Azores or Bust

Last weekend was the boat club rally to Ramsgate. Only five boats this year. First night most anchored in Stangate Creek and then set off early to catch the tide to Ramsgate. Mischief sailed well despite the new heavy load of a liferaft in the cockpit and cover along with the engine in the well and the bulk of 5 weeks worth of stores. The self-steering worked until the wind dropped then it was time to have a play with the spinnaker. The kite is a bit small and the pole too short but it is fun to practice. Ramsgate was the usual mixture of seaside and yacht club. On the Monday I set off early and headed out to the Princes Channel to try the self-steering again. With the wind on the nose and against the tide we made some progress and the self-steering stood up well to the conditions. Towards the end of the trip the tide turned and I limped back to Stangate creek to moor up against Arctic Smoke who was at anchor in the creek. It was quite late but after 4 hours sleep I was off aga...

Racing, not successful :-(. I came last in two race only avoided last place in the other race because another boat missed a mark. On the up side, I think I would have been more competitive with the engine stowed and the cockpit plug in. Also, I managed two spinnaker runs. The first was very successful, the second had mixed results. I managed to trap the spinnaker sheet in the genoa furling when I furled the jib, this resulted in a lot of drifting around but nothing major. During the run I kept up with a faster boat, the one that I collided with! The collision was was a combination of my inexperience and the other boat's fault. Anyway, new nav light and bow roller repair have been added to the job list. Mischief doesn't do well in light airs with the engine in the cockpit BUT in light airs I need the engine available in case a ship comes along. Steering system, while the wind wasn't suitable for making progress being light airs and variable direction I did get the vane set...

A break through on the self steering, it works. I managed about 30 mins upwind and used the system to tack the boat which was a massive relief. I was beginning to think that it was a lemon. I then managed 30 mins down wind and it held the course +/- 10 degrees which is fine. Next I need to finalise the develop rig as there are multiple adjustment devices that need to be made static. The next day there were a couple of races so I and a friend who has just got his boat back in commission after a 2 year refit join in. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and finished mid order in both races.

We took part in our first race a couple of weekends ago. The local clubs on the River Medway have a fairly full racing calendar and Mischief and I needed some sailing time so we joined in with the Red Sands Race. This is a 28nm course and usually takes in excess of 7 hours to complete We came last on elapsed time but 2nd last out of 5 on handicap. Everyone finished within 5 hours and we all spent the majority of the race at hull speed with a northerly force 4 / 5 wind putting us on a beam reach. More racing next weekend and I won't be so timid now it looks like the mast step is fixed.