360 twice very slowly, until the very expensive machine that you just bought goes beeep. You can't but think of the Monty Pythons. I'm sure the manifactures added this calibration step in the manual and are still laughing today thinking about all the people turning their boats very very very slowly waiting for the machine to go beeep.
We then hoisted the main, and unfurled the genoa... something was strange, unexpected, unbelievable.... the boat sailed beautifully! Perfectly balanced, the tiller light as a feather. I could not believe my eyes. I have sailed the boat for a few seasons and could never get to set her up properly, in every gust of wind the bow would try turn to windward like the head of a cat you are trying to drown (not sure where this image comes from, I obviously never tried to drown a cat).
The rig needed to be tensioned a bit as the leward shrouds were too lose, we had achieved what we had set to try and test so we headed to port for a few more jobs... and a beer. It started raining, perfect timing.
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hi Marco The new mast is
hi Marco
The new mast is very nice.
have more sail area than before?.
could put more of the mast and a drawing or photo of the new keel?
Joan
The mast is just as tall as
The mast is just as tall as before, but it's two spreaders with no runners as opposed to single spreaders with runners. The standing rigging has been upgraded to dyform, the reef lines led to cockpit.
I posted a picture of the old keel versus new keel.
Marco.
she looks good in the
she looks good in the reflection , trimmed down by the bows a bit perhaps?
have you measured the mast rake , good idea in flat calm when boat trimmed level?
hang a weight on the main haylard, measure at the goose neck perhaps?
Joshua.
The trim is a little
The trim is a little deceptive. I had a new keel 2 years ago, all lead, 150kg heavier and which deliberately brought the weight forward but i never repainted the water line... hence she looks a bit trimmed down at the bow...