After a disappointing result on Wednesday it was good to have the boom replacement project to keep me occupied for a couple of days. Also as the weather turned out it was a good Friday afternoon race to avoid as the breeze was gusting 30 knots as the fleet raced past Joe Walsh’s rigging yard where I was doing the boom replacement.
On Wednesday at RANSA we were eight minutes behind the similarly rated Blue Chip around the course despite having the sails looking very well set. We could not say that if we did this if we did that we would have been quicker and the crew lamented that we are sailing at the back of the fleet alone in Div 1s while the Division 1 fleet we raced in with the old Passion had some very close racing.
What could we have done better? If we had carried the No 1 genoa downwind we might have gained a minute but would certainly have lost it on the way back. We did not need a reef in the main either in practice or by reference to the ORCi speed guide. We did get up to the recommended speed to windward on several occasions but could not keep up to the speed consistently.
Perhaps the breeze at 16 knots is just in our “bitter” spot. That has to the the reverse of “sweet” spot so at lighter wind conditions when we can carry the No 1 genoa all the way we might be more competitive and at stronger breezes we can make up a bit of time downwind.
This week our competitors carried full sail around the course and flogged us on handicap. That is all except Duende who had their own set of special circumstances with a too early pole out of the genoa which cost them a lot of time.
So the boom change project was much needed therapy and all the sails are in for a quick check while we are off the water. The boom change over was not straight forward as I had to drill the old boom bag track off the bent boom and transfer it to the new boom. The new internal guide for the single line reefing system had to be riveted inside the track with five countersunk head 3/16 rivets and then drilled to match the holes in the boom bag track.
The new boom has an internal sleeve fitted around the 3.5 metre mark and that meant the second single line reefing system had to be converted to a single continuous line rather than than the version with the internal slider and purchases. On completion the boom has the first reef with internal purchases and the second and third reef lines as single continuous lines. The third reef line has 45 metres of 10 mm line so it is a pretty long route to get in the third reef.
Joe Walsh was very generous with the use of his premises to do the work and also the advice and help with fasteners and tools. It is nice to have company around when you are working all day.
For a bit more therapy I might take the Laser out on the weekend and try the new carbon fibre top section but Saturday looks a bit fresh.