Before coming through the wind, the main boom needed to be raised to clear the boom gallows. We could trim up the sails and go in a straight line with the rudder centered. I am sure we have one, but this jib did a fine job. As it turns out, we could use a bigger jib. Previously, without the jib, the main grossly overpowered the staysail moving the center of sail effort too far aft, and sailing with only the staysail put the center of sail effort too far forward. ![]() The lead was a little too far aft in general, but we could fix that with a lizard line attached to the mooring cleat just aft of the break-deck.Ī big part of our excitement about this day’s sail was that we expected that the jib and staysail should balance the main sail and provide a balanced sail plan. Just inside the fore-most main shroud worked well. We tried a couple of places for snatch blocks to lead the jib sheets back to the jib winches. In addition to testing the configuration of the mainsheet, we were also looking for the best route for the jib sheets. This was also our first sail with the full six-to-one mainsheet purchase. After each of our previous sails, we learned what works and what needed improvement. This day was perfect for getting to know Mahdee’s sailing qualities. One of the great reasons to start our work ups in San Diego is that the winds are generally very consistent and the harbor protects from large ocean swells. We were sailing for the first time with three sails!īelow, hoisting the jib for the first time! With the jib working great, we put up the main sail and then the staysail and shut off the engine. We re-tightened the halyards and the luff was now straight. We eased the jib halyard and sheets and I ran the running bobstay line around the windlass and cranked it tighter than we have ever had it. As expected, the bowsprit bobstay needed some more tension. It went up great, but the luff was not straight. That way, if anything went wrong, we could just deal with that one sail. ![]() With Mahdee pointed into the wind, we could have first raised the main, but we decided to start with the jib since this was the first time for that sail. She powered up to keep us in position until at last, I had the the chain clean and stowed. Brenda patiently waited at the helm until the anchor broke out, which we knew to have happened when we started blowing towards the marina. My glasses were covered in salt spray so that I could hardly see and the fore deck was slick with mud and salt water. Once that was clean, I would bring up five more feet and repeat. ![]() I would blast the mud off the five feet of chain nearest the bow where it went through a hawse pipe. Because the chain was coming up as a mud snake, despite the underwater scrubber, I could only bring up about five feet at a time. By now, however, the wind was blowing so hard that the salt water sprayer would only get five feet before the spray was turned around and blasted right back into my face. To keep mud out of the chain locker, we have a weighted brush which scrubs the chain as it comes up and I spray the chain clean with the salt water wash-down–normally cleaning the chain just as fast as the windlass can pull it up. So, we fired up the Cummins and I started up the windlass. Moments earlier, we had the idealistic notion that we would sail off of anchor, but then the wind shifted around 180 degrees and was now blowing in a direction that would take us right into the marina mooring field if anything went wrong. We anchored just outside of our marina where we could take our time and figure out how we wanted to rig the jib and all the associated lines–uphaul, downhaul, tack, sheets… By the time we had the jib fully rigged and the main and stay sail ready to raise, the wind was starting to blow. After our week of trials, we had the opportunity to hank on the jib and take Mahdee out for some sailing.
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