Sunday, January 22, 2006

Woo hoo! A New Spinnaker!

Today was magnificent! My friends and I flew my newly received asymmetrical spinnaker. Yesterday it was 60 degrees, but it was also blowing to 50 mph! Not a particularly good day to test new light air sails!

But first, I had to provide a mounting point for the tack - I chose to drill a hole in the centermost side plate of the anchor roller/stemhead fitting as close to the bow as possible without interfering with the roller furler. The fingers you see in the picture are Herb's. Of course Laura was along for the trip!

It was like 5 knots wind today, so it was perfect for this - I also installed my new jib. Both sails are from Somerset Sails, in Butler, NY. Look- if you need sails, call Martin and talk to him. You may end up somewhere else, but I'm guessing you're not going to.

Ok, so I drilled a 3/8" hole in the side plate and mounted a shackle and block - as an aside, when I moved the mainsheet back to the new traveler in the cockpit, I ended up with a crapload of Schaeffer blocks. Like five or six of them. I saved them and kept them on the boat for over two years. Finally, my packrat ways have paid off! I have the block for the tack and the two turning blocks aft for the sheets!

It's so seldom you get to save money on a boat!

So, all is rigged with 5/16" polypropylene line, yellow and black to match the spinnaker, of course. Well, here are the results. Of course in 3 or 5 knots of wind, the excitement isn't there, but you get the idea!

On another tack, last night I was fooling around with Skype and did a kind of random search for people. It was a slow TV night.... Anyway, I found a person with similar beliefs, that is, atheism, and in Chicago where I got stuck last week. Anyway, on a lark, I emailed them and here you go: Browse at your leisure.

  1. http://webmistressjulia.com/blog.htm
  2. http://media1.servercave.com:15822/RadioRadio
  3. http://webmistressjulia.com/blog.htm
If you communicate, let her know you heard of her here!


I also mounted the new jib, although there wasn't enough wind to even unfurl it. So here's a picture of that, too. Looks pretty, good, I must say!

Anyway, now, really, I'll see you on the water!

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