And so it's looking better for the new sailing season and again so am I. Skipper stayed out of the Yacht Haven as requested to comply with the requirements of the lockdown and then received not only full and complete invoices for the months I was there but a phone call reminding him I was due to go back into the water on the 1st March. This was not received well, as none of the work to the outside of my hull had been carried out only a few bits inside during December, plus others he could take home with him to clean, etc. So a sort of agreement was reached that if he could manage the 16th, so he set too on his trusty scaffold tower and gave me a good going over.
It was around this time that my new mainsail had been finished and was ready for collection.
Having tested the fluxgate compass and the clutch on the motor on my autopilot Skipper was still not happy that the problem of me wandering off course had been located let alone fixed. He opted to order a replacement and I can tell you that today 7th April it was fitted as was the new main. All my Christmasses have come at once.
Having spoken to his youngest son, a tree feller, Skip bought himself some SLT climbing gear (single-line technique), this enables him to climb up, the mast in this case, and lower himself down again. So after a few practices making sure he had the gear correctly fitted he shimmied up the rope and replaced the two-deck lights from under the first spreader. The former plastic C clips had suffered from age and weather and turned brittle and broke in pieces leaving the old lights hanging down and open to more weathering.
The next job will be to bring down the analog radar that the new Axiom MSD cannot read, that'll save some weight halfway up the mast, although it'll be replaced with a loud hailer. This is so that in the fog the VHF radio can carry out the necessary fog horn sounds, save the skipper having to pump up the one he's got now. And that's another thing, the Raymarine speaker in the cockpit is not reliable and so I'm getting a replacement from a better manufacturer of VHF's. Likewise having a new P70s head controller for the new autopilot sitting on deck shows up the old SD wind and tri data gauges and so they're going to be replaced too.
On the 15th of April, we finally set off in what was deemed to be light airs all weekend. With the new main hoisted and engine under tick over, the opportunity was taken to check that everything was in the right place, tied to the correct thing, and without twist or hindrance - it was. It was just after lunch and with light not fading till around 2000 it was decided that we'd reach Totland and call it as to whether we'd press on to Studland or Swanage. By the time we were in the Needles Channel the Solent sea breeze had picked up to around 15kts and the tide had spat us out at around 8kts, within minutes of clearing land the breeze died again. This gave us the chance to try out the new autopilot and so skip placed a 'go to' waypoint south of the shipping channel into Poole and hit go.
The noise from the steering appeared a lot quieter than before strange seeing as the same motor was being used however, the new computer takes into account pitch, roll, yaw, tide, and wind speeds and so the journey was a very smooth one. Apparently, the 'system' learns my characteristics and adjusts accordingly!
What was a surprise was that whilst the cross-track error grew as the tide turned and the words 'steer to starboard' came up none of my occupants realised it was an instruction, the autopilot in this mode it seems doesn't automatically steer to the waypoint. Further investigation needed.
Would Skipper get the first night at anchor in complete rest with little to no wind? Of course not, it might have been shipping taking advantage of the late high tide to move in or out of Poole or just a reflective swell coming around Old Harry. Fortunately, the Webasto had been timed to come on at 0430 for four hours which it duly did and took the growing chill out of the air and more importantly the condensation from building above the heads of the occupants of the master cabin before it accurately dropped on their faces below.
Saturday morning dawned and Skip brought out Thor Junior the Code 0 and secured it on deck. A bright sunny morning implied another day of light airs in which he can try his dual sail package. With a slight apparent breeze forming as the momentum gained under engine whilst leaving the anchorage was turned into power. Whites were raised and I didn't look back, 6.0kts of apparent wind and 6.5kts Speed Over Ground recorded, I could point higher too, clearly, the combination of the new main and the year-old jib was working well, Thor Junior lay in wait.
I passed three other yachts in the north channel by Hurst Castle and once clear tacked in front of them to head into Totland. It had been a cracking four hours of sailing. Texts flying to and fro and the manual for the P70s control head was passed across and read by both parties. It seemed that the satellite bar at the bottom was indicating that the system needed calibrating, something Skip had been told wasn't necessary and so a penalty turn was required to sort this out.
The Webasto was this time left on in Eco mode with the temperature set to 16C, the night was a peaceful one.
The Needles Channel was a millpond, only ripples pointing at the direction of flow from crab pot buoys disturbed the surface. With main hoisted not one but two penalty turns were carried out and bingo the satellite bar pinged into life stating that the calibration had been successful. With whites again raised 7.0kts SOG towards Hurst in an otherwise still day, this time the auto tack process was initiated and so my bow slowly but deliberately came through 90 degrees and pointed 30degrees to the wind. This novelty was tried several times as we made our way back to Cowes.
Finally, the wind dropped further and so Skipper hoisted Thor Junior behind the jib. This took longer whilst he remembered what was needed to prevent lines from being crossed, eventually, not only did the wind stay long enough but Cowes loomed and so we headed in having dropped the sails. Thor did get deployed but only once tied up on W pontoon!
Can't wait for the next time out, see if I can keep up the performance and try the 'follow' route mode.
