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It was as a typical annual shakedown
cruise: the first day out under sail after launching to work out the inevitable
bugs and tweaks. The weather forecast couldn't have been any better:
Sunny, winds NW 10-20, temperature hitting 80 with low humidity.
No chance of rain for at least a couple of days. Wow.
So I took off on Sunday morning to set the boat
ship-shape. Right off, I came across another C22 heading out.
We sailed along for a while, but then I hoisted the old genoa to tweak
it and gradually left them behind. I've added a thin coated cable
from the Catalina Direct cunningham kit –
which I don't use – to raise the old jib
a few inches higher off the furler drum shackle and deck, since the Joe Waters sail didn't
work out for me. (On raising the "new" Waters sail last week, I
discovered that my old genoa could be hoisted a few inches higher on the
furling system.) The reefing
lines were tangled, not unusual; but so too was one of the lazy-jack
lines, wrapped ahead of a shroud. Regardless of attention, these
tangles nonetheless seem to happen every season. After sunset I
discovered that the steaming light and the deck light
– part of the same lamp assembly
half way up the mast
– don't work and need attention before my
cruise. All the other lights and switches work fine. Grabbing
a mooring in
Misery Island's expectedly crowded cove late Sunday was a serious challenge,
with only one on the outside unoccupied. It had no pennant
line attached, but no other moorings were available.
I was prepared for that, had the spring line uncoiled and ready, but threading it
through the mooring's shackle while singlehanding was,
well, a challenge. When I finally succeeded on my
fourth run at it, the crew of a circling larger sailboat gave me a round of
applause, I suppose for perseverance. The skipper said his crew of
five guests aboard couldn't have done any better.
Skill? Close but no cigar. Sheer perseverance and
stubbornness!
The new-this-year shiny stainless steel
"all-purpose bucket" functions well, and shouldn't deteriorate
(UV and salt degradation?) like the past two. I love the tinted windows,
and so far they don't leak. The oil lamp works well, but is sort
of superfluous thanks to the LED lamps I've Velcroed to the cabin top.
Still, you can't beat the oil lamp's ambiance. I just replaced the
very fragile chimney after bumping and shattering it last week, bought a spare while I was
ordering. Despite caution, breaking them apparently is inevitable I'm
afraid.
This morning I made coffee then headed for home at about 9 am. I was
still working out the bugs on the short trip back, but had them licked
by the time I arrived at Chip Ahoy's mooring. (Jun.
19-20, 2011) |
