The never-ending project to fill my hole in the ocean while bailing it out

Season ‘05 officially has arrived!

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Description

Chip Ahoy and trailer were ready to roll Wednesday morning when Wally Riddle ("Carpe Diem") arrived at my home. We towed it down to the Riverhead Beach launch ramp to raise the mast and begin rigging. On the left is a photo of the launch ramp at low tide. Fuggetaboutit -- but we planned to launch on Thursday morning's high tide.  (Jun. 1, 2005)

Wally looking out over Marblehead Harbor and the steep ramp.

With the help of Barbara's son Lance, who along with his family was visiting from Nevada, the three of us got the mast and furler raised without a hitch. I spent the rest of the afternoon rigging the boat, trying to remember where all the lines I pulled off in a hurry last fall all connected and ran. It went much more smoothly than I'd anticipated.

The moment of truth for my new anchor setup arrived after we had the furler attached and I tried mounting the anchor: would there be enough space for its shank beneath the furler drum!?! I knew it'd be close but, according to my estimated measurement, thought there was enough room. There was plenty! ( I added a 25' trip line, clipped to the pulpit with a carabineer on its end. The carabineer attaches to the twist shackle on the anchor when deployed; the other end will be tied to a spare fender for flotation.)

See close-up detail

Another view of the anchor and roller furler drum. I had Chip Ahoy fully rigged by late afternoon and left it for the night in the parking lot, ready to launch on the next morning's high tide.

This morning Wally and I drove back to the lot, hooked up the trailer, and launched Chip Ahoy. I motored it out of Marblehead Harbor then sailed it around to my mooring on the Salem Harbor side of town. Season 2005 officially has begun for Chip Ahoy and me!  (Jun. 2, 2005)

Barbara's son Lance, his wife Mary, and Barbara's twin grandkids, Aidan and Maya, arrived from their home in Nevada for a visit. I took them out for a sail aboard Chip Ahoy today. Though the weather looked threatening in the morning, by early afternoon it turned out to be beautiful: sunny with a nice NE breeze that carried us along at a crisp 4-5 knots. We cruised out almost to Misery/Bakers Islands before turning around and heading back. Mary never quite got her sea legs, but soldiered on below in the cabin, missing all these photo ops. Before we arrived back at the dock, Maya had joined her below.  (Jun. 6, 2005)   (More photos)

I've never been able to quite tighten the outhaul on Chip Ahoy, so decided to remedy that this season. Louis Plaisance ("Saint Benedict"), a member of the discussion list group, sent along photos (one is on the left) and a description of his modification:  "This shot shows the main points, a triple and a double block, no beckets as the line is cleated off on both sides of the boom. The eyebolt keeps the blocks off the boom when trimmed. The line is long enough to make up on the two four inch cleats I have installed on either side of the boom. I attach to the clew via a hook which allows reattachment to the reefing clew if I want to make adjustments while reefed down."  (Jun. 11, 2005)

I liked his modification and decided to adopt and adapt it. I bought the hardware and went to work. My problem has been the short distance from the clew of the mainsail to the end of the boom, and it stood in the way again. In adapting Louis' modification, I had to abandon the triple miniblock and go with just the double, reaving the new 3/16" StaSet line through the clew grommet and the block. Fully tightened, it now works perfectly without much effort. I'm still using the cleat about halfway up the boom.

A view from the port side. Just enough room to spare between the clew and the block. (The other lines in this photo and the one above are, the topping lift, most aft, and; the mainsail reefing line.)