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