Sailing, Seacocks and the Bridge

Brian at the helm with Maryann at right

Sailing!

Grandson Cameron on the bow of Sweet Escape

Originally Posted at www.svsweetescape.com

On Sunday April 29th our surveyor Marian Lambrecht from Schuss Marine in Chicago met us at Sweet Escape.  

You may recall from an earlier post that we had hired her to accompany us out for the first sailing session so that she could help us become acquainted with the rig and other systems on board.  

Weather that day left a little to be desired.  We had 15 knot winds blowing from just north of east.  This set up a challenging docking/undocking scenario as our slip is north/south and the dock was on the upwind side.  Because of the east winds, temperatures were in the mid 40’s - but it was time to do some sailing.

We motored down the channel with Brian at the helm headed for Lake Michigan.  Out on the lake we encountered 2-3 foot seas.  We unfurled the mainsail and discovered that the main had not been fully raised within the mast when the sail had been put on.  This caused the top of the main to bunch up inside the mast and made it difficult to unfurl.

To correct this, Brian used the main halyard to raise the sail the rest of the way.  Once the sail was all the way up the mast we were able to get it all the way out.  Brian was impressed at the size of this sail.  It was huge, bigger than any mainsail we’d ever sailed under before on our boat or anyone else's.  The furling system seems pretty straight forward and we should not need much practice to become good at using it because it just isn’t that difficult.

One of the really nice things about in mast furling is the ease of reefing.  It is simply a matter of furling whatever amount of sail you need to reduce and it can be done quickly and there is no need to leave the cockpit to do it.

On the other hand, in mast furling can also be touchy.  It is important to keep significant tension on the outhaul as you’re furling the sail or it will will bend in on itself and get jammed on the furler.  This would not be good.  Sunday, when it was time to come in, Judy and Marian were able to furl the main with no trouble.

Once the main was out we unfurled the jib.  Hunter uses a weird rig known as the B&R rig.  It is a fractional rig with no backstay and kind of works like a tripod.  Like on all sloop type rigs the jib lives on the forestay.  Once the jib was out the boat was reaching speeds in the high six knot range but Marian pointed out what she thought was a loose forestay.  Based on that observation Brian rolled up the jib and that was that for the day.   If indeed there was a problem with the forestay, it could have a catastrophic effect on the entire rig, keeping in mind what we said earlier about there being no backstay.

At this point we headed back to the dock and had some boat handling practice after which we docked.  Judy actually docked and it was pretty exciting in the 15 knot crosswind.  After several missed approaches she got into the slip with no damage.  It wasn’t pretty but alls well that ends well.

All in all, despite the cold, blustery weather, we learned a lot about our rig and how Sweet Escape handles under sail.

On Monday Brian used a vacation day and we used the time to register the boat in Wisconsin and write the dreaded tax check to the state.  We also made a stop at Racine Riverside to speak with Service Manager Marc regarding the loose forestay and another problem that Brian had discovered the previous day when operating the through-hull valve for the galley sink discharge.  When operating the valve on the seacock a tiny amount of water would spurt out from the side of the seacock.  This was alarming because this seacock is all that is standing between the interior of the boat and the water in which it is floating.  If a seacock were to fail, the boat would fill with water and sink.  The seacock appeared to have a small crack in it.

We have to say here that Racine Riverside’s service staff are truly amazing.  We met with Marc and told him about the seacock and within five minutes we were en-route to Pugh Marina with Marc and Broker Steve to investigate the problem.  It’s important to realize that this is a very busy time of the year for Riverside.  Boats are being put in the water and many people want work done immediately if not sooner.  Yet Marc dropped everything to come and look at our problem - I guess the possibility that your boat might be in danger of sinking moves you to the front of the line.

Marc came aboard and took a look at the through-hull and after the requisite amount of grunting and other various noises announced that the boat had to come out of the water - today.  So, with the help of Steve we brought the boat back to Riverside where she was hauled and the offending seacock replaced.  It was also confirmed that there was no problem with the forestay.

Sweet Escape remained at Riverside an extra couple of days because the Main Street bridge malfunctioned and could not open to allow boats through until Friday.