Archive for October 2022
Wednesday provided some excitement when the breeze came in just on start time when everyone had their big rigs on for the light winds forecast. We hung in well with the big boys for the work to Cockatoo and did well on the run back to Goat by going wide around Cockatoo Island and doing the same around Goat Island. We were looking good at Long Nose on the way home with Utopia and Joli just ahead and Meridian a little way back. Jackpot and Agrovation were battling it out for the lead some way ahead but both of these have to give us a lot of time.
Somehow from just a little behind we missed the cut off for entry to Humbug. Perhaps our tickets to ride had expired but there we were with no wind and only an incoming tide bringing us in with similarly disappointed crews. We did manage a mini break over Meridian on the way through and pulled ahead of the Blue Fleet boats Worlds Apart and French Connection. Somehow these yachts had better connections and came at us at the finish line with wind from behind. If that was not bad enough the wind increased and Sweet Chariot came through Humbug like a rocket.
Oh well! There is always next week.
Back home progress on building the new Passion XI had to be fitted in with the rain. On Friday I had help from the crew with torture boarding the port side. We started in the middle as that was under cover and after lunch I called it a day. The call was premature however as the sun came out and as the covers were already almost off the stern I attacked the aft quarter with a vengance and so much so that I needed the weekend off to recover.
Monday had rain forecast and in anticipation we had scheduled a visit the the keel fabricator to discuss a plan of attack. The visit went well but it was still raining back at the construction site so not much to show for the day.
During the rainy patches I have completed an initial clean of the radius chine on the inside and patched all the temporary holes ready for filling from the topside. Along the way I have been cleaning up sections of the interior, sanding stringers and generally fiddling. To be fair it all has to be done sometime and better to be done when it is wet outside.
Keeping with the theme of inside jobs I have installed the doublers on both sides of the king plank. These are 55 mm by 19 mm spotted gum and are have a high crushing strength so ideal for supporting the keel bolts.
The final job for Friday was to mark out the keel shoe ready to fit it to the hull. I have to take the “V” off the bottom of the hull to prepare a flat section for the keel shoe and then glass over the strongback and bed the keel shoe in place. This is all under cover so an ideal job to fit in with the showers and one I hope to have well finished by next week.
In every sense of the word it was a fine night for our Greenwich Flying Squadron twilight race. The winds were light, there was no rain and most of the fleet got home on time.
The challenge with a light night this early in the season is to get everyone home before the winds die and the dark descends. Unfortunately the trip through Humbug, both in and out was characterised by almost no wind.
In our Black division, Utopia managed to escape from the calm and turn the corner into considerable breeze so that by the time we drifted through with the outgoing tide she was invisible to the naked eye.
Joli tried to emulate the feat of Utopia with a mini break around the point while Meridian and Passion X battled it out at the rear. Well the almost rear because Sweet Chariot was not enjoying the conditions any more than us.
On the beat to Goat Island Meridian drew away a little with good positioning for the last lift approaching Goat. We tacked early hoping for the tide to carry us around the mark and it did just that to regain a little ground. From the island our course took us down the south side of Cockatoo all the way to Drummoyne and up the river. A spell of fresh breeze kept our spirits up and we made ground on Meridian. Once around the point formerly called Long Nose we poled out the genoa with our super long whisker pole and ran out wide for breeze and then very tightly to Cockatoo Island.
At Snapper Island we had crept ahead of Meridian and could see Joli not far in front. As the breeze had swung again we poled out on the way down the channel from Snapper to Spectacle Island and just kept Meridian at bay.
Joli turned for the work home and was soon well up the track. We tacked as best we could and managed to pull clear of Meridian on the way to Clarke Point
From the point we went deepest of all the fleets but once in Humbug we had to avoid the raft up of the earlier fleets. By some miracle our momentum carried us head to wind till we cleared the four or five yachts parked off Onion Point so that we could bear away for the finish line mercifully closer to Onion Point than usual.
We did see Utopia once on the way to Snapper Island when she was running down to Spectacle but it was a distant view and a well deserved win for Utopia.
We managed second place due again to our generous handicap but to be fair it was a course that suited us with the long run from Long Nose down to Spectacle Island.
Back at the boat yard the excitement of finishing the second layer of the radius chine has given way to the steady toil of cleaning off the excess glue from the joins and starting the torture boarding. What I have boarded pleases me but I realise that I need to pace myself and mix up energetic boarding with patching and filling whenever the weather permits. Two days this week have been spent under the covers patching the temporary holes prior to filling them from the top but on one fine afternoon I attacked the starboard quarter and made good progress.
Now that the interior is well protected from the weather I have a huge list of tasks that can proceed with the first being the inside filleting and fairing.
After this morning’s rain cleared the sun has come out and brightened the outlook somewhat.
As it happens we had a large tree removed from our backyard because it was too close to the neighbours residence. That inspired the adjoining neighbour to have his similarly large tree removed which has opened up our back yard to a lot more sunshine. Our tree was over thirty years old and growing vigerously while the neighbours tree was much older and a bit worse for wear. After the tree was felled the tree rings told and interesting tale. For the first two thirds of the rings there was no fire damage but after that there was repeated fire damage over many cycles until 35 years ago when the area was urbanised. I speculate that the tree predated agriculture in the area by as much as 50 years and then possibly 100 years of agriculture. It is a shame I could not save a section of the trunk and have it polished to date it properly.
That was Thurdsay’s distraction while the evening before was the second twilight race at GFS. Courtesy of a generous handicap we were second in that race. We had our moments with a good first windward work until Long Nose where we were caught on the wrong shore for the breeze direction but on the subsequent run down the south of Cockatoo Island we got a private gust with some staying power that caught us up the the fleet. Nevertheless our two second places will cause us some pain in the handicap department. Well done to Irikandji who sailed a steady race and won by a large margin.
Back at the boat yard I call home I have been a bit quiet on reporting activity as it has been repetitive planking of the radius chine and all weather affected. It is finished although a week behind my self imposed schedule and I really did not compensate for the lost time with a lot of interior work. I did some cleaning up inside which will be useful but it was hard to get motivated when it was cold and damp.
For the record here are a few photos from planking the radius chine to a bit of interior fiddling.
Wednesday was a dreadful day with heavy rain for most of the daylight hours. We went to the club rather hoping that racing would be abandoned and the majority of the skippers voted with their feet and did not show.
On the wet pontoon we were endeavouring to negotiate a no show for all of our black fleet but our attempts were thwarted by the arrival of Joli. No wanting to give Joli a six point head start to the season Utopia and Passion X made a mad scramble to the moored yachts and made it to the start.
Joli because she was better prepared no doubt, took the lead and held it to the finish for a first and fastest. Well done Joli.
At the back of the three boat fleet we had abandoned hope but a good shift on the second windward work gained us some ground and rekindled our spirits.
Now it was cold and damp. The heavy rain had moderated and sailing was only mildly uncomfortable as we headed into Humbug for the work home.
As much as we tried we could not get in phase with the shifts in Humug as they were severe and often but midway through our luck changed and we worked the last half in one beat.
At the finish we were certain that all hope had been lost but that last shift got us over the line for second place on handicap just one second in front of Utopia. While a more generous result would have been a dead heat for second we will take the extra point.
My last significat progress on the hull of Passion XI was on Tuesday when I made full use of the available daylight hours and a couple of hours under lights. In that session I planked 2.7 metres of the second layer and in the process completed all the 6 mm planks. The remaining section needs two layers of 3 mm to bend around the tighter radius.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday provides some limited opportunity for external work during which time the temporary fasteners were removed and some limited cleaning and torture boarding started.
The torture boarding is more of a luxury at this stage but I am a little like small child unwrapping the presents as I cannot wait to get the glue off the joins and run the fairing battern over the surface.
Before the deluge on Friday I sent a morning fairing the first two layers of 3mm on the radius chine ready to take the next two layers. There is possibly a mornings work removing the remaining glue off the first two layers to expose clean timber ready for the next application of thickened epoxy..
When it rained I retreated under the tarpaulins and started tidying up the completed radius chine ready for filling holes and filleting the bulkheads to the new skin.
Tomorrow, Monday, a new work week starts and with the forecast promising sunshine I hope to be back on planking the hull.