Sun and rain

Phil was out early on Monday and got the good wind:

I left the dock just after Phil returned, by which time the wind was gone. 

But it was nice and sunny!

So I motored up to Cadboro Bay, went inside the R.V.Y.C. breakwater, through the anchorage, and then headed back. This is entering the bay with the yacht club in the distance off the port bow:

As I returned the wind filled in again, from the north, and it rained. I raised main and jib, cut the motor, and ran back to the marina.

I didn't set the mizzen, though, because I've found that, on a run, the mizzen makes for a heavy weather helm (in stronger winds, anyway). I read somewhere that, running downwind in a yawl, you want to have one of the sails (I think it was the mizzen) set to windward, and that'll take away the weather helm and also give the main clear air. Maybe something else about the air flow.... Anyway, this mizzen would be ideal for that because it's sheeted to both sides, so can be held to windward. I'll have to try it.

A number of firsts lately:

☸ first sails in Oak Bay  ☸ first sail in the rain  ☸ first time going forward on the leeward side of the boat while sailing (hadn't put the port jib sheet through its lead)—felt totally safe but probably wouldn't have done it if the wind were any stronger! (should have gybed first in any event)  ☸ first time sailing all the way into the slip (jib alone) ☸ first time seeing Cadboro Bay from the water.  ☸ although I've been on the water on the coast a fair bit, this is the first time I've sailed in an area with so much current  ☸ and kelp beds!  ☸ and reefs!  ☸ too much more to list...

I'm finding that the Oak Bay marina is a supportive environment, since it's a hub for so many others with the same desire to be on or at least near the water. There's always someone going or coming back from sailing, fishing, or just messing about in a boat. I think this could be Martin:

And the marina itself seems to be often busy and bustling; so many people, all doing different things—their own trips—but all to do with a passion for boats and/or the water.

Water people are different, I find. I met quite a few when I lived aboard in False Creek; it felt then much like a tribe. People would ask about so and so, whom they last saw in such and such a bay up-island; or someone would tell another to say hi to a person they both knew, who might be somewhere on the path the person will be taking...  always an underlying sense of camaraderie, of shared experience.

☸

Right now I'm thinking of making a junk sail for the mizzen, like Dag Goering's Vivacity has:

I can't have a junk main because the mast on Firefly is too far forward. (I might like a gaff, though.) But first I might try a larger jib. I'm thinking that a larger jib isn't going to bring the centre of effort any farther forward than the present small jib, since it's set on the same forestay, so it wouldn't affect the helm. But I think that the extra overlap would add power to the rig. What I'd like is a flat jib with roller reefing. Please post a comment if you think I'm wrong and need correction on this point of the CE. Thanks!  -e.