Passion X

The forecast rain did not arrive and so I enjoyed a bonus day on the harbour exercising single handed on Passion X. Up the harbour it was blowing up to 20 knots and with the No 3 jib and newly cut down pin head main enjoyed the beat to windward and the reach back home. As an experiment I sheeted the No 3 jib to the rail to widen the slot low down and in the fresh breeze it did help to keep the boat speed up. At times I hit 8.1 knots to windward but without some serious competition alongside it is hard to know if I was giving away too much height. The wide sheeting angle helped for the run back home as I could wing on wing from the cockpit and on the broad reach the outboard sheeting angle was also helpful. In the gusts Passion X hit 9.6 knots on several occasions and a couple of kayakers hopped on my stern wave for a free ride home to Greenwich.
it was a solid work out as I was on board from 11 am to 5:30 pm and had a row in and out from the club.
A big bonus on arriving home was the invitation from Balmain Sailing Club to join the Friday series as from this Friday. They have received permission for their normal Friday afternoon series with added restrictions including no club function and no tender service. Crews are restricted to family and max 2 other provided these 2 keep the social distance.
Elaine and I have entered and intend to sail as a family with an occasional guest. it was for just this sort of series that I had the fat head main cut back so that we could sail with fixed backstay. I have had four practice sails now, three single handed and one with Elaine and think we are ready to go.

A good breeze would have been enjoyed

At Newcastle it was a good 18 knots gusting to 22 knots from the North West for the start. With such good breeze there would have been no need for a delay and the direction favoured a quick exit from the harbour. There would have been a short tight leg to the shoreward mark that gets the fleet away from the harbour entrance and from then it would have been a great beam reach up to Port Stephens. The winds freshened in the aftenoon with gusts over 25 knots so it would have been an exciting trip until the breeze faded later. I presume the finish would have been outside the heads as the otherwise it would have been a beat into the bay into fading winds.
There would have been tall stories in the bar until the shuttle bus departed for Newcastle while the crews settled in for the Sail Port Stephens week.
Alas this is all imaginary but let’s keep going for week.
Given the current forecast the first three day series should have been sailed in good winds with the Wednesday race 20 knots from the North.
Crews would have appreiated the lay day on Thursday wth rain and 30 knots in the offing. While Friday and Saturday are forecast to be fine the winds will be hovering around the 25 knot mark keeping the fleet inshore.
Unfortunately the balmy 28 degrees of today’s Nor Wester will give away to 19 degrees with a substantial chill factor. All the foul weather gear would be needed to stay warm for the duration.
Later in the week we will see how the forecast rolls out but for now today’s dash to Port Stephens is one good race that was a victim to the virus.

A problematic forecast for the second half of the series that had to be cancelled due to the virus

Well the last visit to Refuge Bay was to be the last for a while as on return the lock down started 36 hours later. I spent the last 36 hours well getting the rego check on the car and picking up essentials for boat maintenance. After a week of so the rules about sailing became clearer so Elaine and I did a long day on the harbour working up to the heads and running home.
I did do an afternoon of exercise on the Laser at Gosford where the access to the water is quite sailor friendly but as too many turned up that is now off the agenda for the time being.
The optimists, the people not the class, at Balmain have started the entry process for the West Harbour Winter Series and I have duly entered but the pessimist in me thinks it will be a no go for quite a while.
Had the pandemic not struck we would have been in transit today to Newcastle for the Newcastle to Port Stephens race which is quite highlight on our social and racing calendar. We have left our entry fee for Sail Port Stephens with the club ready for next years regatta and left half our marina fee as credit with priority access to the marina next year.
The other casualty in the sailing calendar is the Diggers Cup at Royal Perth Yacht Club on the Swan.
Fortunately we are able to do yacht and mooring maintenance and sail for exercise as a family so to make the sailing safer I have removed the fat head main from out sail and converted it to a more conventional pin head but with a 300 mm head that fits below the backstays. The top battens still overlap the backstays by a good distance but they do pop through fairly easily. As the alterations were finished yesterday and it was a glorious summy day I took the opportunity to refit the main and take Passion X for a single handed sail up the harbour. The four top battens had to be trimmed to length and all the battens in the No 3 jib and main reinstalled which was a pretty good work out. I did enjoy the single handed sail up the harbour and the upper body work out winding sails up and tacking the jib was just what the doctor ordered.
I have lost a couple of square metres form the sail area at the top of the main and while that may mean a little less performance at the low end of the wind range it may even be beneficial at the upper end. Removing the need to swap the backstays over ever tack and gybe will make for a much safer and calmer sailing experience and that might make up for some of the lost sail area. Also the two back winches will be freed up for spinnaker work and tweaking lines again making up for lost sail area in the head.
The profile in the head now looks very much like the J 121 so I feel we are not too old fashioned.

Passion X with the new head profile much like the J 121