Roughest day

Sheesh! That guy from a couple posts back was so right about the waters around here. ("It's that insane dirty dancing of wind and tide that makes you wish the band would just go home.")

The wind was a nice SSW 12-13 knots...

but it was dirty dancing with the tide, so it was really bouncy. Going to windward was slow but steady, and once I got half-way to Albert Head the wave action settled somewhat.

But then near Albert Head the wind freshened and I felt overpowered a couple of times, ragging the main. So I reefed, for the first time on the water.

I got the tack and clew down eventually (need to get cam cleats!), and went into the cove on the north side of Albert Head for calm water to tie in the reef points I couldn't reach from the cockpit. Once again I considered junk rig... but, so much work to make it happen!

The run home, with the mizzen furled, was bumpy and fairly fast. I've discovered that the wave action in videos looks much tamer than it is in reality. Wind here is about 16 knots. The boat is quite dry and handles waves well without shipping any—in a word: buoyant.

View from the shore (notice "SSW 17 kts gusting to 20 kts"):

Roughest day. Nothing broke.

Saturday sail

Friday was too windy, but Saturday looked like it was shaping up nicely. I got out in about 8 knot winds, way over by Witty's Lagoon. I noticed that the tide was sweeping me toward Race Rocks quite swiftly, and the wind was getting a little iffy, so I headed back. Three cruise ships came along at the same time. This one threw up some fierce waves, and then the wind, which was supposed to have built nicely to 15 knots, quit. So I motored home.

It happened that David Bowie's Cat People (Putting Out Fire) was on my sound system. It wasn't intentional, honest!  :-)

Almost forgot to say that the jib telltales are working much better:

I made a little button and button hole with some whipping thread and a dowel, to capture the jib downhaul so the telltales don't get caught in it, just forward of the bottom telltale.

Why I didn't go out on Friday

In a word: WIND!

Kite and sailboarders had a great time.

Race to Alaska

The qualifying first leg has been completed, and most of the boats have made it in. (I don't have any info on the strictly person-powered boats.) The wind was SW around 18 knots against a fairly strong ebb tide. The people I talked to said it was wet and cold. The first boat, Team Golden Oldies in their 38′ Crowther super Shockwave, arrived around 8:45am. Oops! I just found the results page; they arrived at 9:18. The Victoria Team Mau for whom John built a pedal drive came in 6th—good show!

Here's what Dirk Visser said about the Strait on the SCA blog:

"The 40 miles from PT to Victoria can be nothing but a rippled millpond, or possibly the sternest test you have ever faced as a mariner. Any local waterman will confirm: 'It's big water'.
Back in the day, planning a run to Neah Bay or La Push we used to just say to each other with a shrug of the shoulders, 'the Straits can always be rough!'.
It's that insane dirty dancing of wind and tide that makes you wish the band would just go home. On one ocassion I can remember the relief of just getting out to the open, unprotected, Pacific Ocean!"

Here's my only good photo of the fleet in the Inner Harbour on Friday afternoon.

I don't know what team this boat above is, but I know I've seen it written about. It has tandem sliding seat rowing units; one person per oar, it looks like. Many of the multihulls had a similar set-up, with a sliding seat on each outer hull. I enjoyed that it has twin daggerboards, just like my boat does! They're flat on the outside and foiled on the inner side, in rectangular (why not shaped?) boxes. All high-tech hardware and rigging, including a carbon fibre bowsprit.

Here's the Race to Alaska web site. They start the main course Sunday at noon.

Back to Firefly

I finally got the new rudder blade finished! I installed it yesterday. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in the experience I forgot to take photos (what else is new?). Suffice to say one would have great trouble distinguishing it from the old blade in a casual viewing. The downhaul arrangement is different, though: I fabricated and attached a stop so that the blade can only go so far around when it's down. This will mean much better performance, and hopefully fewer or no vibrations from the engine (too long a story to go into here).

Now, to get out there and try it out!

Um... what happened to all that great wind we were having??