As I relieved Paddy from watch we were in a course of 310M and had good speed, roughly 8.5 knots, about 7 VMG. But 30 minutes later the wind had shifted to force us on a bearing of 320. That's quite a ways off our bearing to Barbados of 283 and VMG was rapidly declining as we swung north of 310 so I decided to gybe the gennaker and try running wing-on-wing.
We've had trouble gybing our gennaker smoothly. It always seems to require someone to go forward and help clear a line or help encourage all that sailcloth to go through the 5ft wide slot between the furled genoa and the gennaker forestay. So earlier today we tried what is called an outside gybe where the gennaker doesn't pass through the slot but goes in front of the forestay instead. We made an attempt but a line got hung up so I'd say it was mostly successful this afternoon.
So anyway, I decided to try to do that myself instead of waking someone up to assist. It started out ok but then went horribly wrong as the top half of the gennaker wrapped itself around the forestay one way and the bottom half the other way. Ugh. I've heard of this problem with spinnakers and their like but never experienced it. I went to the foredeck (yes, PFD/harness on and tether attached to the jack lines - these are boat rules at night) and tried to pull on the clew to help it around. No joy. Then tried changing course, adding a bit of sheet tension and hoping (very hard) that it would miraculously work itself out. No luck. I then changed course again and grabbed the clew and pulled down and aft (while making sure my safety tether wasn't in the way if the sail suddenly filled) and eventually coaxed it to untwist and then pop!; it filled and all was well once again. Chalk up a new experience for me. Back to a quiet peaceful tack (the other tack feels a bit like being in
a washing machine) at 7.5 knots on a course of 279Magnetic . Almost perfect.
Lesson No.1: Always wake somebody up rather than undergo a task so significant. It's always going to be easier & safer. Besides, what else are they doing other than sleeping?
ReplyDeleteActually it was a conscious decision. At some point I will likely be single-handing so I need practice learning how to do things myself. It was nice knowing I could wake people if I needed to - kinda like training wheels on a bike set high. They only provide assistance when needed - if you never raise those training wheels you might never learn how to do it properly.
ReplyDelete