Passion X

We finished the week and the West Harbour Winter Series on a good note with a fastest times in the Sunday race, a second on handicap behind a well sailed Mount Gay 30 and a second on ORCi behind a well sailed Fareast 28. Both these smaller yachts carried spinnakers on the short square runs while we were content to defend our fastest times place with the full mainsail and the 110% genoa hauled out to windward.
The extra crew helped today as we were able to tweak the controls to better suit the varying wind conditions. Among the controls we tweaked a bit more was the backstay which we wound on a bit harder than usual to flatten the full main to good effect.
Kevin said our result was because we did not set the spinnakers and I agree as the running legs were too short for our level of experience and flicking the 110% genoa back and forth was very effective in using the wind shifts downwind.
The result on ORCi is one I have calculated myself as the scorers have entered a zero instead of a decimal point with the result that we are the highest handicapped boat ever in the history of sailing. We are not that good and the corrected result will show our second place with quite a bit of time to spare on the rest of the fleet. This is our first good result on ORCi and a timely bit of encouragement.

Our result on Friday was a second fastest and second on handicap but we were outclassed to windward by Another Planet. With one reef in their main they were over canvassed for the over 20 knot conditions but we were more over canvassed with two reefs. While we blitzed the rest of the field our performance relative to Another Planet left me a little disappointed.

In the Winter Wednesday race at RANSA we also had strong breezes and while we stayed closer to the fleet than usual it was only close enough for a fourth place. We had one reef in the main and the 110% genoa for the downwind leg and again did well against the fleet rounding ahead of the J133 and the Sydney 38 as well as Sorcerer and Marloo. Blue Chip, the Sydney 38 had too much sail up and finished the race under jib alone but the time their main came down we felt we would have had their measure on handicap. The heavier yachts, Marloo and Sorcerer powered past us on the wind and for a second week a late knock gave us a slow finish relative to the yacht ahead who had already rounded the last mark.

All the big boys pulled out this week except for the consistent Duende but we stayed quite close in the downwind leg and they did not gain enough ground on the windward work to beat us on handicap. The surprise of the day was to have The Red Hand cross behind us five minutes after the start but then they gybed over to port tack and raced away only to retire on the trip around Shark Island.  We very much appreciated them indicating they would go behind as they were the starboard tack boat and we were still nursing a slightly bent boom through the gybes. We did granny the last gybe rounding of the day as the wind was over 25 knots at the time.

We need to improve our windward performance in strong breezes if we are to have any chance of consistently performing well on ORCi. To that end I invested in the speed guide and polar plots from the ORCi VPP software and have some very interesting guides for sail setting.

The Speed guide for Passion X confirms that we need to reduce sail area aggressively for windward working in 16 knots and over. The new No 4 jib should get a very good work out once it is finished and on board. I feel going for the No 4 before we put the second reef in the main will give us better overall upwind and downwind performance so that is something for us to look forward to.

The other finding from the various rigs I examined with the ORCi VPP was that a 62 msq jib set flying will be a great asset for next year’s Sail Port Stephens with some good speed improvements in 8 knots and under and a very wide effective wind range from 45 degrees around to 120 degrees. In all breezes it fills the gap between the jib being most effective to the point where the spinnakers are most effective.

It was a good note to finish on and this week we will change over the boom for a bigger stronger section and not be so worried about the gybes.

For the record our mistaken handicap and corrected finishing time of around 15 weeks

A view of The Red Hand which we saw for longer than usual.

After a couple of abandoned races in one week the wind returned in force on Wednesday and it was a pity that there was only three of the regular crew available for the day. The lure of warmer weather in Queensland and some serious Laser competition was too much for two crew and ailments kept three others off the water. Fortunately a Friday crew volunteered for double duty and made our total up to four for the RANSA race.
With a forecast of 20 knots rising to 25 late in the day we set sail with a reef in the main and the 110% jib. Strictly speaking if it is 110% it should probably be called a genoa but I will leave you to research that fine point of sailing terminology.
We started with the big boys and I do mean the big boys as we had Duende and Wild Thing in front and The Red Hand behind. We had discussed our tactics beforehand and had intended to let all the big boys zoom past to give us clear air but they would not go away. For a long time we held our own and had to change course to avoid Wild Thing’s stern ten minutes up the track. What kept us up with the faster yachts was a better path through the gusts including pulling the jib out to windward and sailing a little over square Laser style in the gusts to keep us in the wind.
Eventually when we were all on port gybe they pulled away so we could concentrate on staying in front of Blue Chip and Marloo.
We were a bit pleased with ourselves to manage to round the Cannai Point mark ahead of Blue Chip despite the reef in the main. With a full crew we might have left the reef until the downwind mark and had a bigger gap.
On the upwind leg the two genoa trimmers manned the windward rail and we set out to keep up with Blue Chip. For a short time we appeared to be be losing less ground than usual and it seemed Marloo was taking longer to catch us. I was feathering into the big gusts and the top of the main was reversing giving us noticeable righting moment but we did lay over in the gusts more than I can recall on any other occasion.
At the finish I timed Marloo across the line and thought we had a chance of beating her but a late knock and a line angled downwind from the finish boat meant a longer work to the line and a late tack to clear the pin.
With that I thought we might have been last on handicap but was pleased to find that only Blue Chip and Marloo had beaten us and we pulled back one point on the massive lead Duende has in the series.
A big thanks to the crew for one of the most exciting days on the Harbour this season.
Today the new boom was at Joe Walsh Rigging and I have unwrapped it and already cut the partial sleeve that will go inside the boom at the block hanger position. The partial sleeves fit nicely and should do the job along with the larger section higher moments. The photos show the first partial sleeve sitting inside the boom section from which it was cut. Subsequently the second partial sleeve was cut from the balance of the section leaving just the bottom track and top of the section as waste.

The partial sleeve sitting inside the remainder of the section from which it was cut.

Another view of the partial sleeve sitting inside the section from which it was cut.

We have made some progress with Passion X but in the absence of breeze on Sunday we had no excitement. First the bowsprit has been fitted and it fits well. Second we have hoisted the asymmetric spinnaker in the new sock and that works well too. Third we have gybed the asymmetric spinnaker on the outside which is a first for most of the crew and skill in this is a must for heavier breezes. That was all Sunday’s progress before and after the abandoned race.
With all my urgent household chores completed including pruning the roses the first mate agreed to help with some maintenance on Passion X. It was a sunny day and an ideal one to upgrade the remaining Spinlock pulleys on the deck organizers. The rest of the plastic ones had started to fail and last Wednesday we had to put the main halyard into the second reef slot . With 25 knots forecast for tomorrow the second reef is a must so out came the twenty bolts and the last six plastic sheaves changed to alloy. While we were tied up to the Greenwich Flying Squadron pontoon we attended to some deck leaks by withdrawing the offending bolts and refilling the holes with Sikaflex. That process uses up a lot of disposable gloves and is a good one to have finished. I am sure we will find a few more over time but for now all we could see are done.
The next big job will be replacing the boom when the new and better larger section arrives but for now it is ready for sailing including topping up the diesel and a few litres of water into the almost empty tanks.

Before closing off on this blog I want to add a bit of technical information about the network at home. Now that I have all the files stored on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) I can create the blog from any of three computers in the house. I just need to pick the cosiest spot and start typing.

The new bowsprit on Passion X looks the part