Good Sail but Some Mixed Feelings

Time: 10:00 – 14:00
Crew: Mike Clark (Helm & tacking), Sue Hoddell (Mainsheet), Cris Williams (Foredeck, Tacking & Gennaker trim), Andy (Foredeck & tacking), Adrian (Foredeck)
Wind Direction: South-West
Wind Strength: 11-20 knots
Location: Penarth Beach and Cardiff Bay

Well mixed feelings this week, but its all a learning curve, though I do feel its so steep we may need to change the way we do things. Great start in that we put up a No.1 Genoa and full main went out into the channel and realised that round Lavernock Point that it was gusting to about 20+ knots, so yacht was well over powered. Luckily it just meant tacking and going back towards the shelter of the shoreline. Had a go at reefing the main under sail and have noticed that their is a single silver guide at the base of the mast just above the boom which when reefing the sail it needs to be guided back into. This is because if we don't then the luff of the sail starts to be forced out of the track and starts to fray.

During the sail the 2nd (from top) batten pocket came loose and we lost a batton, this is now with a local sail repairers for attention, also they are going to replace the other battons on the main that are missing. We decided at this point to come back into Cardiff Bay and do some continuous tacking training.

In the bay the start of the session was good we did some tacking and techniques are starting to work and come together. Sue is handling the mainsheet well but I would like to start considering other techniques such as traveller, backstay and 16:1 mainsheet fine adjustment, I get the feel we're driving the mainsail like a cruiser/racer when we should be trying other methods and driving her more like a big dinghy.

We tried two cruise chute runs (in the bay), the first went well, but the 2nd was disasterous (hence the mixed feelings bit), managed to drop the chute into the water and ripped it across 3 panels, again another sailmaker job. I'm thinking of getting Josh from Severn Sails to live on-board! The reason for the mistake in my opinion is letting go of halyard & guy at the same time, without having control of the sheet. Here's a technique we can try...

1. Leave halyard up, which keeps the sail high
2. Ease the yacht downwind, the sail will empty
3. Gather the sheet
4. Ease the guy out while gathering the sail horizontally
5. Let the halyard out fast while the gatherer pulls like crazy

Next time we need to get Marc onboard and between us all we can perfect a technique which will work fast and efficiently. So for now it needs to be put down to lessons learnt!

First High Speed Dash (with Cruise Chute)

Time: 11:30 – 16:00
Crew: Mike Clark (Helm & tacking), Iwan Basten (Mainsheet), Marc (Foredeck & Gennaker trim), Andy (Foredeck & tacking), Gareth Roberts (Gennaker winch), Cris Williams (Foredeck & tacking)
Wind Direction: South-West
Wind Strength: 25 knots (gusting to 30 knots)
Location: Penarth Beach

Wow! Almost speachless about todays sail, probably the single most exciting sail I've ever had. The wind was gusting to 30 knots, we made two downwind legs from South end of Penarth beach across the beach towards Bristol. The first run was the most exciting and we reached about 16-17 knots planing at high speed. The boat was going faster than the wave pattern so we we're launching off the tops of waves into the wave in front of us, this caused a little concern when we actually encountered (my first) a complete white out. The yacht actually submarined herself into the wave in front and we took the entire wave over the bow of the yacht. I can highly recommend making sure the hatchway is closed as it can take a substantial amout of water in through the hatch if not. When the needs arise its not surprising that you soon remember to do this.

The helm at these speeds is quite twitchy so small movements are very responsive. Also as the yacht takes a strong gust (30 knots) it attempts to pull up into the wind and as its now going at 16+ knots boat speed then it takes a huge effort to pull the helm over to get her back on track, though its notable that it doesn't show the same symptoms as weather helm when going to windward and when you do pull it, it will respond. On some occasion it might be actually best for helm and someone else to pull the tiller at the same time, we tried this today and it worked well.

At one time we almost lost the gennaker as I helmed the yacht way too deep and it lost its wind and actually got wrapped around the forestay, potentially disasterous for boat and rig. But sensibly in that position we took the gennaker down and began the beat back up to Penarth.

The Genoa No.3 is excellent in todays wind but I feel its a little large to be used as a storm jib, so I'm going to take Syllabubs storm jib and use it on this yacht. I'll try it out next time.

There was some discussion about using a furling headsail, but my No.2 and No.3 are both battened headsails and won't furl so I don't expect this to be viable. I will however ease the pain of tieing up the headsail quickly by getting some bungie cord to tie it up to a rail when powering downwind.

Out last leg produced our scariest moment when we decided to take the spinnaker down and with so much weight up front (crew) she buried her head a little and decide to swing wildly to windward and almost produced what can only be described as a spectacular windward broach. It's alright dramatising it now as it didn't happen but it drives home the reason for good helming and sensible crew weight at all times, especially during those change over times such as gybing and gennaker take down and put up.

Taking everything into consideration, a very exciting day out!

HINT: Talked to Richard of Wessex Yacht Sales (they sold me the yacht) and says that if the yacht starts to submarine then jerk the tiller three time hard to windard and she will lift up on her own bow wave and not submarine.

First Sail (No Cruise Chute)

Time: 11:00 – 13:30
Crew: Mike Clark (Helm), Jonathan Croft Davis (Mid Cockpit), Cris Williams (Mid Cockpit), Andy Johnson (Fore Cockpit), Sue Hoddell (Mainsheet)
Wind Direction: Southerly
Wind Strength: 23 knots
Location: Cardiff Bay

The wind was blowing from the South so we were partly protected by Penarth headland. The Penarth side of the bay was blowing 15 knots and the Cardiff side of the bay was blowing 25 knots, which made it varied and interesting. The yacht was fantastic in all points of sail, but without anyone to race against its difficult to get an idea of speed. We concentrated today on technique and getting used to the gear, during the first few legs we kept getting knocked down on the Cardiff end of the bay but as we became more accustomed we gained more control.

We decided to go with a No.3 Genoa and 1 reef in the mainsail, which worked well, but I felt we probably could have gone with No.2 Genoa, or stayed at No.3 and no reef in the mainsail, my suspicion from this first sail is that the yacht is well balanced and capable of being pushed very close to its limit and the more we get used to the yacht then the more we learn how to spill the wind successfully and keep it well balanced.

On our last leg she showed her true colours, we put everyone on the side (legs out) and Sue by now had grown accustomed to the main trim more and powered up close-hauled into about 22-25 knots. The yacht has this amazing ability to sail in this position with no weather and no lee helm, I could actually let go of the tiller and she sailed herself perfectly into the wind, an absolute joy to helm. The yacht also responds very well to weight on the side, the crew need to understand that its important to keep weight out as much as possible, you can actually gain 5' pointing ability just using crew weight.

Sue thinks (certainly on the last leg) that if the yachts trimmed correctly we could spill enough wind (upto 25 knots) using just the 16-1 mainsail fine trim, I think she might be correct. But I'd like to also try using backstay adjustment instead of mainsheet adjustment. We need to do plenty of training to find out which we prefer.

For the moment I'd like to keep Sue in mainsheet position, Cris in foredeck along with Danny (wasn't with us today), then rotate the remaining crew in the mid foredeck position. We'll run with the current IRC rating of 1.051 which means we can only use the asym cruise chute, but at the end of the first series I'll have a better understanding on which rating (sail spec) I'd prefer.

First race for us is 3rd February by which time we will need to have tried the cruise chute.

The Yacht "Chill Out"

After a few years of racing in Cardiff Bay Yacht Club I fancy a change. The current fleet has been rated in such a way that with my current yacht "Syllabub" we would of been at the back of the fleet.

The Archambault Grand Surprise "Chill Out" has a rating of between 1.04 and 1.06 depending on sail configuration and as such is likely now going to be at the front of the fleet instead, hopefully. This yacht has sailed down in Plymouth and in 22 knots of wind they managed to get 16 knots boat speed out of her, but with all that power up front (cruise chute) they had to position everyone at the back, literally standing on the stern behind the helm. In France in about 35 knots of wind they've managed to get about 26 knots out of another sister ship.

The yacht is nicely designed, very good racing gear and can sleep 4. It has an inboard nanni engine, so no changing engines at the end of a race.